Month: June 2023

I have been many years in the Israeli wine industry and been in many vineyards, but I had never been in Dabouki vineyard. Until now that is. I recently drove up to Givat Nili, to see one of the few vineyards still growing Dabouki. It is a big vineyard with all sorts, but when I arrived in the area of the Dabouki vines, I had the feeling as though I was peering into history. I felt like saying: “Ah, Dr. Dabouki I presume!” 

I was confronted by 50year old vines, flailing in all directions, with thick gnarled trunks and arms waving in grotesque shapes. Each vine had its own shape and personality, as if screaming about its own individuality. You go to Cyprus and 100 year vineyards are here, there, and everywhere. In Israel, I don’t think I have seen a fifty year old vineyard before. I had the feeling I was entering a vine museum. It was as though I was seeking remains of something that once flourished, but now is a rarity. The vines did not look that healthy. They in fact appeared to all intents and purposes to be dead. If I brush too hard by a branch and it would snap like dead dry wood. 

And Decanter likes them too!

The Decanter World Wine Awards is these days the largest wine competition in the world. It also has great credibility as one of the best. It is certainly not like the European competition which kindly sent us a medal, when I worked for Carmel, even though we had not even submitted a wine! This year no less than five Israeli wines have been awarded Gold Medals at Decanter: 

You need to be with someone with a lot of knowledge and have a good imagination to reveal the hidden secrets of the terrain. There I was with the famous archaeologist Professor Yuval Gadot, clamoring down the forested slops of Ramot Forest in the Judean Highlands, near the entrance to Jerusalem. He led the way with the enthusiasm of a child, supported with the deep knowledge of a professor, with decades of archaeological finds and ground breaking papers under his belt. Even though he knew what was coming, there was still some of that infectious boyish enthusiasm as though he was discovering everything for the first time.