Ancient and Modern Wine

[Julilla]

Okay, silly question: How much is the wine watered? To taste, or is there a typical ratio that was favored? I can't seem to find any reference that says it was a little water or even as much as half-n-half. Any thoughts?

I will quote from Mark Grant, author of Roman Cookery: Ancient Recipes for Modern Kitchens, one of my favourite interpreter of ancient recipes. He says,

"The Romans and Greeks watered their wine, not because it was any more alcoholic... but because it was not right for a sensible citizen to be seen drunk. In Classical Greece the proportions of water to wine ranged from three to one, five to three and three to two, all of which were harmonic balances in Greek music. The Greeks held wine to be at the same time both dangerous and beneficial: it could act as a drug, reveal the truth and temporarily suppress the misery of the human condition. The Romans do not appear to have imbued wine with such religiosity--it was something to enjoy at meals or serve with sauces."

Patrick Faas's very well researched Around the Roman Table devotes several pages to wine, describing the role of the magister bibendi, master of the revels:

"Because he was in charge of alcohol consumption, the magister... had overall responsibility for the carousal....[his] most important task was to decide the correct proportion of water to wine. His options ranged between pure wine and wine diluted with six parts water. Usually, the mixture was two or thee parts water to one part wine, but one to one was not uncommon."

I hope this helps answer your question!