This distinctively salty style of wine was, according to Pliny, invented accidentally by a slave, who added sea water to the must to meet his production quota.
[1] The result apparently became popular, and was imitated by neighboring wine makers, such as those on Rhodes.
[2] Since the addition of salt water tended to mask any local distinctiveness, other regions even began manufacturing amphorae in the Coan style in which to ship their imitations of Coan-style wine, meaning that by some point "Coan wine" became a generic term for a style of wine that was in fact made in many different locations.
[2] The connoisseurs of ancient Rome, however, preferred wines without sea water added, and both Pliny and Galen strongly recommend unadulterated wines such as those of Chios.
[1] Two accounts of the production of Coan-style wine survive, one given by Cato the Elder in De agri cultura, and the other, attributed to Berytius, in the Byzantine collection Geoponica.