Among the other wines, we find mentioned upon the Upper Sea those of Prætutia and Ancona, as also those known as the “Palmensia,”[1276] not improbably because the cluster springs from a single shoot.[1277] In the interior we find the wines of Cæsena[1278] and that known as the Mæcenatian,[1279] while in the territory of Verona there are the Rhætian wines, only inferior, in the estimation of Virgil, to the Falernian.[1280] Then, too, at the bottom of the Gulf[1281] we find the wines of Adria.[1282] On the shores of the Lower Sea there are the Latiniensian[1283] wines, the Graviscan,[1284] and the Statonian:[1285] in Etruria, the wines of Luna bear away the palm, and those of Genua[1286] in Liguria. Massilia, which lies between the Pyrenees and the Alps, produces two varieties of wine, one of which is richer and thicker than the other, and is used for seasoning other wines, being generally known as “succosum.”[1287] The reputation of the wine of Beterræ[1288] does not extend beyond the Gallic territories;[1289] and as for the others that are produced in Gallia Narbonensis, nothing can be positively stated, for the growers of that country have absolutely established manufactories for the purposes of adulteration, where they give a dark hue to their wines by the agency of smoke; I only wish I could say, too, that they do not employ various herbs and noxious drugs for the same purpose;[1290] indeed, these dealers are even known to use aloes for the purpose of heightening the flavour and improving the colour of their wines.
The regions of Italy that are at a greater distance from the Ausonian Sea, are not without their wines of note, such as those of Tarentum,[1291] Servitia,[1292] and Consentia,[1293] and those, again, of Tempsa, Babia, and Lucania, among which the wines of Thurii hold the pre-eminence. But the most celebrated of all of them, owing to the fact that Messala[1294] used to drink it, and was indebted to it for his excellent health, was the wine of Lagara,[1295] which was grown not far from Grumentum.[1296] In Campania, more recently, new growths under new names have gained considerable credit, either owing to careful cultivation, or else to some other fortuitous circumstances: thus, for instance, we find four miles from Neapolis the Trebellian,[1297] near Capua the Cauline,[1298] wine, and the wine of Trebula[1299] grown in the territory so called, though but of a common sort: Campania boasts of all these, as well as of her Trifoline[1300] wines. As to the wines of Pompeii,[1301] they have arrived at their full perfection in ten years, after which they gain nothing by age: they are found also to be productive of headache, which often lasts so long as the sixth hour[1302] of the next day.
These illustrations, if I am not greatly mistaken, will go far to prove that it is the land and the soil that is of primary importance, and not the grape, and that it is quite superfluous to attempt to enumerate all the varieties of every kind, seeing that the same vine, transplanted to several places, is productive of features and characteristics of quite opposite natures. The vineyards of Laletanum[1303] in Spain[1304] are remarkable for the abundance of wine they produce, while those of Tarraco[1305] and of Lauron[1306] are esteemed for the choice qualities of their wines: those, too, of the Balearic Isles[1307] are often put in comparison with the very choicest growths of Italy.
I am by no means unaware that most of my readers will be of opinion that I have omitted a vast number of wines, seeing that every one has his own peculiar choice; so much so, that wherever we go, we hear the same story told, to the effect that one of the freedmen of the late Emperor Augustus, who was remarkable for his judgment and his refined taste in wines, while employed in tasting for his master’s table, made this observation to the master of the house where the emperor was staying, in reference to some wine the growth of that particular country: “The taste of this wine,” said he, “is new to me, and it is by no means of first-rate quality; the emperor, however, you will see, will drink of no other.”[1308] Indeed I have no wish to deny that there may be other wines deserving of a very high reputation, but those which I have already enumerated are the varieties upon the excellence of which the world is at present agreed.
CHAP. 9. (7.)—THIRTY-EIGHT VARIETIES OF FOREIGN WINES.
We will now, in a similar manner, give a description of the varieties found in the parts beyond sea. After the wines mentioned by Homer, and of which we have already spoken,[1309] those held in the highest esteem were the wines of Thasos and Chios,[1310] and of the latter more particularly the sort known as “Arvisium.”[1311] By the side of these has been placed the wine of Lesbos,[1312] upon the authority of Erasistratus, a famous physician, who flourished about the year of the City of Rome 450. At the present day, the most esteemed of all is the wine of Clazomenæ,[1313] since they have learned to season it more sparingly with sea-water. The wine of Lesbos has naturally a taste of sea-water. That from Mount Tmolus[1314] is not so much esteemed by itself[1315] for its qualities as a wine, as for its peculiar sweetness. It is on account of this that it is mixed with other wines, for the purpose of modifying their harsh flavour, by imparting to them a portion of its own sweetness; while at the same time it gives them age, for immediately after the mixture they appear to be much older than they really are. Next in esteem after these are the wines of Sicyon,[1316] Cyprus,[1317] Telmessus,[1318] Tripolis,[1319] Berytus,[1320] Tyre,[1321] and Sebennys; this last is grown in Egypt, being the produce of three varieties of grape of the very highest quality, known as the Thasian,[1322] the æthalus,[1323] and the peuce.[1324] Next in rank are the hippodamantian[1325] wine, the Mystic,[1326] the cantharite,[1327] the protropum[1328] of Cnidos, the wine of the catacecaumene,[1329] the Petritan,[1330] and the Myconian;[1331] as to the Mesogitic,[1332] it has been found to give head-ache, while that of Ephesus is far from wholesome, being seasoned with sea-water and defrutum.[1333] It is said that the wine of Apamea[1334] is remarkably well adapted for making mulsum,[1335] like that of Prætutia in Italy: for this is a quality peculiar to only certain kinds of wine, the mixture of two sweet liquids being in general not attended with good results. The protagion[1336] is quite gone out of date, a wine which the school of Asclepiades has reckoned as next in merit to those of Italy. The physician Apollodorus, in the work which he wrote recommending King Ptolemy what wines in particular to drink—for in his time the wines of Italy were not generally known—has spoken in high terms of that of Naspercene in Pontus, next to which he places the Oretic,[1337] and then the Œneatian,[1338] the Leucadian,[1339] the Ambraciotic,[1340] and the Peparethian,[1341] to which last he gives the preference over all the rest, though he states that it enjoyed an inferior reputation, from the fact of its not being considered fit for drinking until it had been kept six years.
CHAP. 10. (8.)—SEVEN KINDS OF SALTED WINES.
Thus far we have treated of wines, the goodness of which is due to the country of their growth. In Greece the wine that is known by the name of “bion,” and which is administered for its curative qualities in several maladies (as we shall have occasion to remark when we come to speak on the subject of Medicine[1342]), has been justly held in the very highest esteem. This wine is made in the following manner: the grapes are plucked before they are quite ripe, and then dried in a hot sun: for three days they are turned three times a day, and on the fourth day they are pressed, after which the juice is put in casks,[1343] and left to acquire age in the heat of the sun.[1344]
The people of Cos mix sea-water in large quantities with their wines, an invention which they first learned from a slave, who adopted this method of supplying the deficiency that had been caused by his thievish propensities. When this is mixed with white must, the mixture receives the name of “leucocoum.”[1345] In other countries again, they follow a similar plan in making a wine called “tethalassomenon.”[1346] They make a wine also known as “thalassites,”[1347] by placing vessels full of must in the sea, a method which quickly imparts to the wine all the qualities of old age.[1348] In our own country too, Cato has shown the method of making Italian wine into Coan: in addition to the modes of preparation above stated, he tells us that it must be left exposed four years to the heat of the sun, in order to bring it to maturity. The Rhodian[1349] wine is similar to that of Cos, and the Phorinean is of a still salter flavour. It is generally thought that all the wines from beyond sea arrive at their middle state of maturity in the course of six[1350] or seven years.