What Fermented First—Beer or Wine?

As a sommelier I naturally think grapes fermented first before grains.  But, what was fermented first often strikes arguments amongst beverage geeks.  It is a lot like the chicken and egg argument—I think the chicken came first—single celled organisms had to split and split and split enough times to become chickens—then they could lay eggs.  Origins of each may be traced to the Neolithic period in Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, and Egypt.

I think of primitive man with club in hand, spending half the day making fire, living in cave-like dwelling.  They gather the good-looking grapes from vines into a carved out wood like bowl.  They forget about it leaving it in the sun.  Several weeks later they find it and it is now a delicious liquid.  They naturally want to drink more and more.  Deductively speaking, animals are naturally attracted to the sweet colorful fruit—not grains—as the honey bees are attracted to beautiful flowers.

Grains have to be soaked in water and processed to ferment.  Before man figured out how to make bread, they procured grains, added water, and a porridge like substance resulted.  Let porridge like substance sit out in sun to ferment with water and—beer!  Primitively speaking, beer has a few more steps involved.  Some will argue that grains are a more evolved and complex plant then grapes, and in nature, might have fermented first, but I will argue man fermented wine first.

Investigations to Come...

Arizona Wine

I want to stake a claim—just like a gold rush—in this year 2011— of the emerging wineries of Arizona before they attain world fame. SugarToad recently had the honor of hosting winemaker Eric Glomski of Arizona Stronghold Vineyards to celebrate the wines of Arizona. The dinner was full of storytelling of local history including Indian tales of Geronimo. Mr. Glomski has great respect for the local culture and considers himself a steward of the land—a true pioneer.

The wines of Arizona?—It is like Tuscany had a kid with Rhone grape varietals and got caught up in a gold rush to the Wild West. This is my attempt to describe the terrior and feel of Arizona wines. They are paradoxically rustic and elegant. Fruity, yet not sweet with refreshing acidity, and are great food wines. They are growing grenache, syrah, sangiovese, cabernet sauvignon, mourvedre, sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, and my personal favorite malvasia. The vineyards are up in the mountains, sometimes at 5000 feet above sea level, and they don’t have heat problems, but frost problems!

I first came across Arizona wines from a couple years ago with the wines of Dos Cabezas and vigneron Todd Bostock. Skeptical at first, I tasted a Syrah called “La Montana” from the 2003 vintage and I was sold. Not only do these reds drink well young, but the concentration of fruit and acidity make them great aging candidates.

Mr. Glomski’s business party is Maynard James Keenan, front man for the bands Tool & A Perfect Circle. Together they recently filmed a documentary Blood Into Wine. It portrays the trials and tribulations of starting a winery in Arizona. With Mr. Keenan’s fame, they have obtained a lot of wine press, but, the movie definitively shows he is a vigneron. So if you have a Netflix subscription, check out Blood Into Wine. It’s entertaining, educational, and displays the pioneering spirit of vignerons.