Weird Wine Wednesdays: Retsina

Wanna know what it’s like to get drunk off the tears of a wood nymph? Because apparently that’s what you get from the piney Greek wine known as Retsina. “Sappy and turpentinelike”, this wine was born out of the need to keep and ship wines back in ancient times when airtight bottles weren’t yet a thing. The ancient Greeks kept their wine in amphorae (ceramic pots) which they sealed with Aleppo (pine trees native to the Mediterranean) resin.

Modern Retsina is made using pretty standard winemaking techniques that we usually see used to craft whites and rosés. Savatiano grapes are the typical go-to, with Assyrtiko and Rhoditis grapes sometimes blended in. Small pieces of Aleppo pine resin are then added to the must (freshly pressed juice) during fermentation and then later clarified.

These crisp wines, which are largely made for the purpose of tradition and heritage, aren’t usually taken too seriously in wine circles because the wines aren’t considered “complex enough” (whatever that means) and the pine resin is often considered overwhelming. Still, they can make some seriously kickass summer cocktails and pair amazingly with herbed food like a roasted rosemary crusted lamb or anything incorporating fresh mint or dill.

So what do you think? Would you give it a taste? If you’re riding the Vomit Comet home on a Saturday night at 3am and the guy beside you smells like a drunk Christmas tree, you’ll know why.