Support quality Israeli wine

CYNTHIA RAMSAY

While some of Israel's most famous wineries, such as Carmel, were founded in the pre-state period, 85 per cent of its wineries have been founded in the last 10 years. The industry is growing quickly – with good reason.

"For 100 years, Israel made what I call 'liquid religion,'" Adam Montefiore of Carmel Winery told the Independent in an e-mail interview. "This means kosher wine for the Jewish community or communion or altar wine 'from the Holy Land' for Christian communities.

"In the 1980s, a quality wine revolution started with the Golan Heights Winery bringing expertise from California. In the 1990s, there was a boutique winery revolution, which continues until today."

Montefiore said, "Carmel responded to this by planting new vineyards in cooler, high-altitude areas of the Upper Galilee, Golan and Judean Hills. Building three new state-of-the-art boutique wineries and recruiting young winemakers with experience in France and Australia, their wines have received many awards recently and somehow Carmel best symbolizes the Israel revolution: a journey from sacramental to single vineyard wines."

Golan Flam of Flam Winery said that, "at the beginning, the wineries produced mainly sweet sacramental wines; during the sixties, noble varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc were introduced in the vineyards and dry table wines were starting to be produced.

"In the early '80s, Golan Heights Winery was founded with the vision of producing quality dry kosher wines. From the beginning, the winery was recognized as a quality winery. Since this era, the wine industry of Israel has improved. In the mid-'90s, the boutique wineries [began and] small wineries started to rise, with quality and premium production as their main agenda."

Flam was born into the wine industry: "I was born in April 1969 in South Africa-Stellenbosch, while my father, Israel Flam, studied enology, then we moved to UC [University of California] Davis (my father continued his studies in California) and, in 1971, my parents and I returned to Israel and my father started his job as winemaker in the Carmel Winery for 35 years, including 15 years as chief winemaker for Carmel Winery.

"I grew up with wine always around me," he continued. "While we (my brother, sister and myself) were children, we used to spend a lot of time in the winery during harvest time – that was our summer vacation and we all have great memories from this period."

Flam said he studied agriculture at Hebrew University, after which he made a two-month trip to Europe to the main wine districts in France and Italy.

"For the first time, I got to understand as an adult the magic of the wine world, which includes so many aspects (agriculture, history, science, architecture, food, culture, etc.). My dream was, at that time, to create an Israeli wine estate and produce world-class wines which would be renowned not because they are kosher, [but] because of their quality."

To realize this vision, Flam did advanced studies in enology in Italy and earned a master's degree in it. He then worked for Carpineto Winery in Tuscany, he said, and, from there, went to Hardys Winery in southern Australia. Flam returned to Israel in 1998 and, together with his brother, "started our dream to create an Israeli wine estate, which is focused on premium quality wines."

Montefiore's career began in the beer and drinks industry more than 30 years ago, with Bass Charrington, a British brewing concern that had wine interests, too. "Eventually, I became wine manager for their hotel chain – then Holiday Inn/ Crest Hotels, today Intercontinental Hotels," said Montefiore. "I worked with some of the most famous wineries in the world, from all over the world."

Eighteen years ago, Montefiore went to live in Israel to work for a winery and has since devoted himself to advancing the Israeli wine industry.

Carmit Ehrenreich, marketing manager of Galil Mountain Winery, provided the Independent with some facts about her winery, located at Kibbutz Yiron in the Upper Galilee. It was established as a joint venture headed by the Golan Heights Winery in 2000 and, after seven seasons at Golan Heights Winery, Micah Vaadia joined the winery as its winemaker. Vaadia earned a BA in horticulture from Hebrew University and a master's in enology from UC Davis; he's worked in the California, New Zealand and Argentinian industries.

Ehrenreich also provided information on the industry from israelwines.co.il, which has a wealth of information, mostly in Hebrew. The website materials attribute the improvement in Israeli wine quality to Peter Stern, a Californian who used to work for Gallo and Mondavi. He helped build the Golan Heights Winery, creating the Yarden brand, and raising the standards of viticulture and winemaking.

Israel's wine regions are the Galilee, Shomron, Samson, Judean Hills and Negev. The main markets are mass/supermarkets, etc. (Carmel, Barkan and Golan wineries comprise more than 80 per cent); quality (Golan Heights Winery is prominent in this category and the finest restaurants normally list Yarden, Castel, Margalit and Flam); religious (most of the larger wineries are kosher but some others specifically target this market); and export (Carmel and Golan represent more than 75 per cent).

"Exports are 55 per cent to North America, 35 per cent to Western Europe, the rest to other countries covering five continents. Exports are approximately $21 million US and growing fast," said Montefiore, who added that, according to Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book 2008, the best of the kosher wineries are Castel, Yarden, Yatir, Carmel, Galil Mountain and Ella Valley; the finest non-kosher wineries are Margalit, Flam and Clos de Gat.

"Israeli wines are mainly consumed in the local market," said Flam. "Most wines for the export market are kosher for Jewish communities around the world. Our wines [at Flam] are not kosher, so mainly we sell the wines in Israel. In the past few months, we've received a lot of requests for our wines from around the world. At the moment, the main markets are Canada and the U.S.; we export as well to Denmark."

Carmel has been producing wine in three different centuries, the 19th to the 21st, said Montefiore when asked about the effect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the industry. "Despite two world wars, six Arab-Israeli wars, two Gulf wars, two intifadas and numerous suicide bombings, Carmel has never missed a harvest," he said. "The nearest was in 2006, when rockets rained down on the precious, high-quality Upper Galilee vineyards during the second Israel-Lebanon war. However, even then, the wine was made.

"It's not easy," he continued. "Israel is one of the few countries in the world where an armed guard searches you before you go into a kindergarten or coffee shop. However, the wine growers have a passion and are not deflected by the bullets or bombs. It is one of the few wine regions in the world where wine and war co-exist though."

Montefiore admitted that there have been some problems with exports, "particularly in certain European countries. Demonstrations, sometimes encouraging supermarkets and wine stores to delist Israeli wines, have become something we must live with. That is why those who want to support Israel should buy a bottle of Israeli wine. By supporting something peaceful and of high quality, they can play a part in contributing to the Israeli growers' economy."

Flam also noted some difficulties with exports. "From one side," he said, "it seems the local patriotism has affected positively the local demand for Israeli wines: we face a great increase in the consumption of Israeli wines compared to imported wines in the Israeli market. On the other hand, it is quite difficult to export the wines for non-Jewish-oriented countries – people have the wrong, negative image about Israel, as an occupying nation. We see the astonishment of visitors to our winery, who did not imagine the beauty of our country and the great possibilities of enjoying good wines with great food."

Both Flam and Montefiore are optimistic about the future.

"We are only at the beginning of creating the right image we need of quality wines from Israel," said Flam. "Writers, buyers, etc., start to describe the great possibility of Israel as a quality wine producer and the feedback is great. Also, in the local market, we are only at the beginning of an increase in wine consumption, so things really look on the bright side."

Montefiore quoted Tim Atkin, a master of wine from England, who recently wrote, "Tending vineyards [in Israel] is an act of courage and optimism. I have admiration for ... Israel's winemakers."

"He is right," said Montefiore. "The Israeli wine industry is optimistic, forward-looking [and] represents profound faith in the long term."

He added, "Wine represents the best of Israel and has replaced the Jaffa orange has the ultimate symbol of successful Israel, as wine combines agriculture, technology, industry and the pioneering spirit - all of which Israel excels at.

"We are now getting real credit for the quality of our wines," he continued. "Witness the tasting of Robert Parker, the most powerful wine palate in the world of wine. No less than 14 wines scored 90 points or more. Four wineries – Carmel, Castel, Yarden and Yatir – had two wines or more at 90 points or more. In the tasting, the best Israeli wine was judged to be Yatir Forest, produced by Yatir Winery, which scored 93 points. This equalled the best-ever score given by Robert Parker (or the Wine Advocate) for an Israeli wine, for a wine from the eastern Mediterranean, and it equalled his best-ever score for a kosher red wine.

"I am optimistic because the wines are good and the variety of wines and wine styles in Israel is enormous."

Montefiore said that the upcoming Israeli Wine Festival in Vancouver on May 4 will "help us get the message across: support Israeli wines, their quality will surprise you!"

For more information about the festival, visit www.israeliwinefestival.ca.

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