It’s well known that wine was an essential part of ancient Roman life. In fact, many sources suggest that Roman citizens were drinking about 100 gallons of wine per year. But how that wine largely looked, smelled, and tasted has been a mystery — until now. A new archaeological study of Roman pottery is providing insights into the winemaking techniques of the time, and how these methods likely impacted the liquid’s flavor profile.
In the study, published in the journal Antiquity, archaeologists Dr. Dimitri Van Limbergen from Ghent University and Dr. Paulina Komar from the University of Warsaw compared Roman clay jars called dolia to the modern winemaking vessels we use today. The shape of the dolia appears similar to that of the qvevri, the clay vessels used in Georgia, making a connection between ancient Roman wine and contemporary Georgian wine.
