So I found myself waiting for a friend outside Souvla in Hayes Valley last night. Starving, I busied myself in my typical fashion: self-torture. More specifically, I gaped at the menu as I waited for my friend to join me/make it socially acceptable to dive into the Olympian joy of a Souvla wrap.
But something caught my eye: "Retsina - Yes, we have found GOOD retsina". What was retsina? Why was this one "good"? Why do people default to thinking it is bad?
So I did some research (both primary and secondary). Here's what I found:
Retsina is an ancient Greek wine. We're talking old - like fermented-in-amphorae*-in-Athens old. Back then, winemakers added additional ingredients to wine to make it more self stable - things like salt water, herbs, and evergreen sprigs. Before sulfites were around, this was important to keep wine fresh and potable. Salt - and in particular, salt water - was the preferred preservative in Greek wines.
Retsina gets its name by the addition of pine resin to the fermenting white wine. The resin was often removed immediately after fermentation and was added to balance the sweetness and saltiness of the sea-salt-wine. Retsina is often made from Assyrtiko, Roditis, or Savatiano grapes.
So what did it taste like? Honestly, less like this than I anticipated:
+++++
* Amphorae were the original vessels to ferment wine. They were made from clay and looked like this:
But something caught my eye: "Retsina - Yes, we have found GOOD retsina". What was retsina? Why was this one "good"? Why do people default to thinking it is bad?
So I did some research (both primary and secondary). Here's what I found:
Retsina is an ancient Greek wine. We're talking old - like fermented-in-amphorae*-in-Athens old. Back then, winemakers added additional ingredients to wine to make it more self stable - things like salt water, herbs, and evergreen sprigs. Before sulfites were around, this was important to keep wine fresh and potable. Salt - and in particular, salt water - was the preferred preservative in Greek wines.
Retsina gets its name by the addition of pine resin to the fermenting white wine. The resin was often removed immediately after fermentation and was added to balance the sweetness and saltiness of the sea-salt-wine. Retsina is often made from Assyrtiko, Roditis, or Savatiano grapes.
So what did it taste like? Honestly, less like this than I anticipated:
It tasted like a sweet but mild white wine with a slight piney aftertaste. It definitely had a funk to it; it was different. But it wasn't as different a wine experience as orange wine is. It was more like standard white wine+, if that makes sense. And it did go well well the Greek wrap.
My takeaway: wine can be both a way to travel to worlds unknown and time unknown! So raise a glass to a blast from the past and try a bottle of retsina next time you can.
* Amphorae were the original vessels to ferment wine. They were made from clay and looked like this:
Gary - I'm curious. What was your perception of the authenticity of Retsina?
ReplyDeleteI'm asking because this strikes me as a beverage that could go either way - authentic because it is an ancient tradition, inauthentic for the same reason.