From vines to wines in classical Rome. A handbook of viticulture and oenology in Rome and the Roman West

286 Pages·2017·4.373 MB·English

by  Thurmond, David L.

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From Vines to Wines in Classical Rome
© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2017 | doi 10.1163/9789004334595_001
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From Vines to Wines
in Classical Rome
A Handbook of Viticulture and Oenology
in Rome and the Roman West
By
David L. Thurmond
LEIDEN | BOSTON
iv
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Thurmond, David L., author.
Title: From vines to wines in classical Rome : a handbook of viticulture and oenology in Rome and the
Roman West / by David L. Thurmond.
Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016041233 (print) | LCCN 2016042781 (ebook) | ISBN 9789004334588 (hardback) : alk.
paper) | ISBN 9789004334595 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Wine and wine making--Italy. | Viticulture--Italy.
Classification: LCC TP559.I8 T48 2017 (print) | LCC TP559.I8 (ebook) | DDC 663/.200945--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016041233
Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface.
isbn 978-90-04-33458-8 (hardback)
isbn 978-90-04-33459-5 (e-book)
Copyright 2017 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and
Hotei Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system,
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This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner.
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SODALIBUS ITALICIS
⸪
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ContentCsontents vii
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
List of Figures xii
1 Prehistory and Protohistory 1
Biology 1
Prehistory 6
Protohistory 16
2 Viniculture in Italy 22
Etruria 34
Magna Graecia 36
Archaic Rome 38
Wine in the Western Provinces 40
Gaul 40
Spain and Portugal 45
Further Afield 48
3 Viticulture 50
Establishing the Vineyard 51
The Farmstead 61
Cultural Procedures 77
Planting 79
Transplanting 87
Culture of the Vine 95
Grafting 108
Irrigation 112
Cultivation 114
Fertilizers 118
Diseases and Injuries 121
Thinning 127
Pruning 129
4 Vinification  136
Harvest 136
The Winery 141
Equipment 147
Treading the Grapes 148
viii Contents
White vs. Red Wine 153
Pressing 156
Types of Presses 156
The Process 162
The Cella Vinaria 164
Fermentation 174
Enrichment 178
Modification 183
Aging 189
Choice of Wines for Cellaring 189
Cellaring 190
Filtration 190
Clarification 191
Artificial ‘Aging’ 194
Specialty Wines 195
Wine Diseases 198
Blending 202
Bottling 202
5 Distribution and Consumption 208
Distribution 208
Consumption 218
The Convivium 235
Bibliography 247
Index 270
274
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AcknowAlcekdngeomwelnetdsgements ix
Acknowledgements
It is indeed a pleasure to acknowledge some of the people most instrumental
in seeing this project through to its end. First, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to
the people at Brill whose professional acumen is exceeded only by their kind-
ness and humanitas. This includes the three readers who offered invaluable
suggestions for improving the text, including one who was kind enough to do a
close reading. Flawed as it doubtless still is, the text is greatly improved because
of their generosity. I owe a special thanks to Ms. Tessel Jonquière and Mr. Pieter
van Roon, editors at Brill, for their tireless efforts on behalf of our little
brainchild.
I also owe a great debt to Rolando and Filomena Astone and Fabio and
Katiuscia Astone, our hosts for several summers of research in the Mezzogiorno.
They are no longer merely our friends but our cara famiglia italiana. Dott.
Fabio Astone has also been an invaluable touchstone for some of the archaeo-
logical research. Archaeological work was greatly aided by Aniello Botti,
Adriana Zammarrelli, Franco Castelnuovo, Roberto Volpe and Marco Marrone.
To my dear friend, Professor Fernando La Greca of the University of Salerno,
my Italian twin and partner in archaeological research, I owe deepest grati-
tude. The work contained herein on the protohistory of the vine in Italy would
quite simply have been impossible without his help.
Finally, I offer my deepest thanks to my wife, Sandy Thurmond, my indefati-
gable photographer and perennial cheerleader.
David L. Thurmond
Date
x List of Figures List Of Figures
List of Figures
1 Distribution range of the wild grapevine Vitis vinifera sylvestris 5
2 Morphology of the vine 12
3 Palmento at Novi Velia 24
4 Upper and lower vats of the palmento 24
5 Distribution of Mycenaean ceramics in Italy 29
6 Spread of vitiviniculture in Roman Gaul 41
7 Tugurium 63
8 Prototype cortile villa 66
9 Plan of the Villa Regina 70
10 Reconstruction of the Villa Regina 71
11 Villa Regina 72
12 Reconstruction of the Villa Settefinestre 75
13 Winged corridor villa on a mosaic from Tabarka, Tunisia 76
14 Design of the large urban vineyard, Pompeii 81
15 Winery of the large urban vineyard 81
16 Training schemes 98
17 Vitis pergolata vs. quincunx, showing the increased cultural area of the
latter 98
18 Viticultural implements 117
19 A vintage scene from a Christian sarcophagus in the Lateran Museum 140
20 Underground wine cellar at Pompeii 144
21a Tribunal of the torcularium at the Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii 146
21b Gutter for gravity-flow delivery of must from the torcularium to the cella vinaria
at the Villa of the Mysteries 146
22 Treading the grapes. Based on a mosaic found at Saint-Romain-en-Gal, now at
the Louvre 152
23 The wine strainer, colum, used for straining gross lees 155
24 Typology of Roman presses 157
25 Lever and screw press 161
26 Dolium and cupa, the two standard wine vessels 165
27 The cella vinaria at the large urban vineyard at Pompeii 166
28 The cella vinaria at the Villa Regina 167
29 Pitching of wine vessels 171
30 Dressel’s typology of amphorae 203
31 Wine shop at the House of Triton and Amphitrite, Herculaneum, showing a
wine rack and various amphorae 207
32 The culleus, used for bulk transport of wine 209