(Lifehacker) - The technological revolution is not new. It wasn’t born with the Internet, fibre optics, or with the proliferation of smartphones.

It started much earlier.

Technology was responsible for the Agricultural Revolution, a movement that started in the 1600s and fundamentally changed the landscape (sorry, lame pun) of farming in Britain. New systems, tools and fertilisers sparked a massive increase in both productivity and prosperity – much to the relief of the rapidly rising population.

Then came the first Industrial Revolution in the mid-1700s. Manufacturing shifted from peoples’ homes to purpose-built factories, and technological innovations (such as the steam engine) mechanised textiles, iron, cement, glass, etc.

The second Industrial Revolution of the 1900s is most known for the development of railroads, large-scale steel and iron production, automobiles and petroleum.

I’m hardly a qualified historian, given I gave up the subject after GCSE, so you may wonder why I’ve decided to write about British history. Over the holidays, a publication called Just-Food asked me to comment on how today’s digital world is changing the way we consume food and drinks (you can read my quote here if you are so inclined – about half way down).

My commentary was relatively general – must have been in a food coma from all those mince pies – but it did force me to reflect on the way the wine industry has changed.

Everyone likes lists, so I’ve distilled my brain dump into six points. If you disagree with any of them, I’d be thrilled to jump into a debate. We can also talk about climate change or capital punishment.

Technology has changed:

1. The way wine is made. Hand picking grapes is now confined to the highest quality grapes in the most prestigious vineyards in the world. The majority of winemakers use machines that not only pick the grapes but separate them too. High tech irrigation and pest control are also widespread.

2. The way wine is bottled. Before the invention of the cork about 300 years ago, wine was sealed by stuffing oil-soaked rags into the bottle, or by pouring olive oil into the bottle to form a layer of oil that prevented the wine from spoiling. Pretty crude (yes another lame pun). Then corks came along. Nowadays we don’t just benefit from natural cork, but also screw caps, synthetic cork, glass stoppers and zorks (seals like a screw cap and pops like a cork).

3. The way wine is stored. Men, if you think women are fussy, I assure you that wine is much fussier. It likes cool temperatures, but not too cool; it dislikes dryness; it likes the darkness; it hates being moved around too much. To deal with wine’s ridiculously finicky nature, cellars have had to become pretty high tech. (Just a note here – your fridge is not a terrible place to keep wine, but don’t leave it there for more than a couple of months. Drink it!)

4. The way wine is opened. Have you heard of the Coravin? To me, it’s the epitome of wine innovation. You can extract a glass of wine from a bottle without touching the cork. It uses a needle and argon gas to protect the remaining wine from oxidising.

5. The way wine is selected. Have you heard of Grappled? The app that helps you pair wine with food?

6. The way wine is shared. Just to prove I didn’t write this to shamelessly plug my own app – Vivino is a great tool that enables you to take a picture of a wine label and share it with your friends. Like Instagram, but for wine.