45 During the medieval period, 1 Egyptian wine production sufered from recurring prohibitions set by the rulers.The bans took diferent forms, had diferent catalysts, and their impact is consequently said to have been vary- ing. The primary sources available to inform us about these events are the accounts of Arabic chroniclers such as al-Antaki, al-Maqrizi, and al-Kindi. 2 Through such texts, much is known about the details of the bans and prohibitions. However, as most of these accounts are Cairo-centric, little is known about how much of an impact these bans had on rural Egypt. This brief chapter questions the impact of these bans on Coptic churches and monasteries outside of the capital, and presents some thoughts as to how these institutions may have circumvented the government-imposed bans to ensure the availability of wine for liturgical purposes. Setting the Scene: The Bans Egypt’s medieval rulers often banned wine and winemaking. Occasionally, the ban extended to include the raw materials needed for the production of wine, such as grapes and raisins. The bans took diferent shapes, had diferent reasons, and varied in severity. Our knowledge of these bans sur- vives to us through texts.Visitors to Egypt in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have referred to bans on wine as well, primarily reciting what earlier chroniclers have recorded, or what their contemporary Egyptians Wine Production in Medieval Egypt: The Case of the Coptic Church Mennat-Allah El Dorry 4