Israel is the original “old world” wine region. The Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean was the cradle of the world’s wine culture thousands of years before the vine reached Europe.

Wine has been produced in the Land of Israel since Biblical times. Whether you call it the Tanakh, Hebrew Bible, or the Old Testament, surely you are familiar with the story of the spies, Noah’s ark, or other Biblical stories that hark back to the first stories of Israeli wine.

Ancient wine presses and wine making equipment are frequently found in archaeological digs. Often, these finds have even occurred at new wineries that have opened up only in the past decade.

In fact, wine making is thought to have originated in the area between the Black Sea, Caspian Sea, and Sea of Galilee. Noah was the first recorded viticulturist who, after the flood, “planted a vineyard .”

As the vine traveled throughout the Middle East and Mediterranean, the Jewish attraction to wine was shown in the developing literature. In 1800 BCE, there was a communication that the land of Israel was “blessed with figs and with vineyards producing wine in greater quantity than water.” The prophet Micah’s vision of peace included every person sitting “under his vine and under his fig tree.”

In the book of Numbers, the story is told about how two men sent by Moses to scope out the land of Israel returned with a great cluster of grapes that they had to carry together. That image is now used by Carmel Winery and the Israeli Tourism Ministry.

The Bible also speaks of the Israelite kings have vast vineyards. King David’s wine stores were so vast that he had a special official just in charge of his wine. The vineyards of ancient Israel are mentioned throughout the Bible.

Excavations frequently uncover ancient presses and wine storage vessels from the Golan Heights to the Negev Desert. Grapes and vines were frequent motifs on coins and jars in ancient times.

During the period of the Second Temple period winemaking was at its peak. It was a major export and economic mainstay. However, upon the destruction of the Second Temple and the dispersion of the Jews, the wine industry was forsaken. The Arab conquest in 600 CE further weakened the wine industry, due to Islam’s prohibition on alcohol. The wine industry in the Land of Israel lay dormant for another thousand years, until the return to Zion.

Rabbinic texts also speak of good wine. In fact, it is a mitzvah – a sacred commandment – to drink good wine on the Sabbath and Festivals.

[Part 1 of a 3 part series about the history of Israeli wine]