WINE . . . ROMAN STYLE
It’s well-established that the Romans liked their wine. In fact, it’s believed that many drank as much as a liter a day each! But what did it actually taste like? Did it bear any similarity to what we consume today? Recent research is shedding new light on its flavor, aroma and texture. According to a study published in the journal ANTIQUITY, Roman wine tasted somewhat spicy, smelling of “toasted bread, apples, roasted walnuts and curry.” The Romans were able to make much better, more tasty and much more stable wines than is commonly assumed,” lead author Dimitri Van Limbergen, an archaeologist at Ghent University in Belgium, commented. The new study examines clay pots called dolia, which the Romans used to store, ferment and age wines and were an essential tool in the art of winemaking. Far from being mundane storage vessels, dolia were precisely engineered containers whose “composition, size and shape all contributed to the successful production of diverse wines,” note the researchers. Dolia were a staple of ancient wine production for hundreds of years and were common in everyday Roman homes, with some households owning their own vessels. Ancient winemaking is akin to a modern Georgian method, according to the researchers: Dolia are similar to qvevri, large clay vessels that Georgians bury underground to ferment wine. According to Van Limbergen and co-author Paulina Komar, an archaeologist at the University of Warsaw, the Romans buried dolia up to their mouths and sealed them with lids to regulate temperature, humidity and pH during fermentation. The clay vessels were porous and coated with pitch on the inside (qvevri are coated with beeswax), allowing for a carefully controlled oxidation process. Dolia also have narrow bases, which allow solids from the grapes to sink to the bottom of the jar and separate from the wine, resulting in an orange color. Roman wines weren’t separated into reds and whites so resulting colors ranged based on grapes macerated on the skin. The conditions created by burying the vessels also influence the wine’s unique characteristics: Inside the vessels, flor yeasts develop on the wine’s surface, which creates chemical compounds like sotolon. These, in turn, result in a distinctive flavor and aroma. “Ancient wines made from white grapes and made according to techniques we discuss are bound to have tasted oxidative, with complex aromas of toasted bread, dried fruits (apricots, for example), roasted nuts (walnuts, almonds), green tea, and with a very dry and sappy mouth feeling (lots of tannins in the wines from the skins of the grapes),” noted Van Limbergen. Of course, the next step is to reproduce these wines so the public can try them and have a sip of history!
