Israel Flam has celebrated his 80th birthday joining other famous wine octogenarians like Eli Ben-Zaken of Domaine du Castel and Yair Margalit of Margalit Winery, not forgetting Mimi Ben-Joseph who is in his nineties. Flam worked for 35 years at Carmel Winery, the largest winery in Israel, and is the now the patriarchal figure of Flam Winery, one of Israel’s very finest small wineries. During his career, he has overseen enormous changes in the wine scene in Israel.
Born in Russia, his family made aliyah when he was two years old after the Second World War. After serving in the paratroopers in the IDF (Israeli army), he then joined The Israel Wine Institute under the management of Frenchman, Charles Loinger. When he decided on winemaking as a career, he travelled to South Africa to study at Stellenbosch Farmers Winery & completed his studies at the Oenology & Viticulture Department of The University of California at Davis. Today it is commonplace for Israelis to study oenology abroad, Israel Flam was arguably the first young winemaker to do this acting as a model to those that followed.
He returned to become part of the winemaking team at Carmel in the early 1970s, being at the winery when they produced the first Israeli varietal wines from Cabernet Sauvignon & Sauvignon Blanc. From 1974 to 1995 he was in charge of wine production at Rishon Le Zion, then Israel’s largest winery. He was involved in the production of the legendary Carmel Special Reserve wines of 1976 & 1979. These were Israel’s first international style wines aged in small oak barrels, stoppered with good corks and aged in bottle before release.
In February 1995 he took over from Freddie Stiller & became Technical Director of SCV des Grandes Caves (Agudat Hacormim) and Chief Winemaker of Carmel Mizrahi. This meant he was responsible for harvesting up to 30,000 tonnes of grapes and managing the winemaking at the two largest wineries in the country: Rishon Le Zion Wine Cellars & Zichron Ya’acov Wine Cellars. If this was not enough, he was also responsible for the production of products as diverse as table wine, sparkling wine, kiddush wine, grape juice, brandy, vodka, liqueurs, wine vinegar & olive oil! Few would be aware of the logistics involved in managing operations on such a gigantic scale with vineyards spread out, all-over Israel, two enormous wineries and so many products of different types at different price points.
In his later years at Carmel, he became part of the rejuvenation of this traditional company. He managed & developed a team of younger winemakers, including Eran Goldwasser, Lior Lacser, Sam Soroka, & was the liaison with Peter Stern, the famous Californian winemaking consultant, who starting advising Carmel from 2002. Flam oversaw the building of Carmel’s new boutique wineries (at Zichron on the coast, a grape receival facility called Kayoumi in the Upper Galilee and Yatir in the Negev) to prepare the company for the future. The winery had planted extensive vineyards in the Upper Galilee, including the legendary Kayoumi vineyard and vineyards within Yatir Forest. It was the beginning of the turnaround, and Carmel Mizrahi became known as Carmel Winery.
Israel Flam has encyclopaedic knowledge about the wine trade and Israeli wine in particular. It was therefore appropriate that he was elected as the first chairman of the Forum of Israeli Winemakers, when it was formed. This body has now been superseded by IPEVO, the professional organization for oenologists and viticulturists that was founded in 2012.
After giving the main part of his working life to Carmel, he is now enjoying the fruits of the family winery founded by his two sons, Golan and Gilad. Flam Winery has received international recognition, including being ranked ***>**** stars in the Hugh Johnson Pocket Wine Book, which makes it the third best winery in Israel. Their success must be a source of great pride. His children are happy to receive the benefit of the knowledge of Israel’s most experienced winemaker. He is there, part of the team, always supporting, but never interfering.
I personally worked with Israel during two different stages of my career. From 1990 to 1992 and then from 2002 to the time Israel retired from Carmel. He has always been a good friend, with great wisdom, a sharp, pithy humor and many an evening we would sit and talk and put the world to rights. His career from the beginning of the 1970s to now, has lasted 55 years. There is no-one with that breadth of perspective on the Israeli wine scene today. He is the father figure of the Israeli wine industry, possibly the only person to have overseen all the changes there have been during the most exciting period for Israeli wine for 2,000 years.
Adam Montefiore is a wine trade veteran and winery insider turned wine writer, who has advanced Israeli wines for 38 years. He is referred to as the English voice of Israeli wine and is the Wine Writer for the Jerusalem Post. www.adammontefiore.com