Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the question.
ELIXIR OF THE GODS
The date when wine was first made is not exactly known, but it has been around practically as long as human civilization has existed. Remnants of winemaking facilities in Armenia more than 6000 years old have been found, while the traces of wine discovered in Iran date back more than 7000 years.
The importance of wine in Western culture can be traced to ancient Greek times. Out of 12 supreme Olympus gods in Greek mythology, only Dionysus – the gods of wine – was born to a mere mortal, but he was still promoted to the title on par with other Gods.
Ancient Greeks also contributed to spreading wine to other lands, including Southern France and the regions of the Black Sea and adopted a variety of advanced grape-growing and winemaking techniques, such as deliberately picking off grapes to channel stronger flavours to the remaining ones and surveying suitable soil for different species and honey to reduce its acidity and enhance its aroma, which once served was diluted with warm water or snow.
The ancient Romans inherited many of the winemaking traditions of the Greeks. Romans classified wine into different rankings: the highest level included sweet wine made by stomping on grapes. The lowest ranking included wine made of grape peels and residue soaked in water.
The classification system between regions and the ranking of wine by is still evident until now, as seen through terms such as “terroir” and France’s “grand cru” classification. Romans were also the first to counterfeit wine: archeologists have excavated many jars of wine from other regions that were falsely labeled of wine are oak barrel, an invention of Roman mercenary legions barracking in Gaul.
THE EVOLUTION OF MODERN WINE
Following the fall of the Roman Empire, winemaking in Europe remained more or less the same. Deprived of Roman cultural dominance, beer eventually toppled wine to become the most popular drink across many regions, particularly in Northern countries where grapes can hardly grow. Winegrowing was sometimes taken up by priests because Christianity included numerous rites that involved the beverage. Gradually, as political power and commercial density shifted, wine marking regions such as Bordeaux, Medoc and Burgundy started to gain clout and rise to the prominence they still enjoy today.
Meanwhile, grapes and winemaking techniques were carried by European missionaries on their expeditions to the New World. In just second journey to America by Columbus, Spaniards sought to grow vines in their Hispaniola colonies in the Caribbean. By 1595, the Americas yielded so much wine that Spain’s royal family imposed a ban on new vineyards in South America in order to protect the domestic winemaking industry in Spain. However, the ban was virtually useless as Peru, Chile and Argentina had already become world-class winegrowing regions.
In 1654, The Dutch East Indies Company sent a ship full of grape to roots to South Africa specifically. On these trading ships that sailed for months, sailors were often sceptible to scurry because of lack of vitamin C. The Dutch thought that wine could reduce scurry and they wanted to create a supply for trading vessels stopped at the cape. Medically, they turned out to be wrong; but as a result, South Africa has emerged to become one of the world’s major winemakers.
In the late 19th century, the most severe disaster ever to strike the wine industry came in the form of phylloxera epidemic. These aphids destroyed wine grapes, proliferated quickly and resisted all insecticides available at the time. Fifty years later, a cure was discovered: grafting European vines to resistant American rootstock. However, many grape species had virtually been brought to extinction. Many wine connoisseurs also assumed that these hybrid grapes yielded inferior wine in comparison to ones.
Wine continues to grow in popularity around the world, recently finding a large and enthusiastic audience in many market in Asia. To fully appreciate wine, it helps to learn about the evolution of the drink that has existed almost as long as our own human civilization.
Source: adapted from Heritage Fashion, Vietnam Airlines, November 2017.
The word “their” refer to _______.
A.technique
B.grapes
C.missionaries
D.colonies
