Dudu Baram, Director of the Israel Wine & Grapes Board, reported a decline of 15% in the 2005 harvest. The total Israeli harvest for 2005 was 45,483 tons of grapes as against 53,513 tons in 2004. Therefore the size of the harvest more or less returned to being close to those of the previous three years: 2003 – 45,242 tons; 2002 – 43,007 tons & 2001 – 44,684 tons.

Regarding the grape varieties, the relative percentages were encouraging. The growth of quality varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot & Shiraz continued despite the overall decrease. Conversely Carignan & French Colombard took a fair share of the decline. The main grape varieties harvested were:

Red

Carignan 9,201 tons

Cabernet Sauvignon 7,967

Merlot 7,154

Argaman 1,818

Shiraz 1,470

White

French Colombard 3,912 tons

Emerald Riesling 2,723

Muscat of Alexandria 2,150

Sauvignon Blanc 1,956

Chardonnay 1,951

The main wineries were:

Carmel  18,908 tons 

Barkan  7,078 (+ Segal 484)

Golan Heights 5,783

Efrat 3,305

Binyamina 2,852

Tel Arza 1,179

Tishbi 1,101

Dalton 712

Galil Mountain 708

Zion 706

Including joint ventures, the largest three wineries – Carmel, Barkan & Golan -  harvested 75% of the total crop.

Five wineries harvested over 2,000 tons of grapes. They together represent 84% of the total harvest. The eleven wineries harvesting more than 500 tons (those listed above plus Recanati) control 95% of the harvest!