Thracian
Wine Treasures
Who
were the Thracians? – The Thracians were a mysterious
group of tribes who occupied the southeastern part of the Balkan Peninsula.
They spoke an Indo-European language. Numerous theories about their appearance
on the European cultural map and later extinction/assimilation exist. One
theory indicates that the Thracians were the original inhabitants of ancient
lands many millennia ago, another relates them to the tribes in West Asia and
others go even as far as China. One thing is for certain – the Thracians
left a deep mark on the cultural development of the European civilization. They
influenced both the Greek and Roman cultures and it is even believed that a
great share of the Greek and Roman gods and mythology is impacted by the
Thracian beliefs and rituals.
The Thracians were famous for three
main things: waging war, making exquisite jewelry and producing wine.
Thracians’ cultural heritage in the
area of wine-making, wine traditions and rituals drift through the ages and is
evidenced by many ancient authors starting with Homer. The Homeric epics depict
Thracians as brave and handsome men who fight on chariots richly decorated with
gold and silver, carry “weapons of gold,
huge and wondrous, and ride horses as fleet as the blasts of wind, and who also
make and drink fine wine in beautiful cups”. Considering the special ritual
value of wine in ancient Thrace, it becomes clear why so many precious vessels
have been found. More than 180 gold phialae (wine cups), or more than half of
those discovered in the whole ancient world, were found in Thracian territory.
Many of them are decorated with figure of merry god of wine Dionysus. This no
doubt highly developed wine culture is represented by many other archeological
monuments: plates, bas-reliefs,
vessels and coins decorated with vine and wine motifs have been found all over
the Thracian Valley.
Nowadays the successors of the old
Thracian masters of wine produce brilliant, charactful, self-confident wines
that are perhaps the best kept secret in the wine world! Older than the old
world and bolder than the New one, the present day Thracian wines are modern
classic, innovative, fashionable and most importantly very enjoyable! So we believe
the time is not far when the world wine drinking public, fed up of the
traditional offers, will direct their interests to a somewhat different wine
born in the land of Homer’s Thrace.
Some of these amazing Thracian wines will
soon be tasted in USA thanks to the New
Wines of Ancient Thrace, EU funded promotional campaign of the Bulgarian Wine Export Association.
Cheers,
Luiz Alberto (on behalf of Galina Niforou, BWEA chairwoman)
- Founder of the #winelover community
- Founder of the #LifeLover community
- Master of Wine candidate (former)
- Italian Wine Ambassador
- I combine my passion for wine with social media
- Follow me on twitter: @thewinehub
- On Instagram: 1winelove
No comments:
Post a Comment