Should we open the world's oldest bottle of wine?

Over the past few years, contemporary historians have debated whether Speyer wine, the oldest known bottle of wine, should be opened.

A 1,650-year-old wine bottle sealed with wax and containing a white liquid is on display at the Palatinate Historical Museum (Pfalz) in Germany. Usually, the older the bottle of wine, the better the wine tastes. However, in this case, the bottle of Speyer wine was so old that many experts doubted whether the wine in it was drinkable.

Bottle of Speyer wine at the museum. (Photo: The Local Germany).

This bottle of wine dates to around 325 - 350. A Roman nobleman was buried with a bottle of locally produced wine in 350. When his tomb was excavated near the city of Speyer in Germany in 1867 , researchers were shocked to discover there was still liquid inside the wine bottle.

Although a chemist analyzed it during World War I, the bottle was never opened. Olive oil and hot wax seals preserve white wine for 1,650 years since production. Although the wine bottle has been in the museum's gallery for more than a century and has caused much curiosity, no research group has dared to open it.

For many years, researchers have argued that many microbiologists believe that opening a bottle of wine can be dangerous. According to the museum's wine gallery manager Ludger Tekampe, they do not know whether the wine in the bottle can withstand the effects of exposure to air. They speculated that if they drank the bottle of wine, it would taste like chewing gum. In addition, according to professor of wine research Monika Christmann at Geisenheim University, in terms of microbiology, a bottle of wine may not spoil, but it will not be pleasant in terms of taste. It seems likely that the issue of whether or not to open a bottle of wine will continue to puzzle scientists and wine experts for years to come.

While the oldest evidence of wine production was found in Armenia around 4100 BC, Western wine making and drinking traditions most likely originated in Greece, where people drank wine for breakfast. The Romans loved wine due to influence from the Greeks and expanded wine production and consumption throughout the vast empire. Centuries later, wine production and consumption increased dramatically in most parts of the world, growing from the 15th century onwards.

The period from 1810 to 1875 is known by modern historians as the golden age of wine. In northern Europe, the industrial revolution and wealth from overseas colonies provided the middle class with many resources to own luxury goods, including alcohol.