In his work "De Agri Cultura" the Roman author Cato the Elder describes recipes for making a drink called "Greek wine" (vinum graecum) or "Coan wine" (vinum coum). Basically, must (boiled shortly and then cooled) or grapes are mixed with salt water or sea water (Chapters 24, 105, 112, http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cato/De_Agricultura/home.html).
The resulting wine is kept in a dolium, a large ceramic vessel. The dolium is kept open for 15 or 30 days, and then sealed air tight and kept in a cool place for the rest of the winter (the process beginning in autumn when the grapes are harvested). In spring, the wine is filled into amphorae which are covered but not closed air tight and placed into the sun for up to four years.
On of the recipes states that the amphorae should not be filled to the brim but only as high as the handles. I suspect this is to allow for the formation of foam. Probably there was a secondary fermentation. (This brings to mind the secondary fermentation of Belgian lambic beers, in which up to 80 different types of microorganisms are involved to create a complex flavour.)
What type of ferment would result from this process? Has anybody tried or studied this? If the initial fermentation yields alcohol, would this be turned into acetic acid later or would the salt prevent this. Would there be any alcoholic fermentation at all (I suspect that adding salt and closing the vessel air tight would result in a lactic acid fermentation instead)?
What kinds of microorganisms would be involved in the production of vinum coum (in an ancient Mediterranean farm environment), especially in the secondary fermentation?
My suspicion is that Vinum Coum was sour-salty refreshing drink with a complex flavour maybe in the direction of lambic beer or kombucha and that it was basically a lactic acid ferment. Has any scientific work been done on this?
