Wine growing in the Holy Land has been going on for almost six thousand years. After the flood, Noah, ‘‘the tiller of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk..’’. Gen. 9, 20-21.
The fruit of the vine is important as one of the seven blessed species mentioned in Deut. 8.8: ‘‘… a land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey..’’ .
In Numbers 13, 17-28 (parasha Shalach Lecha) we read about the two scouts that Moshe sent out into Canaan who brought back the enormous cluster of grapes from Wadi Eshkol to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran.
Today there is a successful, state of the art winery at Kadesh Barnea, in the desert, on the Egyptian border.
The Prophet Ishaiah in 5, 1-2: ‘’Let me sing for my beloved, A song of my lover about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a fruitful hill..”
In Cronicles I 27, 27 King David names the two care holders of his vineyards and the produce in the vineyards for wine cellars, Shimei HaRamathite and Zabdi the Shiphmite.
Winegrowing was a continuous process throughout the ages, until the Moslem conquest when it was discontinued until the Crusaders.
Treading was done with clean bare feet. ‘Gat’ refers to the basic pressing floor, usually cut into the bedrock. From the 3rd cent CE, paving the treading surface with mosaics, limestone slabs and plaster became the norm. “Yekev” refers to the vat where the must was collected. Hours after the grapes were pressed, the wild yeasts that caused the fermentation would start to multiply and the sugars in the juice were converted into alcohol and carbon monoxide. Important not to crush the seeds in the pressing, thus it added bitterness. Juice was extracted from crushed fruit mechanically; by the beam press used in the Greek tradition and the screw which was the Roman improvement, common during the Roman-Byzantine era.
Hundreds of winepresses from different periods have been found in the country throughout Israel.
Only with Jewish immigration to the Holy Land in the 19th century was winemaking revived, although mostly concerned with the production of sweet wine for religious use.
The first ‘modern’ winery was founded by Rabbi Schor in Jerusalem in 1848, and another by the Teperberg family in 1870. Modern Teperberg Winery is Israel’s largest family owned winery today. Mikve Israel Agricultural School under Charles Netter from Alsace was founded in 1870 and was the first to use European grape varieties. The most influential projects came in 1882 and 1890 when Baron Edmond de Rotschild founded the two Carmel wineries at Rishon LeZion and Zichron Yaakov. At the Paris Exhibition in 1900, Carmel got their first award, a gold medal to their wine Carmel No. 1, in competition with the best chateaux of Bordeaux! In 1902 the company was named Carmel Oriental and later Carmel Mizrachi. In 1906 the two Carmel wineries became a cooperative, named in French, in respect to the Baron; Societee Cooperative Vigneronne des Grandes Caves, Rishon le Zion and Zichron Yakov Ltd. In 1956 the Rotschild family donated their shares in the wineries to the cooperative. In 1957 the Israel Wine Institute was formed in cooperation with the industry and the government.
In 1960 Carmel controlled 90% of the vineyards of the country. The most used grapes were red Carignan and for semi dry whites, Semillon.
In 1971 Carmel made their first wines based on Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc. Who doesn’t remember Carmel’s Adom Atik?
In 1976 they launched the legendary Cabernet Sauvignon Special Reserve. It was the first wine aged in oak barrels and aged in bottle before being released.
And then a certain gentleman from California came for a visit, Professor Cornelius Ough from the University of California at Davis.
The consumption of table wines was extremely low until the modern wine revolution that started with the visit of Prof. Ough to the Golan in 1972. The visit by the American oenologist changed the Israeli viticulture forever and put Israel on the modern wine map. Today you will see vineyards all over the country.
There are certain basic parameters needed in order to produce good wine:
Soil, climate, vine varieties, production methods and of course the magic of the winemaker….and in Israel’s case, we must add artificial irrigation.
Professor Ough found the volcanic soil and the high altitudes of the Golan to be perfect for vines, and suggested they should try growing vines instead of all the apples they were growing. Some enthusiasts started in 1976. Ten years later they achieved a gold medal at the International Wine & Spirit Competition in London for their Cabernet Sauvignon 1984! Between the four years of 2007 and 2011, Israel’s top wineries scored 93-91 points for nineteen wines with the worlds most influential wine critic, the American Robert Parker.
Hugh Johnson, the British wine critic rated Castel Winery four stars which is the maximum, and Yatir three to four in 2011. Clos de Gat, Margalit and Golan Heights got three stars.
The boutique winery boom started in the 1990s.
In 2016 Israel had 60 commercial wineries and more than 300 smaller wineries and boutique wineries.
Israeli wineries today use mostly transplanted (imported) grape varieties:
The most common reds are: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz (Syrah), Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Nebbiolo, Tempranillo and Zinfandel.
The most used whites are: Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Riesling, Chenin Blanc, Semillon, Viognier, Emerald Riesling, Muscat, Gewürstraminer.
The five official wine regions of Israel are:
Galilee (Upper Galilee, Lower Galilee and the Golan), Samaria
(Mt. Carmel, Sharon Plain, Shomron Hills), Samson (Central Coastal Plain, Judean Lowlands, Judean Foothills), Judean Hills (Beit El, Gush Etzion, Jerusalem, Southern Judean Hills, including Yatir Forest) and the Negev (Northern Negev Hills, Central Negev).
My sources;
The Wine Route of Israel 2012 (Eliezer Sacks, Yaron Goldfisher, Adam Montefiore)
Daniel Rogov: Rogov’s Guides 2011
http://winesisrael.com/en/ (2016)
About Ruth , independent tour guide in Israel.
I have lived here altogether for more than twenty years, commuting with my home in Norway.
There is nothing I like more than showing people Israel, so that they can get a taste of this multifaceted society. In addition to all the historical sites, there is modern Israel with its unbelievable mix of cultures, music, dance, arts, high-tec, inventions, and so much more. Around every bend you meet people from all over the world, hear all imaginable languages, taste all kinds of interesting food a
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