Innovation No. 52 of 77 in the book
The Wine Label
Jars marked with vineyard, year, and maker
- When
- c. 1350 BCE
- Dynasty
- 18th Dynasty
- Era
- New Kingdom
Egyptian wine jars from around 1350 BCE carry the world’s first wine labels — and they note almost exactly what a modern label does.
Written on each jar in ink: the vintage year, the vineyard and region, and the name of the chief winemaker. Some even rate the quality — ‘good wine,’ ‘very good wine.’
Tutankhamun was buried with labeled jars; from them we know his cellar’s vintages and estates by name.
The idea of naming a wine by year and vineyard started on the Nile.
Twenty-six clay wine amphorae were buried with Tutankhamun in KV62, each carrying a hieratic ink inscription scholars call a jar docket. One records a year-5 vintage from a royal estate on the Western River and names the chief vintner; another notes only that the jar held sweet wine. Grapes were grown earlier in the Fertile Crescent, so the first here is the labelling. Thousands of similar fragments come from Amarna and from Amenhotep III's palace at Malkata.
Frequently Asked Questions
How detailed did the labels get?
Detailed enough to track a jar after it was sealed. Some dockets carry notes added years later by inspectors, recording that a jar had been opened, assessed and downgraded to vinegar or cheap blending wine.
Was this one royal habit or a national system?
National. The same labelling appears in its thousands at Amarna and Malkata, which means a regulated system of estates, vintages and quality tracking across the country, not a palace quirk.