SpainWhite wine stored in an urn in a Roman catacomb turns reddish brown after 2,000 years, is still drinkable and has a salty taste.
While excavating a Roman tomb in the town of Carmona, Seville province, Spain, archaeologists discovered a glass urn containing a special mixture, Smithsonian reported on June 18. Submerged in nearly 5 liters of the jar’s reddish-brown liquid were the cremated bones of a man and a gold ring decorated with the image of the two-headed Roman god Janus.
The Roman catacombs were first discovered in 2019, during the construction of a house nearby. According to new research published in the journal Journal of Archaeological Science: Reportsthe Romans may have built the structure in the first half of the first century.
After laboratory analysis, the team concluded that the reddish-brown liquid was once white wine, but had changed color beyond recognition over 2,000 years. This is also the oldest liquid wine ever recorded.
“This is the first time something like this has been discovered. Up to now, all the urns found have only contained cremated ashes and objects related to offerings,” organic chemist José said Rafael Ruiz Arrebola at the University of Cordoba, co-author of the study.
In the lab, the team found the liquid had a pH of 7.5, similar to water. However, its chemical composition is similar to wine.
“We look for biomarkers – chemical compounds that help identify what a substance is. In this case, we looked for polyphenols that are unique to wine and found seven. We compared them. with polyphenols in wine from this area and found a match, which helped confirm this was wine,” Ruiz Arrebola explained.
Because there was no syringic acid – a byproduct of red wine decomposition – the team determined that the wine in the urn was made from white grapes.
White wine in Carmona turns reddish brown after 2,000 years. Image: Juan Manuel Roman
Before the new discovery, the title of oldest liquid wine in the world belonged to a wine jar in another Roman tomb near Speyer, Germany, found in 1867. Having existed since around 325, this wine jar was buried with the deceased to quench their thirst in the afterlife. The oldest traces of wine date back about 8,000 years, but are only chemical traces extracted from Georgian pottery.
Technically, the liquid wine in Carmona is still drinkable, researchers say. “It’s not toxic at all. We conducted a microbiological analysis,” Ruiz Arrebola said. However, he still refused to drink because the wine had spent 2,000 years in contact with the cremated ashes of a Roman.
Meanwhile, co-author Daniel Cosano, an organic chemist at the University of Cordoba, tasted the vintage wine and commented that it tasted salty. “This is not surprising given the chemical composition of the liquid, specifically the high concentrations of potassium and sodium,” Arrebola said.