Talk:Falernian wine

Comments

I corrected the later history and ... put in a reference to my own book. Anyone is welcome to replace it with an alternative source! Andrew Dalby 13:11, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

South of Naples?

I think the location in the article is incorrect. Looking at a map of Ancient Rome from Hugh Johnson's Vintage, Falernum (at least the "winery") is located noticeably north of Naples. Johnson also describes the location as on the border of Latium and Campania. I will look for a second source before making the change. Agne27 01:49, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Update: I confirmed the northern location of Mt. Falernus with sources that support Johnson's map.Example While Naples is not noted on the map you can see Surrentinum on the southern end of the Bay of Naples, with Naples on the north end and Falernum north of that. The external link mentioned of WineSquire.com appears to be the source of the incorrect information. While other info on the site appear to be correct I'm not sure what is the best way to reference it. Should it be removed or maybe add a note mentioning the incorrect listing of location? Any thoughts? Agne27 03:29, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

You are quite right. When I was trying to remove some errors from the article, a while back, I took out the mention of Vesuvius but wrongly left in the words "south of Naples". Mea culpa. There is really no connection with Naples at all. The WineSquire page has some good information, but the para mentioning Vesuvius and the edict of Domitian is wrong in every detail. As for the 15% strength, which also comes from that article, there is of course no possible way of knowing.

Nice additions to the artcile, by the way. Andrew Dalby 08:56, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

• I decided to "be bold" and remove the link, especially after reading about the additional incorrect info from the site. While I didn't fashion them as External Links, any of the links in the footnote section can be followed for more reading about Falernian and other Ancient Wines in general. I think that suffices.Agne27 15:00, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

• As for the alcohol proof-while I agree that there is no definite way of knowing the exact %, there are other sources that mention the normal high alcoholic nature of Falernian. (That's one of the reasons I included the Pliny quote about it being able to catch fire.) Maybe it would be best to remove the 30 proof/15% number and just leave it with something mentioning it to that effect.Agne27 15:00, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Incongruity

With all due respect, I find it less than believable that Falernian could be positively said to be made from the Aglianico grape, as the one thing we know with any certainty about the Falernian is that it was a white wine, and Aglianico is rather pigmented. While the Aglianico is a very old grape, it would be rash to claim that it is traceable to the first centuries of the common era. I would like to point out that some of the references concerning Aglianico to Jancis Robinson are out of date and refer to an earlier Oxford Companion; the later versions do not claim that Falerner was made from Aglianico. NilsGLindgren (talk) 19:07, 21 October 2011 (UTC)

Horace

States that "the Roman poet Horace mentioned Falernian in one of his poems" then fails to use the word Falernian. Why have this section if it's not going to include the part where he mentions it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.10.226.170 (talk) 18:45, 5 April 2018 (UTC)

Lead

Some material in the lead is not found in the article and should be moved to an article section then summarized in the lead if important enough (I added a relevant tag). Thanks, —PaleoNeonate – 14:14, 19 May 2018 (UTC)

Contradiction

This section of text is contradictory, and should be fixed:

"Falernian was a white wine with a relatively high alcohol content, possibly 30 proof, or 15% ABV. In describing Faustian Falernian, Pliny the Elder alluded to this as he noted "It is the only wine that takes light when a flame is applied to it".[5] A flaming drink requires around 40% ABV." Comiscuous (talk) 07:12, 13 July 2021 (UTC)