Does wine really improve with age . say 3,700 years? Archaeologists have uncovered an ancient cellar in northern Israel that gives clues as to early wine making procedures.

Unearthed in the ruined palace of a Canaanite city in northern Israel, Tel Kabri, new excavations found three-feet jars kept in what appeared to be a storage room.

As expected, no actual wine have survived the millenia. However, an analysis of organic residue trapped in the pores of the jars suggest they had contained wine made from grapes. Experts suspect that the beverage was sweet, strong and medicinal.

“We were absolutely surprised,” Eric Cline, archaeologist at George Washington University says. As part of the expedition involved in the excavation, Cline says “We thought we were digging outside the palace walls when the jars came up.”

Presented last week in Baltimore at the annual meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research, scientists have yet to publish their discovery. Some archaeologists says this makes it hard to judge the validity of the claims.