Tom Carbone is a blend of Australia and Italy. Two stellar wine producing countries. His mother came from Sydney, his father from Rome. He studied viticulture and oenology in Milan and recently launched a first wine. It was sold out within a very short period of time. None of this would cause much interest, if the words ‘Be’eri’ were not written on the label. This is the kibbutz in the northwestern Negev, where the very worst of the atrocities took place on October 7th. Tom Carbone has Be’eri imprinted in his very DNA. It is where he grew up and in these days of recovery and hopefully rejuvenation, he is the absolute essence and spirit of the place. Yet today, he and his young family, are living in a Dead Sea hotel. He travels from the Dead Sea to Be’eri in the north western Negev to work in the Be’eri Dairy.
Kibbutz Be’eri became the overriding symbol of the Simchat Torah Massacre on October 7th. Being only 4-5 kilometers from Gaza, it was an easy target for the Hamas marauders. In Be’eri alone they slaughtered no less than 100 members of the Kibbutz. One of them was Galit Carbone, the Tom’s mother and the grandmother to his son. May her memory be a blessing. Another was Dror Or z”l, the chef cheesemaker of Kibbutz Be’eri. It was thought for months that he was amongst the hostages kidnapped by Hamas, but was far later discovered that he had been murdered on that dreadful, black day. Tom Carbone with his wife and one year old child, were in their safe room from 6.50 in the morning until 2.00 the next night. It just does not bear thinking about what they went through. The unspeakable horrors were being perpetrated all around, and what went on there will haunt Israelis and Jews everywhere for generations.
The Be’eri Dairy had been founded by Dagan Peleg in 1991. For him it was a project of a lifetime. Dror Or, a qualified chef, who studied at the Tadmor Hotel, became the cheesemaker. The cheeses became the choice of the wineries to serve with their precious wines. Wineries of the caliber of Castel and Agur were regular customers. Yet Dror and his wife Yonat were amongst those murdered in cold blood. Two of their three children, Noam and Alma were kidnapped but released at the end of November.
We arrived at the dairy to meet Tom to hear about his dreams. We were slightly affected by stage fright. We were not sure what to say, how to respond. We did not want to be guilty in our eyes of voyeurism, but we wanted to hear the full story. We need not have worried. We had a friendly welcome from Tom Carbone, dressed in the whites of a dairy worker. He is not a towering figure, but stands tall with shoulders back. He has ginger hair, a light beard, a ready smile, a relaxed manner and an easy confidence. He stepped into the breach to keep the dairy going, shared the same dreams that Dror had and had some of his own too. Since October 7th, he feels it is his mission no less, to keep the dairy going, to represent his late colleague and friend, and to ensure Be’eri’s name for high quality, artisan cheeses will continue.
He gave us the dairy tour, then armed with a well-chilled bottle of wine under his arm and a platter of cheeses, he led us to Gan Ha’Shishim. We found ourselves in an oasis of tranquility. Probably the calmest and most beautiful place on the kibbutz. We sat on wooden benches, with the sound of tinkling water in the background. Fat goldfish basked in the water, darting between the lotus flowers in the ponds. The rustle of the wind and the hot sun made the wine even more refreshing. As the conversation flowed, we enjoyed yet another shluk and another slither of cheese. By the end of our visit, we had polished off both the bottle and two cheeses.
It was all slightly incongruous. We sat seemingly without a care in the world, in a place representing a piece of heaven, and we talked wine, as though that was the most important thing in the world. One could for a moment forget the death, destruction and horrific memories all around us. However, on October 7th this Garden of Eden represented hell on earth. In truth, though we initially skirted around the subject, the memories were never far from the surface.
Tom Carbone has a dream to make wine and he certainly has the qualifications. His vision is for agriculture, a dairy, winery, gastronomy and tourism to work hand in hand. To build something with a sense of place, that would represent the kibbutz. That was before October 7th. Since that date, he has only become more determined. His dream is becoming a vision. Who knows, we might return in three years’ time, to find the Be’eri vineyard, winery, dairy and restaurant working in close proximity and being a must visit destination for foodies and wine tourism. That was his shared dream with Dror Or. Now he needs to do it for him and in his memory.
Tom Carbone is diligent, careful and smart. It is a good combination of qualities to have before entering the wine trade. He knows that is easy to grow vines, and it is not too hard to make wine. However, to sell it is the difficult thing. The late Carmi Lebenstein of Carmel Mizrahi, used to say “making wine is an art, but selling it is a profession.” So, Tom gathered together some wines from elsewhere in Israel, and held a few tastings and wine evenings to prove to the kibbutz, and probably more to himself, that he could talk about wine, present it and sell it. Of course he passed his own test with flying colors. Passion and knowledge helps, and he has both in spades.
Already in August 2023 he harvested Chardonnay at Nes Harim. The Chardonnay was fermented and aged sur lies (on its lees) in oak barrels. It was bottled in the new year (2024) and launched in the spring. He may well have chosen a fancy Italian style label, paying homage to his roots, however after October 7th, Be’eri became the only possible name. The label shows a ‘less is more’ approach. There is a simple drawing of the Be’eri water tower and the original Beit Bitahon (security building.) The wine was so good that it sold out quickly. When we turned up, he generously opened one of his last bottles. It was delicious; Fresh, fragrant with the complexity of oak aging clearly apparent, but without any heaviness or richness. It was a lovely bottle of wine which slipped down without touching the sides. In my eyes a good wine is an empty bottle…and this was finished without us paying attention. The next Be’eri wine will be a red Merlot. We are looking forward to it.
If Carbone needs advice or has any doubts, he contacts Dror Engelstein of UnderDog Vineyards. They were chums from studies in Italy. Engelstein has more winemaking experience, but he is quick to give credit where it is due. His friend did an excellent job. Carbone is mostly interested not in reds, but in crisp whites and rosé. He would like to focus on these styles which are so suitable for Israel’s climate and cuisine. They also go better with most cheeses than reds, and grow better in the loess soil of the region. So, I think this would be an excellent focus, and it is in keeping with modern trends.
He also believes in not sourcing the grapes from elsewhere, but growing them himself. Tom Carbone’s dream is to plant his vineyard at Kibbutz Be’eri in the north western Negev. He is not looking for Cabernet Sauvignons and Chardonnays, but varieties more in keeping with our hot climate and the local desert terroir. It is early days yet, but he talked to me about Carignan and Colombard. Excellent choice! These are our heritage varieties. They may even be regarded as varieties we have adopted over many years. Carignan was brought to Israel in the 1870s by the Mikveh Israel Agricultural School. So, it has been here for 150 years. It arrived even before Baron Rothschild invested in Israeli wine from the 1880s onwards. Colombard came to Israel in the 1970s and is already 50 years here. Both were more known for high yields and large quantities rather than for quality. However, from respectively the 2000s and 2010s, Carignan and Colombard became reborn as wines which not only could be good quality, but also they were considered very suitable for Israel. Vitkin Winery and Mony Winery were the initial pioneers that made us all wake up and look at these varieties again. Kudos goes to Assaf Paz, of Vitkin Winery, and Sam Soroka, then winemaker of Mony.
Wine is a combination of a person, a place and the varieties. I can hardly wait for the wines made by Tom Carbone, from Colombard and Carignan, grown at Kibbutz Be’eri and made at Be’eri Winery. Judging by his Be’eri Chardonnay, he has nothing to worry about, and we the consumer, are eager for more. Hamas hate democracy, liberalism, and the west with equal fundamentalist fervor, as much as they hate Jews and Israelis. They are also fanatically anti-alcohol and wine. Wine represents life, and life is stronger than death. A new winery on the ruins, as part of Be’eri reborn and rebuilt, is the idea. Now, that is what I would call total victory. Le’Haim! To Life!
The writer is a wine trade veteran and a winery insider turned wine writer. He has advanced Israeli wine for 38 years and is known as the ‘English voice of Israeli wine.’ www.adammontefiore.com
