Etruscan wine

The Etruscans had been cultivating vines since the Bronze Age, beginning in the 12th century BC. The first vines to be cultivated were wild varieties, which the Etruscans saw in the natural environment and whose fruits they had already learned to harvest. Only later, contact with eastern Mediterranean peoples, especially the Greeks, allowed them to import new tools and ways of working, but also new vines of eastern origin, which were cultivated as such but also crossed with local varieties. Vines were "maritate," that is, they were grown leaning on poplars, maples, elms, olive and fruit trees. At the time of the Etruscans, viticulture was not a specialized activity, so vines were mixed with other crops, such as cereals, olive trees, fruit trees and others. The Etruscans crushed grapes with hands and feet in crushers called palmenti, dug into natural rocky outcrops located near the places where wild vines were found or made in the vineyards at the time of early cultivation. The first must was usually consumed immediately, while the remainder was poured into earthenware containers with the inside walls covered with resin or pitch. The wine was left to rest and in the spring was decanted and poured into amphorae or leather wineskins for transport. Much consumed during celebrations and banquets, the wine was diluted with water, cold or hot depending on the season, but also flavored and sweetened, to cover defects due to limited production and storage techniques, with honey, herbs, flowers, spices (such as thyme, sage, rosemary, coriander, and anise), and resins (commonly pine). Resin wine, known as "retsina," is still produced and appreciated today, especially in Greece. Honey was added to the wine, both to increase its sweetness and to aid fermentation, creating a product similar to mead.