Rumney wine


Rumney wine was a popular form of Greek wine in England and Europe during the 14th to 16th centuries. Its name was derived from its exporter Romania, which was at that time a common name for Greece and the southern Balkans, the lands of the Eastern Roman Empire. The wine was called Rumney or Romney in English, Romenier or Rumenier in German, vino di Romania in Italian. Writers on food and diet list it among sweet and "hot" wines of which no more than one or two glasses should be taken. It was not a "fortified" wine in the modern sense, rather a "cooked" wine to which boiled-down must was added.

History

Rumney was exported from Methoni in the southern Peloponnese and perhaps also from Patras and other ports. Although modern methods are different, the Mavrodafni of Patras might be regarded as a modern equivalent of medieval Rumney wine. At the same period, Monemvasia, on the eastern coast of the Peloponnese, was the centre for the export of Malmsey wine; Cretan wine was the third of the medieval trio of Greek wines that were prized in western Europe.