World’s oldest wine discovered This grape variety is still grown in Spain

In 2019, a two-thousand-year-old Roman tomb was discovered while renovating a house in Carmona, southern Spain. Inside, cremated human remains, charred tusks and a vessel containing approximately 4.5 liters of red liquid were found. Five years later, on Monday in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, scientists from the University of Córdoba reported that the liquid was indeed alcohol.

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The lead author of the study, Prof. Chemical analysis of the liquid found showed it was white wine, Jose Rafael Ruiz Arrepola explained in an interview with CNN. The liquid does not contain syringic acid, which is present in red wines. The mineral salts found indicate that the drink was made from Palomino Fino grapes, which are used to make wine in Andalusia.

Prof. Ruiz Arrepola noted that the discovery was a “unique one” because wine generally “evaporates quickly and is chemically unstable.” The wine was contained in a vessel covered with an airtight seal to prevent evaporation, but it is not clear how the seal was made. – When the archaeologists opened the tomb, we almost froze. It was very surprising, he insisted. – It is almost impossible to find what we found. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” he admitted.

In addition to the vessel containing the wine, a gold ring and other valuables were also found in the tomb, indicating significant wealth for the family, the expert asserted. However, cremation of the bodies destroyed any DNA, so little is known about their lives.

According to the expert, this discovery “discounts” the previous record holder – wine discovered in Germany in 1867, which is estimated to be 1.7 thousand years old. years. However, it has not yet been opened, so the age of the liquid has not been confirmed by chemical analysis.

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