On May 17, 3:21*pm, cwdjrxyz > wrote:
> On May 16, 4:01*pm, ViLco > wrote:

> > Many times I happened to read about ancient wines as very strong, often
> > as a kind of an escuxe for the fact they used to mix it with water and
> > many other things, from honey to spices, snow and fruits.
> > But I also know that proper vicification requires skills, techniques,
> > knowledge and equipmente. Did the ancient greeks, romans and egiptians
> > really made strong wines, or did they make wines with less than 10%
> > alcol? They didn't use selected yeasts, they just let those on the skins
> > do the work while praising to the gods ("spirits" comes from the general
> > belief that it was some kind of spirits to transform must into wine).
> > And the higienic conditions back then were horrible, just as the
> > management of important variables like temperature, for example.
> > I'm sure of one thing: the measurement of the alcol percentage in wine
> > is too young to help in regards to ancient Athens, Rome or Thebes. Is
> > there a way to discern if some of these ancient were really strong?
> > Maybe also a simple textual account about someone who got drunk with a
> > few sips? LOL
>
> Ancient wines are known from back to a few centuries BC. Perhaps the
> earliest were from China. Several years ago sealed bronze containers
> of Chinese wine from a few centuries BC were found. I believe this may
> have been described in Science or Nature journals a few years ago. I
> do not recall if any of the wine was analyzed for alcohol content,
> but, if not, it would be very easy to do so. Of course wine that had
> been stored in metal for so long likely would taste very foul and
> might be quite toxic depending on the metals used in the bronze and
> the acid content of the wine. If I remember correctly, the old Chinese
> wine might have been made from a variety of fruits, not just grapes.
> Rich Egyptians often left containers of wine in the tombs, but so far
> as I know, the seals of all of these were slightly imperfect, so that
> all that remains in the containers now is dust.
>
> If we turn to the period of a few hundred years on either side of the
> bc/ad transition, there is much information about wines in Rome,
> Greece, and a few other countries. So far as I know, these countries
> did not distill alcohol then. Distillation was introduced by Arabs
> several hundreds of years later, but likely before the time of a
> certain Arab prophet. Thus fortified wines likely were unknown.
> However many herbs and other natural products were known and widely
> used in medicine. Some of these materials added to wine could have
> produced a very intense effect, *even death, if overdone.
>
> If we consider everyday wines, some likely reached the alcohol content
> of modern wines fermented using natural yeast, but many, if not most,
> likely did not. Some of the poorer examples, apparently were mixed
> with about anything that would make them more drinkable such as was
> the case for "bathtub gin" during US prohibition. Such wines would not
> last very long unless protected from air. Pine resin or other
> materials added might extend the life of the wine a bit, and floating
> oil on top of the wine would somewhat limit oxygen uptake from the
> air.
>
> But the rich Romans also had very expensive wines that were sometimes
> aged for many decades. Very sweet wines were liked. There has been
> speculation that botrytis was known, but so far as I know this is just
> speculation because the text on which such speculation is based could
> have various meanings. However there are many other methods for
> increasing sugar content. A crude method is to boil down some grape
> juice and add it to wine. Hopefully they did not use lead pots for
> this that many Romans used then. Some of the grapes could have been
> dried, as is still done for a few Italian wines. Twisting of stems has
> been used to nearly cut off sap flow and allow the grapes to dry on
> the vine, but I have not seen any reference to twisting for that era.
> As for protecting the wine from oxidation, sealed ceramic containers
> apparently worked fairly well. Some aged the wine under rather hot
> conditions which likely produced a Madeira-like effect. In some warm
> countries until very recent times, wine was aged in large sealed
> containers buried underground which would produce lower temperatures,
> but I do no recall reading about this for Roman or Greek wine.
>
> The rich old Romans likely would have liked Tokaji essencia, so
> consider how essencia is made. Tokaji Aszu and even Tokaji Aszu
> Essencia has fairly high residual sugar as well as high alcohol, being
> less rich to much richer than Yquem, for example. True Essencia, now
> being made and sold again, uses only highly overripe grapes, usually
> botrytis affected, which are piled up and only the small amount of
> very concentrated juice that collects at the bottom of a container
> without pressing is used. For top Essencia, even after several years
> of fermentation the alcohol content may be as low as 2%, for example.
> The essencia sometimes is fermented only in glass, and some ferment in
> both glass and wood. The extreme sugar content kills the yeast before
> the alcohol content can become very high. Because of the extreme sugar
> content, essencia is very stable and will keep a very long time if
> opened. For example, the Royal Tokaji Essencia 2000, according to the
> card packed with it, has 2.0% alcohol, 21.4 gr/l acidity and 620 gr/l
> of residual sugar. The very high acidity balances the extremely high
> sugar content. There was some 2000 Essencia that exceeded 900 gr/l of
> residual sugar and an example containing over 800 gr/l can actually be
> bought from at least on specialist wine dealer in Europe for a very
> high price - there were only a few dozen bottles of this 2000
> Essencia. Such rich wine has the viscosity of motor oil or light
> honey. The point is that if the Ancients used overripe grapes they
> could have well noticed that they oozed juice that was extremely sweet
> and saved it apart for sale to the very rich. I have no idea if they
> did this, but it would take no modern high technology to do so.

In the US in early days, apple cider was often set out to freeze in
New England. This required very low temperatures for an extended
period. The liquid was then decanted from the ice, and it was greatly
increased in alcohol content. The same thing could be done with wine.
Many of the ancient wine regions likely did not have the extended low
temperatures to make this work. However the Roman army went to most of
Europe, the UK etc. Some of the regions they went to likely had
extended temperatures low enough to make the freezing alcohol
concentration technique work. The Roman armies usually took wine with
them or drank local wine. All it would take to discover the technique
is to have a container freeze, drink the remaining liquid, and notice
that it was much stronger than the unfrozen wine. I have not ever read
that this happened, but very strong wine could have been made in this
way by them with very little effort.