GRAPES FROM HEAVEN

The official wine regions of Israel have been a bit of a joke since I came to Israel 37 years ago. Whilst wineries and growers took Israeli wines to the heights, the administration of the Israeli wine trade could not keep pace. The official regions were decided in the mid-1970s but this was before the Israeli wine industry changed, developed, improved standards, grew and moved eastwards and northwards in search of altitude. The Israeli wine industry founded by Baron Edmond de Rothschild was focused on the northern and central coastal plain. The wine revolution began in the 1980s on the Golan Heights. Seeking greater quality, the majority of vineyards moved to the Upper Galilee, Golan Heights and Judean Foothills. More recently was the revival of historic wine routes in the Negev and Samaria. The wine industry today bears no resemblance to what it was fifty years ago.