For this we consult Plinius, who, in describing what may be the prescursor to today’s Rieslings in his study of Roman agriculture, informs us that the best wine is white.

 Gaius Plinius Secundus (Pliny the Elder)

According to his adopted nephew, Pliny the Younger, the eldest Pliny also invented the word for hops and was both a top scholar and one of Rome’s bravest generals, up until he succumbed to the gases of Vesuvius. So Plinius knew what he was talking about.

A lesser-known volume on libations, from the younger Pliny, advises us to serve it with a single ice cube.

—Shallow Sage

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