There are real difficulties marketing Israeli wine abroad. The kosher wine niche is saturated. There are more kosher wines being produced than ever before and there are a steady stream of Israeli wineries trying to enter the international kosher market. Sales are contracting. The cake is smaller, but the number of players seeking a bite is growing. Outside the kosher and Jewish market, Israel is facing hostility. Some previously good friends in the general wine trade, have suddenly gone quiet and no longer answer emails. Europe has always had an anti-Israel bias, and this disease has reached America too. We are living in problematic times.
To be export manager is a noble job, but it is harder than you think. Your bosses may think you are spoilt and that you are privileged to travel abroad. They do not always understand the difficulties of representing Israel overseas. When weighing up profitability of the export sales against the local market, they often miss the point. Export activities are vital for building image. Yarden, Castel and Yatir are examples of wineries that built their reputation overseas, which then reflected back onto the local market. Export is also useful as a reserve pipeline for sales, as a kind of back up. However, export is a long-term project, where knowledge, expertise and an understanding of wine are crucial. It is not like the local market, where a decision made today can affect sales tomorrow. Patience and understanding are needed for those wishing to effect change abroad.
The job of export manager is all encompassing. To do the job successfully, you are responsible for export marketing, sales, wine education, public relations, logistics and you are regarded by most of the world as the spokesperson for the winery. The local marketing department will by definition rarely understand what is needed abroad or have the time to do much to help. So you have to stick up for your own interests, whilst ensuring everything is in step with local policies. Export is a world few working locally understand. They should not forget that Hebrew is basically spoken only between Hadera and Gedera, but English is the gateway to the whole world.
It is a truth that CEOs and marketing managers at the large wineries seem to change quite frequently. The position of export manager is invariably more stable. They tend to have been around longer. They, as a breed, are usually knowledgeable, dependable, experienced and are experts in their field, yet are in some quarters undervalued. I know this not only because I have been there. I am a close observer of the export scene and have been a passionate advocate in advancing Brand Israel over four decades.
I was export manager for the Golan Heights Winery for a number of years, followed by being international marketing manager for Carmel. Same job, but different name! Anyway, it entailed being responsible for export to North America, Europe and the Far East. When I did the job, 90% of Israel’s export sales were between Carmel and the Golan Heights Winery. As an English speaker with experience of the wine trade from overseas, this gave me a leg up as the unofficial, quasi representative of Israeli wine abroad. It is a role I have been honored to fulfil for decades.
I first started working with Israeli wine in 1986. Forty years ago! I was wine manager for a hotel chain in Britain and put Yarden and Gamla wines on wine lists of over fifty hotels. I met Segev Yerovam, the managing director of Golan Heights Winery, and Doron Rand, the marketing & export manager, when they were on a visit to London. When I wrote to the winery, explaining I was making Aliyah, Carmit Ehrenreich from marketing took the trouble to respond. I was impressed how the winery reacted and responded to a customer from abroad.
When I came to Israel, my first stop was at Carmel Mizrahi. I was working in the local market as education manager for hotels & restaurants, far removed from export. However, one day the export manager had guests from abroad, and he pleaded with me to host them for him. He had something better to do. When I agreed, he was relieved: “thank you” he said, then he went on, “but do not talk about wine, business or the winery. Don’t say anything.” This if you remember was the old Carmel Mizrahi!
Within less than a couple of years, I received greater respect and opportunities. By 1994 I was export manager of the Golan Heights Winery, organizing my first “Pras Yarden” competition for wine waiters and I was contributing to the World Atlas of Wine on behalf of Israeli wine, something I have continued to do ever since. The 9th edition comes out in September.
When I joined Golan Heights Winery I met old friends. The aforementioned Segev Yerovam, Doron Rand were my bosses and my senior partner in the marketing department was Carmit Ehrenreich. These were three giants. Legends who along with the winemakers, created the biggest changes in Israeli wine in 100 years. Doron Rand looked after export. Eventually I took over (he remained marketing manager) and I had the benefit of learning from him.
He remains one of the most knowledgeable people I know about the business of wine and wine export, and is now a much sought of business consultant way beyond the confines of the wine trade. I was fortunate to continue under Shalom Blayer, when Segev moved on.
After 11 years, I returned to Carmel and played a small part in the rejuvenation of the winery. There we founded Handcrafted Wines of Israel, which included wineries such as Castel, Flam, Margalit, Tzora and Yatir. It was the first time wineries worked together to advance Brand Israel. It was a privilege to work under the creative, innovative David Ziv and stalwart Israel Ivzan z”l. The CEOs I have mentioned all understood the value and importance of export.
As export manager, I travelled roughly one week every month. Often it was for two-week periods including a Shabbat and one weekend. It was fun, challenging but wearing. Anyway, I had experiences filled with meaningful content, which left wonderful memories.
These included opening big markets like Japan and high profile markets like Italy for Golan Heights Winery, through what turned out to be long lasting partnerships with Millesimes and Gaja; being the first Israeli to represent an Israeli wine (Yarden) at the New York Wine Experience; representing Handcrafted Wines of Israel at Vinexpo and Vinitaly; presenting the Yarden Trophy for Best Bottle Fermented Sparkling Wine and the Carmel Trophy for Best Eastern Mediterranean Winery at the Guildhall in London; receiving winery awards cumulating in Carmel winning the Decanter Trophy (for Kayoumi Shiraz).
As an export manager you are representing Israel, not only your own winery. I remember once giving a presentation in Poland, when a Polish sommelier asked “why should we sell Israeli wine when Israelis murder Palestinian children?” They don’t teach you how to answer that in wine school, but you soon get used to coping with the slings and arrows. It just illustrates that being an export manager of an Israeli winery is more challenging than just the business of wine. I could write a book about the ups and downs of representing your country abroad. Maybe one day I will!
The leading export managers today are icons of our industry. They represent us all abroad in the toughest of all times. We have experienced the Covid pandemic, followed by three years of war, with Israel’s image experiencing a nadir we have not seen before. The anti-Israel tsunami was talked about a decade ago, and was shrugged off by those in power. It is now with us big time. Those in the arts, academia, sciences, sport…and wine, can’t help but feel the ice-cold winds. It is a very different world.
There are a few giants on the frontlines. The most experienced export manager is Yael Gai. I first met her in the early 2000s when we found ourselves sitting next to each other at some export gathering. She was working for Olivia and I was then with Carmel. She became international sales and marketing manager of the Golan Heights Winery and Galil Mountain in 2007 and for nearly 20 years has represented the wines of the Yarden, Gamla, Hermon and Galil Mountain in Europe and the Rest of the World. She is old school, which is meant to be a compliment. Knowledgeable, focused, assertive with a streak of perfectionism. She has high standards. She knows the job backwards. During a time when Israeli wineries are shying away from exhibitions, the Golan Heights Winery has continued to attend more often than not, so Gai is also the most practiced in the art of managing a wine stand at an exhibition in the different countries and cultures. Yarden – Golan Heights Winery is arguably the most well-known Israeli winery worldwide, and Gai plays her part in keeping the wines at the forefront.
The export manager most immersed in the world of wine has to be Dorit Ben-Simon. She is the VP International Sales & Marketing for Recanati Winery. She is fascinated by the world of wine and will always be the first to book up for a tasting. I first met her in the 1990s when she was recruited by the aforementioned Carmit Ehrenreich to give tastings of wine for the Golan Heights Winery. After a spell working for Royal Wine in California, I recruited her to Carmel. She was promoted to be export manager of Carmel and Yatir Winery in 2012. After Carmel, she moved to the Golan Heights Winery, managing export to America, then Barkan, and is now at Recanati. She has therefore had experience at each of the largest exporters of Israeli wine and also with the largest importer of Israeli wine. She represents Israel and Recanati Winery with grace and charm, and her deep passion for wine comes through. She is also an international wine judge, representing Israel for a number of years at Mundus Vini, Germany’s most important wine competition.
Itamar Alperin is the International Sales and Marketing Manager of Barkan Winery, usually the largest exporter of Israeli wine. He is so dynamic, professional and everything he does including talking, is done at great speed. He has the broadest wine experience of the export managers. He studied oenology in Milan, following Ido Lewinsohn MW, did a harvest at Tzora Vineyards with Eran Pick MW. He had experience working at Derech Hayayin, the wine store chain, Tempo, the total beverage company and Cheers, the wine start up founded by Yair Haidu. He was involved in training, trade marketing and sales and left with admiration and respect in every role. He was appointed to manage Barkan Winery’s export division in 2023. Since then, the portfolio he is responsible for has enlarged significantly. He is now also the export manager for Lahat Winery and Feldstein Winery, which have come under the umbrella of Tempo Wine. It gives him a portfolio any wine lover would appreciate, covering every price point.
Etti Edri is the Export Manager of both Carmel, the historic winery of Israel, and Yatir Winery. She is a human dynamo who thrives on making warm, meaningful contacts with everyone she meets. I often say we are in the people business not the wine business, well Etti is the example that proves that better than anyone. She started in wine with the founding of Yatir Winery as COO in 2004, but did everything. She was the warm, friendly, passionate and informative figure that welcomed everyone to the winery; though her responsibilities were far broader than that. I was at Carmel, the parent company, and was able to observe at close hand how she grew as a person along with the winery, which became one of Israel’s leading small wineries. She created a whole sea of wine lovers loyal to Yatir by personal contacts and her bubbly personality alone. In 2018, she became Export Manager of Carmel Winery, Israel’s largest winery, and Yatir Winery, the king of the south. She went into the job like a whirlwind and has never stopped since.
There are two more wineries that are far larger in reality than they are given credit for. They are not only big but possibly Israel’s most improved wineries in terms of quality at every price point. One is Zion Winery which by my reckoning is the 5th largest winery in the country. Here the Marketing and Export Manager is David Gronich. He reached the top of the ladder as a hotelier specializing in Food & Beverage, before coming into wine. He was a great success at both the very large Tel Aviv Hilton and then at the boutique Scottish Hotel. I had the honor and fortune to recruit him to Carmel, where he became a key figure in the Professional Wine Department and in the HORECA division. He is another with drive, knowledge and passion. He is Export Manager for Zion Winery and the smaller sister company, 1848 Winery. Gronich is a doer not a talker, and, no doubt, he has brought about an impressive image turnaround for those two wineries.
The other winery of note is Jerusalem Vineyard Winery. It is possibly the 7th or 8th largest winery in Israel. And here we go back to Carmit Eherenreich, already mentioned. She was the VP Marketing and Export who along with CEO – winemaker Lior Lacser, changed the image and quality of the winery. Now she is devoted to export as well as a very knowledgeable and valuable consultant to other clients. Amongst these are Bazelet Hagolan, Jaffo and Tel Shifon wineries. We do not forget that she did things and initiated projects in the early 1990s at the Golan Heights Winery in marketing, tourism and education, which changed Israeli wine forever. She was marketing manager of Galil Mountain Winery in its early years, but one can only marvel at what has been achieved at Jerusalem Vineyard Winery. Her best quality is that she is very creative and always thinks outside the box.
It was an excellent article by wine journalist Alon Gonen which inspired me to write about export managers. I owe him for the idea. To me, wine represents the very best of Israel. “Wine is the beautiful Israel” is my slogan. When you are lecturing about wine abroad or giving a tutored tasting, it is also soft power diplomacy. At this time Israeli wine has never been so most important for Israel’s image. The wine trade carries far more weight than its size in export dollars. I salute the export managers representing Israel at this time. They have to cope with pressures from within and difficulties abroad, but continue to bravely represent Israel with style, energy and panache. I am full of admiration for their abilities and persistence. We are so lucky to have people of this caliber working hard in a very difficult environment, to advance Brand Israel to the world.
Adam Montefiore is a wine trade veteran and winery insider turned wine writer, who has advanced Israeli wines over four decades. He is referred to as the English voice of Israeli wine and is the Wine Writer for the Jerusalem Post. www.adammontefiore.com
