JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Israeli researchers have recreated a wine believed to resemble one produced in the Negev Desert during the Byzantine era, reviving ancient grape varieties and farming techniques that had disappeared for more than 1,500 years, according to Ynet.
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The project, led by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority in partnership with the University of Haifa, established a heritage vineyard at the ancient desert city of Avdat using grape varieties identified through genetic analysis of grape seeds discovered at the archaeological site.
Researchers planted the historic Dabouki, Be’er and Sraiki grape varieties using cultivation methods reconstructed from the Mishnah and other ancient Jewish texts. The grapes were harvested by hand and turned into natural wines without commercial yeast, sulfur, sulfites or other additives.
“It is a kind of miracle,” Dr. Lior Schweimer of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority told Ynet. “We used ancient growing methods and ancient grape varieties. No one has farmed here for 1,500 years, and the vines grew exceptionally well.”
Researchers said they did not know what Byzantine-era wine would have tasted like and expected the results might not appeal to modern tastes. Instead, they said the first vintage exceeded expectations, with one participating winemaker asking how he could obtain hundreds of vines after tasting the wine.
The experimental wines were produced by small wineries in the Negev following the 2025 harvest. Schweimer said a wine made from the Be’er grape variety appeared to come closest to what may have been been produced in Avdat during the Byzantine period.
The current vintage is not eligible for kosher certification because it was produced from young vines. Researchers hope to expand production over the coming year as the vineyard matures and cultivation methods improve. Wine produced in the Negev during the Byzantine period was widely exported across the Mediterranean and was considered among the region’s most prized wines, according to Ynet.
There were many EY plant species, such as unique varieties of grapes and dates, that were lost during fifteen hundred years following the churban. If you don’t feel a tremendous simcha upon hearing of revival of these — previously thought as extinct — Judean plant species, and if you don’t see obvious parallels to revival of Am Yisroel, you should check your ichus.
Obviously, orla is not acceptable. Fortunately, it won’t be orla in a few years.
Saying that this project somehow takes away from limud haTorah is a pinnacle of asininity.
Hopefully, we will soon be drinking genuine Judean wine varieties made the same way as it was in the pre churban days, as opposed to the currently prevalent European winemaking traditions.
I’d like hear a bracha, not just the glasses hitting each other.
There is some guy in the D’rom Har Chevron area (where wine was made for the nesachim in the Beis Hamikdash) who is Frum and who has been doing the same thing (while keeping all relevant Halachos) for a number of years already.
maybe, but to recreate a taste without having tasted the original is push a bit…
So the Israeli Government considers this important enough to fund, but Kollelim…….