The prosperous and populous states of the European north continue to put the squeeze on their poorer relations in the south, with the predictable result that the putters upon are heartily resented by those put upon. It’s not clear whether the north will ultimately succeed in imposing its brand of fiscal restraint on the south, or whether the tensions will break the EU apart, but we can think of at least one instance – admittedly, in the rather distant past – when northern Europe offered an austerity package the south seemed happy to take.
By the mid first century, Romans had conquered all Gaul’s three parts and Britain and in doing so pushed the boundaries of their nascent empire (they were still a republic then) to the banks of the Rhine and the Danube. By this time also, they had been addicted to wine for two hundred years, at least since they turned a dietary corner by abandoning wheaten porridge to become a race of bread-eaters. “Bread,” as drinks historian Hugh Johnson has memorably said, “cries out for wine.” Thereafter, the two became staples of what we still call the Mediterranean diet and their use an important signifier of something called romanitas — that bundle of personality traits and living habits that made one discernibly Roman.
As part of a vigorous program of cultural imperialism, Rome introduced the wine vine into the northern reaches of Europe where ripeness was elusive. The delicate, transparent wine that began to flow from these high-latitude vineyards down to the urban centers of the Mediterranean was a surprise. Roman physicians used the word austeritas – harshness or severity – to describe its strangely aloof character.
Wine was a subject of particular interest to doctors in the classical world both as an important element of diet and a therapeutic in its own right (Dioscorides’ first century Materia Medica identifies and sets out the curative properties of more than 80 kinds). Physicians scrambled to work these new arrivals into their classifications, and to prescribe them. By the second century these pale, lower-alcohol, more readily digestible beverages were the height of hip among the empire’s one percent, displacing both the ponderously ripe crus of Campania and the sumptuous luxury cuvées of the eastern Mediterranean at aristocratic tables.
It’s curious that even today individual experience often follows this historic arc. Wines from vineyards at viticulture’s latitudinal boundaries are often the last to appeal to wine drinkers whose appreciation of them may come only after initial flings with richer, fruitier California or Mediterranean versions. Our sense is that it’s precisely this cool reserve and appetizing freshness that makes them so appealing and serviceable. No need to impose an austerity program on us. We’ve rolled out the welcome mat.
-Stephen Meuse
Taste, talk, and learn about wine this week in the FKC wine corner . . .
THURSDAY, JUNE 20 3-6 PM – CALLING ALL BREAD EATERS
2018 Santa Barbara, Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi, $16.95
2017 Domaine de Montfin Corbiéres Rosé, $13.95
2015 Montemelino Colli del Trasimeno Rosso, $19.95
FRIDAY, JUNE 21 3-6 PM – RETURN OF RÉVEILLE
2018 Domaine Réveille, Côtes Catalanes “White Spirit,” $23.95
2017 Domaine Réveille, Vin de France “Vivre Sensible,” $24.95
2016 Domaine Réveille, Côtes de Roussillon “Ultraviolet,” $28.95