Mediterranean wine – what is it?

Thousands of years before the châteaux of Bordeaux or the vineyards of Burgundy were classified into crus, the most sought-after wines came from Falernia in Campania, Byblos in Lebanon and other places dotted around the Mediterranean Sea. In Classical Antiquity, the Mediterranean became the centre of the first long-distance wine trade. The sea provided the conduit for some of the earliest disseminations of grape varieties, viticultural practices and winemaking techniques, spread by merchants, colonists and conquerors criss-crossing the waves.

Yet, more recently, the significance of the Mediterranean’s...