Friday, February 15, 2019

Egyptian wine


WINE LABLE FROM EARLY 1900's

Winemaking has a long tradition in Egypt dating back to the 3rd millennium BC. The modern wine industry is relatively small scale but there have been significant strides towards reviving the industry. In the late nineties the industry invited international expertise in a bid to improve the quality of Egyptian wine, which used to be known for its poor quality. In recent years Egyptian wines have received some recognition, having won several international awards. In 2013 Egypt produced 4,500 tones’ of wine, ranking 54th globally, ahead of Belgium and the United Kingdom.

History

Grape cultivation, winemaking, and commerce in ancient Egypt circa1500 BC.


Wine played an important role in ancient Egyptian ceremonial life. A thriving royal winemaking industry was established in the Nile Delta following the introduction of grape cultivation from the Levant to Egypt c.3000 BC. The industry was most likely the result of trade between Egypt and Canaan during the early Bronze Age, commencing from at least the 27th-century BC Third Dynasty, the beginning of the Old Kingdom period. Winemaking scenes on tomb walls, and the offering lists that accompanied them, included wine that was definitely produced in the delta vineyards. By the end of the Old Kingdom, five distinct wines, probably all produced in the Delta, constituted a canonical set of provisions for the afterlife.

GATHERING GRAPES
Wine in ancient Egypt was predominantly red. Due to its resemblance to blood, much superstition surrounded wine-drinking in Egyptian culture. Shedeh, the most precious drink in ancient Egypt, is now known to have been a red wine and not fermented from pomegranates as previously thought. Plutarch's Moralia relates that, prior to Psammetichus I, the pharaohs did not drink wine nor offer it to the gods "thinking it to be the blood of those who had once battled against the gods and from whom, when they had fallen and had become commingled with the earth, they believed vines to have sprung". This was considered to be the reason why drunkenness "drives men out of their senses and crazes them, inasmuch as they are then filled with the blood of their forebears".

Residue from five clay amphoras’ in Tutankhamen’s tomb, however, have been shown to be that of white wine, so it was at least available to the Egyptians through trade if not produced domestically.


OLD AMPHORA 

Winemaking continued to be part of Egyptian culture during Roman rule in Egypt. Christians constituted the majority of Egypt’s population by the 3rd century, despite a reserved attitude towards alcohol in the Church of Alexandria monasteries are known have stored and produced large quantities of wine. In 2008 two wine presses dating back to Roman rule in Egypt were unearthed near Saint Catherine's Monastery in Sinai, along with ancient coins from Antioch, which could indicate that Egyptian wine was exported to Christians in the region.

The production of wine declined significantly after the Muslim conquest of Egypt in the 7th century. Attitudes towards alcohol varied greatly under Islamic rule, Muslim rulers generally showed some level of tolerance towards alcohol production controlled by religious minorities. Jewish manuscripts from the Cairo Geniza recount the involvement of Egyptian Jews in the production and sale of wine in medieval Egypt.  

WINE IN ANCIENT EGYPT
The consumption of wine was not necessarily limited to religious minorities however. Western travelers and pilgrims passing through Cairo on their journeys reported that Muslim locals imbibed on wine and a local barley beer, known as "booza" ( بوظة‎, not to be confused with the Levantine ice cream of the same name), even during the most draconian periods of Islamic rule. The most popular wine was known as "nebit shamsi" (نبيذ شمسي‎), made from imported raisins and honey and left to ferment in the sun (hence the name, which roughly translates into "sun wine").

Greek-Egyptian tobacco merchant and entrepreneur, Nestor Gianaclis, who founded the country’s first modern vineyard south of Alexandria in 1882, revived viticulture in Egypt. The country's wine industry expanded under the early 20th century, until the Egyptian revolution of 1952, which saw the country's liberal monarchy unseated, in favor of a presidential system. In 1963 Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized and merged breweries and vineyards in the country, under the previously Belgian-owned Pyramid Brewery, which later came to be known as Al Ahram Beverages Company.

POURING WINE

Mismanagement under state-ownership and an increasingly religious population contributed to the industry's gradual decline. The company was privatized in 1997, at the height of its ruination, part of an economic reform program that sought to restructure the country's economy. This was viewed as a turning point for the alcohol industry as a whole in Egypt.

Its new owner, Egyptian businessman Ahmed Zayat, restructured the company and introduced a line of non-alcoholic beverages that would appeal to the conservative segment of the population.

The company was sold to Heineken International in 2002 for $280 million.


Information and pictures compiled from various internet sources.