Whats the big deal with Falernian Wine?

So, in all of these texts, the big deal in drinks is Falernian wine. But what makes it so special? I started doing a little bit of research.

Falernian wine is made from the Aminean grape, which was known as "a producer of exceedingly good wine." Its grapes were grown on the lowest slopes and came from Greek colonists who settled near the Bay of Naples. Falernian wine was supposed to be full-bodied with an alcohol content of fifteen or sixteen percent (no wonder it was a favorite at dinner parties). Although, this wine had such a high alcohol content, Romans always diluted it with water, because wine that was undiluted was "considered the habit of provincials and barbarians." We see this wine in the Satyricon and Pliny talks about it 200 years later.

If anyone else is interested in this, here is one of the websites I was looking at...

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/wine/wine.html


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Thanks very much, Allison!  Here is more on this topic, from the (not always) sober British journal, The Economist:

The history of drinking

Uncorking the past

Recreating old drinks provides an enjoyable form of time-travelling

Dec 20th 2001 | from the print edition

Galen's wine: Rome, c. 170AD

Some time towards the end of the second century AD, Galen of Pergamum, physician to the emperor Marcus Aurelius, descended into the Palatine cellars in Rome and conducted what must be regarded as one of the greatest vertical wine-tastings in history. Before his appointment as imperial physician, Galen had been a doctor at a gladiatorial school, where he had learned of the medical value of wine to disinfect wounds. Galen also believed that wine was an extremely potent medicine. So when it came to preparing a theriac, or medicinal potion for the emperor, Galen decided that it should be based on the finest wine in the world. “Since all that is best from every part of the earth finds its way to the great ones of the earth,” he wrote, “from their excellence must be chosen the very best for the greatest of them all.” He duly headed for the cellars.
In Roman times, it was universally agreed that the finest wine was that of the Falernian region near Naples. In fact, in a foreshadowing of the French appellation regulations, there were three types of Falernian wine. Caucinian Falernian originated from vineyards on the highest slopes of Mount Falernus; Faustian Falernian came from vineyards on the central slopes; and wine from the lower slopes was known simply as Falernian.
Perhaps surprisingly, given modern tastes, the most prized Falernian was a white wine. Roman sources indicate that the grapes were picked fairly late, resulting in a heavy, sweet wine that was golden in colour and could be aged for decades. The nearest contemporary equivalents would appear to be long-aged sauternes wines, such as Chateau d'Yquem. But Falernian would have tasted very different, for a number of reasons. For a start, it was allowed to maderise, which caused it to turn amber or brown. A modern drinker presented with a glass of Roman wine might also notice that its taste was affected by the pitch or resin that was used to make impermeable the earthenware jars in which the wine was stored.
But the most dramatic difference between Roman and modern wine is that the Romans never drank wine on its own; they always mixed it with other ingredients. Indeed, the practice of drinking wine straight was regarded as barbaric. Most often, wine was simply diluted. The amount of water added depended on the circumstances (it was up to the host to decide) and the temperature, but the proportions were typically one part wine to three parts water. Diluting wine served two purposes: it made it into a thirst-quenching drink that could be consumed in large quantities, and the presence of alcohol also made the water safe to drink, an important consideration in the growing cities of the Roman Empire, as it still was in 18th-century Europe.

On occasion, wine was also diluted with seawater. According to Pliny the Elder, one of several Roman authorities on wine, this was done “to enliven the wine's smoothness”. But water was not the only additive. Snow was sometimes mixed with wine to cool it; honey was sometimes added to create an aperitif known as mulsum; and various herbs and spices were commonly added to wine to mask the fact that it had turned to vinegar. Keeping wine in good condition was difficult in Roman times, so most wine was drunk within a year of production; “old” wine was categorised as wine more than a year old.
As a wine-lover, Galen must have relished the prospect of searching the imperial cellars for the finest Falernian. He started with 20-year-old Falernian and then tasted earlier and earlier vintages. “I kept on until I found a wine without a trace of bitterness. An ancient wine which has not lost its sweetness is the best of all.” Eventually, Galen settled on a Faustian Falernian as the finest wine in existence. Alas, he did not record the year. Earlier in the Roman period, the general consensus had been that the Falernian of 121BC was the best vintage; according to Pliny, this wine was still being drunk 160 years later, when it was offered to Caligula. So it seems likely that Galen would have had Falernian vintages as much as 200 years old available during his tasting session.