TECHNIQUES AND TASTES IN ANTIQUITY

TECHNIQUES AND TASTES IN ANTIQUITY

What did ancient wines taste like, how were they made and when were they drunk? Most ancient writers provide some answers, bе it directly or in passing. After Homer and Hesiod, the works of Herodotus, Theophrastus, Plato, Aristophanes, Plutarch, Strabo, Tacitus and Seneca, as well as later writers such as Aulus Gallius and Athenaeus, give us some idea of winemaking in the ancient world. Wine was present in the poetry of Archilo­chus, Alcaeus, Anacreon, Horace, Virgil and Ovid, as well as in the prose of Apuleius, Lucianus and Petronius. Particularly valuable descriptions of vi­nicultural and winemaking techniques were provid­ed bу the four great Roman natural scientists: Var­ro, Cato the Elder, Columella, and Pliny the Elder. Today, it is difficult to form with аnу certainty opinions and judgements about the grape varieties of the ancient world. There must have been hun­dreds of varieties as early as the days of Homer.

 When Odysseus finally returned to Ithaca and had to рroуе to his father Laertes that he was rеаllу his son, Odysseus reminded him how, when he was still а little child, Laertes had shown him and named the fifty rows of vines' that he would bequeath to the bоу, 'where of each оnе ripened at diverse times, with аll manner of clusters оn their boughs'. According to Theophrastus (Enquiry into Plants), the grape varieties in Greece were as many as the different types of soil. Не recommended growing white grape varieties оn slightly porous black soil that was suffieiently moist. Sti11, the ancient Greeks were well aware that water was not always good for the growth of vines and, according to Theo­phrastus, that was why they would plant barley and legumes between the vines to soak ир excessive moisture.

Opinions оn the question of soil suitabil­ity for vine-growing differed, but that of Columel­la (first eentury AD) was elosest to modern views: Columella reeommended planting vineyards оn land that was 'half Way between good and bad land'. The ehoiee ofvine-training style depended оп the elimate. In Greeee, partieularly in the areas exposed to the north wind, the vines were trained in rows not higher than the average adult (vinea), while in Italy and, more speeifieally, in Саmра­nia they were trained to creep up trees (arbus­tum). This could bе one of the reasons for the better quality of Greek wines. Thus, Pliny record­ed that а diplomat bу the name of Cineas, an en­уоу of the Epirote king Pyrrhus (known for his Pyrrhie vietory), tried some Italie wine and declared that the vine that had produced it deserved to bе hanged оn а very high gallows. This style of vine training made pieking grapes а danger­ous job, and hired pickers would often stipulate that the vineyard owner would have to рау for their funeral in the event of an accident. After the grape harvest, the Greeks sometimes fumigated their vineyards bу burning dry branch­es and leaves.

This proteeted the vines from frost and it is sti11 done in many parts of Europe. In ad­dition to standard vineyard operations such as prun­ing, nipping, and replanting, the Greeks also knew some methods of treating sick, yellowing vines. They drove iron nails into the trunks of sueh vines, left the nails in plaee for some time, and then re­moved them and filled in the holes with earth. Al­though this practice was associated with the belief in the magic power of iron, from а modern per­spective it looks quite rational.

The vines were most likely affected cу chlorosis, а disorder caused by iron in the soil; therefore, the magic cure must have been effective. The bunehes were picked cу hand or cut with vine-hooks. They were collected in wicker baskets or large skeps, as described bу Vаnо in the first century BC (Оп Agriculture). Most authors recomended that the harvest should always start at the sunny side of the vineyard. It was apparent1y соmmоn practice to dry the grapes for some time before proceeding to make wine. In Works aпd Days, Hesiod recommends leaving the picked grapes in the sun for ten days and for а further five days in the shade before crushing them and putting them injars. The peri­od of time the grapes were left to dry varied from рlасе to рlасе.

Оnthe island of Cos, for ехаmрlе, the grapes were left in the sun for three days оnlу. The same technique is mentioned bу Homer when he describes what Odysseus saw in the garden of Alcinous, the mythical king of the Phacacians, оn the island of Scheria (Corfu).Nowadays, а similar technique is applied in the production of some sweet wines, such as Tokay, Marsala or Sauternes - in other words, it is obvi­ous to the wine expert why at the subsequent feast in Alcinous's house Odysseus was offered 'hon­ey-sweet wine' and why sweetness is the domi­nant feature of most descriptions of the taste of wines in Homeric times.

The actual practices of winemaking did not change significant1y from antiquity to the nine­teenth century. The grapes were trodden in wooden or stone tubs (liпos). The wine press was intro­duced late, under Roman influence. This technological advance was first applied in the produc­tion of olive oil and later adapted to winemaking.

Dalian invests 3 billion yuan to brew the world’s top-grade wine 

Three billion yuan will be invested in the establishment of the first wine industrial park in Dalian. The signing ceremony of the International Wine Industrial Park project was held at the city’s Shangri-la Hotel on December 6. The three parties involved, the Administrative Committee of Dalian Free Trade Zone, Dalian Haichang Group and France’s Lamont Winery Group, attended the signing ceremony.

The park will focus on grape growing, grape processing and brewing. It will also integrate the grape processing industry into tourism activities that are already built on large-scale metropolitan agriculture and urban leisure. The planting area of grapes will hit 5,000 mu (333.3 hectares).

Well-known French brewers will be invited to supervise wine making and production to create the world’s top-grade wine brand in Dalian. One of the most rapidly growing industries in China. In recent years, China’s wine production and consumption market had maintained a growth rate of above 15 percent, and the market growth rate of first-tier cities such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing has surpassed 35 percent.