Ancient Roman wine production may hold clues for battling climate change

• Estimates put the average Roman male’s consumption at a litre or more of diluted wine per day.
• The drink was also a symbol of civilised behaviour, and widely used as a drug, medicine and ritual beverage.

We can learn a great deal from the methods Romans used to produce wine about adapting our own agricultural systems to a warming planet. My research has explored the role of vine agroforestry systems in Roman viticulture by looking at archaeology, ancient literature and more modern sources.

Forest agriculture

• In contrast to the low plants that blanket hillsides in modern vineyards, these vines grew high into the trees.
• Numerous scenes on Roman sarcophagi and mosaics depict harvesters picking grapes using high ladders, and collecting them in small, distinctive cone-shaped baskets.

Pre industrial wine production

• They would combine several crops on one small area of land in order to survive, though more commercial farms have also been recorded.
• Both Pliny and Columella recommended the use of fast growing trees with lots of foliage to protect vines from snooping animals.
• This observation may baffle modern wine growers, as grapevines do not like too much water.

To modern wine makers, growing vines in damp soil and humid air is unthinkable. It presents a huge risk of fungal diseases that could weaken and kill the vine. Nevertheless, the Romans made it work.

An enduring, ancient technique

• This relatively recent documentation, in combination with ancient source material, reveals the ingenuity of the system.
• This means that they soak up excess water from the soil, acting as a water pump and contributing to the natural drainage of an area.
• High climbing vines also have deeper and more developed roots, which makes them more resistant to rot caused by parasites.

An example for a warming world

• This means that Roman winemakers in Italy often operated under warmer and more humid conditions than those experienced in much of the 20th century.
• Most importantly, however, the shade provided by trees seems to delay the ripening of grapes by weeks without problematically decreasing yields.

Roman agriculture on the world stage

• The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has recently stressed the benefits of agroforestry in a warming world.
• Insights into Roman and pre-industrial practices suggest that this approach may also help winemakers to adapt to an ever-warming planet.

Dimitri Van Limbergen no recibe salario, ni ejerce labores de consultoría, ni posee acciones, ni recibe financiación de ninguna compañía u organización que pueda obtener beneficio de este artículo, y ha declarado carecer de vínculos relevantes más allá del cargo académico citado.