Carmel Mizrahi Winery was founded in 1882 and is, 126 years later, Israel’s largest and most famous winery. While not the first winery in Israel, it is the most well known and for many years (and even today) often serves as the face for Israeli wine. This can be good or bad, depending on which wines you are looking at and whether you are looking at ‘the old Carmel’ or ‘the new Carmel.’ I admit I am often critical of Carmel, as for many many years, it was not making good wine and is part of the reason why Israeli and kosher wine has a bad name. Of course, they were pretty much the only game in town even attempting to make table wines for over a hundred years, so they get some unfair criticism, even from me. Nevertheless, I’m glad that they are being forced to improve thanks to the rapid improvement and growth of the Israeli wine industry over the past two decades.
Having said that, I think its Kiddush wine – which I wish they would abolish but I’m sure it’s a big seller – is far far better than Manischewitz (which I dream of the day the ‘M’ word goes out of business). Yet, even today, it is making some not-so-good stuff with a very popular sacramental King David series and I wish it’s lower end Selected and Private Collection had more in 
common with the low-end wines of Golan Heights or Galil Mountain wineries or even the same-priced medium-range of Segal. Nevertheless, Carmel has been improving significantly over the past several years and their higher end stuff from the Appellation series and Single Vineyard (and the age-worthy but pricey Limited Edition) is very good and often excellent. It’s definitely worth trying some of the top stuff from Carmel. As Israel’s largest winery, they have such a wide variety and apparently are striving for significant improvement thanks to the tremendous competition and improvement in the Israeli wine world over the past decades. It’s very heartening to see them climb up after being hit hard by the rapid growth and competition of Israeli wine in the 1980s-early 2000s. And, their new boutique winery Yatir is absolutely excellent — anything from them is a winner and some of it is the best wine in Israel!
The history of Carmel is the history of Israeli wine – from just trying to plant anything and focusing on sweet wine for religious uses to making high quality kosher wine today. I visited Carmel’s Winery in Zichron Ya’akov over Passover. I’m not going to publicly comment about the tour, in small part because Passover is always a crowded time and not as good as a tour when the entire country isn’t on vacation.
Continue reading Carmel Winery – The History of Israeli Wine
Here is an interesting article from the Canadian Jewish Independent on Israeli wine and my favorite part – the business and export side of quality wine. Nice focus on Carmel and Flam, including quotes from the legendary Adam Montefiore of Carmel and also Golan Flam of Flam. Nice to see Israeli wine getting noticed as Israeli – and not just kosher – wine and learn some history of the Israeli wine world.
Nice quote from Montefiore about ‘liquid religion’ as people I know today still talk about selling Israeli wine to religious Christians as ‘Wine from the Holy Land’ — totally the wrong tactic and not reminiscent of the great wines coming out of Israel!
“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.”
Here are some pictures from ancient times (Byzantine era to the Babylonian era) of wine vats (called amphorae, also the name of a great winery in Israel – which is selling under the name Marvah in the United States) that were discovered off Israel’s coast. They were used by ships near the Mediterranean and are on display at the Israeli Maritime Museum in Haifa:
Carmel Winery – The Original Face of Israeli Wine
I visited Carmel Winery’s Zichron Ya’akov winery yesterday. I will have more to come later.
I apologize that I had not posted this earlier, but apparently if you sent e-mail to [email protected], I did not receive it. Here is an interesting article on Rimon (which is not from grapes and many critics do not consider it a wine) from the Seattle Times:
Sunday, January 20, 2008 – Page updated at 12:00 AM
BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Tart and sappy rather than unctuous, Rimon’s “Black Label” Pomegranate Dessert Wine pairs well with pie.
From Israel comes a deliciously different wine for dessert
By Paul Gregutt
I have to tell you, I’m not big on fruit wines. I mean, it’s fine with me if your grandmother “puts up” dandelion or thimbleberry or some other oddball fermented beverage that falls under the general rubric of wine. But it’s not really wine, is it?
Real wine, I have long believed, must come from grapes, specifically European (vinifera) cultivars. Made from anything else, it may occasionally be perfectly pleasant. But will it achieve the complexity of fine wine? Not likely.
Allow me to eat those words, while introducing you to the pleasures of — ahem — pomegranate wine.
Rimon winery, in Israel’s Upper Galilee, has just released a truly excellent dessert wine, made from pomegranates. Not, the owners are quick to point out, like the many other pomegranate alcoholic-beverage products on the market. Rimon’s wines (which are kosher-certified, by the way) are produced by crushing the fruit, fermenting it in stainless steel, and then, believe it or not, aging the wine in French oak barrels.
Continue reading Rimon in the Seattle Times
