[Sca-cooks] Medieval wine (was: I Tried a Medieval Diet...)

[JIMCHEVAL at aol.com]

In the East (the source for both those), quite possible (though I'd like to 
 see the context; "old wine" is not necessarily the same as vintage wine). 
I  doubt you'll find any similar references that actually originate in  
Europe.

"The fact that medieval wine was drunk within the year of its  birth is not 
at all remarkable.... We attach importance to the quality of age.  Medieval 
man did not. He was little interested in age and he made no real effort  to 
improve his wines by ageing them."
p 257
William Younger, "Gods, Men  and Wine"

Others who have studied the subject say essentially the same  thing.

“Wine …. could not be stored long. Six months old was  probably the peak 
of a medieval wine's quality. It was unusual for wine to keep  as long as 
four years; most of it was gone within a year, either soured to  vinegar or 
consumed at table.” (Johnston); “medieval wine was not as strong as  wines are 
today. ... people consumed wine immediately after production, directly  out 
of wooden casks, ... resulting in a weaker concoction “(Vess); “Medieval  
wine kept badly and had to be consumed within the year – which did not fail 
to  impose a seasonal rhythm on trade, without changing the prices, the 
buying and  selling methods" (Duby).
 
Johnston. Ruth A, All Things Medieval: An Encyclopedia of the Medieval  
World 2011
 
Vess, Deborah, "Monastic Moonshine: Alcohol in the Middle Ages", Religion  
& Alcohol: Sobering Thoughts,ed Charles Kevin Robertson 2004
 

Duby, Georges, “Une synthèse : le vignoble français [Roger Dion,  Histoire 
de la Vigne et du Vin en France des origines au XIXe siècle]”, Annales.  
Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations V16 1961

http://leslefts.blogspot.com/2014/03/early-medieval-french-wine.html


Jim Chevallier
www.chezjim.com

FRENCH BREAD  HISTORY:Seventeenth century  bread
http://leslefts.blogspot.com/2016/02/french-food-history-seventeenth-century
.html









In  a message dated 6/21/2016 5:29:07 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
galefridus at optimum.net writes:
Several Tacuinum Sanitatis manuscripts (Italy,  mostly 14th and 15th 
centuries) as well the original Arabic Taqwim al-Sihha  (Baghdad, 11th century) 
explicitly mention old wine. It therefore seems to me  that medieval folks 
were indeed familiar with aged wine.