Editing Vineyard (section)

==History==
The earliest evidence of wine production dates from between 6000 and 5000 BC.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Keys |first1=David |title=Now that's what you call a real vintage: professor unearths 8,000-year-old wine |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/now-thats-what-you-call-a-real-vintage-professor-unearths-8000-year-old-wine-84179.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220817/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/now-thats-what-you-call-a-real-vintage-professor-unearths-8000-year-old-wine-84179.html |archive-date=2022-08-17 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=10 July 2020 |work=The Independent |date=28 December 2003 |language=en}}</ref> Wine making technology improved considerably with the ancient Greeks but it was not until the end of the Roman Empire that cultivation techniques as we know them were common throughout Europe.<ref name="Phillips pg 37">{{cite book |first=R. |last=Phillips |title=A Short History of Wine |page=37 |publisher=Harper Collins |year=2000 |isbn=0-06-093737-8 }}</ref>

In medieval Europe the Catholic Church was a staunch supporter of wine, which was necessary for the celebration of the [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]]. During the lengthy instability of the Middle Ages, the monasteries maintained and developed viticultural practices, having the resources, security, stability and interest in improving the quality of their vines. They owned and tended the best vineyards in Europe, and ''vinum theologium'' was considered superior to all others.

European vineyards were planted with a wide variety of the ''[[Vitis vinifera]]'' grape. In the late 19th century, the entire species was nearly destroyed in an event known as the [[Great French Wine Blight]], in which the grape pest ''[[phylloxera]]'', an insect related to [[aphid]]s, was accidentally introduced to Europe from North America. Native American grapevines include varieties such as ''[[Vitis labrusca]]'', which are resistant to the insect. ''Vitis vinifera'' varieties were saved by being grafted onto the rootstock of Native American varieties, although there is still no remedy for ''phylloxera'', which remains a danger to any vineyard not planted with grafted rootstock.
[[File:Clos-Cal-Mateu.jpg|thumb|Vineyard at an altitude of 1300 metres in [[Cerdanya]], France.<ref>[https://sainte-leocadie.fr/vigne-la-plus-haute-deurope/ « Clos Cal Mateu »], at ''sainte-leocadie.fr''.</ref>]]