Can you please offer to me your insight pertaining to a wine called Retsina? The bottle that I have contains 3 quarts & 1 pint & it's wrapped in wicker. It was produced & bottled by Andrew D Cambas; this wine goes back to the early 60's and it has never been opened. Does this bottle hold any value? Your comments would be much appreciated. Thank you, Steve
I forwarded this question to Miles Lambert-Gocs, author of Desert Island Wines, Greek Salad: A Dionysian Travelogue, and The Wines of Greece. Here's what he had to say:
Dear Steve:
How fascinating that someone has a jug of Cambas retsina from that long ago! It was quite common as late as the late 70s to find retsina in large wicker bottles, and not only from Cambas. It was a somewhat different retsina than what you find today -- more like what you might find from a barrel in an Athenian taverna.
Anyway, a bottle of retsina that old would not have any special value because of the wine inside it, since retsina does not improve with age.
I would suggest that you keep it as a memento (from the person who gave it to you or your relative).
Or, if you are familiar with retsina, you might like to open it and see whether the wine still tastes like retsina, or whether the taste of old age is now dominant.
But even if you do that, I would not throw the bottle away. You can always fill it up with new retsina and set it out at informal gatherings where you serve Greek or Mediterranean foods.
Find & Compare Discount Flights to Athens
Find & Compare Discount Rental Cars in Athens
Book your Own Day Trips Around Athens
Book your Own Short Trips Around Greece
Some of The Best Greek Islands
Temple-crowned Aegina - Natural Alonissos - Traditional Carpathos - Chewy Chios - Cos, The Doctors' Island - Queenly Crete - Dignified Delos - Do it all on Donoussa - Hydra, Artist's Island - Odysseus' Ithaca - Kalokairi "Mamma Mia" Island - Spongy Kalymnos - Aphrodite's Kythira - Lesvos, More than Sappho - Lovely Leros - Mighty Mykonos - Paros Paradise - Pirate Islands - Pastoral Patmos - Volcanic Santorini - Sexy Skopelos - The Dreamy Small Cyclades - Easy Spetses - Symi Summers - Very Greek Syros - Honeyed Thassos - Tilos, Island of Elephants
Reader Reviews: Tell Me About Your Favorite Greek Island
