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The last fifteen years has seen an amazing turnaround of the Wineries In 1989, the leading wineries & the amounts of wine grapes they harvested were as follows: WEST/Stock – 4,302 Eliaz - 1,802 Efrat Winery – 968 Tel Arza – 818 Shimshon - 748 Carmei Zion/ Askalon – 748 Latroun - 316 Baron – 210 Since then, there have been many changes. One of the most immediately obvious of these has been the change in name of many of the most prominent wineries. Carmel Mizrachi, Eliaz, Carmei Zion / Askalon & Baron are now better known as Carmel Winery, Binyamina, Segal & Tishbi respectively. There have also been changes in the fortunes & ownership of certain wineries. WEST – the winery arm of the brandy & liqueur producer Stock, went bankrupt, and was reincarnated under new owners as Barkan. The Segal family sold their Carmei Zion/ Askalon operation to Barkan, who are in turn were sold to Tempo Beer Industries – The biggest change has been the new pursuit of quality. Efrat & Eliaz/ Binyamina were two wineries selling mainly sweet wines to an almost exclusive religious clientele in 1989. Today they are producing quality table wines. Today there are five large wineries producing over two million bottles a year: Barkan – 8,894 Efrat - 3,987 Binyamina – 2,713 A further five wineries, which produce over 500,000 bottles a year, are: Tel Arza – 1,394 Tishbi – 1,057 Recanati - 544 These ten wineries control maybe 95 % of the Israeli grape harvest, which in 2004 was 53,500 tons. In 1989 there was one large wine company – In the last six years, the big three wineries have all invested in new wineries. Boutique Wineries There were two boutique wineries in 1989. Meron Winery was In the 1990’s there was an enormous growth of small wineries. Some like Castel gained a worldwide reputation. Others like Dalton & Tzora started small & grew very fast. By 2004, there were more than 150 wineries, but the true number may be nearer to 200. There are too many to accurately count as a large proportion of them are tiny, domestic producers. Wine Regions In 1989 the Shomron was by far the largest wine growing region. The main concentration of vineyards was in the valleys surrounding the towns of Zichron Ya’acov & Binyamina. The Shimson/Samson region, comprising the cental coastal plain & Judean foothills, was the next biggest region. Since then most of the new vineyards planted, have been on the Golan Heights & Upper Galilee. The Galilee, In 1989, the Golan Heights was gaining its reputation as outstandingly Grape Varieties The main varieties harvested in 1989 were: Carignan 17, 579 tons French Colombard 5,938 Petite Sirah 2,792 Semillon 2,239 Emerald Riesling 2,194 Chenin Blanc 1,800 Cabernet Sauvignon 1,560 Sauvignon Blanc 1,486 The total harvest of wine grapes in 1989 was 38,668 tons and 7,361 tons of table (food) grapes were added – probably for production of grape juice or distillation to brandy (then Stock 84 and Carmel Brandy 777 were far bigger brands than today.) By 2004 there was a sharp increase in the so called ‘noble varieties’: Carignan 13,386 tons Cabernet Sauvignon 8,300 Merlot 7,860 French Colombard 4,836 Emerald Riesling 3,496 Sauvignon Blanc 2,275 Chardonnay 1,038 In 2004, Carignan & French Colombard made up only 34% of the harvest compared to 61% in 1989! Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot & Shiraz amounted to 32% of the harvest in 2004, as against 4% in 1989. This shows more than anything the change in focus to quality. The amount of table grapes used in 2004 was minimal. In 1989 Cardonnay & Merlot had barely arrived to Winemakers In 1989 only the Golan Heights Winery had internationally trained winemakers. These initially were Americans, who studied at the By 2004 most of the commercial wineries & the better small wineries had internationally trained winemakers. Not only this, but they were all Israelis, who have traveled abroad to study & gain experience, before returning to contribute to the local wine industry. Another difference is that the place of study is not only Wines In 1989 all the main wineries apart from the Golan Heights Winery sold sweet wines, spirits & liqueurs as well as table wines. A major change is that The big brands in 1989 were Carmel Grenache Rose, which was beginning to decline, & Selected Emerald Riesling, which quickly replaced it as the country’s biggest selling wine. 75% of the wines sold were white wines, mostly semi dry. Sweet kiddush wines were still popular. Today the reds of Carmel Selected, Yarden Mount Hermon & Segal have taken over as the best selling brands. More than 60% of the wines sold are red and an increasing number of religious families today make kiddush with grape juice rather than sweet kiddush wines. Wine Stores In 1989 most of the country’s wine was sold in supermarkets and dusty kiosks. The shelves were untidy and old vintages of oxidized white wines could be seen even in the most busy supermarkets. There was no sense of any quality control. There were a few pioneers though – SuperDrink in Ramat Hasharon, Avi Ben in Talpiot (opened in 1989) and Israel Assayel’s shop in Rehovot were real wine stores and forerunners of the many to follow. In the 1990’s Derech Ha’Yayin opened, and now it seems as though every medium sized town has its own wine shop. Many have more than one! With wine stores came wine accessories. In 1989 a wine lover would have to purchase wine accessories abroad. Today there is a proliferation of wine accessories, from Riedel glasses downwards. The Israeli wine consumer does not want for anything which is available abroad but not in Imports There were barely any imports in 1989. The wines that did arrive were almost exclusively for duty free or diplomats. Big international brands like Barton & Guestier and Mateus Rose were amongst the few names sold. However there was little imported wines in restaurants and none in supermarkets. By 2004 between 20-25% of the market was imported wine. Many of the world’s most famous international brands were sold in Restaurants In 1989 there was one famous restaurant with a truly international wine list. This was Moise Peer’s Mishkenot Sha’ananim Restaurant in the Yemin Moshe district of Jerusalem. He had a proper wine cellar containing many of the world’s most famous wines. The next most famous restaurant was probably the Hilton Grill Room in Tel Aviv. By 2004 there were numerous quality restaurants with telephone book size wine lists, bulging with imported & Israeli wines. Many of them have wine waiters & either wine fridges or temperature controlled wine rooms – a far cry from 1989. Wine Courses In 1989 the main wine courses were held by Kobi Gat, winemaker of Carmel Mizrahi. Though now retired, he still gives regular courses at In the 1990’s courses were held by people like Barry Saslove & Yair Margalit. Today almost every serious wine shop offers tutored tastings. By 2004, the Tel Hai wine education program was started. This took Israeli wine education onto another level. Communication/ Media In 1989 the main communication about wine was via the Fast forward to 2004 and the picture is totally different. There is a wine magazine in Ivrit – Wine & Gourmet & an Israeli Bon Appetit which also features wine, Al Hashulchan. There are internet sites like Israelwines and active wine forums like those of Daniel Rogov & Israel Preker. Thanks to Michael Ben Yosef, Daniel Rogov & publishers Cordinata, there are quality books in both Hebrew & English about Israeli wine currently available in Steimatzki – Quality The most important change is left to last. Quality! There is arguably not one winery in |
