What Is Amphora Wine? The Ancient Vessel Behind Some of Today's Most Exciting Wines

Amphora wine is wine that is fermented or aged in clay vessels instead of oak barrels or stainless steel tanks. It is the oldest way of making wine we know of — and after centuries of near-disappearance, it is back in some of the most respected cellars in the world.

Why wine left clay in the first place

In the ancient world, clay amphorae were used for everything: fermenting, storing and transporting wine. The problem was the journey. As wine travelled further from the Mediterranean, lighter and more robust wooden barrels simply arrived in better shape. Nobody chose wood for its flavour; it was a logistics decision that shaped the taste of wine for centuries.

Why winemakers are going back

Pioneers such as Josko Gravner in Friuli, Elisabetta Foradori in Trentino and Giusto Occhipinti in Sicily started experimenting with traditional amphorae from Georgia, Spain and Tuscany. They found real benefits, but also problems: traditional clay could let in too much oxygen, and its large pores were difficult to clean between vintages.

How a modern amphora is made

In our documentary How It's Made: Amphoras, we visit Tava in Mori, Trentino, a family ceramics company that set out to solve exactly those problems.

• The clay: a proprietary blend of mainly Italian clays, tested in a lab for its interaction with wine.

• The build: slabs of clay are pressed into plaster moulds and sealed by hand to avoid air bubbles, which could explode in the kiln. One amphora takes about a day to build.

• The drying: a week of hand-finishing and slow, controlled drying, during which the amphora shrinks by about 10%.

• The firing: the step that matters most. The higher the firing temperature, the lower the porosity — and the less oxygen reaches the wine.

Amphora vs. oak vs. stainless steel

• Oak lets in a small amount of oxygen, but also adds flavours and aromas from the wood.

• Stainless steel is precise and keeps wine fresh and fruity, but long ageing without air can make some wines close down.

• Clay offers micro-oxygenation comparable to oak, stable temperatures and a rounded shape that keeps the lees moving — without adding any flavour of its own.

As one winemaker in the film puts it, in clay "the only product I will get is Chardonnay".

What does amphora wine taste like?

It depends on the winemaker. Wines tend to show more texture and complexity and evolve faster than in steel, while keeping the character of the grape and the vineyard. Amphorae are used for whites, reds and skin-contact (orange) wines alike.

But clay is no shortcut. In the words of one producer: there's no magic — if the raw material is perfect, the amphora is an amazing tool.

Watch the full story

See the whole process, from clay dust to the kiln to the glass, in How It's Made: Amphoras, now streaming on WineMasters.tv.

[Watch the documentary →]