Ancient Greece: Containers for wine

Finished wine was normally stored in amphorae lined with resin or pitch (see resinated wines) to limit porosity, which will have affected the taste to some extent, and pitch was also used to secure the stopper, which was usually of pottery, although the use of cork was known. Amphorae of the classical period held between 20 and 75 l (5–20 gal), depending on their origin, and added 5–15 kg (11–33 lbs) to the total load. These commercial amphorae are, of course, to be distinguished from the much smaller painted pots, also called amphorae, which were used to present the wine when it was drunk. In the Odyssey (2. 340 ff.), Telemachus had wine drawn off from the big pithoi in which it had been ageing into amphorae for his journey abroad. Homer also refers quite frequently to wine kept in wineskins, but in classical times skin bags were probably mainly filled for rapid consumption; despite being lighter and, perhaps, less fragile, they will have flavoured the wine, being usually made from the skin of a sheep or goat.