Falernum - the oldest appellation in the world?

Not “officially” of course, but “Falernum” may indeed be the oldest (semi-)demarcated wine zone known to humankind. Sure, there are some ancient Greek designations - like Monemvasia, Pramnian, and Bibline, but there is a great deal of controversy as to just what these names actually referred to. Some assert that these names were indeed the names for particular growing areas, but other scholars demur saying that they often refer to multiple locations, to types, styles, or even colors of wines.

Falernum was, and still is, right where it always was/is, and that place is just south of the present-day border of Lazio and Campania (in Campania), just inland from Italy’s western coast. The earliest references to Falernum pre-date the birth of Christ and all writings about the place refer to it as one of, if not THE “finest” wines in the Roman empire. So great was the reputation of these wines that the Roman historian Pliny railed in his Natural History, written in the second half of the 1st century A.D., about the emphasis of quantity over quality in the region, and that in his opinion this exigency was ruining the wine’s reputation (some things never change, right?). And despite these complaints, history tells us that Falernum’s reputation as a fine wine persisted well into the middle of the 4th century A.D.

Ancient Falernum wines were exclusively white, though the modern appellation allows for the production of both red and white wines with Falanghina being the only permissable white variety, with Aglianico and Piedirosso being the principal red varieties, with Primitivo and Barbera bringing up the rear. Though there is no known evidence of precisely which grape or grapes went into making ancient Falernum, Falanghina is a very old cultivar, and it is entirely possible that it was indeed THE grape for the region. One aspect about Falernum’s production that we DO know for sure is that its vines, whatever they were, were trained to grow up trees, or alternately up long poles of willow wood…Before I forget, let me amend the statement that ancient Falernum wines were “white” to “they were produced from exclusively white grapes”. There is one reference to “dark” Falernian in at least one source, and several others desribe the wine as amber in color which is almost surely the result of oxidative (opposite of “reductive”) winemaking.

One fascinating feature of ancient Falernian is that the zone itself was uncharacteristically subdivided into three “crus”. The fruit harvested from the hilltop sites were called Caucinian wines. Those from the hill’s slopes were named Faustian, while the grapes sourced from the plains approaching the sea were called Falernian proper. The comtemporary literature also refers to two different styles of the day, one being fairly dry, and the other, quite sweet.

So what did this most famous of Roman wines taste like? Well, clearly we’ll never know for sure, but once again, contemporary writings refer to Falernum’s “strength” and “heat”, and one account even claims that the wine could be relatively easily set alight (!). Though this last claim is an impossible one to support scientifically, all the descriptions of ancient Falernum point to the wine’s great alcoholic power.

Today, Falerno del Massico, as the region is named in Italian, does not enjoy the reputation it had under the Caesars, but it is nonetheless a important and improving wine region.

TOM CIOCCO