https://phys.org/news/2024-01-spicy-wine-reveals-ancient-romans.html
It's no secret that the ancient Romans were lovers of wine. So gripped by the grape were they, that they even worshiped a god—Bacchus—devoted to wine and merriment.
But, little is known about what their wine actually tasted like. Was it bitter or sweet? Fruity or earthy? According to a pioneering new study, it was rather spicy and smelled like toast.
The study, published on Jan. 23 in the journal Antiquity, analyzed Roman clay jars, known as dolia, which were used to manufacture, ferment and store ancient wines.
By comparing these vessels, which have long been overlooked, to similar containers used in modern wine-making, researchers were able to demystify the ancient flavors and the processes that created them.
The findings "change much of our current understanding of Roman winemaking," researchers, affiliated with multiple European institutions, said.
Dolia vessels were porous, egg-shaped containers that would have been partially buried underground and sealed during the wine-making process—all factors that would have contributed to the flavor palette of the finished product.
As a result of this process—and the addition of natural yeasts—the wine would have taken on a "slightly spicy" taste and given off the aroma of "toasted bread, apples, roasted walnuts and curry," researchers said.
Journal Reference:
Dimitri Van Limbergen et al, Making wine in earthenware vessels: a comparative approach to Roman vinification. Antiquity (2024) DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2023.193
(Score: 0, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 27 2024, @12:46AM (2 children)
sounds like something coming out of a wine snob's nose
(Score: 4, Insightful) by looorg on Saturday January 27 2024, @01:53AM
Sounds like something they make in a bag in prison. Just stuff everything you have down there. Taste doesn't matter as much. It's all about maximizing alcohol content.
Still how could this have been unknown? Have they not found untold quantities of amphora thru the ages? Nobody thought about swabbing the inside and running it thru some machines until now for content analysis? Highly doubtful I would say.
But perhaps the taste isn't all to surprising considering that ancient mead doesn't exactly taste like modern beer either. So different tastes, different processes.
So it had an aroma of its content then I would presume? Apples, Walnuts and grain. Curry flavored wine isn't something I would have guessed tho. But grapes, berries and fruits of all kinds would have been my first guess. If anything it reveals the massive trade network they had access to, since Curry isn't exactly a local spice. So it's fancy wine.
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Saturday January 27 2024, @09:40AM
With some acidic tones in the sputum.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by istartedi on Saturday January 27 2024, @01:29AM (1 child)
I'm given to understand that they considered drinking wine straight to be uncouth. They diluted it with water; but I'm not sure how much. In my experience, you want to drink water *with* wine to help prevent dehydration, but I've never tried diluting it. It just seems like it would not have enough flavor. I must be uncouth.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Thexalon on Saturday January 27 2024, @03:20AM
Records vary on this point, but yes, it was considered barbaric to drink your wine without water, in part because it would lead to extreme drunkenness. Adding wine to water was often done to help make the drink less likely to kill you, more than the flavoring really.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Opportunist on Saturday January 27 2024, @09:43AM (2 children)
Wine is after all an organic brew and changes with time. Can we say for sure that it isn't just like that because we examine it with a distance of like 2000 years and the changes it may have undergone in the time?
There's the story of how a pope wanted to see if the beer the Bavarians drank during the period of Lent was actually permissible, because of course Lent should be a period of hardship and not one to celebrate and be merry, so he wanted a keg of that brew to taste it himself. The barrel was shipped and of course refrigeration wasn't a thing back then, so the beer was spoiled when it arrived. Taking a sip from it, the pope allegedly said that the Bavarians are better at enduring Lent than he is if they can stomach this stuff.
(Score: 4, Informative) by looorg on Saturday January 27 2024, @02:26PM
Considering that wine turns to vinegar even in a modern setting with modern production methods I would assume it was even more common back then. Bacteria would probably be more common and the bottles are perhaps not as clean or as contained so there will be oxidation. So drink it fast.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Saturday January 27 2024, @04:41PM
Heck, how do we judge what a peculiar taste [youtu.be] really is, here in the year 2000-something-something?