Frankish Viticulture, Wine Presses, and wine production in the Levant: New Evidence from Castellum Regis (Miʿilyā)

As the Christian population increased in the Frankish Kingdom following 1100, there was also a much-increased demand for wine. This led to a revolution in agriculture and industry related to wine production. The high number of texts mentioning vineyards is indicative of these activities. To date only 26 wine-presses identified as belonging to the Frankish period have been discovered, but they provide considerable information about the building technology, and the nature of wine production. The new discovery in Miʿilyā provides critical information about this industry; it points to a king of monopoly on wine production during the Frankish period, but it also provided great deal of information about the production technology. The fermentation in the local Levantine technology took place under the sun, with low proportion of CO₂, in a non-controlled environment, while the Franks brought with them a different technology, in which the fermentation took place inside buildings, in a quite controlled environment with high levels of CO₂. In addition, it seems likely that in Miʿilyā’s factory, the fermentation place and storage were in an underground large room. This style, which is suitable to rainy regions, seems to have been introduced to the Levant during the Frankish period.