RETURNING TO BASICS

A decade ago, we knew there were local varieties, grown for centuries in the vineyards of the Holy Land, but we never thought of them as being wine grapes. Wine books were published and names like Bittuni, Dabouki and Marawi just did not appear under the headings of Israel, the Palestine Authority, the Holy Land or anywhere else. Yet the wineries that were founded by Jewish families in the 19th century, like Shor and Teperberg, used these same local varieties that we are talking about today. They were purchased from Arab owned vineyards in the Hebron area.