Largest Byzantine winery exporting Holy Land’s wine unveiled

Jerusalem, Oct 11 (EFE).- Israel Antiquities Authority on Monday unveiled a 1,500-year-old industrial estate winery discovered in the Israeli city of Yavne, a discovery that suggests Gaza’s white wine was in high demand during the Byzantine period.

 “Mainly (they exported) to Turkey, which was Byzantine, of course to Rome, Europe, and even London,” Israeli archeologist, Hagit Torge, tells Efe.

The excavation, which began a couple of years ago during road construction work, is 225-square meters and the largest estate of the era.

It has been estimated that the estate exported some 12,000 amphorae per year by boat to Mediterranean countries.

“We were surprised to discover a sophisticated factory here, which was used to produce wine in commercial quantities,” the directors of the excavation, led by the Israel Antiquities Authority, said in a statement.

“We should remember that the whole process was conducted manually,” the statement read.

The IAA said this was not the only estate producing wine in that era, but that this one the largest one that produced commercially. EFE

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