On Food and Cooking

wine had become a standard beverage in
Greece, one that was made strong, watered
down before drinking, and graded in quality
for freeman and slave. The culture of the vine
was not established in Italy until about 200
BCE, but it took hold so well that the Greeks
took to calling southern Italy Oenotria, “land
of the grape.”
Over the next couple of centuries, Rome
advanced the art of winemaking considerably.
Pliny devoted a full book of his Natural
History to the grape. He noted that there were
now an infinite number of varieties, that the
same grape could produce very different
wines in different places, and named Italy,
Greece, Egypt, and Gaul (France) as admired
sources. Like the Egyptians, the Romans had
airtight amphoras that allowed them to age
wine for years without spoiling. The Greeks
and Romans also preserved and flavored
wines with tree resins or the pitch refined
from them, salt, and spices.