THE ROMANS - PART 1

During their relationship with the Etruscans -which implied political, economic and cultural contacts and collisions-, the Romans had been learning viticulture techniques, since the epoch of the first kings. After conquering Latium and at the end of the Punic wars, viticulture developed so much that even Cato the Censor (234-149 B.C.) wrote that, while buying an estate, it was a good habit to give priority to the vines. That's why his advise was to favour -even before the cultivation of olive-trees- the cultivation of willow-trees from which to produce wicker for tieing up the branches.

In the period between Cato and Pliny the Younger (61-113 AD) viticulture reached very high levels and wine was comsumed even in public selling places ("thermopolia"). Exportation was also very important and Ostia port became a real wine emporium.

At the beginning of the Imperial Age, viticulture was wide-ranging and was practiced also on fertile soils in order to get higher productions which were necessary to satisfy exportation and the increasing internal consumption. The main consequence was the reduction of the cultivation of other products, such as cereals. That's why -according to what Suetonius wrote in his "De vita Caesarum" (About Emperors' Life"- the emperor Domitian in the year 92 prohibited the setting up of new vineyards, and obliged people to explant the vineyards already existing in the Roman provinces.

Technical progress in viticulture was described and favoured also by a vast literature which was enriched by the knowledge and experience of other Mediterranean populations. It reached significant levels with important works by eminent authors: Marco Porcio Cato in his "De agricoltura" (About Agriculture) wrote about the patrimony of knowledge Latin people accumulated in five centuries; Marco Terenzio Varro wrote "Res rusticae" (Country Subjects); Publio Virgilio Maron in book 4 of his "Georgics" exhorted people to choose country-life; Pliny the Elder in his scientific treaty "Naturalis Historia" (Natural History) dedicated many chapters to vine-pruning, manuring, deseases, up to the listing of different varieties; but most of all, Lucio Moderato Columella in his "De re rustica" (About Country Subjects) wrote about biologic concepts and technical directies still today considered valid and efficacious.

Also the patrimony of grape varieties was remarkable. They were divided into table and wine typologies, the latter differentiated into three distinct classes according to the quality of the relative wine. Columella spoke of 58 varieties, 12 of which were table grapes; Pliny spoke of about 80 high quality wines, and about one hundred medium and low quality wines, most of them reserved to the plebs.

During this great period of wine culture, not only theorists wrote about it, but also poets such as Tibullus, Ovid, Martial, Catullus, Juvenal, and, last but not least, Horace.

According to the techniques of the age, grape gatherers -together with bearers- cut grapes using a sickle and put them into baskets suitable to be carried on waggons, pack animals or on slaves' shoulders. After the harvest, grapes were selected according to the use they were destined to: table product, high-quality wine, or low-quality wine for the slaves. Gropes were squeezed in the open air, sometimes under a canopy. Only years later a proper area was created, called "calcatorium", where grapes were squeezed inside stone or wood tanks. The first squeezing produced a virgin must -"lixivium"- served with honey as an aperitif; then there was the real squeezing performed by the "calcatores" who, holding on to poles, used to jump, often at the rhythm of musical instruments. The must they obtained -"calcatum"- and the "lixivium" were put inside huge vases, while marcs went to the press from which they got a tannic must used to make a poor wine also called "circumsitum". From the remaining marcs the made "vinello", adding some water.

The must gathered into "dalium" fermented, and after a few days -sometimes even one month- precious wines were put inside smaller containers, while the others continued fermenting up to consumption time.

The selection of ageing wines happened in spring. Wines were tasted by experts who classified them according to their flavour and colour. These wines were kept in a room called "aphoteca", situated on the upper floor, on top of the kitchens and bathrooms, so that the steam and heat coming from fires used for cooking or boiling water could accelerate their maturing.

Another method was to leave vases under the sun. Aged wines were then transported to "tabulatum", which was usually a fresh room. May wine, still young, was poured into narrow-and-cylindrical-neck amphorae which were put in a vertical position in holes dug in the sand. These amphorae had a capacity of 30 liters and on them they wrote the "consular" year, the wine name and the producer. The amphorae -hermetically closed with corks or terra-cotta covers sealed with pitch- were used both for shipping transportation and ageing. Good Falerno was drunk after 10 years, instead Sorrento wines after 25 years.

(To be continued)

    7.    The whole story        9.