Roman wines’ unusual features

[guy]

 

A recent study suggests that Roman wine had unusual characteristics.

Ancient wine had an unusual taste and texture.  The spicy flavor was created by the buried dolia (Roman pots of wine). Being buried, the temperature was well controlled while the wine aged.

The clay vessels also gave the wine a “drying sensation” in the mouth.

 

The narrow base of fermentation means that the grapes were separated from the wine, giving the liquid an orange color.

 

https://www.newsweek.com/how-roman-wine-tasted-archaeologists-1862792

 

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/21CE9DC73E121EE173E902625E9E559D/S0003598X2300193Xa.pdf/making_wine_in_earthenware_vessels_a_comparative_approach_to_roman_vinification.pdf

Edited March 31 by guy

[guidoLaMoto]

On viniculture, wine making and wines:

Pliny The Natural History Ch 14, 17 & 23 https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137

 

--also on wine  & drinking styles  (Chapter 8-- Johnston's The Private Lives of the Romans  http://www.forumromanum.org/life/johnston_8.html

I like the technical detail in your second reference in regards clay vessel design and circulation patterns as the wine ferments. Do you really think they put any thought into designing things this way, or is just a fortuitous accident that it worked out so well?

Edited January 24 by guidoLaMoto

[guy]

 

On 1/23/2024 at 10:31 PM, guidoLaMoto said:

I like the technical detail in your second reference in regards clay vessel design and circulation patterns as the wine ferments. Do you really think they put any thought into designing things this way, or is just a fortuitous accident that it worked out so well?

Thank you for reading this post. I have no expertise in making wine, so I really can't comment with any authority. It seems to me, however, the archaeological evidence for the use of wooden barrels for winemaking is less likely to have survived the millennia. We can't, therefore, be sure how prevalent the use of earthenware dolia in Ancient Rome was in comparison to wooden barrels. We also don't know whether the use of dolia was more regional or widespread, either.

 

Quote

The basic course of vinification in both qvevri and dolia, as revealed by modern anthropological observations and ancient sources, is remarkably similar. Fermentation in Roman winemaking was spontaneous and entirely dependant on the yeasts present on the grapes. This reliance on natural yeasts partly explains the practice of treading in Antiquity, with grapes gently squeezed (without breaking stems and seeds, which imparts unpleasant flavours) and fermentation put in motion immediately to reduce the risk of failure. Primary fermentation—the first so-called tumultuous phase in which the bulk of the sugars are turned into alcohol—lasted nine to 30 days, during which the dolia were kept open. The jars were then topped up with more must (to minimise air contact) and sealed with a plastered terracotta disc (operculum) or wooden lid or simply with animal skins (Columella, Res Rustica 12.28.3, 12.39.2; Forster & Heffner 2001). Occasionally, a second convex terracotta cover (tectorium) provided further protection (Thurmond 2017). The use of such lids is confirmed archaeologically, as seen at Villa Regina and Pisanella (Dodd 2022: 470, fig. 14). Judging the correct moment to seal the dolia was not always easy, and Varro (Res Rustica 1.13.6; Hooper & Ash 2006) describes dolia cracking under the pressure of unreleased carbon dioxide. Once sealed, the wine remained in the dolia for five to six months until they were opened at the spring equinox (Columella, Res Rustica 12.30; Forster & Heffner 2001).

 

Edited January 25 by guy

[guidoLaMoto]

Thank you for posting on all these interesting topics...

My question was rhetorical. Of course they didn't design the vessels with fluid circulation patterns in mind. They designed them for ease of construction and durability. The hemispherical bottom was sturdier than a vessel with straight sides and a right angle at a flat bottom....The amphora was designed to stack snuggly in such a way as to form stable piles in the hold of a bobbing sailing ship....and in later days, the wooden barrel was designed to lay on its side to roll in loading and unloading-- the wider middle section allowed a rolled barrel to turn around corners easily.