Dating back to sometime between 325-350 AD, the wine was
found during an excavation in 1867 of a Roman nobleman’s tomb in one of the
oldest settlements in the area. The tomb contained two sarcophagi, one for a
man and one a woman, and together both contained sixteen vessels – but the Römerwein
alone still contained liquid wine. Although the magnum-sized bottle has
remained unopened, so as not to destroy its contents, scientists and experts
have done what they can to analyse it from the outside. The general conclusion
is that the wine within was diluted with a mixture of herbs, and so its taste can’t
be speculated over; but regardless, the loss of its ethanol over time and the sheer
age of the wine mean that, as Oenological professor Monika Christmann put so
eloquently, "Micro-biologically
it is probably not spoiled, but it would not bring joy to the palate."
The wine may owe its survival to the presence of
thick olive oil and a mixture similar to rosin (a resin made from heated tree
sap) above the liquid, as well as a wax seal on the neck of the bottle, which
together have successfully protected it from the outside air thus far. Being
from the 4
th Century put this wine among the world’s oldest – and it
is in fact the oldest
liquid wine
ever found, although dry residue of wine has been found to date back as far as
6,000 BC!
