The History of Wine — The Drink That Almost Died

Spilled digs up the hidden history behind the food and drink in your kitchen — this week, wine. In the 1860s, a nearly invisible insect began quietly destroying vineyards across France. Within decades, it wiped out most of Europe's wine industry, and the world came dangerously close to losing wine entirely. This is the story of how wine went from an ancient accident of wild yeast and grape sugar, to the blood of a religion, to a nearly extinct drink saved by grafting European vines onto foreign roots. 🔔 Subscribe for a new hidden history every week. Timestamps: 0:00 The insect that almost destroyed wine 0:43 Where wine actually comes from 2:10 How the Greeks made wine a culture 3:00 Rome's wine empire 4:14 The Church that saved wine 5:34 Wine, war, and Bordeaux 6:32 Port, sherry, and the shipping problem 7:44 The phylloxera disaster begins 10:04 The graft that saved wine 11:45 The Judgment of Paris 12:31 Wine today #History #Wine #Spilled #FoodHistory #WineHistory