Did Romans put lead in their wine?
Ancient Romans added a poisonous lead syrup to their wine to make it taste sweeter.
Winemakers boiled grape juice in lead pots to create a thick sweetener called sapa. This process created lead acetate, a chemical that tastes like sugar but is highly toxic. The syrup also stopped the wine from turning into vinegar during long trips.
Nerd's Section
Roman writers like Pliny the Elder wrote instructions for making sapa in the 1st century AD. They told people to use lead pots instead of copper to avoid a metallic taste. When grape juice boils in lead, it reacts with acids to create lead acetate. This substance is about 60 times sweeter than regular sugar.Modern scientists have tested the bones of people who lived in the Roman city of Herculaneum. These skeletons contain 10 times more lead than what is considered safe today. A Roman noble might have swallowed 250 micrograms of lead every day. The modern safety limit set by the World Health Organization is only 25 micrograms.Lead poisoning causes serious health problems like kidney failure and brain damage. Researcher Jerome Nriagu suggested in 1983 that this poisoning might have caused the strange behavior of emperors like Nero. The Romans also used lead for their water pipes and cooking tools. They did not realize that the metal was slowly making their entire society sick.
Verified Fact
FP-0003372 · Apr 5, 2026