Posted at 06:01h in Wineries by 0 Comments
I’m up visiting wineries up north, but in the meantime read this fascinating article about Eli Ben-Zaken and Domaine du Castel from the Wall Street Journal. Why does it seem that Castel is the only winery with a good PR strategy (and, of course, one of Israel’s best!)
Israel’s New Revolution in Quality
By WILLIAM ECHIKSON
SPECIAL TO THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
February 22, 2008
It started as a hobby. Eli-Gilbert Ben-Zaken, an Israeli restaurateur and poultry farmer, planted a few grape vines on a hilltop next to his house in the Judean hills in 1988. He chose the name Domaine du Castel after a nearby crusader fortress and, starting with a mere 600 bottles, attempted to make high-quality, French-inspired wines.
In the beginning, Mr. Ben-Zaken’s quest looked quixotic. Wine was produced in ancient times in Israel — archaeologists have found antique wine presses in the Galilee and Judean Hills — and the Rothschild banking family reintroduced grape cultivation at the end of the 19th century. But for most of the country’s history, the Israeli industry was dominated by sweet wines of poor quality that taste like alcohol-tainted grape juice — tired red wines with cooked, herbaceous flavors.
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| Israeli winemaker Eli-Gilbert Ben-Zaken in his cellar |
Today, Mr. Ben-Zaken and a small group of other Israeli pioneers are creating world-class reds and whites that are gaining increasing recognition from critics both at home and abroad. Ever more-prosperous Israelis are demanding better drinking choices, while connoisseurs in the U.S. and Europe in search of something different are intrigued enough to taste these “new” world wines from an ancient land.
“We were real pioneers — the Israeli market used to be a prisoner market for poor-quality kosher wine,” Mr. Ben-Zaken, 63 years old, recalls. “It’s different these days. Everybody is trying to make something good.”
Read the rest
