The oldest known winery was founded in ancient Armenia around the year 4100 B.C.E. What was surely an accidental discovery became an ever-more predictable technique, and spread westward. By 3700 B.C.E., wine was made in northern Israel. From there, wine-making spread south to Egypt by 3150 B.C.E. (and into Africa), and west through Turkey to Greece and Rome. This transmission of viticultural and vinicultural know-how parallels the rise of major civilizations and religions: The Mesopotamians and Persians, the Egyptians and Israelites, the Greeks and Romans.

During this two-hour seminar, travel back in time — from Italy to Armenia — alternating from art and archeology to wine tasting, learning about different aspects of the same cultures.