How the Romans shaped Bordeaux

by Julien Hitner

2,000 years ago, the transformation of Bordeaux from uncultivated countryside and fortified Celtic trading emporium, or oppidum, into one of the most prosperous cities and winegrowing regions of pre-modern France was, by way of the ancient Romans, a monumental achievement.

Subduing the Celtic tribes of France, or Gaul, during the 50s BC, “Burdigala,” as Bordeaux was then called, was steadily transformed into a thriving Gallo-Roman locality. Boasting all the institutions and amenities expected of a prosperous provincial market town, Burdigala was, although unclear exactly when, eventually designated the capital city of Aquitania, one of four provinces comprising Gaul. By the mid-100s AD, vine growing and its trade had become a large, lucrative enterprise, as attested by archaeological records showing the mass production of locally-made amphorae in which to deposit and transport wines to foreign markets (including, even at this early juncture, the British Isles).

The Gallo-Romans and the gradually “Latinised” Bituriges Vivisci, or Celts that had for several centuries lived in this part of Gaul, had taken every advantage that Burdigala’s propitious situation along the Garonne offered them. Situated along a crescent-shaped segment of the Garonne known as Le Port de la Lune, or The Port of the Moon, ebbs in the water flow enabled vessels to lay anchor throughout the year.

This natural harbour meant a refined, populous Gallo-Roman urban centre could emerge; where, thanks to Roman ingenuity and resolve, a full-fledged city could, over the centuries, thrive and where, thanks to the mastery of viticulture, winemaking and wine trading, a blooming industry could become one of its most celebrated emblems. You can find many examples of this through writings and physical evidence, including most obviously the sheer number of archaeological discoveries, and still-existing structures such as the remains of the Palais Gallien amphitheatre (shown in the main image).

Roughly spanning the late-1st century BC to the early-5th century AD, which is about the extent of Roman dominion, the diverse assortment of relics discovered and identified clearly point to a bustling industry, be it artefacts directly associable with vine growing, or discoveries that suggest its economic significance.

One of the most striking artefacts is an altar, on display in the city’s Musée d’Aqutaine, that in 237 AD was commissioned by a British merchant named Marcus Aurelius Lunaris to the Celtic goddess Tutela “Boudiga” to give thanks for a gainful journey from York, where he had ostensibly travelled to conduct business. This was one of the destinations for trading Burdigalan wines, along with Spain and the coastlines of northern France, the Low Countries and Germany, even into the Baltic.

 

Roman place names
Other evidence attesting to wine growing’s importance is seen in the shape of the city Burdigala itself, as laid out by its ever-resourceful planners. Within the city itself, protective ramparts enclosed much of the city and its harbour, affording security for the countless vessels that transacted wines onshore, with depots for storing merchandise hugging the shoreline.

In the countryside, we can find numerous surviving evidence of wine growing’s omnipresence: including the traditional villa. A fully-functioning countryside dwelling customarily owned by upper-class citizens along with a sister domicile in the city, villas by the mid-200s AD could be found throughout much of Burdigala’s hinterlands. These were among the largest locations where, all evidence shows, wine growing took place, not only to answer the needs of locals, but in surplus quantities for sale to foreign buyers.

The first châteaux for which Bordeaux would one day become renowned include several present-day place-names. Even some appellations can trace their etymological origins to the names of persons that owned these villas. In Pessac-Léognan, for instance, “Pessac” could well derive from a villa once owned by a patrician named “Peccus” or “Pessus,” its structural elements concealed deep within the foundations beneath the Église St-Martin de Pessac.

By contrast, the appellation of Pomerol could simply derive from “Pomum,” a Latin term for “fruit with pips.” Like today, wine growing, whether as part of a villa or other types of homesteads, usually took place near waterways. The immediate vicinity of Burdigala, in particular, was practically blanketed with vines.

Pliny and Ausonius, Roman poets
We are also fortunate to have the surviving writings of various ancient authors to help substantiate wine growing’s importance during Gallo-Roman times. One is 1st-century AD writer and naturalist Pliny the Elder (c. 24–79 AD), who, in his Naturalis Historia, alludes to winegrowing about Burdigala, going so far as to refer to a specific grape, Biturica, that was grown, a grape that might well be related to several principal varieties used in Bordeaux today.

Then there is Ausonius (310–395 CE), the most eminent Burdigalan that we know of, his writings not only corroborating wine growing’s import but adding a poetical element. Famous today for the iconic Château Ausone (named after him in 1786), his importance is principally due to the unusually large tally of his surviving writings. Here is one of his most distinguished quotes:

“Bordeaux is my native soil, where are skies temperate and mild, and well-watered land generously lavish; where is long spring, and winters growing warm with the new-born sun, and tidal rivers whose flood foams beneath vine-clad hills, mimicking the sea’s ebb and flow”.

Cited from the Ordo Nobilium Urbium, or The Order of Famous Cities, this is one of many instances where Ausonius cites Burdigala, its vines or the quality of its wines. A professor of grammar and rhetoric who later went on to become first consul of the Western Roman Empire, Ausonius kept, “in tillage 200 acres: 100 more are grown with vines, and half of much is pasture. My woodland is more than twice as much as my pasture, vineyard and tilth together: of husbandmen I have neither too many nor too few.”

It is, from his other writings, widely understood that the vines Ausonius mentions belonged to a vast villa about the same neighbourhood as Château Ausone in St-Emilion (perhaps the villa found under land owned by Château la Gaffelière). Relics hereabouts have since been unearthed in several neighbouring vineyards, including those of Ausone, though not directly alluding to Decimius Magnus Ausonius.

Expansion of Christianity
Another compelling facet of Ausonius’ writings shows that Burdigala was a key urban centre for Christianity’s ongoing expansion. While Bacchus, the Roman deity of the grape harvest, was as much a celebrated immortal in Burdigala as in many other parts of the empire, Burdigala had emerged by the 300s CE as a leading centre for the ongoing evolution of Christianity, its citizens actively involved in the budding faith.

For example, it was an anonymous Burdigalan citizen who first to have travelled to the Holy Land from 333 to 334 on pilgrimage. The voyage was taken in emulation of Helena, mother of Roman Emperor Constantine, and a record of his travels can be found in the Itinerarium Burdigalense, or Bordeaux Itinerary.

We also know of Christianity’s growing importance in Burdigala from an exchange of letters between Ausonius and an ex-pupil of his, St-Paulinus of Nola (c. 354–431 CE), to whom the former writes in regret of the latter’s absence from the city. With Ausonius taunting him for being too pious a Christian, “as if after swearing by holy things thou [Paulinus] wast vowed to keep deep silence, abidest obstinately by the rule of speechlessness,” the saint retorts “that bearing the name of Christ I shall welcome taunts. A mind strengthened by power divine feels no weak shame, and the praise I here despise is restored to me when Christ is judge.”

During the subsequent Dark Ages beginning in the early-5th century with the Visigothic invasions, the Church would play an outsized role in keeping wine-growing relevant.

Burdigala under Roman dominance, since the conquest of the Celts back in the 50s BC to the death of Ausonius around 395 AD, changed beyond recognition. Evolving from a simple trading emporium into a primary centre of wine production and early-Christian discourse, its urban landscape and wider region was during this time practically earmarked for future wine-making success, and 2,000 years later, it is remarkable to note just how enduring the Roman influence has proved.

Seven Favourites of Julien Hitner that show Roman Bordeaux

Château Ausone (relics were discovered in the 18C)

Château Haut-Brion (an ancient Roman coin was discovered among the vines)

Château Figeac (given its name by Roman owners Figeacus)

Château La Gaffelière (this is the precise site on which Ausonius’ villa is believed to have existed)

Château Mazèyres (part of a Gallo-Roman site)

Château Lamothe-Cissac (practically a time capsule)

Château Roquefort (another extraordinary time capsule)