Wine colors, for example, were not standardly subdivided between white and red (as is done today), but for the Romans, they belonged to a wide spectrum of colors ranging from white and yellow to goldish, amber, brown and then red and black, all based on grapes macerated on the skin.
Because the fermentation technology was different, they say the wine would have smelled and tasted different from ours too: it would have had the aroma of bread, and a spicy flavor. The closest thing like it today is wine from the Republic of Georgia, still made in similar vessels called qvevri.
4 comments:
"They varied the tastes and smells by altering the shape of the dolia, and how they were stored."
I would not have guessed that the shape of the vessel the wine is made in affects the taste and smell.
I've never made wine, but I do make mead, and there are a surprising number of things that affect the flavor. Ingredients is obviously #1 -- did you flavor it with blueberries? It'll taste different and look different -- but all kinds of other issues from temperature to humidity can end up affecting it. It's no surprise that the shape and material of the container might, or that burying it in the ground would, or that the size of the batch is relevant.
All the rest of the factors I could easily imagine why they would affect taste without being told, but not shape. The article explains why, so it makes sense, but I needed the explanation. Of course, I've never made any of this, so that's probably why.
"Because the fermentation technology was different, they say the wine would have smelled and tasted different from ours too: it would have had the aroma of bread, and a spicy flavor."
Oh, that sounds wonderful, quite honestly.
I would think shape would alter taste due to changes in the surface area to volume ratio of the fermenting liquid, thus altering timing and possibly chemistries. Just a guess though.
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