Roman Wine in Barbaricum. Preliminary Studies on Ancient Wine Recreation

Iwona Feier,Mateusz Jackowski,Marta Pietruszka,Aleksandra Migała

doi:10.3390/heritage2010022

Iwona Feier, Mateusz Jackowski + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage2010022

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Abstract

Ancient Roman wine is found outside of the borders of the Roman world as a result of the Roman influence, trade and political relations. In our project, we decided to extensively research and recreate the ancient method of wine making in order to understand ancient viticulture and viniculture as it could have been if implemented outside of the borders. The objective was to recreate roman wine using ancient methods based on ancient texts (such as Columella, Pliny the Elder, Cicero, Cato the Elder, Galenus and Mago). The wine was made using modern grapes grown on lands considered by the Romans as barbaric (i.e., outside the Roman Limes), in modern Poland. The aim of the project—except for the wine making itself—was to measure the level of alcohol created through fermentation process. Ethanol levels in samples were obtained using gas chromatography (GC).

Highlights

Grapes are among the oldest fruits in the world
The taste waswas very intense, sweet, and spicy, so it was necessary to dilute the wine before consumption
The ongoing project will include advanced analyses of different types of ancient Roman wine currently being produced from various types of grapes. Our experiment proves it possible to produce wine using the ancient Roman method and contemporary grapes grown on former barbaric lands

Summary

Introduction

Grapes are among the oldest fruits in the world. Several dozens of species belonging to the Vitaceae family have been discovered and meticulously described. According to the most recent research, modern grapevines (Vitis vinifera sativa) originated from a wild grape of the Vitis vinifera subsp. Wild grapevines used to occur in the Eurasian region which spread westwards from Central Asia to the Iberian Peninsula and southwards from the Crimea to Northern Africa in the warm periods of the Pleistocene and Holocene [2]. It is believed that domestication of wild grapes was due to the crossing of wild and domesticated strains [3]. Vitis vinifera has been used mainly for the production of wine and this alcoholic drink was an important part of the ancient Meditearranean diet

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