"I think the monastery was using [these presses] to make the holy wine, because it's near to Mount Moses [Mount Sinai]," El-Naggar said, referring to the site where some believe the prophet Moses received the Ten Commandments from God.
Roots of Wine
The wine presses have 4-foot-square (1.2-meter-square) basins, where monks would have used their feet to smash grapes. A hole at one end of each press likely fed into a lower basin, which caught the pressed juice.
The structures are similar to presses used by ancient Egyptians, beginning as early as 3,000 B.C., when pharaohs started a royal winemaking industry in the fertile Nile Delta.
There is no evidence, however, that ancient Egyptians produced wine in this part of the Sinai Peninsula.
Early Christians likely managed to grow grapevines and palm trees at the winery site because—at more than 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) above sea level—it would have been cooler than the surrounding desert.
"The reason the wild grape did not grow [in Egypt] originally is because the climate was not conducive to it. But if you manage it with irrigation, you can grow grapes in these hot climates," said Patrick McGovern, of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, who was not involved in the new discovery.
An expert on ancient wine, McGovern said ancient Egyptian wine jars and stoppers often indicated the product's vintage, vintner, quality, and place of origin. "Egypt," McGovern said, "has the earliest wine labels."
