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Wine shimmers across the history of art: painted on Egyptian tomb walls, poured into Greek amphorae, celebrated in Roman mosaics, lifted in Renaissance chalices, and glowing in Impressionist picnics. In this episode of The Wine Lab, we follow its journey through image, poetry, and song, tracing how wine has carried sacred meanings, earthly joys, and artistic inspiration across millennia—ending with Pablo Neruda’s luminous Ode to Wine.
🍷 Glossary of Lesser-Known Terms
Amphora
A tall, two-handled clay vessel used in ancient Greece and Rome to store and transport wine. Often decorated with painted scenes.
Dionysus / Bacchus
The Greek (Dionysus) and Roman (Bacchus) gods of wine, fertility, and festivity. Frequently depicted with vines, ivy crowns, satyrs, and panthers.
Symposium
A Greek banquet or drinking party where men gathered to drink wine, discuss philosophy, and enjoy poetry, music, and games.
Kottabos
A popular drinking game played at Greek symposia, where participants flung the dregs of their wine at a target, often while reclining.
Maenads
Female followers of Dionysus in Greek mythology, often shown in ecstatic dances, symbolizing the wild, frenzied side of wine and ritual.
Carmina Burana
A medieval collection of Latin songs and poems (12th–13th century) written by wandering students and clergy. Includes both religious hymns and bawdy drinking songs. Later set to music by composer Carl Orff.
In Taberna Quando Sumus
One of the most famous drinking songs from Carmina Burana, describing the chaos and revelry inside a tavern.
Cistercians and Benedictines
Catholic monastic orders in medieval Europe. They preserved viticulture knowledge and carefully cultivated vineyards, especially in Burgundy, often recording early observations of terroir.
