Ancient Rome played a pivotal role in the history of wine. The earliest influences on the viticulture of the Italian Peninsula can be traced to ancient Greeks and the Etruscans. The rise of the Roman Empire saw both technological advances in and burgeoning awareness of winemaking, which spread to all parts of the empire. Rome's influence has had a profound effect on the histories of today's major winemaking regions in France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain.

The Roman belief that wine was a daily necessity made the drink "democratic" and ubiquitous; in various qualities, it was available to slaves, peasants and aristocrats, men and women alike. To ensure the steady supply of wine to Roman soldiers and colonists, viticulture and wine production spread to every part of the empire. The economic opportunities presented by trading in wine drew merchants to do business with tribes native to Gaul and Germania, bringing Roman influences to these regions even before the arrival of the Roman military. Evidence of this trade and the far-reaching ancient wine economy is most often found through amphorae – ceramic jars used to store and transport wine and other commodities.

The works of Roman writers – most notably Cato, Columella, Horace, Catullus, Palladius, Pliny, Varro and Virgil – have provided insight into the role played by wine in Roman culture as well as contemporary understanding of winemaking and viticultural practices. Many of the techniques and principles first developed in ancient Roman times can be found in modern winemaking.

The beginnings of domestic viticulture and winemaking on the Italian Peninsula are uncertain. It is possible that the Mycenaean Greeks had some influences through early settlements in southern Italy, but the earliest evidence of Greek influence dates to 800 BC. Before this, viticulture was widely entrenched in Etruscan civilization, which was centered around the modern winemaking region of Tuscany.

The ancient Greeks saw wine as a staple of domestic life and a useful trade commodity. Their colonies were encouraged to plant vineyards for local use and trade with Greek city-states. Southern Italy's abundance of indigenous vines provided an ideal opportunity for wine production, giving rise to the Greek name for the region: Oenotria ("land of vines"). The southern Greek colonies probably also brought their own wine pressing methods with them and influenced Italian production methods.

In the Republican era, the culture of Roman winemaking was influenced by the viticultural skills and techniques of allies, and of regions conquered in Rome's expansion. The Greek settlements of southern Italy were brought under Roman control by 270 BC. The Etruscans, who had long-established, mostly maritime trade routes into Gaul, were largely Romanised by the 1st century BC.

The Punic Wars with Carthage had a particularly marked effect on Roman viticulture. The Carthaginians practised advanced viticultural techniques, described in the work of the Carthaginian writer Mago. Rome ransacked and burned the libraries of Carthage but the 26 volumes of Mago's agricultural treatise survived intact. They were subsequently translated into Latin and Greek in 146 BC. Although this work did not survive to the modern era, it has been extensively quoted in the influential writings of Romans Pliny, Columella, Varro and Gargilius Martialis.

For most of Rome's winemaking history, Greek wine was the most highly prized, with domestic Roman wine commanding lower prices. The 2nd century BC saw the dawn of the "golden age" of Roman winemaking and the development of grand cru vineyards. The famous vintage of 121 BC became known as the Opimian vintage, named for consul Lucius Opimius. Remarkable for its abundant harvest and the unusually high quality of wine produced, some of the vintage's best examples were being enjoyed over a century later.