Retsina

Retsina
From EncycloWine
A traditional Greek white wine. Contains pine resin which gives it a unique taste, and also serves as a preservative.

Retsina (ret-see'-nah)
For millennia the Greeks have added pitch (pine resin) to their wine to help preserve it from bacterial spoilage. While this seems odd in a time of high technology, it was the technology of the time.

Retsina (ret-see-nah)
Greek wine flavored with resin
Rheingau (rine-gow)
fine German wine district along the Rhine ...

Retsina. A dry white wine made in Greece, mostly from the Savatiano grape, to which pine resin has been added.

Retsina: Dry white Greek wine that has been flavored with pine resin. An acquired taste for most, this wine dates back to ancient Greece, where wine vessels, or amphorae, were sealed with pine resin or pitch.

Retsina
Retsina isn't a grape but rather a way of making wine in Greece since ancient times. Pine pitch is added to white wine or rosé during fermentation to protect the wine from oxidation, traditionally a high risk during long sea voyages.

White (Retsina) grape variety. Greek.
Scheurebe...
White grape variety. German cross between Sylvaner and Riesling.

Probably everyone's first experience with Greek wine is with its ubiquitous Retsina. My personal introduction to Greek wine was in a small taverna in Northern Greece in the town of Saloníki.

Among Greek wines must be mentioned the famous Retsina, despite the fact this is to be considered as an aromatized wine instead of a wine in the strictest meaning of the term, it is still the most renowned and spread wine in the country.

Mention Greek wine and people chuckle about their bad experiences with Retsina. But this is unfair.

Resin: the smell, predominating in Greek Retsinas, caused by the addition of small amounts of resin to the fermentation.

Savatiano is a white grape type that is widely planted in Greece. Capable of producing clean dry whites its character is normally hidden in the Resin scented Retsina of which it is the principal ingredient.

Widely grown in Greece this white-wine grape is usually found as a 3-way blend with Aidani and Athiri grape white-wines in order to create popular styles. Also used as the base wine, along with Roditis grape-wine, in the well-known "Retsina" blends ...

producer variety is usually found as a 3-way blend with Aidani and Athiri grape white wines in order to create a popular sweet style known as "Vansanto". Also used as the base wine, along with Roditis grape-wine, in the well-known "Retsina" blends ...

See also: Grape, Wine, Region, White Wine, Sweet