Many people have dreams and ambitions, but few articulate their plans so clearly from the very beginning. The first steps are normally taken gingerly and quietly, so mistakes can be learnt from without being under the microscope. A brand is built slowly layer upon layer over years. There is no rush. From the time you plant a vineyard, you can’t use the grapes until the 4th year. Then you may put your precious red wine into barrel to mature for 18 months, and then leave it another six months’ bottle age before release. As a marketer and the builder of a wine brand that gives you time. As a businessman it is nightmare. There is no cash flow, just outgoings and expenditure. The accountant will not be pleased. It may be 6-7 years before you can sell your precious wine, and who knows when you will be paid. Building a winery is long term, everything is in slow motion. Patience is not a virtue, it is a necessity. There is no alternative.
The Family Baum Winery has taken a different approach. They began a marathon as though it was a 100-meter sprint. They launched their winery in the full glare of social media, and were quite happy to announce their plans to all and sundry. What makes this approach of interest is that it gives a wonderful insight into the hard work and graft in founding even a tiny winery. We have also been prematurely introduced to the ability, professionalism and charisma of two very special, unique people.
Meet Rivka and Sam Baum, a British blend of Manchester and Hendon, not yet known as famous wine regions. They have come onto the Israeli wine scene like a whirlwind. There has never been such a miniscule winery that makes so much noise. It all started in the Negev Desert. Sam Baum made Aliyah as an 18-year old and was serving in the army as a lone soldier. He had advanced to become a deputy company commander in Nahal. One day, he came across the Nana Winery vineyard at Mitzpe Ramon. He saw the miracle of green vines growing in the sandy desert. This was his epiphany moment. It opened a window in his mind. There and then he decided after fighting to protect the land, he wanted to become a farmer to grow and develop the land and take care of it. Wine has an elevated status in Judaism, and as a religious Jew, this attracted him to the world of vines and wines. The wine that beckoned him and drew him in, was Isaac’s Ram of Hebron Heights Winery. From the moment he tasted this wine, he became one track minded and obsessive in his desire to learn. When someone bluntly told him “Shit grapes results in shit wine” he realized wine was made in the vineyards, and that was where he wanted to work. He applied for a job, offering boundless enthusiasm, being prepared to do backbreaking hard work, but with no knowledge to speak of or experience whatsoever. He found himself working at Domaine du Castel. That is not a bad place to start. Castel is one of our finest quality wineries. The trouble was there was no job in the vineyards, so he was sent to work in production. He was prepared to work hard, do anything and everything, and he absorbed information like a sponge. At the first opportunity he moved to the agriculture and wine growing department, where he was quickly given responsibilities in keeping with his capacity to learn quickly. Eventually he was appointed as manager of the agriculture department and chief grower. He has had experience over five years listening, watching, learning and communicating with professionals at both Castel and Razi’el Winery (the newish sister winery of Castel). At the same time Sam was a mensch and very honorable. He simply refused to use the Castel connection to his benefit all the time he was working there. Let’s put it this way, his time spent there will not do them any harm.
Sam is very articulate, and now very knowledgeable, with a firm vision of what he wants to achieve. He believes in growing wine, making blends where the final wine is more important than the varieties. He wants to grow wine like a vigneron, rather than make it like a winery-based winemaker. He believes wine is a product of a person and a place along with the vagaries of the seasons which comes from above. He sees the wine cycle as naturally synchronized with the Jewish calendar. For him, whether fighting to protect the land or growing vines, it is part of his Judaism which he feels very deeply. This intrinsic belief, his innate intelligence and barely concealed passion makes him a very fluent, interesting interviewee.
He found himself working long weeks in the vineyards and there was no time to study winemaking. So, he decided to learn by doing and to make is own wine. The young couple spent all their savings on a small winery they put up at their home. It was a garagiste winery in a garden, rather than a garage.
Sam Baum was quite content to take all the time in the world in the search for perfection. He is totally focused on his vision of producing great wine, but did not feel the need to hurry. A friend and mentor, Avi Moskowitz of the Beer Bazar had a different idea. He advised him to start building a customer base almost immediately. This was very smart advice. Making wine is not so hard. What is difficult is selling it. “Making wine is an art and selling it is a profession” is a quote I regularly use. Now this where Rivka, a nurse at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, stepped up and showed herself to be an incredibly talented marketer. She came in to her own using social media. She started recording the different stages of their progress with regular posts and humorous videos. We became like voyeurs looking in at the beginnings of a start-up winery. They have given the curious onlooker an insight to all the steps they have taken. The problems, the panics, the humor and the exhilaration are all recorded for everyone to see.
She has proved to be very sharp and accomplished in marketing and brand building. They named the winery Family Baum Winery. The label shows a tree (the meaning of Baum in German) with the genuine finger prints of Rivka, Sam and their son Lavie in place of leaves. The word Baum is written in Hebrew in a font used for a Torah Scroll. In the background are the prophetic words of Amos about planting vineyards, a prophecy they are helping to make true. They bottled their first wine in August 2021; Two hundred bottles. The 2023 will be approximately 600 bottles and they are already pre sold. The bottle has a highly original pink waxed capsule. It is carefully wrapped in paper, and instead of a back label there are information cards giving details of wine and winery. Their slogan is ‘Lovers of the Land and its People.’ All is stylish. The writing is professional. The look is a million dollars, and all is artisan work done by hand. I have never known a winery produce so few bottles with such style and attention to detail. It reminds me a little of Eli Ben Zaken’s first Castel Grand Vin in 1992.
Rivka and Sam Baum met in 2017 and married in 2018. They are a great team. Theirs is a perfect blend of abilities. The combination is greater than sum of its parts; one plus one equaling three. Sam is able to concentrate on everything in the vineyard and winery, whilst Rivka has ownership for the sales and marketing. Both have absolute confidence and faith in the other and allow each other total ownership in their areas of expertise. They are besotted with wine. They have a son who is called Lavie, but he also has a third name of Marawi, an indigenous variety here. At his Brit Milah, Castel La Vie and Recanati Marawi was served. I imagine he will one day feel relieved he was not called Cabernet Sauvignon or Gruner Veltliner. This is a couple where wine permeates everything.
On Simchat Torah, October 7th 2023, Sam Baum was called up and immediately left without hesitation. He is a deputy company commander in the Harel Brigade. He disappeared into Gaza for four months, like so many other brave soldiers. Rivka was left with a child, a job ….and a winery. She managed to blurt out “the wine is on me” as they said their hasty goodbyes, but she had no idea what that entailed. Fortunately, they had harvested their Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot on Erev Sukkot. She took care of the fermenting wine, punching down the cap as is required. All was recorded on facebook and instush. She called herself ‘the punch down girl.’ For the important analyses that need to be taken throughout the process, she had the valuable assistance of Michal Kalisher, who used to work at Castel. Rivka began working nights, so Lavie would not miss her during the day. She got by with pluck, determination and ability, and no doubt the 2023 wine has her stamp on it.
I tasted the 2022. It is a Cabernet Sauvignon hand-picked from wickedly steep vineyards at the Cramim Hotel at Kiryat Anavim. The vines were planted more for display rather than practical use. Their harvest was Erev Rosh Hashanah (New Year’s Eve). Not easy for a religious couple, but that is the way of nature. It has its own agenda. The wine was aged in used barrels for 8 months. It had prominent aromas of black fruit with ripe plum, a full fruit flavor with a touch of bitterness on the back palate which provides contrast, and a long fruit led finish. I was allowed a whiff of a barrel sample of the 2023 (Cab & Petit Verdot). This at a glance appeared livelier and fresher. The aromas showed more purity of fruit. I thought it was better. Let’s hope they can preserve it through the bottling stage. However, all are sold out, pre-sold and they go to the trouble of personally deliver all orders. This is a couple that understands they are in the people business, not the wine business.
The grand plan is to move to the Golan Heights. The Baums of Efrat in the Judean Hills, will shortly become the Baums of Sha’al in the Northern Golan. I can empathize; I also share pit-stops of London and the Golan on my way. They are going to uproot themselves and move from a place they call home, to a northern outpost of the country, all for a piece of land with the terroir they are looking for. They plan to plant their own vineyard in 2025 and produce their own handcrafted, terroir driven wine. This is very rare. Most new wineries use established vineyards first. The Baums aim to start from the ground upwards. When they move north, Sam will work in the agriculture department for Dalton Winery. It is nice that this Londoner will work for a winery owned by an English Israeli family. He wanted to enroll for the winemaking course at the Ohalo College in Katzrin, but his reserve duty meant this had to be delayed. They have produced a very deeply thought-out business plan which has the maturity and smarts of wine trade veterans. They know exactly where they are going. Rivka and Sam: you certainly have our attention. We the onlookers are captivated and enchanted by their story, spirit, their ambition and optimism. We will be following their every step. When the Family Baum Winery produce their long planned for wine from the Family Baum Vineyard in the Northern Golan Heights, we will be waiting. Remember the name!
Adam Montefiore 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.’ He is the Wine Writer for the Jerusalem Post. www.adammontefiore.com
