how about the greeks

[Thomas]

Randy, being an Italian too, and having just completed a book about wine history, I can say without hesitation that, since 121BC (Opimion year) it seems to have gone downhill for Greek wine. Yet, before 121BC the elite Romans drank mostly Greek wine. Before Rome, the Italic peoples drank milk and it was the Greeks who taught them how to produce wine; it was the Greeks who taught the Romans how to dine.

Moving forward, Pompeii truly was a wine capital. The wine bars had large amphorae set in wide holes cut into a counter. People stepped up to the bar and the bartender drew wine from the amphora by swiveling the big monster thing on the counter and then dipping in. In those days, the price of wine in Pompeii was more costly than a night with a prostitute.