Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-p2v8j Total loading time: 0.001 Render date: 2024-06-03T07:23:12.628Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Making wine in earthenware vessels: a comparative approach to Roman vinification

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2024

Dimitri Van Limbergen Open the ORCID record for Dimitri Van Limbergen [Opens in a new window]  and
Paulina Komar Open the ORCID record for Paulina Komar [Opens in a new window]
Dimitri Van Limbergen*
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
Paulina Komar
Affiliation:
Faculty of History, University of Warsaw, Poland
*
*Author for correspondence ✉ Dimitri.VanLimbergen@UGent.be
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Wine was deeply embedded in all aspects of Roman life and its role in society, culture and the economy has been much studied. Ancient Roman texts and archaeological research provide valuable insights into viticulture and the manufacture, trade and consumption of wine but little is known of the sensory nature of this prized commodity. Here, the authors offer a novel oenological approach to the study of Roman dolia through their comparison with modern Georgian qvevri and associated wine-production techniques. 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 with specific organoleptic characteristics.

Keywords

ItalyGeorgiaRoman archaeologyviticulturevinificationdoliaqvevri
Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 98 , Issue 397 , February 2024 , pp. 85 - 101
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Antiquity Publications Ltd

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexandre, H. 2013. Flor yeasts of Saccharomyces cerevisiae—their ecology, genetics and metabolism. International Journal of Food Microbiology 167(2): 269–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2013.08.021CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Aoyagi, M., De Simone, A. & De Simone, G.F.. 2018. The ‘Villa of Augustus’ at Somma Vesuviana, in Marzano, A. & Métraux, G.P.R. (ed.) Roman villas on or near the Bay of Naples and maritime villas: 141–56. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Arobba, D., Caramiello, R. & Martino, G.P.. 1997–1998. Analisi paleobotaniche di resine dal relitto navale romano del Golfo Dianese. Rivista di Studi Liguri 43–4: 339–55.Google Scholar
Balmelle, C. & Brun, J.P.. 2005. La vigne et le vin dans la mosaïque romaine et byzantine, in Morlier, H. (ed.) La mosaïque gréco-romaine 9: 899–921. Rome: École Française de Rome (in French).Google Scholar
Barisashvili, G. 2011. Making wine in qvevri: a unique Georgian tradition. Tbilisi: Elkana.Google Scholar
Barnard, H., Dooley, A.N., Areshian, G., Gasparyan, B. & Faull, K.F.. 2011. Chemical evidence for wine production around 4000 BCE in the Late Chalcolithic Near Eastern highlands. Journal of Archaeological Science 38: 977–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2010.11.012CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beck, L.Y. 2005. Dioscorides. De materia medica by Pedanius Dioscorides. Hildesheim: Olms.Google Scholar
Bonet Rosado, H., Fumadó Ortega, I., Aranegui Gascó, C., Hassini, H. & Vives-Ferrándiz Sánchez, J.. 2005. La ocupación mauritana, in Gascó, C. Aranegui (ed.) Lixus-2 Ladera Sur: excavaciones arqueológicas maroco-españolas en la colonia fenicia, Campañas 2000–2003 (Sagvntvm Extra 6): 87–140. Valence: Universitat de Valencia–Institut National des Sciences de l’Archéologie et du Patrimoine.Google Scholar
Boulay, T. 2012. Les technique vinicoles grecques, des vendanges aux Anthestéries: nouvelles perspectives. Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne 7: 95–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boulay, T. 2018. Tastes of wine: sensorial wine analysis in ancient Greece, in Rudolph, K.C. (ed.) Taste and the ancient senses: 197–211. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bouvier, M. 2000. Recherches sur les goûts des vins antiques. Pallas 53: 115–33.Google Scholar
Brun, J.P. 2003. Le vin et l'huile dans la Méditerranée antique: viticulture, oléiculture et proceeds de fabrication. Paris: Errance.Google Scholar
Brun, J.P. 2004. Archéologie du vin et de l'huile: de la préhistoire à l’époque hellénistique. Paris: Errance.Google Scholar
Bryant, V.M.J. & Murry, J.R.M.. 1982. Preliminary analysis of amphora contents, in Bass, G.F. & Van Doorninck, F.H. Jr. (ed.) Yassi Ada: a seventh-century Byzantine shipwreck: 327–31. College Station: Texas A&M University Press.Google Scholar
Budroni, M., Giodano, G., Pinna, G. & Farris, G.A.. 2000. A genetic study of natural flor strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae isolated during biological ageing from Sardinian wines. Journal of Applied Microbiology 89: 657–62. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2672.2000.01163.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Busana, M.S. In press. Wine production in the Roman west: the role of artificial heating, in Van Limbergen, D. & Dodd, E. (ed.) Vine-growing and winemaking in the Roman world. Leuven: Peeters.Google Scholar
Capece, A., Siesto, G., Poeta, C., Pietrafesa, R. & Romano, P.. 2013. Indigenous yeast population from Georgian aged wines produced by traditional ‘Kakhetian’ method. Food Microbiology 36: 447–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fm.2013.07.008CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carrato, C. 2017. Le Dolium en Gaule Narbonnaise (Ier s. av. J.-C.–IIIe s. ap. J.C.): contribution à l'histoire socio-économique de la Méditerranée nord-occidentale. Bordeaux: Ausonius.Google Scholar
Carrato, C. & Cibecchini, F. (ed.) 2020. Nouvelles recherches sur les Dolia: l'exemple de la Méditerranée nord-occidentale à l’époque romaine (Ier s. av. J.-C. – IIIe s. ap. J.C.): actes de la table ronde tenue à Aspiran les 26 et 27 Septembre 2013. Montpellier: Association de la Revue archéologique de Narbonnaise.Google Scholar
Carrato, C., Ferreras, V. Martínez, Dautria, J.-M. & Bois, M.. 2019. The biggest opus doliare production in Narbonese Gaul revealed by archaeometry (first to second centuries A.D.). ArcheoSciences, revue d’Archéométrie 43: 69–82. https://doi.org/10.4000/archeosciences.6257CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carroll, M. 2022. Viticulture, opus doliare, and the patrimonium Caesaris at the Roman imperial estate at Vagnari (Puglia). Journal of Roman Archaeology 35: 221–46. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1047759421000726CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheung, C. 2021. Managing food storage in the Roman Empire. Quaternary International 597: 63–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.08.007CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheung, C., Chang, S. & Tibbott, G.. 2022. Calculating dolium capacities and material use. Archaeometry 64: 798–814. https://doi.org/10.1111/arcm.12733CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chic García, G. 1978. Acerca de un ánfora con pepitas de uvas encontrada en la Punta de la Nao (Cádiz). Boletín del Museo de Cádiz 1: 37–41.Google Scholar
Chkhartishvili, N. & Maghradze, D.. 2012. Viticulture and winemaking in Georgia, in Maghradze, D., Rustioni, L., Turok, J., Scienza, A. & Failla, O. (ed.) Caucasus and northern Black Sea region ampelography (VITIS–Journal of Grapevine Research 51, special issue): 169–76. Siebeldingen: Julius Kühn-Institut.Google Scholar
Cordero-Bueso, G., Ruiz-Muñoz, M., González-Moreno, M., Chirino, S., Del Carmen Bernal-Grande, M. & Cantoral, J. Manuel. 2018. The microbial diversity of sherry wines. Fermentation 4: 19. https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation4010019CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dalby, A. 2011. Geoponika. farm work: a modern translation of the Roman and Byzantine farming handbook. Devon: Prospect Books.Google Scholar
De Caro, S. 1994. La villa rustica in località Villa Regina a Boscoreale. Rome: L'Erma di Bretschneider.Google Scholar
De Lorenzis, G. et al. 2019. SNP genotyping elucidates the genetic diversity of Magna Graecia grapevine germplasm and its historical origin and dissemination. BMC Plant Biology 19. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-018-1576-yCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Díaz, C., Larie, V.F., Molina, A.M, Bucking, M. & Fischer, R.. 2013. Characterization of selected organic and mineral components of qvevri wines. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 64: 532–7. https://doi.org/10.5344/ajev.2013.13027CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dodd, E.K. 2020. Roman and Late Antique wine production in the eastern Mediterranean: a comparative archaeological study at Antiochia ad Cragum (Turkey) and Delos (Greece) (Archaeopress Roman Archaeology 63). Oxford: Archaeopress.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dodd, E.K. 2022. The archaeology of wine production in Roman and pre-Roman Italy. American Journal of Archaeology 126: 443–80. https://doi.org/10.1086/719697CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dougherty, P.H. (ed.) 2012. The geography of wine: regions, terroir and techniques. Dordrecht: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Douglas Olson, S. 2007. Athenaeus. The learned banqueters, Volume I: Books 1–3.106e (Loeb Classical Library 204). Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Feige, M. 2022. Landwirtschaftliche Produktionsanlagen römischer Villen um republikanischen und kaiserzeitlichen Italien. Berlin: De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110720822Google Scholar
Feiring, A. 2016. For the love of wine: my odyssey through the world's most ancient wine culture. Lincoln: Potomac.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forster, E.S. & Heffner, E.H. 2001. Columella on agriculture, books X–XII, Trees (Loeb Classical Library). Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Garrido, J. & Borges, F.. 2013. Wine and grape polyphenols – a chemical perspective. Food Research International 54: 1844–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2013.08.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giannopoulou, M. 2010. Pithoi: technology and history of storage vessels through the ages (British Archaeological Reports International Series 2140). Oxford: BAR. https://doi.org/10.30861/9781407306810CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glonti, T. & Glonti, Z.. 2013. Traditional technologies and history of Georgian wine. Tbilisi: Institute of Horticulture, Viticulture and Oenology.Google Scholar
Glonti, T. & Glonti, Z.. 2018. The qvevri and the Kakhetian wine. Tbilisi: Saqpatentis.Google Scholar
Gutiérrez-Escobar, R., Aliaño-González, M.J. & Cantos-Villar, E.. 2021. Wine polyphenol content and its influence on wine quality and properties: a review. Molecules 26: 718. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26030718CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harutyunyan, M. & Malfeito-Ferreira, M.. 2022. Historical and heritage sustainability for the revival of ancient wine-making techniques and wine styles. Beverages 8: 10. https://doi.org/10.3390/beverages8010010CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hooper, W.D. & Ash, H.B.. 2006. Cato and Varro on agriculture (Loeb Classical Library). Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Hovhannisyan, N.A., Yesayan, A.A., Bobokhyan, A., Dallakyan, M.V., Hobosyan, S. & Gasparyan, B.Z.. 2017. Armenian vine and wine. Yerevan: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit.Google Scholar
Indelicato, M. 2020. Columella's wine: a Roman enology experiment. EXARC Journal. Available at: https://exarc.net/ark:/88735/10485 (accessed 2 March 2023).Google Scholar
Issa-Issa, H. et al. 2021. Effect of aging vessel (clay-tinaja versus oak barrel) on the volatile composition, descriptive sensory profile, and consumer acceptance of red wine. Beverages 7: 35. https://doi.org/10.3390/beverages7020035CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, R.S. 2008. Wine science: principles and applications. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Johnston, I. & Horsley, G.H.R.. 2011. Galen. Method of medicine, Volume I: Books 1–4 (Loeb Classical Library). Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Jones, W.H.S. 1923. Hippocrates. Prognostic. Regimen in Acute Diseases. The Sacred Disease. The Art. Breaths. Law. Decorum. Physician (Ch. 1). Dentition (Loeb Classical Library). Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Komar, P. 2020. Eastern wines on western tables: consumption, trade and economy in ancient Italy. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Kourakou-Dragona, S. 2015. Vine and wine in the ancient Greek world. Athens: Foinikas.Google Scholar
Maghradze, D. et al. 2016. Grape and wine culture in Georgia, the south Caucasus. BIO Web of Conferences 7. https://doi.org/10.1051/bioconf/20160703027CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manca, R. et al. 2016. The island of Elba (Tuscany, Italy) at the crossroads of ancient trade routes: an archaeometric investigation of dolia defossa from the archaeological site of San Giovanni. Mineralogy and Petrology 110: 693–711. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00710-016-0438-2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marlier, S. 2008. Architecture et espace de navigation des navires à dolia. Archaeonautica 15: 153–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martins, N., Garcia, R., Mendes, D., Costa Freitas, A.M., Gomes da Silva, M. & João Cabrita, M. 2018. An ancient winemaking technology: exploring the volatile composition of amphora wines. LWT – Food Science and Technology 96: 288–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2018.05.048CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGovern, P. 2024. Ancient viniculture: a multidisciplinary holistic perspective, in Dodd, E. & Van Limbergen, D. (ed.) Methods in ancient wine archaeology: 13–32. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
McGovern, P. et al. 2017. Early Neolithic wine of Georgia in the South Caucasus. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 114.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Montana, G., Randazzo, L., Barca, D. & Carroll, M.. 2021. Archaeometric analysis of building materials and ‘dolia defossa’ from the Roman Imperial estate of Vagnari. Journal of Archaeological Science Reports 38: 103057. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.103057CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myles, S. et al. 2011. Genetic structure and domestication history of the grape. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 108: 3530–35. https://doi.10.1073/pnas.1009363108CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peña Cervantes, Y.P. In press. The wines of Hispania: winemaking techniques in the Western Empire, in Van Limbergen, D., Dodd, E. & Busana, M.S. (ed.) Vine-growing and winemaking in the Roman world. Leuven: Peeters.Google Scholar
Pereira, P. & Silvino, T.. 2015. Chemical analysis about Roman wine on the Douro Valley–the site of Prazo (Freixo de Numão, Portugal), in Oliveira, C., Morais, R. & Morillo Cerdán, Á. (ed.) ArchaeoAnalytics–Chromatography and DNA analysis in archaeology: 187–92. Esposende: Município de Esposende.Google Scholar
Porat, R. et al. 2018. Herod’s royal winery and wine storage facility in the outer structure of the mountain palace-fortress at Herodium Antiquities. Qadmoniot 156: 106–114.Google Scholar
Rackham, H. 2005. Pliny, Natural History, books 12–16 (Loeb Classical Library). Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. 2006. The Oxford companion to wine. Third edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rossiter, J.J. 2008. Wine-making after Pliny: viticulture and farming technology in late antique Italy, in Lavan, L., Zanini, E. & Sarantis, A. (ed.) Technology in transition, A.D. 300–650: 93–118. Leiden: Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruiz-Muñoz, M., Hernández-Fernández, M., Cordero-Bueso, G., Martínez-Verdugo, S., Pérez, F. & Manuel Cantoral, J.. 2022. Non-Saccharomyces are also forming the veil of flor in sherry wines. Fermentation 8: 456. https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation8090456CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharratt, N., De France, S.D. & Williams, P.R.. 2019. Spanish colonial networks of production: earthenware storage vessels from the Peruvian wine industry. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 23: 651–77. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-018-0480-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singer, P.N. 1997. Galen. Selected Works. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Tchernia, A. 1998. Archéologie expérimentale et goût du vin romain, in El Vi a l'antiguitat: economia, producció i comerç al Mediterrani occidental (Segon Colloqui Internacional d'Arqueologia Romana, actes, Barcelona, 6-9 de maig de 1998): 503–9. Badalona: Museu de Badalona.Google Scholar
Tchernia, A. & Brun, J.P.. 1999. Le vin romain antique. Grenoble: Glénat.Google Scholar
Thurmond, D.L. 2017. From vines to wines in classical Rome: a handbook of viticulture and oenology in Rome and the Roman West. Leiden: Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thuy, P.T., Guichard, E., Schlich, P. & Charpentier, C.. 1995. Optimal conditions for the formation of sotolon from .alpha.-ketobutyric acid in the French ‘Vin Jaune’. Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry 43: 2616–19. https://doi.org/10.1021/jf00058a012CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trojsi, G. 2017. Villa romana di Cottanello: indagini archeometriche su alcuni campioni di dolia e di ceramiche comuni, in Pensabene, P. & Sfameni, C. (ed.) Villa romana di Cottanello. Ricerche 2010–2016: 289–92. Bari: Edipuglia.Google Scholar
Van Limbergen, D. 2011. Vinum picenum and Oliva picena. Wine and oil presses in central Adriatic Italy between the Late Republic and the Early Empire: evidence and problems. BABesch 86: 91–4.Google Scholar
Van Limbergen, D. 2017. Changing perspectives on roller presses in northern Syria. Syria 94: 307–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Limbergen, D. 2020. Wine, Greek and Roman. Oxford Classical Dictionary. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.6888Google Scholar
Van Oyen, A. 2020. The socio-economics of Roman storage: agriculture, trade and family. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vigentini, I. et al. 2016. Indigenous Georgian wine-associated yeasts and grape cultivars to edit the wine quality in a precision oenology perspective. Frontiers in Microbiology 7: 352. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00352CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vouillamoz, J.F., McGovern, P.E., Ergul, A., Söylemezoğlu, G., Tevzadze, G., Meredith, C.P. & Grando, M. Stella. 2006. Genetic characterization and relationships of traditional grape cultivars from Transcaucasia and Anatolia. Plant Genetic Resources 4: 144–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar