The Romans planted vineyards in southern France and in the Rhine valley; viticulture spread with both majority Christian and minority Jewish settlement, since both religions required wine in their services and rituals. During the Medieval Warm Period, grapes could grow in northern England and in Denmark, but after the climate began to cool (1300s), England had difficulty producing wine. Germany and France were huge wine producers. It turns out that the best wine comes from grapes that grow in the marginal climate zones, those right on the edge of being too cold.
But wine drinkers today would not fancy medieval wine. Early wine-making was primitive, and not just what you’re thinking. Yes, they did expect to walk in the grapes to press them, although Charlemagne’s rules outlawed it on his manors. There were not many other good ways to press the grapes, and it turns out that early mechanical presses produced worse wine. So for the most part, grapes were foot-pressed in stone vats in the Mediterranean, and oak barrel vats in Northern Europe; a hole at the bottom let the juice run out.
Medieval vineyards were also primitive in that they mixed different strains of grapes in the same field. Each year, one variety might fail, so growing a mix meant getting something rather than nothing. The wine tasted different every year and in every field. Vines grew in every direction; they didn’t keep them in neat rows of posts and wires, as we do. They knew how to prune vines, but used hatchets for the work, stepping in and around the tangle of vines.
White wine was not fermented with the skins included; it took a shorter time to make, and could be used right away. For that reason, white wine was much more common than red. Stored in oak barrels, wine lasted up to a year before souring. (Of course, sour wine became vinegar, also much used.) Six months was the peak of its storage life, and four years was the outside limit.
Most medieval wine had a lot of sediment and was only 5% alcohol. Still, it had one key advantage: the water in it came straight from the grapes and had never been tainted with potentially contaminated water. Winemaking didn’t require large fires, either; it was a fuel-conserving, guaranteed safe beverage. It just didn’t taste very good. Dessert wine after feasts was called Hippocras; it was sweetened with honey and heavily spiced with cinnamon and ginger. Just the idea that drinkers would welcome a disguised flavor tells you something.
Next: why wine became much better by the end of the period.