Wine unites Egypt and Israel

ANNA HARWOOD INTERNATIONAL MEDIA PLACEMENT

Every year, the Passover story is told in households around the world, accompanied by four cups of wine and, at the end, a toast – “Next Year in Jerusalem!” Wine also united ancient Egypt and Israel, and your seder wine choice can reflect these ancient vino-loving cultures.

Wine in the Bible is first mentioned when Noah plants a vineyard following the great flood, with less than positive results. Down in Egypt, according to ancient sources, wine was seen as divine and was the beverage of the elite. Some of the earliest historical sources attesting to the presence of the vine in Israel come from ancient Egyptian inscriptions, thus linking these two cultures even before a Hebrew presence was described in Egypt. The ancient Egyptians imported wine and olive oil from Israel and told of ancient Israel having “wine more plentiful than water.”

This trade between the two nations was necessary as wine production in Egypt is only recorded to have begun in later times. It has been credited to the Apirou people, who scholars claim to be “the Hebrews,” as being the specialized winemakers of ancient

Egypt. Mural paintings around the tomb of Amenhotep II, in the 14th century BCE, portray these Hebrews pressing grapes by foot, and a scene entitled “Wine from the Vineyard of the Roads of Horus” illustrates men decanting wine at an intersection located relatively close to southern Israel.

By the 19th dynasty of pharaohs (11th century BCE), wine had become far more commonplace among the nobility and there are records of ships bringing in wine for the Egyptians in large quantities. It was during this dynasty that Ramses II ruled, and he is most widely cited as the Pharaoh of the Jewish Exodus from Egypt.

Following the Ten Plagues and a hasty retreat, the Jews eventually arrived in ancient Israel. Winemaking continued on a comparatively small scale in Egypt but it was in Israel that it really thrived. Entering the Holy Land, the Israelites found it to be blessed with the seven species, including grapevines, and they were instructed by God to cultivate the vineyards. The vine was a symbol of peace, tranquility and safety, and the prophets Isaiah, Amos and Ezekiel all give instructions as to the propagation and growth of vineyards. So great was the vine’s importance that place names throughout ancient Israel make reference to viticulture, including Mount Carmel (Hill of the Vineyard of God) and Nahal Sorek (River of the Vine Tendril).

Winemaking flourished in the Second Temple period and the historian Josephus Flavius (37 CE-circa 100 CE) wrote of the Galilee, in the north, as producing “fruits in a wondrous manner.” He described the vine and the fig as “the kings of all the fruit trees” and, to this day, archeological ruins of wine presses are found scattered across northern Israel, Israel’s winemaking capital.

Shipments of wine to Egypt from ancient Israel are recorded in Greek manuscripts as occurring bi-annually but both Egypt and Israel’s wine production almost completely ceased with the Arab conquest in the seventh century CE. The conquest brought Islamic rule to the region, forbidding the consumption of wine and the vineyards were uprooted.

With the resurrection of Israel’s now-flourishing wine industry, this Passover it is possible to return to wine’s ancient Middle Eastern roots and serve four wines reminiscent of these bygone days.

Sweet wine was one of the three types of wine drunk in ancient Egypt. A varietal of the sweet Muscat grape, the Muscat of Alexandria, is so called because of its association with ancient Egypt. The Muscat of Alexandria grape is still grown in Israel to this day and the Yarden Muscat, a dessert wine, is made entirely from this varietal.

Moving to ancient Israel, the grape species currently cultivated in Israel are considered to be of the same species originally grown in the land. Single vineyard wines would have been most commonplace in ancient Israel, as the winepress was generally located near, or within, the individual vineyards, avoiding the unnecessary transportation of ripe fruit.

There are some Israeli single vintage wines that have received international acclaim. Two such award-winning wines are the Carmel Kayoumi Shiraz (2006), which won a Decanter Award in London, and the Yarden Chardonnay Odem (2009), which won the Vinitaly Grand Gold Medal. Both vineyards are located in northern Israel on the foothills of Mt. Meron and Mt. Hermon, respectively.

This Passover, to return to the wine of the ancient Middle East, the fourth cup can contain some spicy additions. The Talmud lists more than 60 types of wine produced in ancient Israel, including spiced, cooked and diluted ones. Ancient Egyptian wine was discovered to have also been sweetened by adding fruits and honeys. Spicing a young, fruity red wine, such as the Mt. Hermon red, and heating with a little sugar and lemon will produce an unusual end to the most traditional of Jewish festivities.

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