Retsina is a wine with a two thousand year history, and over the millennia people have either adored or despised it. In ancient days, when Greeks originally shipped their wines from village to village they did so in either pine-wood casks or clay jugs, both of which tended to be porous, so for convenience sake the jugs were caulked with the resin of pine trees. People also came to learn that the addition of resin to the wine served to preserve it.

The taste of the resin permeated the wines, but because there were few options in those days, people tolerated this minor idiosyncrasy. Eventually the taste became a habit and people actually started to enjoy it. So much did resinated wine become part of their culture that even today many Greeks and Cypriots believe that it rarely caused hangovers, aids in the digestion process, is a valid way to treat tuberculosis and is good for sexual energy. Even though retsina is one of the major sources of joy in hundreds of Greek tavernnas, it seems almost unnecessary to point out that not one of those claims is backed up by any research whatever!

Made almost entirely in Greece and in parts of Cyprus, modern retsina is made like any other white wine, the major grapes used being Savatiano and Rhoditis although from area to area, other grapes are also used in part. The wines are made for the most part in stainless steel vats, so resin is no longer needed either to ship or to preserve them. Because the flavor has become so popular however, today's better retsina wines have chunks of resin (mostly taken from the Alep pine tree) added to them as they are fermenting. The flavor permeates the wine and the chunks are removed when the wine is racked and filtered. A few unscrupulous winemakers have been known to add artificial flavoring to give their wines the required taste. There are a few unfiltered retsina wines but unless you consider yourself more machismo than Zorba these are to be avoided because they are so sharply resinated that they can make breathing, swallowing or talking near impossibilities.

Produced throughout the country for local consumption, but mainly in Attica, Boeotia and Euboea in south-central Greece for export and for shipping to major Greek cities, the best examples of retsina have a lightly oily texture, a mild flavor of pine cones and a cooling effect on the palate. Even though you may occasionally be offered a twenty or thirty year old Retsina, those in the know say that this is a wine best consumed when it is young. Devotees also feel that the wine is best when served just barely chilled. As to myself, I admit my bias and find that whether mildy or well chilled, even the best retsina has a remarkable resemblance in flavor and aroma to well-aged turpentine. If the full truth be told, I will only drink it when refusing to do so might offend someone.

Post Script: That my own palate has little tolerance for the proclaimed joys of retsina should stop no-one from trying or even enjoying it thoroughly. In fact, some of the most intelligent and sensitive people of my acquaintance enjoy this beverage and object rather strenuously to my objections. Fair enough - for this is one of those issues that best reflects the French motto chacun a son gout (each to his taste) or, as Janice Joplin so nicely put it "different strokes for different folks".

© Daniel Rogov