Ancient Roman winemaking

[ratflinger]

You can still buy Retsina, Greek white wine, it's flavored with pine resin, but in the old days the resin was used a sealant

 

[mstrick96]

Here's a poster on the production and use of pitch for sealing the amphorae in Roman wine production. By Mario Indelicato. He states that the pitch was used for waterproofing.
In another paper he talks about the smoky flavor that the pitch imparts to the wine.