I'm anahita Shams a journalist with a deeply held passion for wine I'm flying over some of the most famous Vineyards in the world and drinking some of the finest of Fine Wines the minority you lick the star all in a quest to discover the origin of my beloved she was wine it might come as a surprise but my country Iran has a long and ancient history of drinking producing and exporting wine this is it this is the oldest wine jar in the world the city of shivas has always been at the heart of Iranian winemaking and lends its name to one of the world's most famous wines she was this is what's great about Shiraz it's always been a very Soulful wine what is the connection between wine making in Iran and the she was we drink today [Music] is it just certain Deputy that it's named after an Iranian City or is there more to it than meets the eye to find out I'm going to undertake a journey of Discovery from prehistory to the modern day this is beautiful overlooking the lake [Music] for the story of Persian Wine is the history of the origin a wine itself [Music] I've been researching and studying wine for many years recently I've completed the wine course in Hungary I'm here today to receive my qualification and so be initiated into the Hungarian Knights of wine their main goal is to recover the beautiful nightly virtues of wine and their membership is open to all who share their passion for wine foreign is not something I can do in my own country in 1979 winemaking in Iran officially came to an abrupt halt the Islamic revolution had no tolerance for the production or drinking of alcohol commercial Vineyards were ripped up wineries shut down and a wine culture that went back Generations went underground currently in Iran there is no easy way to research the provenance of Shiraz wine or its influence on Persian culture so to unravel the mystery behind the origin of Shiraz wine I need to visit one of Iran's neighbors Georgia where many believe wine making began [Music] here in the Caucasus Mountains the white grape which is vinifera has proliferated for millions of years it was domesticated around 8 000 years ago in Neolithic times it is the common ancestor to 99 of the world's wine today Georgia claims to be the first country to have cultivated wine the methods used then are still in use today and the cultural wine making and drinking has entered into the very soul and identity of the Georgian people so much so that believe they are they cradle a wine civilization now an amazing archaeological Discovery has put Georgia not just at the center of ancient wine making but of human evolution itself [Music] 85 kilometers Southwest of the capital tibilisi is the ancient site of demandisi whilst Excavating this Bronze Age settlement complete with ancient wine jars archaeologists David Lord couponids on Earth something extraordinary hard evidence that primitive man inhabited Europe much earlier than previously thought [Music] tell me what is the most significant Discovery in this site here we found earliest presence of humans in whole Eurasia it dates back 1.8 million years ago we have five human skulls this is most complete skull ever found in the world from this time period they found evidence of winemaking dating back thousands of years not far away from here 30 kilometers we have traces of very early agriculture humans were living with groups and they were already using stone tools and we found also very early presence of cultivated grapes so in this territory in this surrounding we have early humans and we have very early agriculture too it is amazing the prehistory of mankind has been Rewritten here in demonacy our ancestors lived here 1.8 million years ago later they began to cultivate crops such as wild grapes which still grow in these mountainous region [Music] today there are Vineyards across the length and breadth of Georgia the domesticated descendants of the wild grapes modern day winemakers are rediscovering the ancient ways of making wine John yes ah you're here right here oh hello hey welcome thank you very nice to meet you thank you John Waterman runs a successful Winery he's inspired by the fact that one's been grown here for Millennia evidence of the cultivation of the vidisfonifera grape has been found here in southern Georgia to imagine that the early Neolithic man living on the territory of what we call Georgia today was already farming different types of grapes creating new varieties for their aesthetic pleasure is absolutely marvelous even more marvelous they never stop [Music] s Giorgio Port is the traditional way they still make their wine so here this is the place what we call the marani which is the cellar where it all happens okay yeah so this is a small quavery it's a womb like vessel and the word quavery itself is fascinating because it means that which is buried in the ground the Earth gives you the grapes they get crushed and they go down inside the quavery but the temperature of the earth that's surrounding the mass of the must is the same as what the mother Vine is experiencing just a few meters over there it's a great example of something that is at once very ancient but very current and modern at the same time the Cavalry is used for fermentation aging and storing wine how does how does the Cavalry affect the taste of the wine well so many of the wines that are made in quavery are the so-called orange wines or long-skinned macerated whites and Georgia we prefer to call them Amber wines this is truly a very unique and special type of wine and so this is actually made from a white grape really there's lots of surprising things enjoyed your mind feel that it's it's like hibiscus and one dry and you know Citrus flowers and even carcade you know the the tea they make in Egypt let's drink for Georgia yes cheers Georgia has been invaded occupied and fought over for centuries but it's more powerful neighbors including Iran foreign [Music] overlooks the city she symbolizes the importance of wine to Georgian culture as she holds in her left hand Ebola wine to greet those who come as friends and in her right hand is a sword for those who come as enemies [Music] in Iran drinking wine from a horn is an ancient custom and it is here too [Music] I've been told about a restaurant the owner has a fantastic collection of horns the one that you can drink wine from I'm gonna meet him now Laura sub water collection you have you Georgian people still drink from this horn we do we've been drinking millenniums and we continue it's a part of the culture Georgians consider wine to be holy liquid when people get together they are choosing one who's much more eloquent and respected and with poetry or singing skills and with ability to drink little bit more than others and so this called tamada Toastmaster I heard that this shape helps people to drink wine in just one go tradition you're drinking your fill it up totally it has to be fill up yes yeah it has to be and you're drinking like at one go it's giving like some kind of like fire to the parties okay you know the children would never drink wine without saying toast so perfect yeah yeah let's say toast we've seen after the collapse of the Soviet Union terrible things in Georgia and I hope it will never happen and peace to everywhere I'm gonna toast back from a poem from office shirazi from Iranian poets it says witnessing Georgia's wine culture makes me want to discover more about Iran's place in the history of wine [Music] foreign grapes That Grew across the mountain regions of Georgia Armenia and Eastern Turkey also flourished in the zocros mountains and penetrated deep into Iran my country has an ancient traditional wine culture I grew up being told the myth of how wine was discovered a beautiful courtesan at the court of their mythological King jamshid last favor [Music] overwhelmed with pain and sorrow the courtesan tried to poison herself by drinking juice from a jar filled with fermenting grapes After experiencing the juices intoxicating effects she fell fast asleep the next morning the beautiful young lady awoke as she discovered she was no longer depressed but felt rejuvenated instead [Music] she took her Discovery to the king who became so enamored with this new portion that he accepted her back she regained the king's favor and wine was drunk in his court archeology tells the real story of where and how wine was first cultivated in Iran in 1968 at hajipirous a village in the zakras mountains a team of archaeologists from the pan Museum in the United States uncovered and Neolithic kitchen with six mysterious jars foreign four of those jars remain in Iran the other two went to America and it was only after a new scientific methods were available that one of the parts gave up its biggest secret I'm in Philadelphia to meet the foremost expert in biomolecular archeology who uncovered the vessel's purpose great to see you great to see you too I want to show you the oldest winter in the world thank you so Patrick this is the 7 000 years old job this is it this is the oldest chemically identified wine jar in the world after finding the jar and new chemical tests for analyzing wine residues was discovered Patrick decided to re-examine the Iranian Neolithic jar and in particular a red patch that could be seen with the naked eye try to take a look down there and see right mostly toward the bottom you will see you know very small areas of reddish material which then I was given permission by the destructive testing Committee of the museum to scrape out a small sample and then we carried out the same analyzes and were able to determine that in fact we had a wine jar now the other four jars they're in the Tehran Museum but no one has ever gone there to get samples out of those four jars and see if they all contain wine because they all contain wine this is a nine liter jar so if we had six jars we have about 50 liters which for an average family is a pretty good wine cellar we're really talking about a lot of wine so it suggests that they've already taken the Grapevine into domestication because the advantage of the domesticated Grapevine is it has the male and female on the same flower so it's um it's able to produce a lot more grapes a lot more wine very close to these jars were found Stoppers that fit exactly the diameter and then the other thing they would do is put a tree resin in it that has antioxidant properties that kill off the bacteria that could cause it to go to vinegar here's Iran with all this technology about winemaking in this very early period you know it's just astounding early the earliest evidence we have of grapes from Shiraz is around 2500 BC but the Wild Grape did not grow in Shiraz so it cannot have been domesticated in Shiraz that can only mean that they were starting to transplant the grapevine from farther north eventually they got to Shiraz which you know has this great uh Affinity or association with wine so wine cultivation started in the north made its way down the zagras mountains and then onto the plains of Shiraz over thousands of years since I've known that we got permission to film this jar I've had butterflies in my stomach to finally see a receptacle that held wine made over seven thousand years ago how remarkable is that [Music] the city of Shiraz was famous for the Splendor of its wine rice wine was exported both east and west and its many Delights were captured in the wonderful poetry of her first who wrote In The 14th Century and whose tomb is at the Heart of the City [Music] my sad heart weeps hear the tavern keeper who counsels you with wine with red wine your prayer carpet die there was never a traveler like him but knew ways of the road and the host story [Music] in the 17th century 300 years of their office's death a Frenchman jean-jordan traveled to Iran and was commissioned to create jewelry for the reigning Shah Abbas II chardan stayed in the region for over 9 years his account of Iranian Society the safavi Shahs and their love of wine is a major source of information to modern day historians when we want to love we love when we wanna kiss I've come to chardon's Hometown Paris to meet an expert whose studied these sources about the Shiraz wine trade Francis Richards were in Iranian history we know about shirazi wine or Shiraz wine what can you tell us about shirazi or shira's wine what is historically sure that from the 16th century it started to be production of a good wine a fine line with the name of salab wine of Shiraz and this production was well attested in documents since the beginning of 17th century according to Sheldon this lands were under the direct control of the Shah Shiraz wine was a very specific red wine it was a wine with good conservation because generally the local Wines in ironde they are very quickly vinegar foreign published the first volume about his troubles in 1686 and wrote a further nine which were later translated into Persian absolutely it was extremely curious man he was a merchant Who Sold diamonds and precious stones he shot for Professor Rudy mati an expert on early Iranian history and Society the volumes of chardan have also been a rich source of information [Music] at the time audits produce wine in Iran The Producers were for the most part as far as we know Armenians and Georgians Christians in general and general and Jews were involved in in wine production as well it is very interesting you mentioned Georgia what was the relation I mean in terms of witty culture between Iran and Georgia in that time it's a ceremonial drink in Christianity on Saint George is a Christian country it was completely integrated into life and it was brought into Iran in part because of the massive transplantation of Georges into Iran proper which are about resettled thousands of Georgians and Armenians from their Homeland and of course they brought with them their taste for wine because Iran was a Muslim country permission to buy the wine was limited to the Shah families at the court and foreign companies for export so how much did the safavi rulers drink the sufferees have nine successive Shahs from shy Ismail and in 15 comes to power in 1501 till Shah of Sultan Hussain who loses his throne and his life um in the early 1720s and they were all drinkers some of them were massive drinkers either inside or outside of the palace were they old men who drink wine it's mostly male and it's in part because of the nature of our sources because most of the Travelers and they are the best informants because again you don't get that information out of the local and socially not the official sources you really have to wait until the 19th century when you do have a number of sort of these Intrepid Victorian ladies who go to Iran and they do report on women too but it's definitely a far cry in terms of quantity and and incidents compared to the male part of society in Iran the job of pouring the wine was given a special status which is reflected in Persian art and poetry the wine poorer normally they were woman no they were actually in the pictures what we see the sorry is a woman yeah but it's really a man dressed up as a woman the salty just like the dancers there were oftentimes women George and boys oftentimes dressed up as women yes pretty sure absolutely dancing was of course not a reputable occupation so they were almost invariably Armenians and also Georgians enlivening the Banquets of the Shah [Music] Shiro's wine was exported in expensive glass bottles to India Indonesia China and Japan we have some information about quantities there's one figure in I think 17 15 16 when they export something like 625 000 bottles or something like that which is quite a lot [Music] another Intrepid French Merchant John Baptiste Tavernier was also doing business in Iran in the 17th century he too wrote a record of his adventures when he traveled onto India he took with him the perfect gift he gave a box of Shiraz wine and it was a much appreciated rights by these people they drank a lot of Iranian wine and a specialist the name of Shiraz wine was renowned Shiraz as a city became you know associated with Free Living unrestrained wine drinking that was a Trope that evolved over time among Iranians themselves as well as in the West I am flying along the northern roon Valley about 50 kilometers south of Leon in southern France below me the famous Hermitage Vineyards with their iconic Chapel Legend has it that these Vineyards originated from a Persian Vine in France The Vines and the wine they produce are called Syrah the reason I've come here is to find out if there is a connection between these zero Vines and The Vineyards of Shiraz the French believed that Sarah the grape was born here in Hermitage in the northern roon Valley here in this 142 hectares the finest French syrup is produced below The Vineyards lies the ton of 10 Hermitage it owes its wealth to Cirrus Fame the legendary winemaker Michelle chaputier has his Winery [Music] here in your Winery and in your Vineyard you are making a real truly fine wine how do you achieve it at first we are working in amitage which is one of one of the most famous Vineyard in the in in France also one of the old years because The Vineyards were here for Century before the Christ the vineyard is named after the story of a crusader Knight Gaspard Sternberg who was wounded in a battle during the Crusades in the 13th century Legend has it that on his return he brought back the Persian Vine planted it and retired from the world becoming a Hermit hence the name Hermitage we did some research and it is a legend and there is no real truth behind because here we were speaking of the 13th century and we know today that it was more you know be five cents for five Century before the Christ that the vineyard was planted here to find out more about the origin of the Zero grape the French tend to science sending their Vines to be DNA tested Jose Jose viamos is an internationally renowned grape geneticist Jose can you tell me more about the grapes DNA test the origin of Syria is fascinating we've heard many stories about its origin some people who think it comes from Persia some other things it come from Sicily where you have Syracuse City and we noted that all of it is wrong because we found the parents it was done in 1998 by two different labs and this collaboration ended up in the discovery of the parents of Syrah because grapes like humans have a mother and a father and it was really a surprise to find out that siha is a natural spontaneous Crossing between two local Vines from this area the first one is dureza an old variety from agdesh South from here we are in Northern Valley and the other one is Mundos Blanche from savoir North from here as DNA tests showed the age of the Grave with DNA testing you have no idea of the age of the grape variety or you have no idea of when the crossing occurred in the case of Sirah the first mention in historical document was in 1781 which is quite recent in terms of history of a grape variety after the discovering of the province of this era the cross point of this two grapes was run Hermitage so they could demonstrate that the real birthplace of syrup was habitat so Sarah is a native French Vine but the story of the name Shiraz is far from over how is it that when we drink a glass of syrup it's often called Shiraz we have a Scot to thank for that in the early 19th century James Busby tore The Vineyards of France and wrote his observation down in a journal In 1832 he took syrup Vines from Hermitage to Australia and planted Vineyards it was the beginning of a fantastic viticultural success story outside of France Australia is the biggest producer of syrup but down under these Vines and the wine they produce are all called shiras she Rose is now a brand name marketer across the globe Divine acquire its new name one theory is that Busby simply made a mistake the labeling of the vine that arrived in bunches was probably difficult to read so that Busby spelled it wrongly he spelled it s-c-y-r-a-s and if you pronounce it the Australian way you would pronounce it Shiraz so the use of the name Shiraz in Australia comes from a mispronunciation of the variety but it is possible that BuzzFeed didn't make a mistake that it was intentional Busby's Journal of his visit to Hermitage has a footnote that directly refers to the legend it reads according to the tradition of the neighborhood the plant Cyrus was originally brought from Shiraz in Persia [Music] so the name she Rose was known to Busby and may not have been a mispronunciation what is known for sure is that the French in the 19th century were importing wine from warmer climates to bolster the alcohol content of Their Own [Music] we have to keep in mind that we had some time much colder in the past the role used to be frosted with winter they were importing wine from warm countries from Iran that was the perfect sort of wine where probably the wine was very sweet had real concentration I wonder if Busby called the new vines in Australia after Shiraz in deference to Shiraz Wine's exotic past it remains a mystery [Music] I'd heard about the vineyard producing a Shiraz wine rumors where it was directly connected to Iran Balaton the largest lake in Central Europe surrounded by beautiful vineyards producing lovely wines but the main reason I am here is a very special Vineyard which has been grown from a cutting taken directly from Shiraz over 3000 miles away The Man Behind this Venture is winemaker who was Sarah who fell in love with Iran and who has an extraordinary tale to tell me about your love affair with Iran as there was been a yeah [Music] and my husband they'll visit I am [Music] coming bro he ended up living in Iran for almost a decade [Music] alcohol [Music] he eventually returned to Hungary but Iran had left its mark on huba we help me when did you start making wine about 90. it's a solution because of that she lost philosophical skills didn't feel like by hosting still also the barrels too you get the one it holla at that mean the Auto World mentorship is basically instrumentation [Music] back in Hungary huba created a Vineyard from the Iranian Vine and has been making and selling his Shiraz wine ever since so who bought this is your Shiraz Vineyard right yes this is beautiful overlooking the lake and the volcanic Hills how big is it what does the acres oh is it yeah the lake affect this grape the lake is our second son so it's really effective the truth of the sea and does it affect the quality of wine you will make of course of course we don't know if any of huba's vines are directly related to the Shiraz Vines of old but being here reminds me of home [Music] the smell of this Vine transporting me back to my youth in Iran I used to play with my sister around these kind of vines it makes me nostalgic [Music] my final stop on this Shiraz Adventure is to America home to over a million Iranians the United States is the largest wine producer outside of Europe with 90 percent of its wine coming from the Sunshine State of California [Music] by mountain ranges and influenced by its proximity to the Pacific Ocean Napa Valley has the perfect climate for wine production European Vines were planted here over a century ago with zero Vineyards established in the area in the 1970s the wine here is marketed under the French name syrup with one notable exception I'm on my way to meet a winemaker who almost uniquely Napa Valley cultistira Wine Shiraz [Music] at first glance it looks like a set from Hollywood's golden age but actually it's a winery [Music] wine making Iran has been long in the midst of time but one Iranian has traveled cross the globe and brought here to California the hospitality and its Splendor of Persian culture darlish holidays from Shiraz he's named after the Persian king Darius the great who built a palace of persepolis 2500 years ago when we start uh thinking about what kind of building my architecting he said you know the name of the wine is Darius and you have a picture of the Arius the King on the label why don't we made the Palace of door you sheer it is not the replica but it has accent of the persopolis and the feeling of the personal police [Music] together we have many many visitors and some of them are Persian some of them come from Iran they have a tear in their eyes because they see the feeling of the home here right in the middle of the nowhere in lap of her [Music] you know there are many many good memories that I have from Shiraz it's beautiful city and and the weather is just perfect especially in the springtime people are very happy people and they like to enjoy with their wines especially especially the whole large wine which by the way or Shiraz Vineyard here we call it so in a memory of hollar hollar in Iran was a once thriving winemaking region 60 kilometers from Shira City foreign [Music] is top of the agenda as Dan de Polo darius's right-hand man hosts the wine tasting for potential buyers so this is the 2008 Shiraz these are 35 year old Vines this is what's great about Shiraz is it's always been a very Soulful wine to me Shiraz is about you know more of the heart and for Darius it's more about his history and his his uh his culture he had to make it in Napa so be honest I like this one yes [Music] there are 120 Acres of Vineyards with two blocks dedicated to Growing Shiraz I remember my father winemaking you know for hobby not as a profession and I remember they was bringing the grapes and I'm putting it in a big clay but I was going on top of that clay white and smelling and enjoying that that wine sometimes the tallest sip of that wine [Music] the glass of wine came later in shiros they were drinking I remember as a child in a Sabu or or a clay vessel so that's how they were and it wasn't just drinking wine you know you have to say some read some poet and talk about how fast is a shirazi and about wine and you know and it wasn't just drinking wine it was a adventure or or among the family it's about the name she was this very unique name I cannot say that I'm impartial with shira's mind I keep telling my French friends they said Shiraz or Shira come from Ron and it's been 500 years of the history that we have on that let's say yeah but you know I opened the atlas of the world there is only one place in the whole world called Shiraz and has a 7 000 years of history of wine growing so you tell me where the Shiraz come from during the course of my journey I have discovered that Iran and wine production have gone hand in hand for over 7 000 years the Shiraz wine are bald was praised by Poets drawing by sharks and exported abroad today the name she was lives on in The Vineyards and wines of the new world it seems fitting to conclude my quest in California in the Shiraz Vineyards of dariush here I feel the spirit of our far away Homeland and its fabled wine lives on foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music]