Exciting archaeological news for wine-lovers who frequently think about the Roman empire: A large wine-making villa has been unearthed at Sant Gregori villa near the coastal town of Burriana, Spain. Archaeology Magazine reports that the four-acre site is complete with all the facilities required to grow, ferment, and store grapes and wine. There are even residential quarters for workers and heated rooms for the workers who would have carried out the harvest and pressed the wines in this far-flung Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis.
As central as wine was to Roman life and culture, intact wine-making sites and equipment are not especially common. Agricultural trenches–such as the ones discovered at Sant Gregori–are quite rare. So this find presents a rare opportunity to learn more about the historical beginnings of commercial viticulture. As researchers sift through the site for more clues about the people who lived and worked at the villa, wine nerds have one question on their lips: What was the wine like?
The Town of Saguntum
Saguntum (now the Spanish town of Sagunto) was a Roman outpost close to the coast and to important roads. Saguntine wine was mentioned by some important chroniclers, suggesting that these wines were exported to Rome. However, we don’t have information from primary sources about what the wine tasted like, and Saguntine wine does not regularly appear in epigrams and odes, as do ancient Rome’s more famous wines like Falernian, Setinum, and Caecuba.
Saguntum was also known for producing earthen tablewares of an inferior quality. The epigrammist (and early insult comic) Martial complains that he would rather drink wine from Saguntine clay cups than hear about the storied silver vessels of his pretentious host. In another epigram he makes fun of a colleague for receiving a cheap and unbecoming Saturnalia gift from a client, which includes “a nest of seven cups from Saguntum, polished with the potter’s rude graver.”
The Wines of Rome
Reconstructing the wines of ancient Rome is a fun but spurious task. The Romans grew abundant white and black grapes (Pliny names up to 91 varieties). They are often called by their place of origin or their attributes: Nero buono (“the good black one”), for instance, or pane d’uva (either “grape that goes with bread,” or “grape that is as good as bread”). It is not currently possible to link the grapes written about in classical literature to contemporary varieties. Ancient varieties could become crossed accidentally or through human intervention. Also–as in modern wine history–the names for certain grapes could vary by location and across time, adding to the complication of identifying them. It is likely that some ancient Roman grapes are similar or even identical to modern European varieties, while others are lost to history.
We do know that Roman farmers grew vines from cuttings to preserve desirable characteristics of certain specimens and varieties. A 2019 study published in the science journal Nature Plant evaluated 28 ancient seeds found at Roman sites in modern-day France. Their conclusions were that these French varieties have changed little over the centuries due to the use of vegetative propagation. Genetic testing also revealed that as early as the 1st century CE, the Romans were growing close relatives of today’s Syrah, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Savagnin Blanc (a lesser-known parent of many popular white grape varieties).
We can also be sure that the Romans, in their vast pursuit of territory, were very familiar with the concept of localized grape-growing. It was known that a variety that thrived in one corner of the empire might languish in another climate, and vice versa. In his detailed agricultural treatise De Re Rustica, the Roman writer Columella encouraged vine-growers to evaluate the soil conditions and weather when choosing what type of grape to plant. Once established, vineyards can live for a long time and a variety can become inextricably linked to a place–even across centuries, even if its pedigree is disrupted.
And the wine industry in south-eastern Spain has been disrupted numerous times. The comarca (administrative region) of Campo de Sagunto has seen the decline and withdrawal of the grape-growing Roman empire, the wineless fog of the Dark Ages, the Islamic conquest, the invasion of vine-killing phylloxera in 1912, and eventual absorption into the broader Valencia DO. According to Valencia Cellar Tours, which conducts tours near Roman sites in Sagunto, the most recent blow to the region’s wine industry is legislation that privileges the production of citrus over grapes.
So, we don’t know yet if the archaeologists at Sant Gregori villa will have access to any seeds or wine residue that could offer clues to what was grown and vinified there. The historically important grapes in the area have long been Moscatel, Monastrell, and Garnacha. (Monastrell, also called Mourvedre, originates from the nearby Camp de Morvedre.) It’s not inconceivable that the Roman grapes of Saguntum might be close relatives of vines planted there today.
What about style? Wine was consumed by every class throughout the Roman empire, and there were countless styles and local specialties. Wine history holds references to wines that are sweet and dry, diluted and strong, aged and new, resinated, sour, flavored with honey or herbs, chilled with snow, sparkling and still, noble and common. Many of the wine-making processes that we use today were known to the Romans.
The ancient Romans also had techniques for maturation and preservation of wine–such as exposing it to heat or oxidation or fermenting it under flor–that certainly would have affected its flavor and character. These techniques produced a wine that is similar to Madeira or Sherry, but without fortification with distilled spirits. A Roman tomb discovered in Andalusia in 2019 contained the oldest known liquid wine sample. Researchers concluded that the 2000-year-old libation was made from white grapes and not so different chemically from modern-day Sherry from Jerez. This style of oxidized and aged white wine has a long tradition in Spain and may have been the product that the Spanish provinces exported to Rome.
Because most of the surviving writings about wine come from upper-class poets and statesmen, we know more about fancy wines than common ones. The Romans invented the cult wine (that is, scarce and expensive wines from superior growing sites) and expounded upon their favorites with the enthusiasm of an ancient Robert Parker. The most sought-after wines were probably strong and sweet wines from white grapes, especially late-harvested grapes.
Poets especially praised Massic (a white wine from near Monte Massico, in what is now Campania, which was sweetened with expensive honey) and Falernian (a white wine from Mount Falernus that was usually aged for 15-20 years). There wasn’t a good way to prevent these wines from oxidizing, however. Some wine writers suggest, therefore, that Roman white wines tasted most like today’s orange wine.
Though white wines were preferred by the wealthy, red wine are less perishable due to their tannins and probably were the basis for most common wines. Black grape juice, must and pomace were used to produce vast quantities of inexpensive, often soured wines, called posca and lora, to be mixed with water. These were purchased for the army and given as rations to slaves and indentured workers–in the astonishing quantity, according to some sources, of one liter per day. There was a fort at Saguntum and a prosperous town with agricultural and manufacturing activity, which must have required a supply of these utilitarian wines.
Was the vinum produced at Sant Gregori the Roman equivalent of Three-Buck Chuck, or was it an exotic delicacy destined for the dining couches of the imperial city? Columella praised the potential of wines from Spain (and Bordeaux), and Spanish wines were traded throughout the Roman empire. Networks of roads allowed wines from Spain to travel great distances, in some cases over a thousand miles. To make the journey worthwhile, the wines would have needed to command a high price at their destination.
On the other hand, Saguntum was located in an extremely sunny, flat, and marshy location. It is a challenging climate for producing premium wine. In fact, the conditions were pretty much the exact opposite of the well-draining soil and controlled sun exposure that wine grapes naturally prefer. Like in today’s wine industry, the ancient Romans preferred hillside slopes near a river, and the most prestigious wines tended to come from these ideal sites. Wine marketing spin was alive and well even in the ancient Roman era, and some of the most expensive wines came from locales with connections to mythology or proximity to important civic buildings in Rome. So it also seems possible that Saguntum produced bulk wine, or wine for local consumption in the provinces of Hispania.
In short, the newly discovered winery at the Sant Gregori villa still has lots of secets to reveal. The Archaeology Museum of Burriana and Burriana’s City Council have announced plans for “musealization” of the site, with some areas being opened to visitors while research continues.
Want to know more about the wine the ancient Romans drank? Here’s some great resources for further reading:
Wine Spectator: “What did ancient Roman wine taste like?“
NPR: “We Drink Basically The Same Wine Varietals As Ancient Romans And That’s Not So Great“
Carpe Diem Tours: ” ‘Bibo Ergo Sum’: Drinking in Ancient Rome“
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