How the wine of the ancient Romans was made (Como o antigo vinho romano era feito)

The first specialized plantations arose in Campania, precisely along the slopes of the Petrino and Massico mountains.

This area was organized into terraces, so as to guarantee the vineyards the right balance between humidity and temperature and produce a wine that was among the most appreciated of the time.

The origins of viticulture

As far as we know, the vine is a plant endemic to the Italian peninsula, so much so that, already in the 5th century BC, it was known as Enotria, or wine-producing land.

At that time, the Etruscans were already experts in winemaking, less in viticulture, limiting themselves to picking the ripe bunches of wild vines that grew freely along the boot.

The Romans learned to take care of the vineyards and produce wine from the Etruscans, Greeks and Carthaginians who, for several centuries before them, had dedicated themselves to wine production.

Unlike their predecessors, however, the Romans were very skilled in organized production activities, so much so that Marcus Portius Cato (234-149 BC) went so far as to declare viticulture the first of the crops of the Republic.

The first specialized plantations arose in Campania, precisely along the slopes of the Petrino and Massico mountains.

This area was organized into terraces, so as to guarantee the vineyards the right balance between humidity and temperature and produce a wine that was among the most appreciated of the time: the proverbial Vinum Falernum.

The cultural innovations of the ancient Romans are described by Columella who, in De re rustica (1st century AD), describes the appearance of the vineyards of the time.

Initially, following the Etruscan model, the Romans arranged the rows at a distance of about three meters from each other, using trees or wooden poles to support the individual vines.

Subsequently, they moved on to woven canes and, finally, structures similar to the more modern guyot.

Thanks to Roman agricultural expertise, their vineyards were able to produce up to one hundred and fifty quintals per hectare, with a yield completely similar to today's, producing several hundred hectolitres of wine.

Winemaking and oenology: techniques and recipes

Columella is the one who tells us about the winemaking techniques used at the time.

First of all, the ripe grapes were harvested with small sickles, placed in special baskets and taken to the cellar.

The unripe grapes, set aside, were used to produce wine for the slaves.

Similar to the Georgian qvevri, the must was fermented in amphorae (dolia), buried in order to keep the temperature, humidity and oxygenation under control.

If the fermentation, clearly spontaneous, was not controllable, there was no lack of some adulterations aimed at improving the appearance and flavor of the wines produced.

For example, if the wine was too cloudy, whipped egg whites or goat's milk were used to clarify it; or, wines that were too alcoholic were cut with lighter wines.

In any case, salt, sea water or resin were added to most of the wines produced, with the exception of the best wines, which were simply enriched with defrutum, a concentrated must that, thanks to the high concentration of sugars, was able to increase the alcohol content by one or two percentage points.

Finally, extracts of herbs, honey, flowers and various spices were often added to the wine produced in this way, giving rise to an incredible variety of aromatized wines that, not infrequently, were cooked in combination with special herbal infusions.

Wine: the first of Roman trades

Trade and export

To understand the extent of the wine trade for the Romans, just think of the Testaccio hill – from mons testaceum, literally a hill of shards –, an artificial hill 850 meters wide and 35 meters high that arose following the accumulation of shards of amphorae (wine and oil together) that were thrown here on the way to the nearby Emporium.

The export of wine began as early as the 3rd century BC, when production far exceeded domestic demand.

Soon after, the harvests became so abundant that the Romans had to take viticulture elsewhere, as the Greeks had done before them.

They thus arrived in Provence, on the Rhine in Germany and in Spain, bringing with them the vine and the know-how developed over centuries of wine production.

In the very first centuries of the Christian era, many Italian vineyards were abandoned due to the shortage of slaves who could take care of them, but the thirst of the Romans did not diminish and, in this period, they became the main importers of wine, especially from Gaul and Spain.

How did the Romans drink?

Already from the variety of ingredients used during the winemaking process it is clear that the wine that the Romans drank had radically different characteristics to those we are used to today.

But the way of consuming it was also very different.

In fact, it was a widespread habit to dilute wine with water, hot or cold depending on individual tastes and the season - merum, or pure wine, was appreciated only by drunkards.

During official banquets, then, the magister bibendi had great importance, that is, the one who had to establish how much the diner should drink during the dinner, and in what proportion to dilute the wine.

In the most noble families, we also find some figures comparable to our sommeliers, the haustores, who were responsible for dividing the wines according to their qualitative characteristics and based on their use.

Finally, although in Rome wine almost completely lost the mystical-religious dimension it had in Greece, propitiatory toasts remained a widespread practice.

To wish a friend or loved one a speedy recovery, to pay homage to a deceased person or to celebrate a deity, or simply as a wish for good luck.

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