Wine is believed to have been imbibed since as far back as the stone age. Long before we began crushing the grape, many of the animal kingdom probably realised the intoxicating powers of fermented fruits and enjoyed their dizzying effects. I recall seeing a nature documentary where some rather cheeky monkeys were quite literally falling out of their trees (see below).
It was the ancient Greeks and Romans who really embraced its apparent medicinal and social properties.
They even had their own Gods devoted to the cause. In Greek mythology you had Dionysus and the Romans had Bacchus.
