Archaeologists have revealed what the wine of the ancient Romans tasted like.

Wine is one of the most ancient drinks. In many civilizations it played an important role in culture, trade, social and religious life. In Ancient Rome, wine was also treated with special respect, as evidenced by numerous artifacts and written sources. But what did the wines popular with the Romans taste like? Archaeologists know the answer to this question.

Scientists from Poland and Belgium conducted extensive research and were able to study the wines of Ancient Rome. They learned not only the taste, but also the color, aroma and texture of the drink. Archaeologists published the results of their work in the journal Antiquity. The secret of the properties of Roman wine lay in special conical vessels made of clay - doli, from dolium - clay jug. Similar containers, qvevri, are still used by Georgian winemakers.

The winemakers of Rome, like their modern Georgian counterparts, buried the shares in the ground and sealed them hermetically. The clay walls of the vessels were porous and their insides were coated with pine resin. In Georgia, beeswax is used for these purposes. In containers isolated from the external environment, a unique environment was formed in which the wines of Rome with their special properties matured.

Researchers believe that wine in ancient Rome was quite thick and tart in taste. This happened due to the large amount of tannin and grape skins. The aroma of different wines could contain notes of dried fruit, apples and apricots, as well as toasted bread and almonds.

There were special gourmets who wanted to give the drink an unusual taste. They added rose and violet petals, aloe leaves, myrtle berries and even pepper to the wine. In total, more than 185 varieties of wine were in demand in Rome. Many of them were produced in different parts of the empire, but there were also imported ones, brought from other states.

Today we divide wines into white, red and rose. But the ancient winemakers did not know such a classification. The color of the product was determined by the grape skins, so the wine could be white, golden, amber, brown, red, black. The main characteristics of wines in Rome were taste and strength.