Ode to the Romans for introducing us to wine import/export, to time tested viticulture practices, and to the “wine tasting party”. Actually their wine parties could be categorized as more social networking than partying. This is the information, and a lot more, I get from reading wine books. I love reading about wines’ history, and there are many books on the market ready and willing to educate us on the 5000+ years of wine, from discovery (somewhere around the Dead Sea) to its evolution and how we are able to enjoy it today. The viticulture and the “wine social networking” was the more positive side of Roman history. Romans used to get together at special meeting places and have wine with food and talk about everything from how the wine tasted, to importing strategies, to what spices were put on the pizza they were having that evening. Part of the truth about wine and what they discovered, early on, was that wine brought out what they felt was their true selves. Wine allowed them to think and come up with new ideas and made them feel good, which in turn, brought them closer to themselves and to others. I guess that is what wine is all about…..bringing us closer together. That’s why I always say, “food, wine, family and friends”…what could be better. Thank you Romans!
By the way, the Romans didn’t drink the grape varietals we drink today, the Cabernet Sauvignon, the Chardonnay, and so forth. Their premium wine of their time was Falernian made with a white grape varietal Falanghina. I actually found Falanghina at a winery here in Georgia called
Montluce….how fitting right?….Monteluce. This wine is fabulous...fruity and Italian to the core.
enjoy
Interesting, the story of the Roman wines. Who has already tried Château d'Arlay, the oldest still producing vineyard in France, dating back to the Roman times, and to Charlemagne? It is a vin jaune, a vin de Paille, delightful with a chicken and morilles sauce! We serve it sometimes at www.chateaudelabarre.com
ReplyDeleteArlay functioned as a Gallo-Roman city until it was repeatedly laid waste from the third to the fifth century in the barbarian invasions. The presence of Burgundians at the site is testified to by their tombs. Waldalenus, Patrician of Burgundy, had his palatium here at the end of the sixth century, and his son, Donatus, abbot of Luxeuil, established a monastery here, dedicated to Saint Vincent; the abbey church was noted in 654.
In the thirteenth century the barony of Arlay, on the borders with the Bresse region, passed into the dynasty of the counts of Châlons. Their heirs became Princes of Orange in the early fifteenth century. The title baroness of Arlay is still held by Beatrix of the Netherlands.
The castle of Arlay, rebuilt in stone in the ninth to eleventh centuries, did not definitively become French until 1674.
The vineyards that surround the ruins of the castle are among the oldest continuously-worked vineyards of France, though the label Château d'Arlay (Côtes du Jura AOC), on 30 hectares (74 acres) was only established in 1960, by comte R. de Laguiche.