According to a news release from George Washington University, researchers have discovered what could be the oldest and biggest wine cellar in the Near East. The finding was made at the 75-acre Tel Kabril site in Israel, the ruins of a northern Canaanite city that goes back to about 1700 B.C. During excavations at the large palace of the rulers of the city, researchers dug up a three-foot-long jug.

“We dug and dug, and all of a sudden, Bessie’s [the jug] friends started appearing—five, 10, 15, ultimately 40 jars packed in a 15-by-25-foot storage room,” noted Eric H. Cline of the George Washington University in a statement. “This is a hugely significant discovery—it’s a wine cellar that, to our knowledge, is largely unmatched in its age and size.”

According to the researchers, the 40 jars can accommodate approximately 2,000 liters of wine, implying that the cellar could have contained about 3,000 bottles of reds and whites.

“The wine cellar was located near a hall where banquets took place, a place where the Kabri elite and possibly foreign guests consumed goat meat and wine,” said Assaf Yasur-Landau of the University of Haifa. “The wine cellar and the banquet hall were destroyed during the same violent event, perhaps an earthquake, which covered them with thick debris of mud bricks and plaster.”

To investigate whether the jugs once contained wine, Andrew Koh of Brandeis University examined the jar pieces utilizing organic residue analysis. He discovered traces of tartaric and syringic acids, both important elements in wine, as well as compounds implying the existence of ingredients well-liked in ancient wine-producing, including honey, mint, cinnamon bark, juniper berries and resins. The recipe is suggestive of medicinal wines utilized for several thousand years in ancient Egypt.

According to Koh, the wine makers strictly adhered to this wine’s recipe in each and every jar.

The researchers hope to continue examining the make up of each solution, possibly finding enough data to regenerate the flavor of the wine.

As the researchers finished work this summer, they found two doors leading out of the wine cellar. They are thought to lead to more storage rooms.

The results were discussed in greater detail at the annual meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research.

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