On a week-long family vacation I recently returned from, I spent a lot of time reading historical novels, along the Phillipa Gregory/Queen Elizabeth genre. This is a type of book I love, enveloping myself in the past, following a story line while learning a little bit about a world so far gone from my own. It feels like business and pleasure at the same time!
While reading the Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant and Innocent Traitor by Allison Weir, both set in the Renaissance, one in England the other in Italy, I noticed something about the beverage choices of these wealthy aristocrats. There was a lot of wine, for one thing, they were drinking it left and right. Two there seemed to be different types, strong, weak, sweet, etc... more variable in their type of consumption than our dessert/table distinctions. Some were appropriate for children, some for women and some for men. Women about to consummate their marriage drank wine to fortify themselves, women in labor even drank wine to ease the pain. Or at least that's the message I am getting from these novels, fiction clearly, albeit well-researched and seemingly realistic.
How different these norms are from today. From the littlest babes drinking watered down wine in the nursery to incredibly strict shipping laws intended to prevent precocious youngsters from ordering it over the internet, look how far we've come. I'd love, when I have a free moment, to do a little more research on the wines of the renaissance and their traits and contents. Stay tuned...
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