🍷 Pine resin sealing
Amphorae were coated inside with pine resin to stop them leaking.
Pine resin sealing means the pine resin with which clay vessels were coated inside in ancient times. Clay is porous: without a coating, wine seeps through the walls and spoils, and air enters the vessel. The resin closed the pores and made the amphora tight.
This method was used in Greece, Rome and other Mediterranean countries. Resin was smeared on the neck and the stopper too. The wine took on a resinous taste, and in time it came to be valued. The tradition survives to this day in Greece: there retsina is made, a white or rosé wine with added resin. Its taste is piney and distinctive, an acquired one.
Traces of resin have been found in very old vessels. For example, in Iran, in the settlement of Hajji Firuz Tepe, jars were found with residues of wine and resin. This is one proof that people added resin to wine thousands of years ago.
The resin is linked to the amphora as the main vessel of ancient wine. Today resin is not used so widely for wine, but the memory of it lives on in retsina.
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Frequently asked questions
Why were amphorae coated with resin?
To close the pores of the clay, stop wine seeping out and protect it from air.
How is resin linked to Greek retsina?
The resinous taste of old wines survives in retsina, a Greek wine with added resin.
Where were ancient traces of resin in wine found?
At Hajji Firuz Tepe in Iran, where jars held residues of wine and resin.