Label
All
0
Clear all filters
Appears in
Oxford Companion to Wine

By Jancis Robinson

Published 2006

  • About

Opimian, wine is the wine of the consular year of Lucius Opimius, 121 bc. It owes its fame to the conjunction of an exceptionally hot summer and a momentous historical event, the assassination of C Gracchus, which temporarily ended the movement for social reform.

Writing in 46 bc, Cicero states that the Opimian vintage is already too old to drink (Brutus 287), and pliny the Elder describes it as ‘reduced to a kind of bitter honey’ but still recognizably wine and exorbitantly expensive (Natural History 14. 55–7). Petronius (Satyricon 36) and martial (Epigrams 1. 26, 3. 82, 10. 49, etc.) treat Opimian as a literary commonplace rather than a real wine: drinking Opimian in large quantities is what the nouveaux riches do to flaunt their wealth, but this is satire, not fact.

Become a Premium Member to access this page

  • Unlimited, ad-free access to hundreds of the world’s best cookbooks

  • Over 150,000 recipes with thousands more added every month

  • Recommended by leading chefs and food writers

  • Powerful search filters to match your tastes

  • Create collections and add reviews or private notes to any recipe

  • Swipe to browse each cookbook from cover-to-cover

  • Manage your subscription via the My Membership page

Download on the App Store
Pre-register on Google Play

Monthly plan

Annual plan

Part of

The licensor does not allow printing of this title