Appears in
Oxford Companion to Wine

By Jancis Robinson

Published 2006

  • About

Massic, a white wine which was among the most famous wines of Roman Italy and was much praised by the Roman poets. The type of grape is unknown. The wine was produced on Monte Massico, the line of hills which runs down to the sea on the west coast of Italy between the rivers Garigliano and Volturno. This zone is adjacent to the territory which produced falernian and some writers treat Massic as a subtype of that famous wine. The wine was transported to Sinuessa on the coast, where there were numerous kilns producing the amphorae in which the wine was exported.