King Tut Loved Red Wine! Wait, Wasn’t He Underage? (18th Dynasty)

By: The Scribe on June, 2007

The boy King Tut According to some finds from the tomb of King Tutankhamun, the boy king greatly enjoyed a wee nip of red wine now and again…

Wine was actually a luxury item in ancient Egypt, with beer and mead being much more popular alcoholic beverages among the masses. And naturally, if the King enjoyed wine while he was alive, he was going to need something to drink in the afterlife! Although the containers for wine were readily identified from the tomb, the color and makeup of the wine was not known until scientists were able to carry out chemical analysis on the compounds left behind inside the containers.

It turns out that these wine pitchers had an acid residue inside, which Spanish scientists were able to identify as a substance typically left behind by red wine after it has dried up. In the extremely dry and sealed environment of King Tut’s tomb, the acid did not disintegrate or break down as it otherwise may have in a humid environment. Scientists took scrapings from the inside of the pitchers, and used techniques known as ‘liquid chromatography’ and ‘mass spectrometry’ to reveal the syringic acid left behind when a compound found in red wine called malvidin breaks down.

Egyptian Wine

Tomb paintings have caused speculation for decades over whether ancient Egyptians drank red wine, since many of the wine-making images showed red or purple grapes being pressed, though until now there was no definitive proof for its production.

Much like today’s wine-bottles, the pitchers found in King Tutankhamun’s tomb also contained labels on the front, identifying the name of the wine, its year of production and harvest, the source of the wine, and even who grew the grapevines! For example, one jar held the label: “Year 5, Wine of the House-of-Tutankhamun Ruler-of-the-Southern-on, l.p.h. in the Western River. By the chief Vinter Khaa”.

In addition, these same techniques were used on some other containers from the tomb, allowing scientists to discover that the ancient drink Shedeh, once considered the most precious and sacred drink in Egypt, was made from grapes and not pomegranates, as it had previously been thought!

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