Examining The Wine
Wait... is that how you bought wine in the Middle Ages?
There are no bottles on a shelf. No labels. No handy little price tags.
Instead, a customer is standing at a medieval wine stall, holding up a glass of red wine while the seller stands behind the counter.
He's looking at it.
Actually examining the wine before he buys it.
And suddenly something that feels very modern โ choosing what you're going to drink โ looks completely different.
We can't know from the image whether he was actually tasting the wine, or simply looking at it.
But we can see the interaction: wine being served, a customer examining it, and the everyday business of buying and selling taking place.
Sometimes one little picture is enough to give us a glimpse of medieval life.
Source
Tacuinum Sanitatis, Casanatense MS 4182, 14th century. Biblioteca Casanatense, Rome. Public domain.