I realise that I’ve been talking about wines from the western part of the world often, and for good reason: In places like Europe, the Americas, and Australia/New Zealand, winemaking is an established industry that An abundance of literature and resource (and wine!) is readily available to be able to equip oneself with sufficient information for the academic or economic pursuit of wine, or even learn enough to impress friends in a wine dinner (ahem, this blog).

What I never thought to think about was the existence of wine beyond the traditional western culture (which is arguably the “longest and most continuous” in terms of winemaking traditions)… It does exist, and speaking of resources, I managed to get ahold of a pretty nifty book called “Wine, A Cultural History” by John Varriano. It contains a great chapter that explores wine traditions from outside the west, and I want to share some pretty interesting things I’ve learned in this post (and surprise, surprise: I discovered so much amazing, rich poetry).