The Egyptians, the Sumerians and the Romans named their vineyards and debated about which were the best. The land that the Bible calls Canaan - Phoenicia, or Syria - was famous for its wine. 'The wine in the presses of Daha is as copious as running water,' wrote an Egyptian chronicler. Daha was somewhere in the Canaan region, where Egypt tradqd for timber - and wine. And according to the Bible, it was from Canaan that the Israelites brought back a bunch of grapes so large that it needed two strong men to carry it. The Old Testament is full of references to vineyards.
The Romans were careful to define the best Italian vineyards. Falernum, south of Rome, was the greatest, with the estate of Faustus accounted the best "chateau". The wines of Alba - today's Colli Albani - were rated almost as good. The great wine port of Roman Italy was Pompeii, where one wine merchant was rich enough to build both the theatre and the amphitheatre. The Romans also esteemed the wine of Spain and Greece, and, in Imperial times, those of Gaul (France), the Rhineland, the Danube and even Britain. Many wine regions of today trace their origins to Roman vineyards.
|
|
|
