Roman wine from Speyer
The Roman wine from Speyer is a bottle filled with a liquid, probably wine , which was found near Speyer in 1867 and is known as the oldest bottle of wine still in existence.
history
The approximately 1.5 liter bottle with yellow-greenish shoulders reminiscent of amphorae and dolphin-like handles is dated to the year 325 or 350 AD and is therefore probably the oldest unopened wine bottle in the world. Since its discovery, it has been exhibited in the Wine Museum of the Palatinate History Museum in Speyer. The room in which it has been exhibited since its discovery is known as the coat of arms hall because of its wall and ceiling painting and is located in the basement of the south tower of the museum. Compared to the 6000 BC The oldest remnants of wine dating back to the 4th century BC, which have only been preserved in the form of powdery precipitates, this bottle is still very young.
The bottle was found during an excavation of a Roman's tomb from the 4th century AD. The tomb contained two sarcophagi with the remains of a man and a woman. It is possible that the deceased was a Roman legionnaire to whom the wine was given as food on the last trip. Of the six wine bottles in the woman's sarcophagus and the ten vessels in the man's sarcophagus, only one still contained liquid. A third bottle contained a transparent liquid at the bottom of the bottle, reminiscent of rosin .
Preservation
Although the wine has since lost its alcohol content, analyzes show that at least part of the liquid was wine, which was probably produced in the region where it was found and enriched with a mixture of herbs. The preservation of the wine is attributed to a large amount of olive oil that has been added to the contents of the bottle to keep air out of the wine, as well as a hot wax seal.
Although scientists are interested in opening the bottle to examine its contents more closely, the bottle remained closed beyond 2011 because it is unknown how the liquid would react if it came into contact with atmospheric oxygen. The museum's curator, Ludger Tekampe , states that he has not seen any changes in the content in the past 25 years. The oenology professor Monika Christmann from the Geisenheim University of Applied Sciences said that the wine was probably not microbiologically spoiled, but could hardly be a pleasure for the palate.
Titus Petronius (around 27-66 AD) wrote in the Satyricon about bottles sealed with plaster of paris that resemble this bottle. The use of glass for wine bottles was uncommon in ancient times because Roman glass was usually too fragile to be used for packaging beverages.
Also in the Palatinate History Museum is the oldest wine bottle still completely filled with wine. It was bottled in 1687 in a Steinau vineyard near Naumburg .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Roman wine in Speyer: The oldest liquid wine in the world . German Wine Institute. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
- ↑ a b Bethanne Patrick, John Thompson, Henry Petroski: Of Vice & Vines: The Uncommon History of Wine. In: The Uncommon History of Common Things. National Geographic, Washington DC 2009, ISBN 978-1-426-20420-3 , p. 304 ( online ).
- ^ A b c Ronald S. Jackson: Wine Science: Principles and Applications. 3rd edition, Academic Press / Elsevier, Burlington (MA) / London / San Diego 2008, ISBN 978-0-123-73646-8 , p. 489 ( online ).
- ↑ a b c The Globe and Mail (Ed.): Ask A Wine Expert: 101 Things We All Want to Know. Booktango 2013, p. 13 ( online ).
- ↑ a b c d e Allan Hall: Shall we crack open the 350AD vintage? Historians debate whether to open 'world's oldest bottle of wine'. Daily Mail of December 10, 2011 ( online ).
- ↑ a b c Museum scared to open ancient Roman wine. In: The Local (Germany edition) of December 9, 2011 ( online ).
- ^ Wine Museum, Speyer. In: Michelin Travel Guide ( online ( Memento of the original from April 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. ).
- ^ Gregory Dal Piaz: Old wine. An ancient timeline for great old wine . Retrieved April 27, 2014.
- ^ A b Roman Wine in Speyer. Highlight of the Wine Culture. speyer.de, accessed on April 26, 2014.
- ^ The oldest wine in the world. pfalz.de, accessed on April 25, 2014.
- ↑ Roman wine in Speyer: The oldest liquid wine in the world - highlights of wine culture: Palatinate. ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
