Roman ruins found in southern France have been declared remnants of the country's earliest known winery.
The large site, built around 10AD, is still surrounded by vines today on the outskirts of Clermont l'Herault, in the heart of Languedoc wine country.
'It's really exceptional, and very elaborate,' Stephane Mauné, head of the site and archaeologist with France's CNRS research institute, told decanter.com.
Mini craters that once formed the bases of huge pottery wine vessels sit in neat rows where the old winery building stood. Each one held up to 1,800l, while irrigation channels show how winemakers used water to maintain a constant temperature.
A villa, complete with 200m² swimming pool, was attached to the building.
Mauné said inscriptions named the founder as Quintus Iulius Primus, who probably came from southern Italy to invest in the region's burgeoning wine industry.
Romans arrived in Languedoc Roussillon via Narbonne around 118BC. Historians know that after subduing local tribes the Romans cultivated vines to send wine back to Italy.
'There was lots of economic development in this area. You have good access into ancient Gaul and there were ports close by,' Mauné said.
But, in a story reminiscent of France's wine market problems today, it is thought greater competition eventually sent the winery near Clermont l'Herault out of business.
Local winemakers now hope to profit from the tourism and prestige the ancient site could bring. A tourism centre is set to be built, and a special public viewing will take place on 11 July.
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The archeologists are wrong. The founder was not Quintus Iulius Primus. It was a Frenchman who was named for his hometown: Primus Inter Paris (in those days spelled Pares). The budding Roman colony in Bordeaux, which protected itself against the barbarians by erecting Les Forts de Latour, came to recognize his wines as First Among Equals, laying the basis for First Growths and en primeur.
Pares's 1006 A.D. reds, offered at Rome's first imperial exposition, VinoExpo, were rejected as overpriced by Emperor Vitello Tonnato, who is remembered for having invented the Caesar Salad in his Casa Bianco kitchen. (Apparently the ancient Herault estate's swimming pool inspired Smith-Haut-Lafitte's spa Les Sources de Caudalie.)
We've long known that Romans cultivated the vine after arriving in 118 B.C. in Narbonne. Ever since then, that city has generated the bull that fertilizes much of today's wine public relations. Howard G. Goldberg, New York City
While the above poster is obviously joking, Paris was originally called Lutetia Parisorum, ie. Lutetia of the Parisi (the local Gaulish tribe).
And the Roman empire ceased to be of influence in the South of France by the 5th century.
The French owe the Italians everything...he he.
Marcello Fabretti, or I. Fabrettius Marcellus
The Greeks were growing wine in Provence well before the Romans arrived. The Greeks were surprised to find that vines were grown and that crude trellising was used. One of the Earliest vineyards was on the coast between Cavalaire and La Croix Valmer.
This vineyard was owned many centuries later by the family Ott.
Antony le Ray-Cook
Was Michel Rolland the consultant?
Enrico Fantasia, Grapecircus, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
In research for my book, I learned that the Greeks brought wine to southern France, Marseilles, about 400 years before Christ.
Like everything else, the Romans subsumed Greek culture, and the Province of Gaul was no exception.
This finding may be the oldest French winery discovered, but it certainly does not represent the oldest wine production in Gaul. Thomas Pellechia
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The archeologists are wrong. The founder was not Quintus Iulius Primus. It was a Frenchman who was named for his hometown: Primus Inter Paris (in those days spelled Pares). The budding Roman colony in Bordeaux, which protected itself against the barbarians by erecting Les Forts de Latour, came to recognize his wines as First Among Equals, laying the basis for First Growths and en primeur.
