Falernian

comparative more Falernian · superlative most Falernian

1. Of, produced in, or pertaining to Mount Falernus, in Italy.

   Sandbanks, marshes, forests, savages, - precious little to eat fit for a civilised man, nothing but Thames water to drink. No Falernian wine here, no going ashore.

   1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 195

1. uncountableA wine produced from Aglianico grapes on the slopes of Mount Falernus, much esteemed in Ancient Rome.

   What’s a Helen of Troy compared to a flask of this red Falernian? Why good wine gets better the longer you keep it, while woman loses her flavour year by year.

   1863, G[eorge] J[ohn] Whyte-Melville, “Red Falernian”, in The Gladiators: A Tale of Rome and Judæa. […], volume I (Eros), London: Longman, Green, Longmans, Roberts, & Green, →OCLC, page 220