Terroirs of Palestine

In the oldest continuously inhabited town in the world, Jericho (Ariha in Arabic), named after the Caananite moon god, Yarikh, the Natufians planted vines between 9500 and 9000 BCE. The start of vine cultivation in Jericho is explained also by the environment at the time, of those rich alluvial soils and abundance of water springs that could offer the vine the required irrigation to thrive. There were finds of wine from Canaan in the ancient Egyptian city of Abydos, and specifically in the royal Umm el-Qa’ab tombs.

 

During the Roman and Byzantine periods, wine was produced in Palestine and exported to Syria and Egypt as documented in the “Expositio totius mundi et gentium” (anonymous author, 350/362 AD). Wine from Askalan and Gaza were exported even further afield, around the 5th century, and amphorae were found in Cyprus, Greece and beyond (Spain, Naples, Carthage, Gaul and Wales).

 

During the Islamic and Crusader times, the production of wine continued in Palestine, at some periods only to serve the Palestinian Christian and Jewish inhabitants and at other periods, to export “Holy Land” wines to be used in churches in Europe.

 

In the late 1800s, some foreign monasteries established wineries on church land and bought grapes from neighboring Palestinian farmers. Wineries established in this period and still functioning today include the Cremisan Monastery near Bethlehem, where Italian Salesian monks have been making wine since 1885 and the French Trappist monks in Latrun Monastery, which began winemaking in 1899.

 

In today’s world, vines are the second most cultivated crop in Palestine after olive trees. Most of the grapes are for eating while some parcels are used for wine and arak making. There are in Palestine, 23 indigenous grape varietals and many of the international varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, to name just a few.