Falernian wine was produced from Aglianico

Aglianico

Aglianico is a black grape grown in the Basilicata and Campania regions of Italy. The vine originated in Greece and was brought to the south of Italy by Greek settlers. The name may be a corruption of Vitis hellenica, Latin for "Greek vine"...

 grape

Grape

A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...

s (and quite possibly Greco

Greco (grape)

Greco is an Italian wine grape that may be of Greek origin. The name relates to both white and black wine grape varieties. While there is more land area dedicated to Greco nero, the Greco bianco is the grape most commonly referred to by the shorthand "Greco"...

 as well) on the slopes of Mt. Falernus near the border of Latium

Latium

Lazio is one of the 20 administrative regions of Italy, situated in the central peninsular section of the country. With about 5.7 million residents and a GDP of more than 170 billion euros, Lazio is the third most populated and the second richest region of Italy...

 and Campania

Campania

Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...

, where it became the most renowned wine produced in ancient Rome

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

. Considered a "first growth

First Growth

First Growth status refers to a classification of wines primarily from the Bordeaux region of France.-Bordeaux reds:The need for a classification of the best Bordeaux wines arose for the 1855 Exposition Universelle de Paris. The result was the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855, a list...

" or "cult wine" for its time, it was often mentioned in Roman literature, but has since disappeared. There were three vineyards (or appellations) recognized by Romans: Caucinian Falernian from the vineyards on the highest slopes of Mount Falernus; Faustian Falernian, the most famous, from land on the central slopes corresponding to the current hilly areas of the town of Falciano del Massico and Carinola di Casanova, owned by Faustus

Faustus (I) Cornelius Sulla

Faustus Cornelius Sulla was a Roman senator. Faustus was the only surviving son of the Dictator of Rome Lucius Cornelius Sulla and his third wife Caecilia Metella, and thus a member of one of the most ancient patrician families, the Cornelii...

, son of the Roman dictator

Roman dictator

In the Roman Republic, the dictator , was an extraordinary magistrate with the absolute authority to perform tasks beyond the authority of the ordinary magistrate . The office of dictator was a legal innovation originally named Magister Populi , i.e...

 Sulla; and wine from the lower slopes and plain that was simply called Falernian. The area is now occupied by the modern day vineyards of Rocca di Mondragone and Monte Massico.

Characteristics

Falernian was a white wine with a relatively high alcohol content, possibly 30 proof, 15 percent. In describing Faustian Falernian, Pliny the Elder

Pliny the Elder

Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...

 alluded to this as he noted "It is the only wine that takes light when a flame is applied to it" It was produced from late-harvested grapes exclusively as a brief freeze

Freeze

Freeze may refer to:In liquids turning to solids:*Freezing, the physical process of a liquid turning into a solid*Freeze drying, a method of rapidly removing moisture from food productsIn cessation of movement or change:...

 or a series of frost

Frost

Frost is the solid deposition of water vapor from saturated air. It is formed when solid surfaces are cooled to below the dew point of the adjacent air as well as below the freezing point of water. Frost crystals' size differ depending on time and water vapour available. Frost is also usually...

s were said to improve the resulting wine's flavor. The wine was typically allowed to maderise

Maderisation

Maderisation is a process that involves the heating and oxidization of a wine. The term is named after the process used in the production of Madeira wine, where it occurs while the wine is still in cask. The resulting wine darkens in color and acquires a Sherry-like character...

, aging for 15–20 years in clay amphora

Amphora

An amphora is a type of vase-shaped, usually ceramic container with two handles and a long neck narrower than the body...

e before drinking. The oxidation gave the wine a color of amber to dark brown. In 37 BC, Varro

Varro

Varro was a Roman cognomen carried by:*Marcus Terentius Varro, sometimes known as Varro Reatinus, the scholar*Publius Terentius Varro or Varro Atacinus, the poet*Gaius Terentius Varro, the consul defeated at the battle of Cannae...

 wrote in Res Rusticae that Falernian increased in value as it matured, and Pliny recorded that Falernian from the famed Opimian vintage of 121 BC

121 BC

Year 121 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Opimius and Allobrogicus...

 was served at a banquet in 60 BC

60 BC

Year 60 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Metellus and Afranius...

 honoring Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar

Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....

 for his conquests in Spain. There were three notable varieties: Dry (Latin austerum), Sweet (dulce), and Light (tenue).

Popularity in Roman times

The physician and gourmet Galen

Galen

Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus , better known as Galen of Pergamon , was a prominent Roman physician, surgeon and philosopher...

, writing c. AD 180, doubted that all the Falernian wine on sale in the Roman Empire could possibly be genuine. Evidently it was still all too popular at that date. It was one of the first wines to be exported to Britain while it was a Roman settlement, but for whatever reason, Falernian must have gradually lost favour under the later Roman empire, though it was still one of the seven named (and more expensive) wines whose maximum price for army purchase was laid down by the emperor Diocletian

Diocletian

Diocletian |latinized]] upon his accession to Diocletian . c. 22 December 244  – 3 December 311), was a Roman Emperor from 284 to 305....

 around AD 300.

As part of the ruins of ancient Pompeii

Pompeii

The city of Pompeii is a partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning...

, a price list on the wall of a bar establishment notes

For one "as

As (coin)

The , also assarius was a bronze, and later copper, coin used during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire.- Republican era coinage :...

" you can drink wine

For two you can drink the best

For four you can drink Falernian.

The Roman poet Catullus

Catullus

Gaius Valerius Catullus was a Latin poet of the Republican period. His surviving works are still read widely, and continue to influence poetry and other forms of art.-Biography:...

 extolled the virtues of Falernian in one of his poems

Come, boy, you who serve out the old Falernian,

fill up stronger cups for me,

as the law of Postumia, mistress of the revels, ordains,

Postumia more tipsy than the tipsy grape.

But water, begone, away with you, water,

destruction of wine, and take up abode

with scrupulous folk. This is the pure Thyonian god.

It was also the wine that Petronius

Petronius

Gaius Petronius Arbiter was a Roman courtier during the reign of Nero. He is generally believed to be the author of the Satyricon, a satirical novel believed to have been written during the Neronian age.-Life:...

, in the Satyricon

Satyricon

Satyricon is a Latin work of fiction in a mixture of prose and poetry. It is believed to have been written by Gaius Petronius, though the manuscript tradition identifies the author as a certain Titus Petronius...

, has Trimalchio serve at his dinner banquet. Sarmentus, the former slave of Marcus Favonius

Marcus Favonius

Marcus Favonius was a Roman politician during the period of the fall of the Roman Republic. He is noted for his imitation of Cato the Younger, his espousal of the Cynic philosophy, and for his appearance as the Poet in William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar.-Life:Favonius was born in around 90...

 and one of Augustus

Augustus

Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...

' catamites, was the subject of Quintus Dellius

Quintus Dellius

Quintus Dellius was a Roman commander and politician in the second half of the 1st century BC.He was a political opportunist and was called desultor bellorum civilium by Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus...

' complaint to Cleopatra that while he and other dignitaries were served sour wine by Antony

Mark Antony

Marcus Antonius , known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general. As a military commander and administrator, he was an important supporter and loyal friend of his mother's cousin Julius Caesar...

 in Greece, Augustus' catamite was drinking Falernian in Rome. The modern Caribbean

Caribbean Sea

The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....

 syrup Falernum

Falernum

Falernum is a sweet syrup used in Caribbean and tropical drinks. It contains flavors of almond, ginger and/or cloves, and lime, and sometimes vanilla or allspice. It is used in cocktails in a manner similar to orgeat syrup or drunk on the rocks. The syrup form can be alcoholic or nonalcoholic...

often used in alcoholic beverages owes its name to Falernian wine.