By: Happy Jasta
Images: Juan Manuel Román
A 2,000-year-old funerary urn filled with a reddish liquid was unearthed during excavation in southern Spain in 2019
A team from the Department of Organic Chemistry at the University of Cordoba, led by Professor José Rafael Ruiz Arrebola, has identified the liquid as the oldest wine ever found still in liquid form
According to Archaeologists discovery of wine in liquid form after so long is surprising since wine usually evaporates very quickly
The tomb's underground conditions allowed the wine to maintain its natural state despite of water leaks or condensation
The team ran a series of chemical analyses at the UCO's Central Research Support Service (SCAI) and published them in the Journal of Archaeological Science
The tests showed it had a pH of 7.5 (similar to water) and contained polyphenols (biomarkers) present in wines from Montilla-Moriles, Jerez and Sanlúcar
After this research, the title of the oldest wine has been taken from the Speyer wine bottle, which was discovered in 1867 and dated to the fourth century AD