The Largest, but Not the Oldest, Wine Cellar Found in Northern Israel

choi

(1) Gautam Naik, Historic Israeli Wine Found; Discovery provides hints to early winemaking techniques. Wall Street Journal, Nov 23, 2013.
http://stream.wsj.com/story/late ... -63399/SS-2-389613/
(a 3,700-year-old wine cellar, with  “40 one-meter-tall [broken] jars;” in a Canaanite city state which archaeologists call Tel Kabri--on the grounds of Kibbutz Kabri-- though its Canaanite name is not known. Wikipedia)

Quote: “The oldest known wine cellar * * * was uncovered in the tomb of Pharaoh Scorpion I in Egypt, which dates to about 3,000 BC. But there were no wild grapes in Egypt, so where did the Egyptians get their wine? Scientists say they probably imported it from Canaanites, a claim bolstered by the recent find.

choi

(2) John Noble Wilford, Wine Cellar, Well Aged, Is Revealed in Israel; Ancient dregs yield traces of honey, mont, cinnamon bark and juniper berries. New York Times, Nov 23, 2013.

Quote:

“The recipe was similar to medicinal wines used for 2,000 years in Ancient Egypt and probably tasted something like retsina or other resinous Greek wines today.

“The archaeologists said that much of the palace, including the banquet hall and the wine storage room, was destroyed 3,600 years ago in some violent event, perhaps an earthquake. The wine cellar was covered with thick debris of mud bricks and plaster. That and the fact that no subsequent buildings were erected on top of the site have made Tel Kabri an inviting place for archaeological studies.

Note:
(a) Juniper berry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juniper_berry
(b) Retsina
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retsina
(c) There is no need to read the rest of the NY Times report.