This week’s wine news: A massive ancient winery complex has been found, plus the increasing popularity of mocktails and North Korea and wine labels
• Ancient Big Wine? Archaeologists have unearthed a 1,500-year-old winery in central Israel that may have covered as much as two acres. According to a statement from the Israel Antiquities Authority, “We were surprised to discover a sophisticated factory here, which was used to produce wine in commercial quantities. We should remember that the whole process was conducted manually.” As part of this, the excavation found five wine presses and uncovered warehouses where the wine was stored and prepared for sale. This is just the latest discovery over the past several years confirming the key role wine played in the ancient Mediterranean economy. At a time when it was unsafe to drink water, wine was the everyday beverage of almost everyone, rich or poor, and wine was traded throughout the region.
• More mocktails? Nation’s Restaurant News reports that mocktails – cocktails made without alcohol – continue to grow in popularity. The story even quotes someone from what appears to be a very hip restaurant in Seattle: “I’m not ashamed to admit that I initially thought they were stupid. Which I now totally regret!” The new mocktails not just mimic traditional cocktails, but are made with better quality ingredients. And prices are apparently even increasing – call it mock-iumization.
• Designing wine labels? North Korea is perhaps the most secretive country in the world, where Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un has almost unparalleled control over its citizens. So any news coming from North Korea must be take as rumor first and foremost. Still, a recent report said Kim’s several absences from public life from January through May could have been related to a design competition, where the Supreme Leader was judging wine label mockups (as well as designs for school uniforms, buses, and a cargo ship). And we thought the wine business was weird in this country.