Scorpion 1 of Egypt Scores High on Spiking Wines

Everything about the Egyptians fascinate us. Whether it is beauty sleep, beauty baths and now even their wines which were believed to be spiked with herbs by the ancient Egyptian pharaohs. That news really got me hooked coz I love finding out new things about wine. Gets me intoxicated:)

Archaelogists published a report on April 13, 2009, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It seems the tomb of Egypt's first pharaoh , Scorpion 1, which dates back to 3150 BC was found to have resides of herbs like sage, coriander, mint and so on in the wine jars.

A cheeky thought leapt to mind, were the Egyptian pharoahs drinking the South Indian spicy appetizer 'rasam' as wine? Of course, its not true. Our dear friend, the respect Scorpion 1 was a real wine connoisseur for sure. His tomb had 700 wine jars. Wish I were an Egyptian, and that someone would build me a tomb made of delicious wines.

Just yesterday, i had read about a wine called Syrah which has the notes of white pepper but this piece of news appealed even more.
Coming back to the use of herbs by the Egyptians, it seems our last finding on the use of herbs in alcoholic beverages pertained to China way back in 1200BC, with strains of tree resin and chrysanthemums in it.

Wine experts are debating about the reasons of spicing up wines. Maybe the Egyptians did it for medicinal purposes or to enhance flavors. The debate continues. Who cares about theories on wines? Its the flavors that matter.

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