What did Roman wine taste like?

By Owain Williams

One thing that the Romans are closely associated with is wine (and viticulture more generally). In the sources, wine appears as a core element of life across the social spectrum. In archaeology, many surviving artefacts are drinking equipment, such as cups, vases, and bottles. In modern films, emperors nearly always have wine near to hand. Despite this seeming ubiquity, we do not know how Roman wine actually tasted.

Recent research, however, focusing on the study of the vessels used in wine fermentation, believe that Roman wine would have numbered among the modern world’s finest wines were it still made today. In their study, the researchers compared Roman dolia – large, globular vessels that were used to ferment wine – with Georgian vessels, called qvervi, which are still in use in traditional Georgian wine production (granted protected status by UNESCO in 2013). Traditional Georgian wine production, much like that of the Romans, involved placing the globular qvervi vessels in the ground, and this similarity allowed the researchers to compare the two approaches. 

As both dolia and qvervi are made of clay, the wine is exposed to air as it ferments. Both vessels’ globular shape means that the fermenting must moves vessel, leading to a more balanced wine. As both vessel types are buried in the ground, the wines are kept at a stable temperature for a prolonged period of time. Moreover, due to the practice of burying the fermentation vessels, yeasts form on the surface of the fermenting must, typically ‘flor’ yeasts, giving the wine a spicy taste. Finally, during the fermentation process in clay vessels, the wine is exposed to the grape solids for longer than more modern methods would when producing white or rosé wines, meaning the finished wine more like a modern ‘orange’ wine.

Roman wines, therefore, would have been like modern orange wines in colour, but with a spicy taste. What’s more, wine presses may actually have been used for more than just pressing grapes throughout the year, with the grindstones possibly being used in the production of other foodstuffs and even in laundry. These other activities would surely have imparted some flavour to the grapes. 

So, when you sit down to read the next issue of Ancient History – issue 51: ‘Alcohol in Antiquity’ – make sure you sit down with a glass of orange wine to get the full experience!