Archaeologists were “surprised” to have discovered the world’s oldest wine in an ancient Roman tomb in southern Spain.

The liquid was found in a tomb in Carmona, a town part of the region of Andalusia, first discovered in 2019, which had six inhabitants. 

The skeletal remains of one of the men were found immersed in a liquid inside a glass funerary urn, presenting a reddish hue.

Experts who realised the liquid was still present despite the tomb dating back to the first century voiced their astonishment.

City of Carmona’s municipal archaeologist Juan Manuel Román said: “At first we were very surprised that liquid was preserved in one of the funerary urns.”

A team with the Department of Organic Chemistry at the University of Cordoba led by Professor José Rafael Ruiz Arrebola moved to identify the liquid as the oldest wine ever discovered.

The record was previously held by the Speyer wine bottle, found in 1867 and dated to the fourth century.

Chemical analyses carried out by the university’s Central Research Support Service (SCAI) and published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports scientifically confirmed the liquid was wine.

Despite the colour it acquired over the centuries, the absence of syringic acid in the liquid, as well as matches in bibliographic, archaeological and iconographic sources, led to believe the wine was white.

However, experts cautioned that the fact that this acid is not present in the liquid could be due to degradation over time.

Yet, the mineral salts present in the ancient liquid are consistent with the white wines produced to this day in the territory.

The extraordinary conservation conditions of the Spanish tomb, which had remained sealed since Roman times prior to the discovery, helped the wine stay in its natural state.

The wine was one of the precious objects part of a funerary rite accompanying the dead in their journey to the afterlife. The fact that the skeletal remains immersed in wine were those of a man is in line with the custom of ancient Rome, with women barred from drinking it.