1,500-year-old jugs reveal how Romans kept their wine full of flavor

It is a bit curious if we don't have any written description how Romans treated their wine and about their wine making. 

The Romans called it medicinal wine! I toast to that!

Bacchus/Dionysus is giving up his secrets!

"... Drinking wine was a common practice in Ancient Rome, enjoyed not only by aristocrats and emperors, but also by slaves, peasants, and men and women alike, a new study has uncovered. ...
A study published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal PLOS ONE examined three 1,500-year-old Roman amphorae (jugs used to transport wine) that were taken from a seabed deposit found in San Felice Circeo, about 55 miles southeast of Rome. ...

The study found that pine was used to create a kind of waterproofing tar to coat the inside of jars, but also speculated that this could have been done to flavor the wine itself. 

The study also determined that because pine was not native to the region, it must have been imported, most likely from Calabrian or Sicily, adding credence to existing archaeological and historical evidence of trade links between the regions 1,500 years ago. ..."

From the abstract:

"We hereby investigate the pitch used for coating three Roman amphorae from San Felice Circeo (Italy) through a multidisciplinary study. The identification of molecular biomarkers by gas chromatography—mass spectrometry is combined with archaeobotanical evidence of pollen and plant tissues of Vitis flowers. Diterpenic chemical markers together with Pinus pollen and wood revealed Pinaceae tar coating. Aporate 3-zonocolpate pollen, identified as Vitis, together with tartaric, malic and pyruvic acids elucidate the grape-fermented nature of the content. Our conclusions open new consideration on the use of grape derivatives that cannot be supported by traditional analytical methods. Based on the finds of aporate Vitis pollen, found also in local modern and Middle Pleistocene samples, we hypothesize the use of autochthonous vines. The presence of a medicinal wine (historically reported as oenanthium) is also considered. We interrogate Vitis pollen capacity to target grapevine domestication, thereby providing innovative tools to understand such an important process. ..."

1,500-year-old jugs reveal how Romans kept their wine full of flavor - The Jerusalem Post While the existence and importance of wine are well known to scholars, exactly how ancient Romans kept their wine safe and full of flavor was yet unknown.

Archaeobotanical and chemical investigations on wine amphorae from San Felice Circeo (Italy) shed light on grape beverages at the Roman time (open access)