Month: August 2019

When I first came to Israel, there was one wine region that was considered above all others. The Golan Heights with its high elevation, volcanic soil and black basalt stone, was considered perfect for growing grapes with the potential to make high quality wine.
The Golan Heights Winery carried not only the wine hopes of the region, but the whole country. New World winemaking technology, the idea of making wine in the vineyards and the introduction of new varieties made this the pioneering winery.
The close association between winery and growing region, encouraged the winery to promote ‘The Land of Wine’ referring to the Golan. I remember Segev Yerovam, ex CEO of Golan Heights Winery and Galil Mountain Winery, predicting that one day there would be a wine route on the Golan. At that time there was only one winery on the Golan, but Segev, a true Golan patriot, looked into the tea leaves and saw the future.

There are no end of options for the wine tourist in Israel and there are wine routes that cover the country. There is the Galilee & Golan Heights in the north, Mount Carmel & the Sharon Plain in the northern coastal plain, the Judean Foothills & Judean Hills in the center of the country. To these you can now add the Central Mountains and Negev, where there also viable wine routes.
I believe Israel is a country which may be viewed through the prism of its wineries, vineyards and wines. This will put you in touch with history, archaeology, agriculture, religion, gastronomy, peoplehood and technology. Those who know Israel well, will only gain further insights by experiencing Israel’s wine industry.

I usually write about Israeli wine and do not differentiate whether the wine is kosher or not, on the basis that wine is wine, and it is not better or worse because it is kosher. However, for those interested in kosher wines, I have decided this week to recommend a few imported kosher wines, which represent excellent QPR (quality per price.)
The history of wine kashrut is deeply interesting. There was no kashrut supervision until the 1920’s. Before that, apart from Carmel, kosher wine was more or less a domestic cottage industry. You bought from someone you knew personally if the provenance of the wine was important to you. Whilst the kosher meat industry built up a kosher infrastructure by necessity, wine was comparatively slow to get in on the act.

I have always been interested in developing Israeli Carignan. When I worked for Carmel Winery it was a policy, but even though there is a lot of Carignan in the country, there are not so many varietal Carignans made here. Nevertheless, it remains even today the second most planted grape variety in Israel. We are obviously drinking far more Carignan than we are aware of!
Over the years I have written about Carignan in Israel, but my interest received an infusion after meeting Momo Shmilovich at his Neve Yarak Winery. He has taken over the mantle of Carignan warrior in Israel and organizes a Carignan Day, which encourages visitors, hosts tastings and lectures all on the subject of this far from noble variety, which has a long association with volume rather than quality.
There is no grape variety which tells the story of Israeli wine quite like Carignan. It is part of the modern history of Israeli wine. It has been here from the beginning, from even before Baron Edmond de Rothschild’s involvement.