What would Jesus drink?

 

Orignal Article:

cnn.com

By Oren Liebermann, CNN
December 23, 2015

 

Jerusalem (CNN)The Bible is full of references to wine: Noah gets drunk on it after the flood. Jesus turns water into wine. It is praised in Ecclesiastes and reviled in Proverbs. Yet nowhere in Scripture is the type of wine identified — until now.

A small but growing number of wineries in Israel and the West Bank are trying to recreate the wine of the Bible, combining ancient grape varietals with modern science to identify and produce the wine consumed thousands of years ago in the Holy Land.

“People are very enthusiastic about drinking a wine that King David had on his table, or for the same matter, Jesus or any other biblical figure,” says Eliyashiv Drori, who started a boutique winery near his home in a West Bank settlement. “They all grew here, they all lived here, and they all ate and drank wine here.”

Drori, a wine researcher at the Samaria Regional R & D Center at Ariel University, examines preserved grapeseeds found in archaeological digs to identify the types of grapes used to make wine.

He says there were different varieties of wine in biblical times: red and white, dry and sweet. But he says they likely didn’t make wine from specific grapes, such as modern-day cabernet sauvignon and merlot.

His research has identified 120 varieties of grapes unique to the region, of which about 20 are suitable for making wine.

“For me, reconnecting to that is actually reconnecting to our roots, to our history, to the way of life of our ancestors. That’s a big thing for me,” Drori says.

Ottoman rule, French grapes
Winemaking was strictly limited in the Holy Land for hundreds of years under the Ottoman Empire.

The grapes that survived were table grapes, but not all table grapes make good wine.

When Baron Edmond de Rothschild restarted Israel’s wine industry in the 1880s, he did so with grapes imported from France.

Today, Israel’s 300 or so wineries produce 36 million bottles of wine. Winemakers say imported grapes will only take the wine industry so far. Indigenous grapes bring new marketing potential to local winemakers.

Recanati Winery in northern Israel has started making wine from marawi grapes. The winery makes 1 million bottles of wine a year. So far, only 2,500 bottles are marawi, but the owners hope the new old wine takes off.
“This marawi is our own unique, indigenous species that’s been grown in Israel for hundreds of years. This is our chance to bring something new to the world and to show the world that we are innovative and we have tradition in this industry,” says Recanati winemaker Gil Shatsberg.

Recanati’s bottle has English, Hebrew, and Arabic on the label as a way of acknowledging the different people behind the wine. “Since the grape is Arabic origin and the grower is Palestinian, we gave respect for everybody,” says Recanati CEO Noam Yacoby.

Unique to the region
In the valley between Bethlehem and Jerusalem, the cities that mark the beginning of Christ’s life and the end, Cremisan Winery was the first to make wine using only grapes indigenous to the region, starting in 2008.

It uses grapes such as dabouki, hamdani, jandali and baladi. These are not well-known types of wine, but Cremisan hopes that will change. In the highly competitive wine market, offering a unique product can make a major difference.

“To stay strong in the market, you need unique wines such as these,” says Ziad Bitar, sales manager for Cremisan. “We are talking about grapes that were here for thousands of years. We weren’t here, but we can imagine that they drank this type of wine.”

His winemaker, Fadi Batarseh, chimes in: “And we hope that Jesus is happy with our wine!”

 

 

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Canaanite Rulers Liked Their Wine Jars: Vast Collection Found at Tel Kabri

Large pithoi found at Tel Kabri, in what appears to be one of four (maybe five) storage rooms Credit .Eric Cline

 

Tel Kabri, the 4,000-year old remains of a Canaanite palace that is more like ones found at Knossos and Mari than the Levant. (Photo: Griffin Aerial Imaging/Skyview Photography)

 

Original Article:

Haaretz.con

Julia Fridman Jul 28, 2015 2:25 PM

 

New findings at sprawling 4,000-year old Canaanite palace include 120 huge jars – and seeds, from which we may be able to rediscover the ancient grape.

What may be the biggest concentration of storage jars in ancient Canaan has been uncovered at the Tel Kabri palatial complex in northern Israel, dating about 4,000 years ago.
A room full of clay storage jars, dubbed the “wine cellar,” had been found there in the last season. Now the latest excavation season at the site, located in an avocado orchard in the north just five kilometers from the Mediterranean coast, has uncovered three more rooms containing no less than about 70 storage jars.
Altogether, the excavators say, they uncovered at least 120 restorable jars still in situ in four storage rooms in the southern storage area of the palace (including pieces found in the last seasons). They may have also found a fifth storage room in a different building complex located to the northwest. “The rooms have not all been fully excavated,” points out Assaf Yasur-Landau of the University of Haifa: the number will probably double when that’s done, he adds.
All the jars are undergoing organic residue analysis in order to determine their contents, the excavators told Haaretz. Residue analysis of the jars found in the first storage room during the previous excavation season showed they had contained an aromatic red wine.
Original Canaanite grapes
We don’t know who lived at the Tel Kabri palace, which is a vast 6,000 square meters in area, let alone what the place was called at the time – not a shred of written evidence has been found there. We do know that the palace was inhabited continuously for over 250 years, from about 1850 BCE to the 1600s BCE, and that it featured multiple banquet rooms and halls.
The palace at Tel Kabri is unique in the Levant for this period, and appears to have more affinities to the Aegean than to anything in the more immediate area. It is most similar to the massive palace of Knossos in Crete although a similar palace was found at Mari as well.
The palace at Kabri was a sprawling place with rooms constantly being added to it over the years. The ruler would have lived inside and his subjects would have lived outside, coming to the palace for special occasions like feasts, or to pay taxes or tribute. 
Absent findings of writing at the site, its history is being “glued together” through excavations by Yasur-Landau and Eric H. Cline of George Washington University.

“The goal of this season was to further understand the Canaanite palatial economy, by expanding the excavation beyond the area where the jars were found last season. We were hoping to find additional store rooms, thinking about the palace of Mari and the palaces in Crete from the same period – but to find ones that are actually filled with jars was unexpected,” says Yassur-Landau. “This kind of a find is a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn about Canaanite economy and rulership.”
It now looks like the ‘wine cellar’ was actually the northernmost room in a storage complex with at least four rooms in a row.
It can also now be said that the storage rooms had plastered floors and contained a range of types of jars. For example, room 2520 had pithoi (handleless storage jars) of two types, one around one meter tall and smaller, more slender pithoi, up to 80 centimeters in height.
In the center of room 2520, the excavators also found a juglet, two shallow bowls, and a chalice, crushed under the weight of a fallen pithos.
Palatial economy
Another unusual find was the middle of room 2533: an installation made of a sunken half of a pithos, still intact, still holding grape seed remnants, as well as pieces of charcoal. The installation appears to have been used to collect liquids spilled in the room.
This particular room had the biggest amount of crushed jars and pithoi, apparently more than 50 jars of various types.
The grape seeds are an incredible find. Not only can they help date the site: their analysis can help us rediscover the original Canaanite grape.
The grapes grown in Israel today are very tasty, but they’re strains brought by Baron Edmond James de Rothschild in the late 19th century. The famed wine industry of the Levant, which had existed for millennia, had been wiped out during Islamic rule of the region, starting in the 7th century CE.
Last season the excavators tested the substance found in the large jars from the first storage room and found, as said, evidence of spiced wine.
“This season yielded 80 organic residue analysis (ORA) samples taken from approximately 70 unique vessels,” says Yassur-Landau. “Last season’s samples were taken from large storage vessels that proved to have contained spiced wine but the 80 samples from this season were more varied, including smaller storage jars with handles possibly used for transport and a larger assortment of fine ware.”
The samples will further the understanding of Canaanite eating habits and augment our understanding of the economy of the time, the archaeologists hope.
“Finding these additional storerooms and the tremendous additional number of jars is wonderful, since it clearly indicates that we are in the storage area of the palace and that it was substantial, and composed of numerous rooms,” Cline commented. “I am eagerly awaiting the results of the Organic Residue Analysis from the jars, so we can see if they also held wine, like the ones that we found in 2013, or if they held something else like olive oil.”

 

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This ancient liquor popular among Vikings may be the answer to antibiotic resistance

 

Scientists in Sweden are launching their own mead — an alcoholic beverage made from a fermented mix of honey and water — based on old recipes they say could help in the fight against antibiotic resistance.

Together with a brewery, the scientists, who have long studied bees and their honey, have launched their own mead drink: Honey Hunter’s Elixir.

Lund University researcher Tobias Olofsson said mead had a long track record in bringing positive effects on health.

“Mead is an alcoholic drink made with just honey and water, and it was regarded as the drink of the gods and you could become immortal or sustain a better health if you drank it,” Olofsson said. “It was drunk by the Vikings for example and other cultures such as the Mayas, the Egyptians, and it was a drink that was regarded as a very beneficial drink.”

Honey production is key to the research. In previous research published in 2014, Olofsson and Alejandra Vasquez discovered that lactic-acid bacteria found in the honey stomach of bees, mixed with honey itself, could cure chronic wounds in horses that had proved resistant to treatment.

They said their research had proved that these bacteria had the power to collaborate and kill off all the human pathogens they have been tested against, including resistant ones. They are doing so by producing hundreds of antibacterial antibiotic-like substances.

What makes Honey Hunter’s Elixir different from other types of modern mead drinks is that is uses all 13 beneficial honeybee lactic-acid bacteria and the wild yeasts from honey that normally ferment mead spontaneously.

According to the team, commercial honey does not contain these bacteria. Since the honey and water mixture is sterilized before later adding industrial wine yeast, all other life in the honey, including wild yeast, is killed off.

The researchers say the drink contains 100 billion of these 13 different living and collaborating lactic-acid bacteria.

Olofsson said they believed mead could have been the most efficient historical equivalent to today’s antibiotics, and they see Honey Hunter’s Elixir as a possible way of preventing infections.

“Well, we’ve seen in our research that the honey bees actually add great flora of lactic-acid bacteria in honey, so the mead, when produced, is actually fermented by these lactic-acid bacteria together with wild yeasts and the lactic-acid bacteria can really kill off all the dangerous pathogens that are even resistant against antibiotics,” Olofsson said. “So our thinking is that the mead, when you consume the mead, these (antibacterial substances in) lactic-acid bacteria in the drink can actually be transferred to your blood and help you when you are infected with dangerous bacteria or promote health, preventing infections.”

In 2005, Olofsson and Vasquez discovered that many beneficial bacteria reside within honeybees in a structure called honey crop, which is the organ in which honeybees collect nectar for honey production.

As a result, their research has since focused on how this can be applied to functional foods, as alternative medical tools against infections and bee health.

The mead is part of this research, which is summarized on the website.

“We will have volunteers drinking this drink and measure different parameters to see if the compounds the bacteria produce could end up in the blood system and for that to cause a prevention or a cure for infections,” Vasquez said, adding that more research was needed.

“We don’t really know at the moment exactly which kind of infectious disease we could counteract in the future because we need to understand this thoroughly,” she said. “At the moment we know that the bacteria produce very interesting compounds, a lot of different weapons like antibiotics but a lot of them that collaborate and those weapons or the key in use in this viable bacteria in the future.”

If human trials are successful, it could help doctors overturn the growing threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, in both First World countries and also in the developing world where fresh honey is more readily accessible than antibiotics.

In recent years antibiotic resistance has become a critical issue for global health, with an ever increasing number of strains of bacteria developing immunity.

Read the original article on Reuters. Copyright 2015. Follow Reuters on Twitter.

By
Reuters
ILZE FILKS, REUTERS

Original article:

businessinsider.com

 

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Wine-cellar-excavated-may-be-worlds-oldest-and-largest-ever-discovered

Wine Cellar Excavated May Be Worlds Oldest and Largest Ever Discovered

Archaeologists in Israel have excavated a palace that possibly has a personal wine cellar that may be considered the worlds oldest and also larger than any that have ever been discovered before. Numerous archaeological groups have been working on unearthing the Canaanite fortress of Tel Kabri since the late 1980’s.

The Middle Bronze Age palace, which was built during 1900 B.C. to 1600 B.C., covers a massive 200 acres in the northwestern region of modern-day Israel. The newest team of scientists claim that they found the palace’s wine cellar, and it is something that even the most magnificent of wine connoisseurs would be jealous of.

Archaeologist Andrew Koh told the media that what was so fascinating about the wine cellar besides its size was that it was part of a household economy. It was the owner’s private wine vault and the wine was never intended to be given away as part of any system of providing for the public. It was only for his personal enjoyment and the support of his power.

So basically, even though despite the details that it might have been the biggest and oldest wine cellar found to the present date in the Middle East, it was used strictly for private pleasure, and not for any commercial storing.

A research report recently printed up in the science journal PLoS ONE, explained how Dr. Koh and his team unearthed the huge room located just to the west of the palace’s central courtyard. It was full of gigantic, but slender necked vessels that were believed to have held the wine. Three of the over 40 jars discovered were carefully examined and researchers found trace amounts of tartaric acid, which is one of the key acids found in wine. They also discovered syringic acid, which is a mixture linked to red wine specifically, and remains from herbs, tree resign, and even honey – all various additives to wine.

Dr. Koh explained that if the wine was still intact, he and his team would have been able to taste a fairly refined drink. Someone was actually sitting there and the person had years if not generations of experience behind him saying that these items are what best preserves the wine and gives it a better taste. It is something amazing to think about when a modern day person actually takes the time to dwell on it.

He was asked about how much wine was really in the cellar. The wine vessels were entirely of uniform size and stored just under 530 gallons of alcohol, according to preliminary reports that were presented at the yearly meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research which occurred in November of 2013.

That would be the equal to around 3,000 modern day bottles of wine. Archaeologists in Israel dug up a palace that possibly has a personal wine cellar considerably greater than any wine vault that has ever been discovered before. Several different archaeological groups have been working on unearthing the Canaanite fortress since the late 1980’s.

By Kimberly Ruble

Sources:

Science World Report

CBS News

Nature World News

Original article:
guardianlv.com

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Wine cup used by Pericles found in grave north of Athens

A cup believed to have been used by Classical Greek statesman Pericles has been found in a pauper’s grave in north Athens, according to local reports Wednesday.

The ceramic wine cup, smashed in 12 pieces, was found during building construction in the northern Athens suburb of Kifissia, Ta Nea daily said.

After piecing it together, archaeologists were astounded to find the name “Pericles” scratched under one of its handles, alongside the names of five other men, in apparent order of seniority.

Experts are “99 per cent” sure that the cup was used by the Athenian statesman, as one of the other names listed, Ariphron, is that of Pericles’ elder brother.

“The name Ariphron is extremely rare,” Angelos Matthaiou, secretary of the Greek Epigraphic Society, told the newspaper.

“Having it listed above that of Pericles makes us 99 per cent sure that these are the two brothers,” he said.

The cup was likely used in a wine symposium when Pericles was in his twenties, and the six men who drank from it scrawled their names as a memento, Matthaiou said.

“They were definitely woozy, as whoever wrote Pericles’ name made a mistake and had to correct it,” he said.

The cup was then apparently gifted to another man named Drapetis (“escapee” in Greek) who was possibly a slave servant or the owner of the tavern, said archaeologist Galini Daskalaki.

“This is a rare find, a genuine glimpse into a private moment,” she said.

Ironically, the cup was found on Sparta street, Athens’ great rival and nemesis in the Peloponnesian War that tore apart the Greek city-states for nearly 30 years.

General of Athens during the city’s Golden Age, Pericles died of the plague in 429 BC during a Spartan siege.

The cup will be displayed in the autumn at the Epigraphical Museum in Athens. [AFP]

Original article:
ekathimerini.com

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Guarding grapes and other tales from papyri

If you weren’t careful, you might end up beaten by grape thieves skulking in the darkness.

A University of Cincinnati graduate student writes about the contractual obligations of vineyard guards and researchers from around the world contribute more stories from ancient times in the most recent volumes of the Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists (BASP).

UC’s Peter van Minnen, associate professor of classics, has edited the international journal since 2006. BASP is an annual collection of articles and reviews pertaining to important discoveries from around the world in the field of papyrology – the study of ancient texts on papyrus and other materials.

The latest volume of BASP is the 50th in the series and the eighth to have been edited at UC. The recently published journal features 35 contributions from 26 writers from 11 countries. The previous year’s volume features 44 contributions from 41 writers from 14 countries. Each of the past two volumes includes content in three languages.

In “Guarding Grapes in Roman Egypt (P.Mich. inv. 438),” UC graduate student Kyle Helms details what he deciphered from a roughly 3-by-5 inch shred of dark brown papyrus dating back to the fourth century.

In large, cursive script, the hired guard outlines his labor contract: “I agree that I have made a contract with you on the condition that I guard your property, a vineyard near the village Panoouei, from the present day until vintage and transport, so that there be no negligence, and on the condition that I receive in return for pay for all of the aforementioned time” an unknown amount of money, as the papyrus is broken off at the bottom.

In his contribution, Helms references another papyrus record of a vineyard guard who was beaten by “violent and rapacious” criminals while attempting to chase them from the vineyard.

Original article:
Phys.org
March24, 2014

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Thousand-year-old vineyards discovered in Alava

University of Basque Country (UPV/EHU)
Aerial view of the deserted Zaballa village in Alava province, Spain

Topic Ancient vineyard in Spain
Zaballa (Iruña de Oca) was a medieval settlement abandoned in the 15th century. The building of a manor monastery at the heart of it undermined the organisation of the village in the 10th century with the creation of a highly significant rent-seeking system; it was later turned into a veritable factory, a specialised estate in the hands of local lords who, under the auspices of the economic boom in towns like Vitoria-Gasteiz, tried to obtain the maximum profits possible. In the end, the “flight” of its settlers towards the towns caused it to be abandoned. Today, it is archaeologists from the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country who are endeavouring to reconstruct and salvage our rural heritage by studying deserted settlements like Zaballa.
Zaballa is one of the more than 300 deserted settlements known in Alava-Araba; they are rural spaces abandoned in historical times but now being studied by the UPV/EHU’s Cultural Heritage and Landscapes Research Group. Its director, Juan Antonio Quirós-Castillo, highlights the importance of Zaballa and Alavese sites in general, as they are part of one of the most importance archaeological records of the mediaeval era throughout northern Iberia, and on a par with few sites in Europe. “The important thing is not just their number, but that in the decade that we have been working on this project, extensive work has been done on nearly half a dozen of them, and work at other levels has been done on nearly a hundred.”
A major site
Zaballa is also the first deserted settlement in Spain that has its own publication and is a major site. The most recent discoveries made there have been published in a special issue of the prestigious journal Quaternary International; among the discoveries, the authors stress that the terraced fields built in the 10th century —still perfectly visible in the landscape— were devoted to the intensive cultivation of vines. “Archaeo-botanical studies of seed remains found in the excavations and pollen studies have provided material evidence of the existence of vine cultivation in a relatively early period like the 10th century,” explained Quirós. This evidence is also supported by the metal tools discovered and which had been destined for this very use, and the study of the agrarian spaces, “which owing to the nature of the crop spaces built and the agrarian practices developed, they are not compatible with cereal crops but they are with vines,” he added.
This publication covers the geo-archaeological work conducted at Zaballa and Zornotegi (Salvatierra), another abandoned settlement in Alava, which became deserted in the 15th century and where the terraced fields were devoted to the cultivation of cereals.
These discoveries have been made possible by the use of archaeological excavation protocols, and geo-archaeological sampling and analysis, which are new in Spain and which have allowed the cultivated fields to be dated and the agrarian cycle to be studied. “It is not so much about excavating a site, but about excavating landscapes,” explained Quirós. In other words, it is about abandoning the traditional concept of the site, understood as a monumental or monumentalised place, in order to get to know the context in which these places are located.”
In comparison with Zaballa, “Zornoztegi has a completely different history,” he pointed out. “Even though it was founded at more or less the same time, it is a much more egalitarian social community in which such significant social differences are not observed, and nor is the action of manorial powers which, in some way, undermined the balance of the community.”
In Quirós’ view, these microhistories constitute small windows into the past that allow one to analyse relatively complex historical processes directly, bottom upwards, “in other words, to see how the peasant community itself gradually adapts to the political and economic changes that take place in the medieval era and later.”
What is more, the analytical study of these places of production allows one to abandon those more traditional points of view of history which “conceptualize the high medieval periods as a time of technical simplification, as a meagre period in economic terms, since they point to considerable social and economic complexity. Specifically, it has been possible in these studies to see that there are various important moments in the Basque Country, 5th to 6th centuries and 10th to 11th centuries, which were decisive in the construction of our landscapes.”
Consideration of archaeological heritage
The study of abandoned settlements allow one to understand not only the village forming phenomena and the reasons why they were later abandoned, but more than anything, the transformation and degradation processes of the abandoned villages. That is why Quirós is calling for these places to be regarded as part of archaeological heritage: “The space for traditional crops, still easily recognisable in the landscapes closest to us, are historical spaces brimming with explanatory significance to help us understand the societies of the past; indeed, they require attention which they have not had until now,” he concluded. In fact, the farm land analysed is gradually being destroyed year after year as a result of recent mechanised agricultural practices which have had and continue to have a very considerable destructive effect on this “invisible” heritage.

Original article:
basqueresearch.com
Dec 23, 2013
More information is at:
ibtimes.co.uk

University of Basque Country (UPV/EHU)
Aerial view of the deserted Alavese village at Zornostegi in northern Spain.

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Commandaria: The oldest wine in the world?

Commandaria wine from Cyprus is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest named wine in the world. According to legend, King Richard the Lionheart of England was so taken with commandaria that at his wedding in 1191 he pronounced it “the wine of kings and the king of wines”.

Topic: Wine from Cyprus
Limassol, Cyprus (CNN) — Cyprus is known for its sunshine, its ancient ruins and its delicious halloumi cheese, but one thing that is less well known is that it is also home to the oldest named wine in the world.

Commandaria is a dessert wine with a flavor as rich as its history. It is originally believed to have been given its name by crusading knights in the 13th century, but to have first been made up to 5,000 years ago.

It is produced in the fertile high-altitude slopes in the south-west of the island that became known as “La Grande Commanderie” during the Crusades. Around this time, the Knights of the Order of Saint John renamed the local wine after their new protectorate.

Throughout the following centuries, stories of the wine abound. According to legend, King Richard the Lionheart of England was so taken with commandaria that at his wedding he pronounced it “the wine of kings and the king of wines.” Equally struck by the intoxicating liquor was the French King Philippe Augustus who is said to have declared it to be “the Apostle of wines”.
Over time production continued to grow. By 1879 the British explorer Sir Samuel White Baker recorded that Cyprus was annually exporting 155,000 “okes” (a Turkish measurement that translates roughly to 230,000 liters) of commandaria to Austria alone.

In the coastal town of Limassol, on the sunny southern coast of Cyprus, the most popular brand of commandaria — KEO St. John — is produced to a recipe that is now protected by a legally enforced appellation, the only one held by Cyprus.

Dimitris Antoniou, senior oenologist at KEO, believes the wine they produce is very special. “In it you have all the elements of Cyprus: you have honey, herbs, vanilla, spices, and dried fruits such as plums … it is very complicated,” he says.

One distinguishing feature of commandaria is that after the grapes are picked, they are left in the sun for ten days, which increases the density of their sugars.

The grapes are then pressed, the wine is fortified (usually with a high percentage grape-based alcohol) and then it is aged for at least two years in oak barrels before being bottled. As the years roll by, the amber liquid intensifies in both viscosity and sweetness.
Dimitris, together with George Metochis, senior winemaker at KEO, oversee the vast operation where annually over 130,000 liters of wine are produced, largely for market within Cyprus, but also exported to Russia, Scandinavia, France, the United States and Australia.

The cavernous KEO vaults currently house 400,000 liters of commandaria with a range of vintages; the oldest batch dates back over a century.

Ancient heritage, modern interpretation

Archaeological digs, conducted over the past decade, have unearthed evidence that the history of wine in Cyprus stretches back not just hundreds, but thousands of years. Some believe that Cyprus may have been the site of the earliest wine harvests in Europe, stretching back 5,000 years.

Alongside the mainstream labels producing commandaria, a new generation of winemakers is looking to this more distant history to try to get in touch with the country’s original viniculture.

One such winemaker is Lefteris Mohianakis who has vineyards in the high hills near the village of Zoopigi. The two grapes he uses — Mavro a red grape, and Xynisteri a white — have long been used to produce the island’s famous sweet wine. But when Lefteris talks of Cypriot wine, he speaks of “Nama”, the more ancient name for what the crusading knights of the 13th century came to call commandaria.

Lefteris Mohianakis is respectful of commandaria’s great history, but says that his “Anama Concept” wine takes inspiration from the past while still very much looking towards towards the future.

“I’m working on the base of tradition, but I’m trying to involve oenology, which is a contemporary science,” he says.

Throughout his career, Mohianakis has worked in wineries around the world, and in his view, Cyprus is unique in its ability to grow sweet wine.

“I truly believe that terroir (the geology and climate of a place) is one of the most important things towards producing a high quality wine,” he says.

“That is why nobody in the world can produce a Sauvignon Blanc like Marlborough in New Zealand, or a Cabernet Sauvignon like Bordeaux. That is the reason why I strongly believe that Cyprus is one of the rarest terroirs that can produce such high quality sweet wines. It is the sun and the soil. It is unique.”

So does Mohianakis believe that his wine tastes the same as the nama that was being enjoyed in Cyprus 5,000 years ago?

“I think that historians can tell stories and can give you an idea about the past, but senses cannot be transmitted through history. So we cannot understand how an ancient nama smelled or tasted,” Mohianakis says.

“My mentality is that we are walking on the base of tradition, on the base of the things transported from generation to generation — the tales, the feelings — but the best thing we can do is to give the vine the opportunity to choose for itself what kind of product it wants to create. Those vines have been there for 150 years … I am just trying to give the vines the opportunity to express themselves through my wine.”

Original article:
cnn.com

By Arion McNicoll, for CNN
December 13, 2013

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Italian archaeologists have grape expectations of their ancient wine

The University of Catania’s vines are secured with canes and woven juniper leaves. Photograph: Mario Indelicato

Topic: Ancient Italian Wine

Scientists plant vineyards with the aim of making wine using techniques from classical Rome described by Virgil

Italian archaeologists have grape expectations of their ancient wine

Archeologists in Italy have set about making red wine exactly as the ancient Romans did, to see what it tastes like.

Based at the University of Catania in Sicily and supported by Italy’s national research centre, a team has planted a vineyard near Catania using techniques copied from ancient texts and expects its first vintage within four years.

“We are more used to archeological digs but wanted to make society more aware of our work, otherwise we risk being seen as extraterrestrials,” said archaeologist Daniele Malfitana.

At the group’s vineyard, which should produce 70 litres at the first harvest, modern chemicals will be banned and vines will be planted using wooden Roman tools and will be fastened with canes and broom, as the Romans did.

Instead of fermenting in barrels, the wine will be placed in large terracotta pots – traditionally big enough to hold a man – which are buried to the neck in the ground, lined inside with beeswax to make them impermeable and left open during fermentation before being sealed shut with clay or resin.

“We will not use fermenting agents, but rely on the fermentation of the grapes themselves, which will make it as hit and miss as it was then – you can call this experimental archaeology,” said researcher Mario Indelicato, who is managing the programme.

The team has faithfully followed tips on wine growing given by Virgil in the Georgics, his poem about agriculture, as well as by Columella, a first century AD grower, whose detailed guide to winemaking was relied on until the 17th century.

“We have found that Roman techniques were more or less in use in Sicily up until a few decades ago, showing how advanced the Romans were,” said Indelicato. “I discovered a two-pointed hoe at my family house on Mount Etna recently that was identical to one we found during a Roman excavation.”

What has changed are the types of grape varieties, which have intermingled over the centuries. “Columella mentions 50 types but we can only speculate on the modern-day equivalents,” said Indelicato, who is planting a local variety, Nerello Mascalese.

“To sweeten up their wine, which could be vinegary, the Romans added honey and water to it,” he said. “They made better stuff for nobles and cheaper, more vinegary stuff for slaves. We will try and make both types.”

The drinking habits of Romans have also changed in two millennia. Whereas Italians today drink moderately with meals, their ancestors were more given to drunken carousing.

“An edict was issued in the first century AD halting the planting of vineyards because people were not growing wheat any more,” said Indelicato.

“The Romans took the concept of getting together for a drink from the Greeks after they conquered the Greek-controlled Italian city of Taranto in the third century BC.

“They drank at festivals to mark the pending harvest, after the harvest. In fact, any occasion was good for a drink.”

Original article:

the guardian.com

By Tom Kington August 22, 2013

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Ancient Liquid Extraction Installation Uncovered in Tel Aviv-Yafo

Topic: Byzantine period wine press

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) exposed the remains of a liquid extraction installation – most likely used for pressing wine from grapes – dating to the Byzantine period.

It is also possible that the installation was used to produce wine or alcoholic beverage from other types of fruit that grew in the region.

The find was made as part of an excavation being conducted in preparation for municipal infrastructure work for the Tel Aviv municipality.

IAA’s excavation director Dr. Yoav Arbel said, “This is the first important building from the Byzantine period to be uncovered in this part of the city, and it adds a significant dimension to our knowledge about the impressive agricultural distribution in the region in this period.”

Yaffo’s rich and diverse agricultural tradition has a history thousands of years old beginning with references to the city and its fertile fields in ancient Egyptian documents up until Yaffo’s orchards in the Ottoman period.

“The installation, which probably dates to the second half of the Byzantine period (6th century – early 7th century CE), is divided into surfaces paved with a white industrial mosaic,” Dr. Arbel explained. “Due to the mosaic’s impermeability, such surfaces are commonly found in the press installations of the period which were used to extract liquid.”

“Each unit was connected to a plastered collecting vat. The pressing was performed on the mosaic surfaces whereupon the liquid drained into the vats. It is possible that the section that was discovered represents a relatively small part of the overall installation, and other elements of it are likely to be revealed in archaeological excavations along adjacent streets which are expected to take place later this year.”

Following the find, the installation was covered as new infrastructures were laid in place above it without damaging it, enabling the continued work on the city’s infrastructure without compromising the preservation of the antiquities for future generations.

The Tel Aviv municipality is modernizing the underground infrastructure, roads and sidewalks. Overhead electrical and telephone wires are being lowered, and street furniture and landscaping are being added.

Jewish press
By Jewish press staff
Feb 20, 2013

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