Wine Presses in the Holy Land
Wine production was a popular industry in the Holy Land. Many winepresses are found in most of the Biblical places and ancient sites.
Isaiah 5:2: "And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes".
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This web page summarizes the sites that feature wine presses.
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Contents:
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Overview:
Wine production was a popular industry in the Holy Land. Many winepresses are found in most of the Biblical places and ancient sites.
History:
- Prehistory
Wine was first produced in 6,000 BC in the area of Mesopotamia. During the Biblical times (Iron/Persian Age) the wine making industry was wide spread in the Holy Land and was one of the largest exports.
- Biblical
The Bible has dozens of references to wine, wine making and winepresses. The first reference is of Noah, the World's first winemaker (Genesis 9 21-22: "And Noah ... planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken...").
Initially the winepresses were small and installed in the fields near the vineyards, normally cut into the local stone. Later, some of the villages evolved around the winepresses, and even became cities bearing the name of the winepress. Clusters of winepresses, with3 or more systems, were later installed at central industrial areas, or were installed close to the ports along the sea.
- Roman/Byzantine
The number of winepresses increased considerably during the Roman/Byzantine period, and its production and export was one of the leading incomes. Hundreds of winepresses are found in the fields, villages and the cities of the Holy Land.
One of the reasons for the large demand was due to the Roman Legionnaires stationed in Israel. As per our wine expert, Uncle Ofer, each Roman soldier consumed a liter per day, or 6,000 liters per day for one Legion stationed in the Galilee. The wine has medical advantages - killing bacteria and making the drinking water safer. The wine was often diluted with equal portion of water, and used as their drinking water, keeping the soldiers healthy (and happy). This may have been one of the Roman soldiers advantages in the battlefield. To supply this demand the wine was produced in a short period of a month or so, producing a low alcohol (4%) sour wine.
Most of the vineyards and winepresses were located in the hills of the lower and upper Galilee, the Golan, the Sharon and the hills of Judea.
- Arab periods
The wine production ceased completely during the Arab conquest starting in the 8th C. Islamic faith prohibits the consumption of alcohol. Only during the Crusades the wine production was resumed for a brief time (12th - 13th C).
- Modern times
In the recent 10 years, wine making is booming again in Israel. The number of wine makers increased from a handful to over 175 (25 commercial wineries and 150 boutique wineries) and rising. Once again the Holy Land is returning to a world class wine status.
Structure of winepress:
The typical ancient winepress consists of the following elements:
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Sites with Winepresses:
The following table lists the sites of winepresses that are featured in BibleWalks. Click on the site's name to see more information on each site.
| Site | Structure description | Period | Photo | ||
| Khirbet Masref |
The treading floor is hidden under the sand. The smaller hole - the filtration pit - has a mosaic floor. The larger pit has 6 steps, which allow the workers to step down and collect the juice into jars, then store them for subsequent fermentation. |
Roman Byzantine |
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| Emmaus / Nicopolis | Several winepresses are located around the ancient city. The photo shows the grand winepress on "observation-hill". |
Roman Byzantine |
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| Tell Yizrael |
On the eastern side of the Tell is a large winepress,
among other installations and cisterns. The crushing area is a rectangular pit
with a mosaic floor, typical of Roman/Byzantine wine presses. The Bible tells about the vineyard of Naboth in the city of Yizreel (Jezreel), and how Ahab and Jezebel plotted to posses it. This winepress may have been located in the famous vineyard. |
Roman Byzantine |
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| Achziv |
Salvage excavations uncovered one of the largest Industrial winepress complexes in Israel. Its size is 9.5 x 40M. This indicates that the city was one of the major wine centers, and exported its wine through the local port of Achziv. |
Late Roman | |||
| Migdal Haemek |
The agriculture industry relied on wine presses, and 8 bronze-age presses were found cut into the rock. All the presses were based on a similar simple design. On the top side of the wine press was a steep rectangular floor where the grapes were arranged. The workers squashed the grapes with their feet, and the juice would flow down to the lower side, through a hole and into a collecting basin. |
Bronze |
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| Habonim | The site is located on a sandstone ridge, on the coast of Mt Carmel. A cluster of 3 winepresses were unearthed in the salvage excavations of 2007. | Byzantine |
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| Usha | A
group of 3 winepresses are located on the located on the east side of the
village. The complex shares a common collecting vat.
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Roman |
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| Manot | Just south to the road to new Avdon is a large rock-hewn winepress. The treading floor is a 4x4M cavity cut into the rock, and covered with mosaic stones, as seen below. There is also a square collecting vat with wide ledge cut into the side of the collecting vat. | Roman |
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| Khirbet Zagag |
Ruins of a Byzantine monastery, located on a hill in the center of Karmi'el. On the foothills are several winepresses cut into the rock.
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Byzantine |
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(Sussita) |
A large winepress near the city's forum, with two basins and treading floor.
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Byzantine |
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| Hurvat Kav |
Ruins of a Byzantine monastery, located in an archaeological park in the west side of Karmi'el. A large treading floor and collecting pool was excavated near the church. |
Byzantine |
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| More sites will be added... |
Biblical references:
These are dozens of references to wine, and many others for winepresses. Wine is significant to Jewish and Christian cultures. Wine making was one of the important industries in the Biblical times -
Num 18:27: "And this your heave
offering shall be reckoned unto you, as though it were the corn of the
threshingfloor, and as the fulness of the winepress".
Num 18:30: "Therefore thou shalt say unto them, When ye have heaved the best
thereof from it, then it shall be counted unto the Levites as the increase of
the threshingfloor, and as the increase of the winepress".
Deut 15:14: "Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy
floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the LORD thy God
hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him".
Judg 6:11: "And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which
was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon
threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites".
Judg 7:25: "And they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb; and
they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress
of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon
on the other side Jordan".
2 Kings 6:27: "And he said, If the LORD do not help thee, whence shall I help
thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress?"
Job 24:11: "Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses,
and suffer thirst".
Is 5:2: "And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it
with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a
winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and
it brought forth wild grapes". It is recommended to read the
whole chapter, since it revolves around wine.
Is 63:3: "I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there
was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my
fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain
all my raiment".
Jer 48:33: "And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and from
the land of Moab, and I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses:
none shall tread with shouting; their shouting shall be no shouting".
Lam 1:15: "The LORD hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of
me: he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men: the LORD hath
trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a winepress".
Hos 9:2: "The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new
wine shall fail in her".
Zech 14:10: "All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south
of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from
Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and
from the tower of Hananeel unto the king's winepresses".
Mt 21:33: "Hear another
parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged
it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and
let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country"
Rev 14:19: "And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered
the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the
wrath of God".
Rev 14:20: "And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out
of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a
thousand and six hundred furlongs".
Rev 19:15: "And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should
smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth
the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God".
Etymology (behind the name):
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Links:
- Wine & Oil Production in Antiquity in Israel & other Med. Countries [ISBN 1850755191 1998]Frankel, Rafael.
BibleWalks.com - exporing the Bible places in Israel
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