Exploring the Hop/Vine Divide — Depictions of Beer and Wine in Northern and Southern European Art
It separates the southern regions, whose society and appetites are supported by healthy viticulture, and the northern states where, as Meades put it, “the weather’s not up to it.” As Meades envisions it, the Hop/Vine Divide snakes through the continent on the flatlands, symbolically separating not just whether beer or wine is the preferred drink, but also seemingly stark differences in cultural and religious identities. The lands of Northern Europe, where grapevines cease to grow, and where grain-growing is central to its societies’ palates and industry, are beer-favoring nations. Below the border, in Southern Europe, viticulture dominates.