Genetic data indicate that 400,000 and 300,000 years ago grapes grew naturally across the western and central Eurasian continent. Roughly 200,000 years ago a cold, dry, ice-age climate slowly killed off vines in the central Mediterranean Sea region, cleaving vine habitat into two isolated areas: one to the west of the sea (today Portugal, Spain and France) and one to the east (roughly Israel, Syria, Turkey and Georgia). Around 56,000 years ago the eastern region separated again into smaller isolated areas: the Caucasus (Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan) and western Asia (Israel, Jordon and Iraq).

Until recently, researchers also thought humans domesticated grapevines from wild progenitors as long as 8,000 years ago as an early agricultural revolution spread across what is now western Asia and Europe. Some experts thought vines were first cultivated in Iberia (primarily Portugal and Spain) around 3,000 years ago.