Hárshegyi Piroska: Kereskedők Sallában 2. (Zalalövő öröksége 4. Zalalövő, 2006)
Wines T he earliest work on viticulture, at least what we know of, was written in Punic language, which the Roman senate had translated into Latin after the occupation of Carthage. It seems that the Greeks were the first to plant grapes in Italy in the region of Cumae. Later, the so-called Falernum wine produced here became the most popular and one of the most expensive wines in the Roman Empire. Cato was the first Roman author who discussed the treatment of vineyards in the 2 nd century BC, which Varro's and Columella's works followed. We learn the most about wine types from Pliny the elder's Naturalis História. First only the vintage of the wine was marked with the name of the consul who held the office that year. Lucius Opimius was the consul at the time of the good vintage of 121 BC. That year "Grapes got so ripe in effect of sunshine that wines of nearly two hundred years have still been preserved, which already taste like bitter honey." From that time, "Opimus wine" meant a wine of an excellent vintage. Plinius made a list of Italian wines according to the taste of the 1 st century BC. The Falernum wine grown on the border of Latium and Campania was at the first in the list followed by the wines of the Alba hills NE of Rome. The third place was given to the Surrentium and Massica wines of Campania and the Mamertinus wine of the Messina region was the last in the list. This list tells that wines of good body and a sweet taste were popular at that time. The sweetness of wine could be reached in various ways. First the grapes were left on the wine-stock as long as possible (e.g. "Eiswein", when the grape is left out until the first frost), or boiled sapa or defrutum of a large sugar content were mixed to the weaker wines. White wine was preferred to red wine. Several authors give recipes on how "black wine" can be turned into white. In the classical period, wine was usually mixed with water, sea water, honey, spices or resin before drinking. Drinking undiluted wine was considered a "barbarian" act. Distillation was not known in the classical period, so wine was the strongest alcoholic beverage. Naturally, not only the high quality beverages were traded. Poor people could usually afford lora, which was a sour second-class wine, or posca, which was actually wine vinegar mixed with water. There were wines which could be consumed within a year. These were catered e.g. for the army High quality wines stored for years were "preserved" with the admixing of resin and sulphur. Relatively little is known about the price of wines. According to a
