Arnon Erez pulls up in his 4X4 and, without extinguishing the motor, urges us in. “Come on, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover, and they’re all waiting for us.” A tour guide by profession, Arnon’s love of wine has prompted a new line of tourism – the wine route, of which he is a proud member. Israel currently boasts three: the Golan and Galilee wines, the Negev and Arava wine trails and the Yoav-Yehuda, located around the Jerusalem Hills.

He takes us on a whirlwind journey, visiting the major players near Jerusalem, each of whom greets us personally in his own, boutique establishment (and for some, by ‘boutique’, I mean 2,000 bottles a year and sometimes even less). “I think it would be a mistake to build tours solely around the wineries, in Israel,” he says, “but it’s quite easy to combine these into regular tours of regular holy and historic  sites around the country. In each area, there are – by now – enough wineries to blend into the regular routes and offer a unique blend of Jewish, Israeli and Bacchilian experience.”

The tour of the immediate Jerusalem region ends at Arnon’s own personal pride – the Anatot Winery he started with his friend Aharon Helfgut eight years ago. Located on the outskirts of Jerusalem, towards the Judean desert, Anatot is mentioned in the Bible as the birthplace of the prophet Jeremiah. At first, the two dug a small cellar under the Helfgut homestead, but once their production volume rose above their own domestic needs, additional structures and machinery began making their way into the small enterprise. Today, the two still limit their production to less than 10,000 bottles, but their well-designed label is making inroads into major outlets, stores and restaurants.

After experimenting with Carignan, Petite Sirah and Emerald Reisling, Arnon and Aharon finally decided to concentrate on two types of grape and three products: manually selected Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from Shilo, located 600 m. above sea level, and Merlot from the Lachish area, with its desert climate of hot days and cold nights. From these, they produce three types of wine - all aged at least one year in imported French oak barrels.

The elegant, dark burgundy colored Merlot is firm and fruity with a hint of vanilla and blackcurrant, and a round aftertaste. The full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon is more reddish in color and suggests plums, cherries and raspberries with a hint of black pepper and vanilla. And the Notera – a 60-40 blend of the two, respectively, is a medium-bodied wine that combines the fruitiness of the two at just the correct plane, with the spiciness toned down to a pleasant level. Here, the wines are aged for six months separately, mixed, then aged for an additional 7 – 10 months before being bottled.

Call 052-2517454 for either a visit to the Anatot winery – including explanations, free wine-tasting and a 20% discount on all purchases – or a personalized tour that includes the regular sights and sounds of Israel plus the tastes of its wines.