Dr Michelle Dickinson: nanotechnologist on how the dinosaurs going extinct led to the creation of wine

Is the reason we have great wine today thanks to the dinosaurs going extinct?

That’s what scientists conclude in a paper published in the journal Nature Plants.

Humans have loved grapes for thousands of years, whether eaten fresh, dried as raisins, or fermented into wine. However, during the time of the dinosaurs, their large bodies knocked down trees, resulting in less dense forests than we see today.

After the dinosaurs went extinct, forests became denser, forcing plants to compete more intensely for sunlight and resources. Vines, including grapevines, had a competitive edge because they could climb off the forest floor to access more sunlight. Additionally, the diversification of mammals and birds after the dinosaur extinction helped disperse grape seeds to new locations.

This theory is supported by the discovery of the world’s oldest known grape seed fossil, found in India and dating back 66 million years. Its age coincides with the mass extinction event caused by an asteroid impact. Ancient grape seed fossils had not been discovered in South America before, but scientists in this study suspected their presence and searched for them. They found nine new species of fossilized grape seeds across Colombia, Panama, and Peru, ranging from 19 million to 60 million years old.

Finding ancient fruit evidence is challenging due to the rapid decomposition of soft flesh. However, the hard seeds on which this study is based were preserved as fossils. One of these species, called ‘Susman’s stone grape’, is related to the subfamily Vitoideae, which gave rise to modern commercial grapes.

So, next time you savour a glass of wine, remember that the rich history of grapes, from ancient fossils to their global spread, owes much to the catastrophic events that wiped out the dinosaurs.

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