Tej (Ethiopian honey wine) (27241999346)

The production of wine in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

can be traced to the early centuries of the first millennium A.D. The historian

Richard Pankhurst Richard Marsden Pankhurst (1834 – 5 July 1898) was an English barrister and socialist who was a strong supporter of women's rights. Early life Richard Pankhurst was the son of Henry Francis Pankhurst (1806–1873) and Margaret Marsden (180 ...

observed that early references to Axumite wine can be found in one of the stele erected by the 4th century ruler

Ezana Ezana ( gez, ዔዛና ''‘Ezana'', unvocalized ዐዘነ ''‘zn''; also spelled Aezana or Aizan) was ruler of the Kingdom of Axum, an ancient kingdom located in what is now Eritrea and Ethiopia. (320s – c. 360 AD). He himself employed the ...

. Aksumite

viticulture Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ran ...

is also attested to by carvings on the base of the great 3rd century obelisk at Axum. The traditional honey wine

tej Tej (from pronounced ; ; ) is a honey wine, like mead, that is brewed and consumed in Ethiopia and Eritrea. It has an alcohol content generally ranging from 7 to 11%. It is often home processed and consists of three main ingredients; honey, wa ...

has also long been widely popular. Contemporary viticulture in Ethiopia dates to 1956, to the establishment of the Awash Winery by entrepreneur Mulugeta Tesfakiros and ''Ras'' Mesfin Sileshi. As of 2014 the Awash winery had an annual output of 10 million bottles, most of which is consumed locally. In 2014 the French beverage corporation Castel began producing wines of a number of varieties on a 120-hectare estate near

Ziway Batu ( om, Baatuu), formerly Zway or Ziway,Ethiopian Rift Valley The Great Rift Valley of Ethiopia, (or Main Ethiopian Rift or Ethiopian Rift Valley) is a branch of the East African Rift that runs through Ethiopia in a southwest direction from the Afar Triple Junction. In the past, it was seen as part of a "G ...

. As of 2013 annual production was 3 million bottles, approximately half of which was exported, mainly to China. Climatic and geographic conditions in the central portion of its

Great Rift Valley The Great Rift Valley is a series of contiguous geographic trenches, approximately in total length, that runs from Lebanon in Asia to Mozambique in Southeast Africa. While the name continues in some usages, it is rarely used in geology as it i ...

make Ethiopia well suited to viticulture. Annual rainfall measures about 650 mm, temperatures average 25 degrees Celsius per year and the region enjoys sandy soils, which are ideal conditions for wine production. Furthermore, due to Ethiopia's proximity to the equator, it is possible to make two harvests per year. The western slopes of the

Ethiopian Highlands The Ethiopian Highlands is a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia in Northeast Africa. It forms the largest continuous area of its elevation in the continent, with little of its surface falling below , while the summits reach heights of up to . ...

also enjoy an inland

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

, also conducive to wine-growing.

References

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