The sophistication of ancient Roman viticulture can be seen in the amount of detail provided by Columella: two and a half of the twelve books of the De Re Rustica are devoted to grapes and vineyard management. In fact, Columella's treatise is the most comprehensive surviving Latin work on the subject.

Columella considers all aspects of viticulture, including the choice of site for a vineyard, methods of planting and training, vine cultivation and propagation, and the economics of viticulture. In addition, Columella provides an extensive catalogue of the grape varieties available to Roman growers in the first century AD. Columella lists more than 50 varieties of grape, and a similar number can be found in the work of the Elder Pliny.

All instruction for the vineyard owner is presented logically and in a manner designed to convince. Columella is keen to show that vineyard management requires knowledge and skill, partly to counter some of the negative views of viticulture current at the time. These were caused by inexperienced owners, lured by potential financial rewards, buying or planting vineyards and then failing to manage them in the correct manner: the result being a glut of poor quality wine, and low prices.

Columella had his own ideas for improving the quality of Italian wines without sacrificing size of yield. He advocated the planting of an ancient native Italian grape variety called the Amminean. This variety was widely acknowledged to produce grapes of the highest quality but was also believed to give inferior yields (compared with other, especially 'modern', varieties). In the decades before the De Re Rustica was written there had been a continual expansion in the number of recognised grape varieties, together with careful matching of varieties to particular climates and terrains. Although this was 'progress', it meant that some growers selected high-yield varieties without considering conditions within their vineyards - often with disappointing results that lead to disenchantment with viticulture in general.

Columella was convinced that the Aminnean variety was capable of producing yields to match any of the new varieties being introduced and planted throughout the Roman Empire. He provides figures which make impressive reading - perhaps too impressive because they have been dismissed by many scholars. One should not be too hasty to dismiss the figures, but they do need to be understood.

Columella presents isolated examples in the best light to support his argument - the examples should not be taken to be 'typical' (a word which is largely meaningless in the variable world of viticulture), nor can yields from single vines be scaled up to give values for vineyards. Columella's yields from his own Amminean vines are impressive, but certainly not impossible. In view of his knowledge of the subject, perhaps one should be wary of rejecting Columella's assertions.

While it's difficult to gauge the success of Columella and his devotees, it is interesting to note that two thousand years ago an attempt was being made to answer the same vexed question of Quality vs Quantity that dominates viticulture today.