Grape evidence for a dominant position of wine-making in human culture dates from 8,000 years ago in Georgia. The oldest known winery was found in Armenia, dating to around 4000 BC. By the 9th century AD the city of Shiraz was known to produce some of the finest wines in the Middle East. Thus it has been proposed that Syrah red wine is named after Shiraz, a city in Persia where the grape was used to make Shirazi wine. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics record the cultivation of purple grapes, and history attests to the ancient Greeks, Phoenicians, and Romans growing purple grapes
Irrigation in Australia million in 2000-01. Water use by the rice industry fell between 2000/01 and 2004/05, due mainly to smaller planted areas during the drought; the rice industry used in 2000/01, in 2004/05 and in 2008/09. Wine, dried and table grapes are grown commercially in all States and Territories. Grape production is the fifth largest fruit industry in Australia. Of that production wine grape production at over per annum is almost nine times the production of dried grapes and 14 times the production of table grapes. A comparison with other grape producing countries throughout the world shows that Australia was the fourteenth