Wine in Ancient Rome

[guy]

 

There have been a few discussions on Roman wine drinking (see link below). Max Miller does an excellent job describing wine preparation and consumption in the video below, citing ancient Roman sources:

 

Quote

 

“Falernian that elicits the most praise. Made from the Aminean grape, "a producer of exceedingly good wine," according to Columella, it was brought to Italy by Greek colonists who first settled at Cumae near the Bay of Naples. 

Distillation was unknown in the ancient world (and would not be discovered until the early middle ages); wine, therefore, was the strongest drink of the Romans. Falernian was full-bodied (firmissima), with an alcohol content as much as fifteen or sixteen percent (at which point the yeast is killed by the alcohol it produces). A white wine, it was aged for ten to twenty years, until it was the color of amber (Pliny, XXXVII.12)“

 

https://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/wine/wine.html

https://www.unrv.com/economy/wine.php

Edited January 28 by guy

[caesar novus]

I thought the Roman practice was to water down wines just before drinking. The alcohol served as a preservative in long term storage or transportation, then you use your local source of reliable water to take the hangover edge off it and maybe hide off tastes of water. I also hate water, maybe after seeing our untreated well uncovered to see slimy yuck vegetation inside.

I cannot get excited about wine and only use one of the better boxed variety to squirt an ounce of red into resealable bottles of diet cola to mask the fake sugar taste. After you reseal, do a slow head over heels tumble of the bottle and you can usually reopen the bottle without volcano of foam. Yummy and supposedly healthy, although I can't understand how red wine antioxidants can be more healthy than those in tangy grape juice which I stir into applesauce.

I have one weakness in the alcohol realm, which is non-Bailey Irish Cream Whiskey. Bailey is so overpriced and candified (I once found an eyeball sized lump of hopefully caramel in their bottle). Carolans for example has a better, clean taste at half the price and is avail in large 1.75l pirate jugs with large handles. If the Roman alkies had access to this velvety way of pickling their brains, maybe fewer monuments would have gotten done.

Edited December 5, 2021 by caesar novus

[guy]

3 hours ago, caesar novus said:

I can't understand how red wine antioxidants can be more healthy than those in tangy grape juice which I stir into applesauce.

Good question. I would guess that the fermentation of the dark red or purple grapes involved in making red wine might make the antioxidants (such as resveratrol) more bioavailable than in juice. I can’t find any definitive study proving that hypothesis, however.
 

Red wine has more antioxidants than white wine. The skin, which is rich in antioxidants, is used in the fermentation process of red wine. 
 

White wine, on the other hand, is frequently made with lighter colored grapes, and the skins are separated from the juice before the fermentation process. 

Edited December 5, 2021 by guy