Changes

After the Roman collapse in Europe, very like the culture of wine would have died as well. However, the now spiritual connection of wine with religious sacraments, along with local populations having become accustomed to this Mediterranean product during the Roman period, kept its relevance even in regions where it did not grow well. Thus, as Christianity spread, so did wine. Northern Europe became more of a beer and ale drinking culture, due to the climate being more favorable to wheat and barley based alcoholic drinks. However, the need wine for in mass resulted in the constant need to import wine. This also created an important business opportunity for a variety of monastic orders, as the needs of the church created a constant and strong market. Thus, perhaps not surprisingly, the best and most prolific wine producers in the early Medieval period were different orders of monasteries, where many of these continue to make wine today. The Benedictines, in particular, became well known wine makers, often exporting their produce to raise funds in addition to being used for sacraments. Virtual monopolies were established throughout Europe by monastic orders on wine production and trade.<ref>For more on monastic wines, see: Simon, Joanna. 2001. <i>Wine: An Introduction.</i> 1st American ed. New York: DK Pub, pg. 18.</ref>

After centuries of growing grapes in different parts of Europe, varieties began to form that have had become some of the best known wine types today. Riesling, for instance, was a white grape variety that grew well in the Rhine Valley, which has developed their since the 15th century. Burgundy , with its favorable climate and soil for many types of grapes, in France became well known for variety of winesmany wine types, including developing Pino Gris, Pinot noir, and chablis and others that had begun to develop already by the Roman period. Chenin blanc was another white grape variety developed in Anjou (Figure 2).<ref>For more on types of wines and their history, see: Singh, Dueep. 2013. <i>The Miracle of Wine History, Making, Selling, Preserving, Enjoying</i>. JD-BZ Publishing.</ref>

In the New World, Vitis (or grape family) vines did grow, but they do not seemed seem to have been utilized from making wineby prehistoric cultures. Although various alcoholic drinks were known to native populations in the New World, it was the Spanish that brought grape wine types from Europe to the New World. The Portuguese also spread grape wine to Brazil. As shipping was still relatively poor in preserving wine quality, early Spanish explorers and settlers soon preferred to grow wine rather than import it from Europe. With wine production moving to the New World, many experiments began to make wine more adept in growing in more extreme climates found in the New World. British explorers to Australia and New Zealand also brought different grapes and since the late 18th century the wine culture in Australia and later New Zealand, although initially failing, began to be come very successful in the 19th century. Types of shiraz wine, in particular, grew well in those regions. In New Zealand, Syrah and Pinot noir grapes were also among the initial successful wines that grew in the climate.<ref>Fore more on the spread of wine to the New World and other regions, see: Unwin, P. T. H. 1996. <i>Wine and the Vine: An Historical Geography of Viticulture and the Wine Trade.</i> London; New York: Routledge, pg. 204.</ref>

In the United States, the oldest continuous winery is found in New York state, which was founded by a French Huguenot, settlers in 1810. Wine spread to cold regions of Canada, where specialized ice wine became developed, which is a that took advantage of short growing seasons; this type of wine developed into a very sweet wine. By 1811, settlers in Hawaii even began to grow wine in tropical conditions.<ref>For more on the history of wine growing in the United States, see: Pinney, Thomas. 2007. <i>A History of Wine in America: From the Beginnings to Prohibition.</i> Berkeley, Calif.: Univ. of California Press.</ref>