History of Wine in age 'ancient

Autore: prof. Marco Migliardi Sommelier AIS

index
From Prehistory to History the Egyptians The Greeks The Etruscans (ancient civilizations central Italy) The Romans
Nota: lasterisco in una slide indica la presenza di una nota

the origins
Vitis vinifera (grape plant) is 50 million years "start" from India expanded in Asia and Mesopotamia. Later in the Mediterranean The origin of the word wine (VINO) is the Sanskrit word "Vena" = love, from which: Venus Then the obvious analogy between vine = life The cultivation of the vine is Neolithic, first grew spontaneously

1 first finds
1996 Mary Voigt discovered in the Neolithic village of Hajji Firuz Tepe in the Zagros mountains of 9 liters a jar with residue of grapes and wine dated 5100 years BC But perhaps the first wine was made for the event 10000 years ago in the Caucasus The first seems to have been the Muscat grape varieties and Syrah

Giara di Firuz Tepe

first citation
time of Gilgamesh, legendary king of the Sumerian 4000 BC, about is probably the first mention of wine Then in the Bible that dates back to NOE is the first vines planted after the flood and also the first drunk (Genesis 9) The sacred nature of the wine is present in every culture

Ebbrezza di No di Michelangelo e di Bellini

Altre testimonianze
To 2,300 BC date from the first documents on grape growing and wine production, from Ebla The findings in the basement of Godin Tepe in Iran show that wine was produced from the middle of the third mill. From this time the voices "grape", "dried grapes", "wine", are becoming increasingly common in Mesopotamian cuneiform texts During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries there are numerous literary references from the Canaanite city-state ("... we drink a glass of wine in the golden cup the blood of the vine.") The Mesopotamian iconography illustrates the different aspects of the grape harvest and wine making, highlighting the elite and ritualistic nature of this consumption.

The diffusion of the wine

The first wine

He was born by accident, by a spontaneous fermentation due to yeasts present on the grape skins It initially produced by spontaneous varieties, and was probably very bitter But served as the basis for other types of beverage In fact, there was added water (sometimes the sea!), Honey, spices, tar (!) Often resin, which was used to make it waterproof containers of clay

Egypt
Known as producers of beer made from barley, the Egyptians also cultivated the vine in the Nile Delta. Several frescoes at Thebes prove the product of the vine The wine was mostly red, was preserved in jars, and was often used for religious rites

Wine, sacred drink

Spiritual significance: it was consumed only in religious ceremonies, and its use was reserved for the powerful The vines were grown only on land owned by the temple priests or The sale was prohibited in order to emphasize its religious and sacrificial prominence compared to beer

The Egyptian amphorae

Narrow neck and two handles, easy to transport by ship (each will be similar in ancient times)
Hermetically sealed and the seals that reported the name of the pharaoh and the data on wine (the production area, year, type, rating)

Egyptian amphora with his cap and (below) inscription on the seal

 From Egypt, the wine is popular among Jews, Arabs, Phoenicians and Greeks. These two people contributed to the spread of wine in the Western Med But every region of the Med has produced wine in a period of its history, and between those of Mesopotamia, which has not the right climate The grapes came from the North and were probably transported in wooden casks of palm up to Kish y Ur, Babylon, the current The palm wood can not work and it is likely that the trunk was hollowed out inside to obtain a container.

The Mediterranean basin

 The Cretans cultivated and traded wine The Achaeans imported from them the techniques of cultivation of the vine and olive (Mycenaeans) The Achaeans followed a stage of barbarism remembered as the "Dark Age" (Dori) The revival came to the eighth century BC arose when the polis, reappeared and flourished writing all activities including agriculture.

The Minoan-Mycenaean

the colonies
But thanks to the escape of the Achaeans were born the first colonies in Magna Graecia The Greeks brought the vines well in North Africa, Andalusia, Provence, Sicily and Southern Italy * And immediately he developed effective techniques of viticulture (vine low) It 's also the invention of the Greek winepress (100 BC)

The processing of wine in Greece

After crushing, the juice was poured into jars lined with pitch inside and here was boiled until it reduces about half. The jars were closed with a layer of oil. Many interventions were made to improve the wine's body, to help strengthen the seasoning and the flavor:
1. Was added to the resin or the infusions were made with branches of pine and cypress 2. could be added as bitter almonds, saffron, red clover, cranberry juice or crushed elderberries. 3.To clarify the wine, the Greeks pulverized shells of snails and mussels, salt crystals, acorns, hazelnut oil, or pitch added 4.Sometimes a torch dipped in juice or a hot iron.

The greek wine

Definitely had a taste very different from today He preferred very sweet wine made from raisins Often the sweetness was concentrated by boiling, which reduced the amount of water For storage, the resin was used (Retsina)
A satyr and a faun are preparing the mixture of wine and water.

The cups of wine

The kylix is a pottery bowl, ancient Greece, used to drink wine Reached the height of the diffusion from the late sixth century to the fourth century, when the wine cup kantharos became more widespread.

A young man is about to fill his wine Kylix. 490 BC Kantharos attic of 420 BC

 Wine in Greece had a divine character, as the gift of Dionysus men Its consumption was subject to some rules that made it a veritable ritual under the control of the god The main rule was that you should never drink alone but in groups: in Symposium This ceremony is also widespread in Italy and its popularity remained intact for centuries The wine was mixed with water and was contained in the crater at the center of the room. The dilution was up to the task of "symposiarch" which also led the conversation The adage "in vino veritas" is attributed to the poet Alcaeus, and referred to the action of liberating wine that facilitates communication

the symposium

the kottabos
The kottabos or Cottabo was a very popular game It consisted in throwing the last drops of wine left in the cup to hit the caps placed on auction The plates were placed in a precarious balance and had to drop them to the drop wish meaning

The drink of Dionysus

The wine was also a sacred drink and is dedicated verses and poems (Homer) * Greek mythology also recognized a god of wine, Dionysus (Bacchus in Rome, among the Etruscans Fufluns) The initiation into the cult of this deity included drinking wine and were celebrated in his honor called "Dionysian orgies"

Birth of Dionysus from the thigh of Zeus

 It seems that Dionysius was kidnapped by pirates while traveling to etruscan Italy He demonstrates his divinity making the miraculous birth and climb a tree lives on the ship Then turns pirates into dolphins. A painter depicts the scene in 550 BC

Dioniso

The satyrs

This amphora of 540 BC was decorated by Amasis of Athens, shows the Satyrs engaged in harvesting. A satyr collects the grapes, another presses in a vat from which the juice drips directly into an underground tank where fermentation will take place, three others involved in the cellar.

The poet Alcaeus

Often you see the wine in his poems. In a fragment describes a cold winter scenery that is sweetened intimate atmosphere of the symposium * In other verses urges to drink in moderation ** The wine guaranteed the truth of the thoughts, which proved the sincerity of his friend *** And the toast was to emphasize the rare moments of happiness as the death of the tyrant ****
((a sin) il poeta Alceo. (sotto) Coppa a figure rosse di Epleios, Ca. 510 a.C un personaggio imberbe mischia il vino con l'acqua con uno skyphos

The wine and the Greek philosophers

For (Socrates), Plato, the wine is the perfect introduction to philosophical meditation because it helps to uncover the hidden truth Aristotle has an opposite position: obscures the reasoning and the wine is an aggravation of any crime Therefore advised to boil the wine to lighten alcohol and preaches the need for moderation With Plutarch's judgment about wine is even more sternly refuses the wine if you want to be a philosopher *

 The Greeks called it Oenotria arrived in southern Italy, from the name of the pole supporting the plant grapes This shows that the screw was already present In Sicily, was brought by the Phoenicians 2000 years BC and we also introduced new ways of winemaking Throughout the Magna Grecia, the screw is expanded quickly, even at Sybaris the Greeks built a wineduct that carries the wine to the port

Wine in Ancient Greece

The Wine in Northern Italy

The wine was released after the eighth century. Thanks also to the north to a warmer climate Finding of seeds In Veneto have found some situlae, sort of wine vessels, bronze or terracotta They produced all kinds of wine: white, red, dry, sweet, light, heavy, and much depended on the methods of cultivation Italic The great wines came from tall trees

The Etruscans (ancient civilizations central Italy)

The leap in quality wine italics you should, however, to the Etruscans And 'certainly exported from Tuscany screws and techniques throughout northern Italy, including the trees, the vine that grows up to 15 m. tied to a tree guardian The Piedmont Nebbiolo is native grafts from Etruscan

The two cultures

Cultural boundary between the areas of viticulture inspired Greek and Etruscan In South precious vines of oriental origin, with forms of farming low strain and pruning. The center-north of the screw brought guardian live with long pruning

Greek lives

Wooded Etruscan and (below) the pergola

The Etruscan wine

There were numerous varieties of the Etruscans Sopina, Etesiaca, Talpona, etc. ... all listed by Pliny the Elder, and which are missing preparation: The first wort was generally consumed immediately the remainder was poured into earthenware container with the inner walls covered with pitch or resin The liquid was allowed to stand, foam for six months spring was filtered and poured into jars The resulting liquid was mixed, within craters, with honey and water, and poured into the cups of the guests.

the Tuscany
The screw was probably already present before the Etruscans and was then brought by the Phoenicians The Etruscans The "domesticated" With wine honoring the dead, along with dance and flutes. Many religious practices in honor of "Fufluns" (Bacchus), god of wine
Danze e libagioni in onore di Fufluns

The Etruscan society

On Etruscan frescoes, you see couples toasting and a vase found at Chiusi, you can see a woman who sang her a twin men sitting Contrary to what will happen to the Romans (King Numa Pompilius, despite being a winemaker, will ban women from drinking during the libations) Etruscan women enjoyed enormous freedom, drank wine and took part in banquets, laid on "klinai" next to their man. The Etruscan wine was very popular and was sung by many Latin poets *
Cntaro etrusco

Fresco Tomb of the Lepidi, Tarquinia.

businesses
The wine trade was very important species between 625 and 475 BC It was used as a bargaining chip to obtain raw materials (metals, salt, slaves) The trades were done mostly by sea Etruscan wine enthusiasts were the Celts, ancient inhabitants of southern Gaul. Flourishing was the trade with them as is testified by the numerous Etruscan material found in Celtic graves. * In the banquet, the Celts used the same principles pottery wine that was used in Etruria.

The 3 phases of the trade

phases a: Mycenaean and Phoenician colonization, the wine trade and religious elite to use, phases b: Greek commercial expansion of the seventh and sixth centuries BC, mostly from the Asian coast, from Samos and Phocaea. phases c: It is spreading in the West, thanks to the Etruscans, the myth of the wine, as evidenced by the above symposia dedicated to Dionysus.

Roma
From the first contact with the Etruscans, and still more after the conquest of 351 BC, the Romans began to learn the winemaking Over time the quality became very high levels

Trasporto di birra e vino. Stele funeraria romana, I sec.d.C.

During the imperial techniques and the screws were exported to all the conquered territories, even in Britain, especially along the rivers

The spread of the vine in 100 d.c.

The Wine Culture

Was favored by a large literature :
Marco Porcio Catone, "De agricoltura Marco Terenzio Varrone "Res rusticae Plinio il Vecchio, Naturalis Historia devotes entire chapters to the pruning of the vines, fertilization, disease and the numbers of the quality of the vines Lucio Moderato Columella "De re rustica" they are also exposed biological concepts and technical directives still considered valid and effective. Great poets like Virgilio, Tibullo, Ovidio, Marziale, Catullo, Giovenale e Orazio.

The vines
Considerable varietal heritage Table and Wine Grapes These were divided into three classes depending on the quality Pliny distinguishes between about 80 premium wines, for the nobility, and a hundred wines of medium and low quality, mostly used to plebs

The best wines

a

b c
de

a) b) c) d) e) f)

Raeticum Albanum Caecubum Falernum Pompejanum Mamertinum Some require long aging as Opimiam: drunk after 125 years!

The Falernum
Marziale wrote a catalog of wines, wellstocked and valuable documentary Stands out among all the Falerno, the king of wines, red and sweet, sweetened with honey and always very aged Instead, repudiated, and called the crude practice of drinking pure wine *

What was the Roman wine?

Always different from our Only in the last century of the Empire became more similar characteristics to the present She kept to age in the attic (like Madeira), or the sun (Banjuls) The Falerno was aging 10 years, even 25 Pompejano They had to be dense, bitter, alcohol excessively, almost always seasoned and always diluted with water or snow in summer *

Bacchus in a Pompeian fresco

Customs and Traditions

Manufacturers and dealers often resorted to adulteration. Ash was added to the wine, salt, grated chopped oysters and even sea water. These "additives" had to be designed to ensure conservation. Marziale speaks of a wine merchant (approximate) of Sorrento, mingled with scraps of fine wines in Palermo, obtaining a product of questionable quality but surely gain. Generally preferred to drink wine cold while those who served in the meals, were subjected to a filtration, using a linen cloth in which you put the snow, but also weakening them and making them fresh falsandone then the original flavor *

How much it cost

Was flourishing wine trade In Roman cities are :
the mensae vinariae, (retail sales of wine) tabernae vinarie (wine shops) The thermopolium (current bar)

A plaque 300d.C. shows the cost of wine: 10 Lira per liter for wine common meal and 30 Lira for Falernum. But from ancient writings show that Trimalchio he paid for a Falernum aged 100 years the sum of about four or five thousand lire a liter. (about 5000 euro a liter)

A Roman banquet

 Of course only the patricians could drink during meals, lying on couches More rare meals except to drink the health of friends It used to drink many cups how many letters in the name of the girl he loves * And with a glass of wine were erased concerns **

Who drank

Triclinio (roman sofa)

Terminology of wines
"calcatorium" where the grapes were crushed "lixivium", the mustvirgin "calcatores" those who are pressing circumsitum the wine of the last pressing "dolium" vessel containing the wort "aphoteca" the attic where the wine was aging "tabulatum" cool place where they brought the wines aged "simpulum Ladle to pour the wine into glasses "ptera", wide and low vessel phiala" a large bowl, similar to the greek kantharos, the most widely used container "Arbiter Bibendi the one who decided the amount of water to be added to the wine

Gifts

Dolium Roman could hold up to 1200 liters of wort

Simpulum

Phiala

Patera

Come si conservava
Non si faceva uso del vetro Come i Greci usavano le anfore di terracotta conservate spesso in cantine In Gallia si usavano gi piccole botti di legno da 35 litri

Anfore romane

La cantina romana del console Scaurus II sec. a.c.

Le cellae vinariaesono a nord affinch il sole non riscaldi il vino Si evita la presenza di letame, radici, bagni, forni e fogne, per paura che la loro vicinanza alteri il gusto del vino Invece si profumano con la mirra i vasi per dare buon gusto al vino e il locale La cantina conteneva 300mila anfore di quasi 195 specie di vino le anfore troppo panciute erano proibite

Wine and Christianity

From 380 A.D. Christianity is the official religion of the Roman Empire Christianity had symbols as those of the Mediterranean culture, where it was developed: bread, oil and wine Return to be sacred food (the eucharistic miracle) would break with the Jewish tradition that forbade fermented foods

Towards the Middle Ages

Christianity should be seen then as a follower of the Roman material culture and as a means for further dissemination of wine in Europe The first monks of the fourth and fifth centuries always brought in new monasteries which founded the culture of the vine. Thanks to them the wine survived the most obscure period: the Middle Ages

Bibliografia
G. Cavazzana, L. Innocenti, T. De Rosa, LA MIA CANTINA, Edizioni Librex, Milano, 1969 A. De Bernardi, S.Guarracino, SOCIET E STORIA, Mondadori, Milano, 1989 Longo, P. Scarpi, DELLA VITE E DEL VINO, Claudio Gallone Editore, 1999 E. SALZA PRINA RICOTTI, L'alimentazione ed il banchetto in epoca greca in L'arcano convito, Cultural publications of the Cassa di Risparmio di Verona. E. SALZA PRINA RICOTTI, Dossier: L'arte del bere nell'antichit in Archeo, n 81, November 1991, pp.62-105 Hug Johnson, Il Vino, Franco Muzzio Editore, 1991 Hugh Johnson, Fancis Robinson, Atlante mondiale dei vini, Mondadori Catarina Hiort af Ornas, LUniverso del vino, Enosis BILLIARD R., 1913, La Vigne dans lAntiquit. Libr. H. Lardanchet, Lione FREGONI M., 1991, Origini della vite e della viticoltura, Musumeci Ed., Quart MANFREDI V.M., 1996, I greci dellOccidente. A. Mondadori Ed., Milano MONTANARI 1999, La fame e labbondanza, Laterza, Bari M.DONA, 2003, Filosofia del vino, Bompiani, Milano

COLUMELLA, De Re rustica PLINIO IL VECCHIO (I sec.), Naturalis Historia, I-XXXV VARRONE, Res Rusticae I-II VIRGILIO, Georgiche, II III MARZIALE, Epigrammi ORAZIO, Odi