Our story
Terra Sancta Trading Company is a family-owned importer and distributor devoted to the wines, spirits, and beers of the Ancient World — from the Eastern Mediterranean to the lands where viticulture first took root some eight thousand years ago.
We work directly with small growers and producers in Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, and neighboring regions. Many farm indigenous varieties that exist nowhere else: Merwah, Obeideh, Hamdani, Jandali, Baladi. Others are reviving vineyards abandoned for generations, or distilling arak from grapes and anise the way their grandparents did.
Our job is straightforward: taste everything, choose what's worth importing, handle the paperwork and the cold chain, and get these bottles to people who care where they came from. Every wine on our list has a family and a hillside behind it, and someone determined to keep both going.
Saha! — to your health, from the Ancient World.
Why we do this
Bring the living wine, beer, and spirits traditions of the Ancient World to American drinkers through a small, carefully chosen portfolio spanning the Eastern Mediterranean and the regions connected to it. Saha! (Good health.)
Terra Sancta carries the culture and history of the Middle East and the wider Ancient World wine region, from Morocco to Lebanon to Armenia. These bottles come from real places and real people, and we're glad to put them on U.S. shelves.
“No doubt everyone has their own perception of the Middle East; but politics aside, through Terra Sancta I not only want to introduce the products to the U.S., but also help people understand the importance of the Levant today. Not a lot of people realize this is where wine originally came from. It's where beer came from. The role this part of the world has played in shaping the beverage industry as we know it today is grossly underestimated.”
Our team
Founder
Jason Bajalia is a co-founder and managing partner of Terra Sancta. A veteran of the hospitality industry, Jason began focusing on the beverage side of the business early in his career, connecting importers and producers with distributors to get the products he wanted to sell. After watching several of those products grow into national brands, Jason launched Terra Sancta in 2013 with just one brand from his family's hometown: Golden Arak Ramallah.
West Coast Partner
Miriam Zouzounis is the West Coast partner in Terra Sancta Trading Company. Miriam is heavily involved with small business diaspora communities and comes from a family business background. She has also worked in public policy and international trade, holding positions at the local and federal government levels. It is her passion to share ancient world wine and spirit cultures and build a community within the industry.
Product & Business Development
Frank Faverzani is a product and business development manager for Terra Sancta. He has spent extensive time in Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan. He completed a Master's in Arab Studies at Georgetown University and is currently pursuing a PhD at Brown University on the history of food and alcohol in the modern Eastern Mediterranean. He speaks Arabic and Italian and is WSET II certified.
“My parents were born in Ramallah, 9 miles north of Jerusalem, so my connection with the Levant is a little stronger than most. One of the first products I picked up for Terra Sancta was Arak Ramallah, our national beverage — but Ramallah is so much more than just a drink in this part of the world. When I was young, my mother would rub it on our gums to relieve toothache, rub it on our bellies for stomach ache. In Palestine there's literally a bottle of Ramallah in every house. It has deep roots in Palestinian culture. This is just one of the many products I saw a huge opportunity to introduce to the U.S. market — and I know we have only just started to scratch the surface.”
