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Fermentation Atlas

Alcoholic drinks from Greece

Retsinaρετσίνα

Retsina is a dry white or rosé Greek wine. Aleppo pine resin goes into the grape must before or early in fermentation and comes out once the wine is made, leaving a pine aroma. EU law allows the resin only for retsina made in Greece. Made in 5 steps over 15 days. The longest step, ferment with the resin in, takes 13 days (Natskoulis P.I 2024) and runs at 18–20 °C (Natskoulis P.I 2024). Saccharomyces cerevisiae does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step13 daysReported[natskoulis2024]Ferment with the resin in
Temperature18–20 °CReported[natskoulis2024]Ferment with the resin in
AciditypH 3.4–3.4Measured[natskoulis2024]Take out the resin and rack
Fully documentedAlcoholic drinks15 daysFamily: White wineMore alcoholic drinksMore from Greece

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe resin amount is the EU legal maximum. The other amounts come from one university micro-vinification trial (5 L containers); the tradition has no fixed recipe.
Savatiano grape must · For the PGI, mainly Savatiano, or Savatiano and Roditis at 10 to 1, making up at least 85 % of the grapes[natskoulis2024]
1000 g per hectolitre or lessAleppo pine resin · Legal maximum; the study used 0.5 g/L and 1 g/L in a gauze bag[eu2019-934][natskoulis2024]
Wine yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) · Commercial dry yeast in the study[natskoulis2024]
10 mg/L at crushing, then 30 mg/LSulphur dioxide · As used in the study[natskoulis2024]
Starterdefined-culture (wine yeast)

Total time across the recorded steps: 15 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
pH 3.2

What changes: The press squeezes juice out of the crushed Savatiano grapes

Step 1 of 5
Crush and press the grapes
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
pH 3.2
Measured
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Yeasts

Output: white grape must.

Flavour
fresh, fruity grape juice
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

The method is a normal dry white wine, plus one step. Aleppo pine resin is added to the must and taken out after fermentation. EU law allows the resin only for retsina made in Greece, and caps it at 1000 g per hectolitre. In the study, more resin raised alpha-pinene and resin aroma and lowered the fruity, floral notes.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Retsina with a PGI nameMade in the named area from mainly Savatiano, or Savatiano with Roditis.
  • Rosé retsinaMade the same way from rosé must.

Safety

Retsina is made and kept like any dry white wine. The resin dose is fixed by EU law.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Terebinth resin residues were found in a Neolithic wine jar from Iran (about 5400–5000 BC). Pine resin was used to preserve wine in Greek jars and amphorae of the 5th to 3rd centuries BC.

  1. [eu2019-934] Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/934, Annex I Part A, line 11.1 and Appendix 2 (Aleppo pine resin), Official Journal of the European Unionspec
  2. [natskoulis2024] Natskoulis P.I., Miliordos D.-E., Koutsouris A.N. et al. 2024, Optimisation of Retsina wine quality - effects of resin concentration, yeast strain and oak chip type, Foods 13(21):3376paper