Roman Times
Bordeaux wine production seems to have begun sometime after 43 AD, during the Roman occupation of Gaul, when the Romans established vineyards to cultivate wine for the soldiers. However, it is only in 71 AD that Pliny the Elder recorded the first real evidence of vineyards in Bordeaux. The area's location along the Gironde estuary provided an ideal trade route with the British Isles. Wine historian, Roger Dion, has theorized that the first vine cuttings that the Romans brought to Bordeaux originated in the Rioja region of Spain. The early budding of the Bordeaux wine industry suffered a number of disruptions following the fall of Rome. The area was occupied by Vandals in AD 408, Goths in 406, and Visigoths in 414. The area was also subjected to repeated encounters with Saxon longboats along the coast. These disruptions continued into the 5th century to the period of Frankish rule.
Read more about this topic: History Of Bordeaux Wine
Famous quotes containing the words roman and/or times:
“It’s no accident that of all the monuments left of the Greco- Roman culture the biggest is the ballpark, the Colosseum, the Yankee Stadium of ancient times.”
—Walter Wellesley (Red)
“I blame the newspapers because every day they call our attention to insignificant things, while three or four times in our lives, we read books that contain essential things. Once we feverishly tear the band of paper enclosing our newspapers, things should change and we should find—I do not know—the Pensées by Pascal!”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)