Veni, Vidi, Vici: Mamertino

Imagine: it is 59 BC and Julius Caesar has just been elected Consul of Rome ... for the first time. In celebration of the occasion, he sponsors the making of a new wine from Biancale and Trebbiano grapes. He christens this wine Mamertino and declares it the best stuff he's ever had. Some two thousand years later, his opinion does not seem too far off the mark. Possibly, several years later and after the "rug incident," Cleopatra stuck with him just for that wine ... although admittedly, politics aside, if one had to choose a #1 between Gaius Julius and Marcus Antonius, it's a no-brainer.

Caesar.  Antony.

No wonder she resorted to the asp. (Plutarch, Life of Antony, 86.1-3)

But perhaps the best white wine would have consoled her enough to live with her children in captivity, had that been an option the Living Isis would take. Because Mamertino is, in the words of my roommate, the incomparable VC, "Caesar's greatest achievement." She would also describe it as, "Yummy."

It is also cheap and pleasing to the palate. Although it's stocked at World Market for about $12/bottle, our local Woodman's (Employee-Owned Grocery Store) has it at a lovely discount of $9.99. Do yourself a favor and try this delicious, crisp but sweet, mellow but satisfying, ancient and modern Italian white.