I'll drink to that where we get behind the scenes of the beverage business.

I'm Levy Dalton.

I'm Erin Scala and here's our show today. Oh, Have you ever wondered about the history of the Somalier profession? It's something I think about a lot.

Some of the earliest Somaliers were slaves in ancient Greece, and it was the slave's job

to remove wine from Anfora into drinking vessels and to prepare wine

for consumption in general.

Wine preparation seemed to move into doctor-like territory in ancient Egypt and in Roman Italy when wine used to be steeped

with fruits and healing herbs. Wine steeped with herbs and spices were considered to have

healing abilities and it was often drunk as medicine.

Wine was also used on open wounds to disinfect the areas.

But as pasture and other contributors to 19th century medicine began to unravel the secrets of microorganisms,

wine's place in medicine waned.

But the revelation of the microworld also drastically transformed

how wine can be made in wineries and what wine can ultimately be. But the modern day

Somaliers can find their roots in the Middle Ages in Europe.

During feudalism, when nobles would travel, they take large caravans from village to village

in court to court, kingdom to kingdom.

And in the caravans, drawn by animals,

different people would be in charge of different cargo.

These servants charged with organization and transport of a particular type of cargo were called Sumilias.

When the caravan stopped, it's possible that royalty continued to call for this or that cargo,

the Sumile and the household Butler began to cross territories in the 1300s.

...