Vineyards (ETW building)
| Vineyards | |
|---|---|
| Category: | Wine |
| Level: | 0 |
| Turns to build: | 2 |
| Building cost: | 500 |
| |
| Enables | |
 Wineries | |
A vineyard is a farm dedicated to the growing of grapes and the production of wine, but on a relatively small scale.
Wine is one of the pleasures of life for all classes in society and, along with ale, is the standard drink of many Europeans thanks to poor quality water supplies in towns and cities. No one actually cares about the public health implications of wells and open sewers in close proximity to each other!
The patterns of growth and consumption of wine in the 18th Century often had some odd roots. The British taste for “claret” (Bordeaux wine) dates back to the Middle Ages when the English monarchy controlled the region. Much of the earliest “New World” wine is supposedly the result of plantings by the Catholic Church to ensure that they had a supply of wine for Mass. Grape varieties can have similar odd origins: Shiraz, for example, started as Syrah grapes, originating in Persia and were brought back to France around the time of the Crusades. There were many more local grape varieties than today, because pests from America wiped out older types in the 19th Century.