Wine culture (and new vineyards) are thriving in Roman Africa. Winemakers from Bordeaux and Spain assist Egyptian grape-growers to make wine today - and a leading Cape boerdery is reportedly investing in new plantings in the Nile Delta, writes Graham Howe.

'Short measures are best of everything, except wine. Of all things between heaven and earth one draught of wine is best. One draught of old wine is preferable to a new empire.' - The Ruba'iyat of Omar Khayyam (C11th AD).

On a journey beginning in Egypt, I contemplated the ancient tradition of wine over a glass of Rubis d'Egypte, a fragrant rose wine from the vineyards in the Delta, while making my way up the Nile from Alexandria to Aswan.

They've been making alcoholic beverages in Egypt for millennia. I am reliably told the ancient Egyptian term for wine was 'Irp,' an onomatopoeic play on words more commonly associated with the belch of beer drinkers after a long and deep draught. There's humour hidden in those hieroglyphics (the word for cat is 'miw'). What's more, many of the tombs in the Valley of Kings have a wine cellar painted on the walls - with real or abstract amphora. What kind of Pharaoh would want to spend the after-life in abstinence for all eternity?

I stumbled across a cabinet of clay wine amphora among the 1700 items on display in the Tutankhamun galleries at the Egyptian Museum. Archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the amphora among the provisions in the 14th century BC tomb of King Tut. Incredibly, each amphora is annotated with inscriptions on the appellation and source of the wine, the vintage and 'the chief of the vineyard.' The ancient Pharaohs may have initiated the world's first wine and spirits board - but they happily spared us wine shows.

My guidebook informs me that Hathor, the goddess of love and pleasure - the Egyptian equivalent of Bacchus or Dionysus - was also known as 'the lady of drunkenness.' With her cow's horns and sun disc, you'd think she would have made it onto a modern wine label. While cruising down the Nile, I left the driving to the pilot and drank deeply of wines which tapped into the mythical past - Omar Khayyam (better known for his ruba'iyat than his red), Cru des Ptolomees (white), a palatable Aida sparkling wine and Chateau Grand Marquise (a wine that struggles to live up to its grandiose nomenclature).

Over three thousand years later, winemakers from Bordeaux and Spain assist Egyptian grape-growers to make wine today - and a leading Cape boerdery is reportedly investing in new plantings in the Nile Delta. With high import tariffs imposed on European wines, there is a burgeoning tourist market for Egyptian wine. New vineyards line the desert highway from Cairo to Egypt, especially in the vicinity of Sadat City - an area that already exports red table grapes to South Africa in the off-season. A South African buyer I spoke to commented on the high yields of a long growing season in the western desert. Winemaker Johan Malan wants to export Simonsig wines there despite high import taxes.

Moving across to the Maghreb, I engaged in an unusual wine tasting in early May at Chateau Bacchus outside Tunis. Ancient Tunisia, known as 'the granary of Rome' was planted with extensive vineyards and olive groves - and Bacchanalian bouts of wine-drinking are immortalised in the incredible Roman mosaics found throughout Tunisia. The Tunisian wine industry was modernised by the French in the C20th - though vineyards plummeted from 120 000 to 22 000 acres after their departure in 1956. Fortunately, the north is now replanted with young vineyards visible throughout the countryside.

In Morocco and Tunisia they say you can tell the growth of tourism by the number of new vineyards. Ridha Hichri, the manager of Chateau Bacchus, explained, 'Tunisia produces 1/2 million hectolitres of wine today - some for export but mostly for the 6 million tourists and the Tunisians who love to drink wine. The wine industry in Tunisia dates back before Christ to the Carthaginians.'

The delightful tasting centre lies in the shadow of Mussolini's villa - the ruins of his summer residence in the vineyards of the Bouargoub AOC, one of Tunisia's top wine regions. One of the best-known Tunisian wine labels is named after Magon, the Phoenician who wrote about techniques of wine production two thousand years ago.

The north of the country is planted with mostly French varieties - Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Merlot, Cinsaut, Carignan, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Muscat - as well as white varieties like Rezzagui and Ugni Blanc. The Muscat, Pinot Grigio and Rose wines are light and fragrant - with spicy, cask-matured blends of Cabernet, Syrah and Carignan. The motifs of the Sahara and Roman Africa find expression in exotic wine labels like Ifrikia (Africa), Punique (after Punic wars), Domaine Atlas and Grand Vin Mornag.

If there was ever any doubt as to the thriving wine culture of Roman Africa - an area that encompassed Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Libya - look no further than the two thousand year old evidence in the Bardo Museum in Tunis and Carthage. A wine route in mosaics takes wine-lovers on a delightful tour of scenes of Bacchanalian indulgence from a boozy Bacchus to vines and wines on a 3rd century Roman farm in Africa. I headed off to Fes in Morocco to sample the souks, the vin gris and the big reds from Meknes.

The author was a guest of Qatar Airways, the Egyptian Tourist Authority and Egypt & Beyond. Contact specialist tour operator Cecelia Amory in Johannesburg. Tel: 011 678 6165.