An interesting fact: in any ancient religious system there is a myth about how wine appeared. A Greek legend is especially famous: ancient storytellers claim that the shepherd Estaphilos should be blamed (or thanked?). He was looking for a sheep, and when he found a fugitive, the animal was eating the leaves of some unfamiliar plant. The surprised young man collected the fruits of a strange tree and brought them to his master, who squeezed juice from them and received a refreshing drink. Everything else is a matter of technology: once the grape juice was accidentally left in the sun, it fermented, and people learned that the resulting intoxicating drink amuses no worse than a trip to the ancient Greek theater, and heals almost like Hippocrates.

The Romans, Phoenicians, ancient Germans and other peoples attributed the honor of creating wine to their gods – it is not surprising that this drink was actively used during religious rituals and was considered a meal for the nobility. However, in the same Ancient Rome wine was so widespread that it was even given to slaves – but, of course, these were not collectible aromatic wines, but a third-grade drink. In Roman mythology, it is argued that the world’s first vine was planted by Saturn – the god of the earth and crops.

The Persian legend is very touching and refined in an oriental way: in Asia Minor it is believed that a certain king received grape seeds as a gift from a grateful bird he saved from a snake. The tree grew, bore fruit, the grape juice was sweet and fresh, and for a long time people drank it to quench their thirst. Once the king was brought a sour drink, he got angry, ordered to remove the vessel away. The frightened servants took the unusable juice to the basement, and forgot there.

Some time later, the king’s beloved concubine fell ill with a severe headache. The girl did not sleep for several nights, she was so tormented that she decided to die. She drank all the fermented juice, hoping that it turned into poison, but she only slept for several days and woke up completely healthy. This is how the wine became known to the Turkic peoples.