It is customary to pour wine from one vessel to another to improve its quality. Chardin says: “They frequently pour wine from vessel to vessel in the East; for when they begin one, they are obliged immediately to empty it into smaller vessels, or into bottles, or it would grow sour” (Harmer's Observations, vol. 2, p. 155). Dr. Clarke, in a note on the same page, adds: “From the jars (says Dr. Russell, MS. note) in which the wine ferments it is drawn off into demyans, which contain perhaps twenty quart bottles, and from those into bottles for use; but as these bottles are generally not well washed, the wine is often sour. The more careful use pint bottles, or half pint bottles, and cover the surface with a little “sweet oil.”
A similar allusion to the pouring of wine from the lees is made in Isaiah 25:66And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. (Isaiah 25:6), where see the note (#506). See also Zephaniah 1:1212And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil. (Zephaniah 1:12), where, as in this text, being “on the lees” is figuratively used to express a sinful rest. Jeremiah carries the figure of the text into the following verse, where, instead of “wanderers,” many commentators render tsaim by the word “tillers.” “will send unto him tillers, who shall tilt him up.” The act of pouring the wine off the lees from one vessel to another is thus represented.