The Roman Empire played an important role in distribution of grapes and wine. The oldest botanical remains on the Apennine Peninsula are dated to the second half of the 1st millennium BC.
The southern part of Italy was fully controlled by ancient Rome from around 270 BC, and the viticultural skills and techniques possessed by the initial Greek settlements were also integrated into Rome. The Romans learned about wine and viticulture from the Greeks, Etruscans, and also from Egyptians and Carthaginiansas well as Phoenicians.
The Romans invented the wine press. The grapes were collected in a stone vat and a heavy stone was rolled over them and crushed them. The juice was collected from openings at the bottom of the vat.
Wine was everywhere in Roman life, from cooking to medicine to religion. Wine
was a frequent ingredient in cooking, as evidenced by Apicius’ de re coquinara. Wine was an integral part of everyday life since the earliest days of Rome. Wines, viticulture, varietals, pruning, aging and other wine-related issues have been discussed by Horace, Pliny the Elder, Virgil, Cato, and many others. At the 1st century BC, wine taverns were common in cities.
Wine was also prominent in religious settings, being, of course, a central feature in the worship of Bacchus, but also offered as a libation to other gods. Wine was even used to put out funeral pyres and is commonly found in burial sites.
With the rise of the Roman Empire, the winemaking technology improved and spread to other regions such as what is now modern Europe, countries such as France, Germany and Italy.
The Romans made sure to supply their troops with wine so that they had something safe to drink. In the first century, they even built a harbor and planted vineyards around Bordeaux in order to ship wines to their troops in England.
More refined vines were probably grown by the mid-5th century BC. Although wine was known generally, used for religious purposes, and drunk by the wealthy, it is unlikely to have been so widely available that the general populace drank it regularly.
Roman Empire and wine
