Wine

One of the most famous cuisines of Ancient Rome is wine. Ancient Rome was essential in the history of wine. The ancient Greeks and Etruscans were the first to have an impact on Italian peninsula winemaking. The rise of the Roman Realm witnessed both scientific breakthroughs and a growing understanding of winemaking throughout the empire. The history of today's key winemaking regions in France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Spain has been profoundly influenced by Rome.

Because fermentation was uncontrolled and the alcohol content was high in Ancient Rome, wine was usually diluted with water before consumption. The wine was occasionally altered and enhanced by its makers: instructions for making white wine from red wine and vice versa, as well as for saving wine that is turning to vinegar, have survived. These instructions, along with precise descriptions of Roman winemaking, dating back to 160 BC in the first known Latin literary document.

The wine was also flavored in various ways. There was passum, a powerful and sweet raisin wine whose earliest known recipe is of Carthaginian origin; mulsum, a newly prepared mixture of wine and honey (called a pyment today); and conditum, a pre-made and matured blend of wine, honey, and spices. Conditum Paradoxum is a recipe for a prepared and stored blend of wine, honey, pepper, laurel, dates, mastic, and saffron. Another recipe called for the wine to be infused with seawater, pitch, and rosin. According to a Greek traveler, the beverage was reportedly an acquired taste. Posca (sour wine combined with water and herbs) was a favorite lower-class drink and a staple of the Roman soldier's ration.