The wine is good for health and soul. Inspires poets, meets friends, and approaches couples. But there was a time in which he was even more essential to life almost as much important as the water…
Forget PET bottles of mineral water. Forget water purifiers and filters. Forget running water. Forget even the tap water. Think in some situations where even the only water was available seawater, brackish.
Life was this way. Much more “wild”. And humans were already thirsty as we are nowadays.
The fact is that water which people had access in the cities was not clean or safe. It’s credited to Vegetius, writer of the Roman Empire in the fourth century, the phrase “bad water is like poison.”
Thus, there was the habit of adding wine to water to sanitize it and kill bacteria. In what proportion? Two or three parts water to one part wine.
And as this was not a luxury rather a necessity, this diluted mixture of water and wine was served to children, servants, soldiers, slaves. Even though a small level of alcohol left them slightly drunk at least this way they would not be sick.
How long it lasted? For many centuries. How was the wine? A fermented acid sometimes like a borderline vinegar.
Before making a face like thinking about this, remember that perhaps humanity should own to wine its survival throughout history…
Source: Tintos & Tantos
