Commentary for Avodah Zarah 61:12
מעיקרא מאי סבור ולבסוף מאי סבור מעיקרא סבור אין כותי מקפיד על מגע עובד כוכבים לא שנא פתוחות ולא שנא סתומות ולבסוף סבור כי לא קפיד אפתוחות אסתומות מקפיד קפיד
What did they hold at first and what did they hold at the end? At first they held that a Samaritan does not care if a non-Jew has contact [with the wine] whether the casks are open or closed; but subsequently they held that only in the case of open ones they are not particular, but in the case of closed casks they are very particular.
Daf Shevui to Avodah Zarah
The change happened when the rabbis realized (or simply decided) that Samaritans did generally ensure that non-Jews should not come into contact with their closed casks of wine. They just were not so strict, and thus if a cask was opened, Jews could not be sure that non-Jews had not touched it.
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