Carmona wrote its name in capital letters in the universal wine history. There, in the Sevillian municipality, archaeologists five years ago discovered a Roman tomb that turned out to hide a unique treasure: the world’s oldest wine. Experts from the University of Córdoba (UCO) needed years of studies to confirm this, but they believe that the liquid found in Carmona’s tomb had been aged for 2000 years, making it the oldest of all wines. In fact, it far surpasses the Speyer bottle, which dates from the 4th century AD and bears that title to this day.

We now know that Carmona’s wine was probably “white and of Andalusian origin”; still yes: 2000 years later it doesn’t sound very appealing.

A wine for history. Carmona stands out for its heritage, culture and Holy Week. It can now also boast the world’s oldest wine ever discovered. This, at least, is what researchers from the University of Córdoba claim, who were responsible for analyzing the liquid found in the Roman tomb of Carmona, a mortuary chamber discovered in 2019 containing funerary urns containing the remains of excluded people. .

After extensive studies, UCO experts announced their results. Journal of Archaeological Science: ReportsThey published an article that claimed from the first line that broth was the dean of the planet.

How old? UCO’s Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit states that Carmona wine has been preserved since the 1st century AD, surpassing the Speyer bottle, which is considered the oldest example of wine ever preserved. Its contents, stored in Germany, date to the 4th century AD; This is several centuries later than those detected in Seville.

If Seville wine has survived for so long, it is largely thanks to the conditions it enjoyed in the tomb, which remained “intact and sealed” for centuries, protected from leaks and floods.

solve the mystery. In one of the tomb’s vessels, researchers discovered a reddish liquid that made them suspect they were looking at a thousand-year-old wine sample. But he reminds the UCO that doubts are one thing and certainties are quite another. To dispel any doubt, scientists had to resort to chemical analysis, studying pH, mineral salts and chemical compounds. They even compared samples recovered from Carmona’s tomb with existing wines from Montilla-Moriles, Jerez or Sanlúcar. “In this way, they obtained the first signs that the liquid was wine,” says UCO.

Reading about polyphenols. If there was one important clue in their research, it was polyphenols, biomarkers that made it easier for researchers to study. First, because they can identify seven of them, which are also found in Sherry, Sanlúcar or Montilla-Moriles wines. Second, it helped them realize that Carmona wine was actually white, despite the reddish color it acquired over time.

They reached this last conclusion due to the absence of syringe acid, a very specific prophenol, but UCO was cautious about this. Bibliographic and archaeological sources also suggest that it was most likely a white broth, but scientists recall that the acid, which they did not find in the analysis, may have simply decomposed over the centuries.

So where was he from? Another important key to explaining the history and type of wine was stating where the wine was made. Although Córdoba researchers have once again provided illuminating clues, answering this mystery has not been easy.

“It is more difficult to determine the origin of the wine as there is no comparable sample from the same period,” experts explain. Despite this, the mineral salts found in the liquid in the grave are consistent with white wines. “It is now produced in areas belonging to the former province of Bética, especially in Montilla-Moriles.”

What matters… and where. With Carmona wine, where is as important as what and when. Discovery cannot be understood without its context. After all, the broth did not appear in a cellar or warehouse, nor was it stored in a barrel. UCO experts recall that the reddish liquid that caught their attention and turned out to be the world’s oldest wine was in a funeral urn. Not only that. Bone remains sank into the mixture.

“At first we were surprised that liquid was preserved in one of the funerary vessels,” says Carmona City Council archaeologist Juan Manuel Román. Thanks to the well-preserved state of the tomb, they soon eliminated the possibility that this was the result of leakage or condensation. When they examined it, it was found that the liquid had also lost many of the “essential properties” of wine; This explains why researchers need to analyze it in detail.

So what was he doing in the grave? The discovery of wine in a funeral barrel may be more surprising than the wine’s age, but the University of Córdona helps put this in context. “Wine, rings, perfume and other elements were part of the funeral dowry that would accompany the deceased on his journey to the afterlife,” Kurum said. It’s also no surprise that wine covered the skeletal remains of a man.

For a long time, women were prohibited from trying it. In fact, the wine appeared in a glass jar intended only for a man. In another room built for a woman resting, amber jewelry, silk and a bottle of perfume were found, but not a single drop of the intoxicating juice was found.

Pictures | Juan Manuel Román (University of Córdoba) and UCO

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