Post by UKarchaeology on Apr 1, 2016 15:16:28 GMT
Made from ancient grape varieties grown in Pompeii, 'Villa dei Misteri' has to be one of the world's most exclusive wines.
The grapes are planted in exactly the same position, grown using identical techniques and grow from the same soil the city's wine-makers exploited until Vesuvius buried the city and its inhabitants in AD 79.
In the late 1800s, archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli first excavated some of the city's vineyards from beneath three metres of solid ash.
The digs turned up an almost perfect snapshot of ancient wine-growing - and thirteen petrified corpses, huddled against a wall.
Casts were made of the bodies, as well as the vines and the surviving segments of trellises on which they were growing.
But archaeologists didn't think to restore the vineyards of ancient Pompeii until the late 1980s.
When they did, they realized they didn't have a clue about wine-making, so they called in local winemaker Piero Mastrobeardino.
Together they set out to discover how the ancient Romans made wine, and which grapes and farming methods they used.
“The team looked at casts of vine roots made two centuries ago and consulted the surviving fragments of ancient farming texts," Mastrobeardino told The Local. "We even looked at ancient frescoes to try to identify which grapes grew from Pompeii's soil.”
The team discovered that the type of grapes their ancestors were growing, called Piederosso Sciacinoso and Aglianico, were the same varieties still being grown on the slopes of Vesuvius by local farmers.
Aglianico is a variety which Piero's father is credited for saving from extinction after the Second World War.
Although the grape varieties were still the same, farming techniques had changed significantly since the time of the Romans.
“We use a number of methods to grow the fruit and carry out all of the work manually. One thing all our farming techniques have in common is that the grapes are grown at an extremely high density,” Mastrobeardino explained.
At first, experts doubted whether the grapes would grow at all at yields almost twice as high as those used today. However, once placed back in Pompeii's fertile soil, they flourished.
Full story: www.thelocal.it/20160225/in-an-excavated-and-replanted-vineyards-in-pompeii-a-project-is-bringing-ancient-roman-wine-back-to-life
The grapes are planted in exactly the same position, grown using identical techniques and grow from the same soil the city's wine-makers exploited until Vesuvius buried the city and its inhabitants in AD 79.
In the late 1800s, archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli first excavated some of the city's vineyards from beneath three metres of solid ash.
The digs turned up an almost perfect snapshot of ancient wine-growing - and thirteen petrified corpses, huddled against a wall.
Casts were made of the bodies, as well as the vines and the surviving segments of trellises on which they were growing.
But archaeologists didn't think to restore the vineyards of ancient Pompeii until the late 1980s.
When they did, they realized they didn't have a clue about wine-making, so they called in local winemaker Piero Mastrobeardino.
Together they set out to discover how the ancient Romans made wine, and which grapes and farming methods they used.
“The team looked at casts of vine roots made two centuries ago and consulted the surviving fragments of ancient farming texts," Mastrobeardino told The Local. "We even looked at ancient frescoes to try to identify which grapes grew from Pompeii's soil.”
The team discovered that the type of grapes their ancestors were growing, called Piederosso Sciacinoso and Aglianico, were the same varieties still being grown on the slopes of Vesuvius by local farmers.
Aglianico is a variety which Piero's father is credited for saving from extinction after the Second World War.
Although the grape varieties were still the same, farming techniques had changed significantly since the time of the Romans.
“We use a number of methods to grow the fruit and carry out all of the work manually. One thing all our farming techniques have in common is that the grapes are grown at an extremely high density,” Mastrobeardino explained.
At first, experts doubted whether the grapes would grow at all at yields almost twice as high as those used today. However, once placed back in Pompeii's fertile soil, they flourished.
Full story: www.thelocal.it/20160225/in-an-excavated-and-replanted-vineyards-in-pompeii-a-project-is-bringing-ancient-roman-wine-back-to-life