Persian wine

Here, McGovern et al. (1996) used chemical analyses of the residue of a Neolithic jar dating from as early as 5400–5000 BC to indicate high levels of tartaric acid, again suggesting that the fluid contained therein had been made from grapes.

[1] The modern historian Rudi Matthee explains that in Zoroastrianism wine was a symbol for liquid gold as well as the moving fire of the radiant sun.

[7] Thus, in turn, as Matthee explains, the drinking of wine "became a metaphor for the ardent feelings of the lover for the beloved in the imaginary world of (mystical) poetry".

[20] • Seljuk and Mongol Periods (11th–13th centuries): structures and artifacts discovered in multiple sites including in Ray, located near modern-day Tehran.

[21][22] • Safavid Dynasty (1501–1736): despite prohibitions, strong historical evidence of scattered production and consumption in the cities such as Isfahan, Ghazvin, Tabriz, and Choghazanbi exist such as the famous Shah Abas with wine painting.

principal manufacturing centers of the period were Isfahan, Yazd, Shiraz, Kāšān, Hamadān, and Rašt, and that some of them produced wine and other alcoholic beverages, such as araq (a distilled spirit) and būza (a fermented drink made from barley or millet).

Usually, the old man in the painting is Hafez or Khayyam, who, having left his scholarly position and books behind, is now drunk in Kharabat (a mystical rundown tavern located in a remote and poor corner of town) or in Golshan (garden) drinking wine from the hands of gorgeous Saghis.