# Ancient wine recipes



## REDRUM (Aug 1, 2016)

So, I'm putting together a course about cultural and social approaches to wine & fermented drinks...
One of the weeks will focus on prehistoric / early booze. There is tasting involved throughout this course, so one thing I am really keen to do is try to make / approximate some of the sorts of booze that would have been drunk by our forefathers ... there are some recipes out there for various Roman tipples and whatnot, but I was wondering if anyone has any experience with this sort of thing or recipes to share?
Timing means I can't start a ferment from scratch, but I have some wine that has been maturing for several months that I can work with.


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## wineforfun (Aug 1, 2016)

Look up T'ej. It is Ethiopian. Harry Kloman has extensive writings on it.
Very simple to make and ready to drink in approx. 1 month.


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## REDRUM (Aug 1, 2016)

Thanks!
This looks like a very good place to start:
https://ethiopiantej.wordpress.com/2016/05/12/5-making-tej-at-home/

Just gotta get my hands on some gesho ...!


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## DoctorCAD (Aug 2, 2016)

Here is the oldest wine recipe:

Grapes
Time


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## wineforfun (Aug 2, 2016)

REDRUM said:


> Thanks!
> This looks like a very good place to start:
> https://ethiopiantej.wordpress.com/2016/05/12/5-making-tej-at-home/
> 
> Just gotta get my hands on some gesho ...!



Makes a very good wine but it does have a unique taste. I seem to be the only one in my family that likes it. Somewhat of a smoky mead. I use either D47 or 71B yeast. Other than that, I stick to the recipe. I don't add any other additives, ie: nutrient, sorbate, etc. I don't filter it, add clearing agents, etc. I stick to the original recipe with the exception of adding yeast.

Check online at Brundo for gesho. It isn't cheap. Best bet is if you have any Ethiopian stores in your area, see if they carry it or can get it.

Also, I have to give credit to @BernardSmith for turning me onto this.


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## REDRUM (Aug 2, 2016)

I'm in Australia so doubt I'll be able to buy online from a shop in the US. There are a few Ethiopian and Sudanese grocery shops in Adelaide .. and some Ethiopian restaurants .. so I'm hopeful I can turn up something!


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## GreginND (Aug 2, 2016)

Some of the oldest wines and biblical wines were actually made from dates. That was the main sugar source at the time.

This is a great little book on the history of alcohol:

The Quest for Aqua Vitae


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## REDRUM (Aug 3, 2016)

Cool. I have also come across this one: Patrick McGovern, an archaeologist who has worked to try to reconstruct various types of ancient booze. Worth a read for anyone who's interested!
https://www.amazon.com/Uncorking-Past-Quest-Alcoholic-Beverages/dp/0520267982


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## BernardSmith (Aug 4, 2016)

There does seem to be a lot of evidence - including linguistic evidence - that the earliest honey wines were made from dates. And there is some real question whether the Egyptians discovered beer before bread or bread before beer or both were discovered at the same time (bread baking being an early malting process that releases the enzymes in the grain but does not involve germinating the grains (although germinated grains would be more easy to grind)- and there is a traditional Ethiopian beer called t'alle that does not use added yeast and does not include malted grains but does use a bread made from barley flour (and takes about 11 days to make).


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## Jericurl (Aug 6, 2016)

I have this book and it is absolutely fascinating. 

Give it a read. Some of the recipes are ready for consumption fairly quickly. Others may give you some direction on what ingredients to add for steeping to your already made wines/meads.


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## wineforfun (Aug 8, 2016)

@Jericurl What is the name of the book, I am blocked from the site here at work.
Thanks.

On a side note, just finished fermenting another batch of Christmas DB. Good stuff.


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## Jericurl (Aug 8, 2016)

wineforfun said:


> @Jericurl What is the name of the book, I am blocked from the site here at work.
> Thanks.
> 
> On a side note, just finished fermenting another batch of Christmas DB. Good stuff.



Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers: The Secrets of Ancient Fermentation by Stephen Harrod Buhner. It's a pretty fascinating read. 

That is funny about the DB. We just opened up another bottle last night and it was wonderful.


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## hounddawg (Aug 9, 2016)

ancient no old a little, I make country wines, the wines I make are in my head from old timers, but I use no acid blend nor tanning, old recipes used what was around, crab apple does that, for tart and mouth feel you might try crab apple some time, I use sergeants yellow crab apple just a dim thought from the mid 1800's,
Dawg ::









REDRUM said:


> So, I'm putting together a course about cultural and social approaches to wine & fermented drinks...
> One of the weeks will focus on prehistoric / early booze. There is tasting involved throughout this course, so one thing I am really keen to do is try to make / approximate some of the sorts of booze that would have been drunk by our forefathers ... there are some recipes out there for various Roman tipples and whatnot, but I was wondering if anyone has any experience with this sort of thing or recipes to share?
> Timing means I can't start a ferment from scratch, but I have some wine that has been maturing for several months that I can work with.


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## wineforfun (Aug 9, 2016)

Jericurl said:


> Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers: The Secrets of Ancient Fermentation by Stephen Harrod Buhner. It's a pretty fascinating read.
> 
> That is funny about the DB. We just opened up another bottle last night and it was wonderful.



Awesome, thanks for the book.

Yeah, I have one bottle left from the original batch I made. That stuff still has to be one of the best smelling wines I have had yet.


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## cgallamo (Aug 9, 2016)

The Aztecs made Pulque - it would be fun if you can afford the Agave Nectar.

http://byo.com/mead/item/2268-pulque-a-mexican-indigenous-brew


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## Jericurl (Aug 9, 2016)

cgallamo said:


> The Aztecs made Pulque - it would be fun if you can afford the Agave Nectar.
> 
> http://byo.com/mead/item/2268-pulque-a-mexican-indigenous-brew



Have you ever had pulque? *shuddering forever*


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## cgallamo (Aug 9, 2016)

Hahaha! I guess you have had it!!

I have never made it, but I had it in Mexico on a biz trip. Tasted like regurgitated limburger cheese. Aussies can handle it though.


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## JohnT (Aug 10, 2016)

Jericurl said:


> Have you ever had pulque? *shuddering forever*


 
I have had this in Mexico. First time I met some of my Wife's (Foreign exchange) family, I had to force down what seemed to be about a quart of it. Some do like it, but for me it was like this... 

Step 1: Strain the pulp out of a carton of orange juice. Rinse the pulp well as having any flavor at all would be bad for some reason.. 

Step 2: Mix the pulp thoroughly with 1 cup of wallpaper paste. 

Step 3: Mix in 3 cups of water and 1/2 cup of pure grain alcohol. 

Step 4: Serve at room temperature and in a earthenware mug so that the drinker will have not have any idea how much of this he has left to drink.

This was home made stuff, so I have no idea what a commercially produced pulque would taste like. I prefer mine in its intended distilled form (tequila).


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## REDRUM (Aug 11, 2016)

Pulque ... Regurgitated Limberger and wallpaper paste, this stuff is sounding more and more tempting by the minute....!

Got me some gesho so I am going to start fermenting this weekend. Gonna do 12L of traditional mead - nothing added but yeast - and a 4L batch of T'ej. The gesho just smells like a bag of twigs so we'll see how that turns out!


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## wineforfun (Aug 11, 2016)

REDRUM said:


> The gesho just smells like a bag of twigs so we'll see how that turns out!



haha
The price it costs me for gesho you would think there was gold inside.
Good luck with the T'ej. It is an acquired taste. Very easy to make though.


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## Jericurl (Aug 11, 2016)

Hmmmm....I may have to put T'ej on my list of stuff to start in the fall. It's too hot to ferment here now, but we will be going on vacation to Santa Fe in September. When we get back, the temperatures should be low enough to be able to keep my fermenting area a decent temperature. I have quite the list already planned out.

And yes, pulque is exactly like someone vomited up soft sheep cheese and asked you to drink it.


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## Siwash (Aug 13, 2016)

the first people to make palatable wine were the Romans... my nonno told me so


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## JohnT (Aug 16, 2016)

Not to be insulting, but I do not think that your nonnno was alive back then. How could she possible know how good the ancient wine was?

It is very interesting to research what the ancients did, and also to experiment with researched ancient methods, but I always prefer the benefit of all those centuries of winemaking knowledge since then. 

The good old days were never really that good.


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