This article is reprinted with permission from Wines-Israel
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Arguably the most famous wine family in the world are the Rothschilds. This Jewish family originally were owners just of Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Chateau Mouton Rothschild, and Chateau Clarke, all situated in Bordeaux. Since then, they have expanded to all parts of the wine globe with their respective negociant businesses. Now through Domaines Barons Rothschild (Lafite), Baron Philippe de Rothschild SA and Compagnie Vinicole de Edmond & Benjamin de Rothschild, they have wineries in the South of France, Argentina, Chile, Italy, Portugal, South Africa and, the latest initiative, in China. The connection with Israel was that the family also founded Carmel Winery in Israel and renewed the Israel wine industry after 2,000 years. The Israeli Wine Families
Israel also has some wine families of its own. The Shor, Teperberg and Tishbi families all played a part in the modern history of Israeli wine. The Shors and Teperbergs had their roots in the Jerusalem of the Ottoman Empire. The Shors had a winery & wine shop in the mid 19th century at about the same time that the Teperbergs were distributors of alcoholic drinks. The Tishbis were farmers cultivating vineyards under the rule of the Turks.
The Shor family opened the first recorded winery in Jerusalem in 1848. It was called Shor Bros. it was situated in the Old City in an alley backing onto the Western Wall. In 1925 the British Mandate decreed that businesses could not remain in the Old City. So the Shor family moved to Beit Israel, near Meah Shearim. In the 1940’s the winery was known by the name of the two brothers that ran the business, Avraham & Moshe. In 1947/8 as the respective families grew, they decided to split. Avraham Shor stayed in Beit Israel and it was agreed he would produce only wine and grape juice. He named his winery Yikvei Zion. Moshe opened Tel Arza winery, focusing on spirits and liqueurs. Later Tel Arza split again and Hacormim Winery was formed. Today there are three Shor owned wineries. Zion Winery is managed by Moshe Shor. Arza Winery is owned & managed by Motti Shor and Hacormim is managed by Yechiel Shor. The three wineries are all situated in the same street in Mishur Adumim. In 2010 the Shor wineries harvested 2,210 tons of grapes giving them over 4% of Israel’s harvest. So far the three companies mainly sell to the strictly religious market, though there have been signs of a mini revolution. Zion Winery in particular have recently started to focus more & more on quality & good value table wines. Marketing manager Yossi Shor, the ninth generation and winemaker Zvika Shor are breaking the mold and bringing the winery into the general wine market. So maybe this most traditional of wine families is gradually moving into the 21st century. It is still remarkable that the Shors represent 163 years of uninterrupted winemaking, primarily to the religious Jewish market, under the auspices of the Ottoman Empire, the British Mandate and finally the State of Israel. The Teperbergs left Russia due to anti-Semitism in the 19th century and moved to Austria for a period of time and from there, they first came to prominence in 1852 in the Old City of Jerusalem. They were drinks distributors, initially specializing in the Christian market. In 1870 Zeev Zaide Teperberg joined his father, Rabbi Avraham, to found a company in the Old City called Efrat. They began to produce wine in a minor way and continued with a retail and distribution business. There was a period when the winery ceased to operate, but with the founding of the state Efrat Winery reopened in Romema in Jerusalem and in 1964 moved to Motza, just outside Jerusalem. In the mid 1980’s, the fifth generation, Motti Teperberg, took over management of the winery. It was a small operation, in cramped surroundings, producing 200,000 bottles a year, primarily to the Jewish kosher market. Fast forward to the 2000’s and Moti Teperberg now owns the fourth largest winery in Israel and the largest family winery. He has renamed the winery Teperberg 1870, to stress the family ownership & the company’s roots. Teperberg Winery now produces over 3 million bottles a year in a brand new winery situated at Tzora. The focus is now on quality table wines and recent competition awards show that Teperberg 1870 is now producing excellent table wines. Teperberg was the last of the large wineries to focus mainly on the religious market. With the change of focus of the winery to quality in the 2000’s, they symbolized the change that had occurred in Israeli wine as a whole. If the Teperberg and Shor families came to wine through the importance of supplying wine for religious ritual, the Tishbi family first settled as farmers, tilling the land. In the 1880’s Michael Chemiletzki made aliyah and planted vineyards for Baron Edmond de Rothschild in Shefaya, near Zichron Ya’acov. In 1925 Chaim Nachman Bialik, the national poet, renamed the family ‘Tishbi’, an acronym for ‘A Resident of Shefaya in the Land of Israel’. Roll on to the fifth generation. Yonatan Tishbi, was a grower, working the family vineyards. In 1985 he decided to found his own winery. He initially called it Baron Wine Cellars, in honor of Baron Edmond de Rothschild, and later changed the name to Tishbi Estate Winery. They today produce one million bottles a year. It is the 6th largest winery in Israel and the second largest family winery. Furthermore, it still remains totally a family run operation. Yonatan Tishbi manages the winery. His wife Nili manages the visitors’ center. His son Golan is the winemaker. His daughter, Oshra, markets a line of food products called Tishbi Fine Foods. The other son, Micha is a lawyer. He looks after the vineyards and the labeling. Yonatan Tishbi was the first wine grower to decide to form his own winery. He was a pioneer and many growers would follow his example. They opened small wineries of their own in the boutique winery boom that was to follow.
Apart from the main winery families that straddle Israel’s wine history, there are other families that have made a recent mark.
Shmuel Boxer bought Barkan Winery in 1990. He was a 5th generation agriculturist and viticulturist from Ness Ziona. He steered Barkan to become the second largest winery in Israel. He took the company public, bought Segal Wines and moved the winery from Ariel to a brand new site at Hulda. He then sold the company to Tempo Beer Industries. However he remained the managing director of winery. His daughter, Irit Boxer Shank, graduated from the Hebrew University’s Faculty of Agriculture and followed this with a Masters in Oenology at Adelaide University in Australia. Today she is one of the winemakers at Barkan. So whilst the father is driving the winery forward with the ambition of becoming the largest winery in Israel, the daughter has become a valuable member of the team producing Barkan wines. The number of awards and gold medals Barkan has received all over the world, shows she must be doing a good job. Barry Saslove is a Canadian who made aliyah after the Six Day War. In the 1990’s he became one of the main wine educators in Israel after undergoing a complete career change. He became known for organizing innovative wine appreciation courses and then winemaking courses. His enthusiastic lecturing style brought numerous Israelis closer to wine and many new boutique winemakers made their first wines under his instruction. In 1998 he founded Saslove Winery, which quickly became known as one of the better boutique wineries. The winery was based at Kibbutz Eyal in the southern part of the Sharon Plain. In 2002 he was joined by his talented daughter, Roni Saslove, who began to become more involved in winemaking activities. In 2008 Roni went to Brock University in Canada to study oenology and viticulture. In 2007 Saslove expanded with the construction of a new winery close to his vineyard in the Upper Galilee. At the same time he continued to maintain his kibbutz Eyal facility for barrel aging, tastings and as a visitors center. Today the two Sasloves, father and daughter, produce over 80,000 bottles a year. Barry Saslove has always been an innovator and communicator, with infectious enthusiasm. Now it appears his daughter has the same gifts. As they have just produced their first vintage as a kosher winery, it will be of interest to see what this trend setting winery does next.
Israel Flam was winemaker at Carmel Mizrahi for over 32 years. From 1996 he was the Chief Winemaker at was comfortably Israel’s largest winery, producing 30 million bottles a year. When he retired he moved to join the small winery run by his sons, which is called Flam Winery.
Flam Winery is situated at Eshtaol in the Judean Foothills. It was founded in 1998 by the Flam brothers, Golan and Gilad. They were bought up in Rishon Le Zion and regularly visited Rishon Le Zion Cellars as children. Golan studied firstly at the Faculty of Agriculture at Rehovot and then followed it by studying Oenology at the University of Piacensa in Milan. After this he did harvests in both Tuscany and Australia, before returning to open the family winery. Brother Gilad, a Law and Business graduate, manages the winery. Their mother Carmi looks after the finance and father Israel is now there too for an experienced shoulder to lean on. Flam is one of the leading wineries in the country, regularly ranked in the top six by wine critic Daniel Rogov. They have built a beautiful winery with the same care, and attention to detail with which they do everything from designing the labels to making the wine. They produce over 100,000 bottles a year and 2010 will also be there first vintage as a kosher winery. Dr. Yair Margalit was a chemistry professor into home winemaking. He did a course at UC Davis in California and became Tishbi’s first winemaker in 1985. In 1989 Margalit opened his own small boutique winery, firstly in Rehovot and later near Hadera. It was the first serious boutique winery in the country. At the same time Margalit took a pioneering lead to advance wine education. He acted as consultant to many of the new boutique wineries, conducted wine courses at the Technion in Haifa, and organized the first professional wine course at Tel Hai College. His son Assaf started early, helping his father as a child. He studied at the Hebrew University’s Faculty of Agriculture in Rehovot and then went to work at wineries in California. Now he is gradually taking over the winemaking duties and the winery is going from strength to strength. The Wine Report in 2009 ranked Margalit Winery as Israel’s second best winery. One of his wines has scored 93 points in Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, equaling the best score for an Israeli wine. The Boxers, Sasloves, Flams and Margalits have a long way to go to match the nine winemaking generations of the Shor family. However, it is good to see how many of the new generation, who helped create the quality revolution in Israel, are keeping it in the family to ensure Israeli wine continues to develop onwards and upwards.
The following is David Rhodes’s wine show on Rusty Mike Radio. Reprinted with permission.
David Rhodes on Petit Verdot and Yatir Winery
The following is from Wines Israel
The Israel wine industry was represented for the first time at The Israel Conference held at the Luxe hotel in Los Angeles. Israel Ivzan, chairman of SCV des Grandes Caves and CEO of Carmel Winery was invited to be on one of the panels.
The conference is an annual feature in the calendar to expand opportunities between Israel and California. It includes a full day of global leaders, company CEO’s, prominent investors meeting together to discuss the vitality and growth of Israel-facing business. The objective of the conference was to provide a full day of exciting discussion with industry leaders on the business relationship with Israel and world markets.
Israel Ivzan was on a panel discussion on Creative Consumer Products along with the CEO of Segal Bikes and the CEO of Ahava, North America. They discussed high end consumer products from Israel. Ivzan charted the Israel wine revolution, the rejuvenation of Carmel Winery and the development of Yatir Winery.
The many prestigious and high powered guests were able to enjoy both Carmel and Yatir wines.
Carmel Winery is the historic winery of Israel, founded in 1882 by Baron Edmond de Rothschild. It remains Israel’s largest winery. Yatir Winery, a wholly owned subsidiary of Carmel, is a small boutique winery situated in the northeastern Negev.
A Carmel wine was recently awarded The International Trophy at the Decanter World Wine Awards in London, an unique award for Israel at the ‘wine Oscars.‘ Yatir Forest, the premier label of Yatir Winery scored 93 points in Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, also a first for Israeli wines.
The following is from Wines Israel and reprinted w/ permission
Two recent initiatives show promise for the future of Israel’s wine regions.
Israel’s current registered wine regions were decided in the 1970’s. This was before the quality wine revolution began in Israel and also before all mass of today’s vineyards were planted it. This means that many believe the regions are either out of date, and that they do not do justice to the variety of Israel’s various terroirs and topography.
A proposal for new, updated regions was made at a recent presentation by viticulturist Eran Harcavi at the Wine Seminar recently held at Rosh Pina in the Upper Galilee. Instead of dividing up the country’s regions horizontally as is the case now, he proposes following the contours & topography of Israel which would entail splitting the wine regions into vertical strips. Certainly food for thought. It is good the subject is being discussed. For most people in the industry, this is long overdue.
During roughly the same time the Rosh Pina Conference took place, Israel’s most progressive wine region decided on other progressive step. A few years ago the Judean wineries gathered together into a club or consortium, to market their own region and advance tourism. Booklets and maps were printed, internet sites were set up & local wine fairs were organized. This was very progressive for Israel, and a beacon for other wine regions to follow. Then, last year they published a very advanced, academic study of the terroir of the region. It was the most in depth, professional study of any wine region in Israel to date. Now in their latest pioneering proposal, they have discussed the idea of encouraging both the planting of vineyards in their region, and encourage wineries mainly to use vineyards from their region. This would then lead to marketing the wineries, vineyards and resulting wines as being products of their region. As usual they are ahead of the game.
The discussion of regionality at the Rosh Pina Conference, Eran Harcavi’s presentation and the proposal by the Judean wineries show that some people are thinking progressively and creatively about Israel’s wine regions. This gives hope for the future.
The following is from wines-israel and reprinted with permission
Colombard is little known, but it is the most planted white wine variety in Israel. It first came to Israel in the 1970’s, but since then has been mainly used in white wine blends. It was the most planted variety in California until the 1990’s when it was overtaken by Chardonnay.
Both in Israel and California, it is more often known by the name ‘French Colombard’. It is grown in South West France and the Vins de Pays Côtes de Gascogne is where it reaches its best individual expression.
It is a variety most famous for being distilled to make both Cognac and Armagnac. It is also used to make the base wine for Israel’s most famous brandies, Carmel 100 Brandy & Jonathan Tishbi Brandy. Apart from brandy, it is also prominent in certain sparkling wines. Private Collection Brut, Tishbi Brut, and Selected Sparkling are all made with a fair portion of Colombard. It grows well in Israel, has a flowery aroma and very good acidity. However despite this, it does not have a very good image for producing quality wines.
Tishbi have used it to good effect in a blend with Emerald Riesling which they called French Riesling. However there has not been a varietal Colombard since the 1990’s until now. However Mony Winery have launched their 2010 Sunny Hills Colombard. It is a dry white wine made by 100% from the French Colombard grape. The wine is fragrant, fruity and fresh with very good, clean acidity. It is aromatic with good balance.
Mony Winery is owned by an Israeli Arab family. It is situated at a Monastery, where a Canadian winemaker makes kosher wines! The winemaker Sam Soroka is a very well respected with winemaking experience in Australia, California, France and Canada. He also worked at Carmel Winery in Israel for six years. This is the second year Soroka has made a varietal Colombard, which may be the only one in Israel. it is a variety he believes in and the wine represents great value at NIS 39 a bottle.
Interesting post about Carmel Winery here
See all of my past posts about Carmel Winery.
David Rhodes lectures about Israeli wine at Tel Aviv University. Note: sound is bad until 0:58
He talks about the history of wine in Israel, and the Israeli wine history.
This article appeared on wines-israel.com and was written by the Carmel Wine Education Department
At the Jewish Festival of Shavuot, it is traditional to eat dairy products. This gives the perfect opportunity to hold a cheese and wine tasting!
There is no better or more basic, rustic meal than to have a hunk of freshly baked bread, accompanied by cheese and a pitcher or carafe of wine. It is a scene that has helped to accentuate the fact that wine and cheese are natural partners.
There used to be a saying in the wine trade: “Buy on an apple, sell on cheese.” This implied that a wine would automatically taste better when accompanied by cheese, whereas an apple will show faults. Many commercial or social wine tastings are automatically accompanied by cheese. However not every cheese goes with every wine and there can be horrible clashes. For instance, there is regular misconception that red wine is the most natural partner to cheese, but white wines can go better and be more versatile.
The world of cheese is probably more complicated and varied even than the world of wine, which is complicated enough. Cheese may be strong flavored, fat, acidic or salty. It can be hard, soft, creamy or crumbly. It can be matured, pasteurized or unpasteurized; made from goat’s milk, cow, sheep or something more exotic like buffalo or yak.
In other words it is a difficult world to learn, but there are basic guidelines for matching cheese & wines, which may be followed:
Red wines do not go with soft, fatty, creamy, salty or smelly cheeses Often dry white or even sweet wines will far better combinations. Try and match the acidity of the wine and cheese.
Try & contrast the saltiness of the cheese.
To simplify the issue, most cheeses can be placed in the following categories:
Hard Cheeses
A hard cheese which is firm, and not aged too much, will go well with a medium to full bodied red wine. Cheddar and Parmesan are classic examples of fine red wine cheeses. Kayoumi Cabernet Sauvignon or Yatir Cabernet Sauvignon are quality red wines that would go well with either. In the same way the English add milk to lessen the tannin of the strong tea they drink, the cheese will soften the tannin. However if the cheese is older and more pungent, the wine needs to be more mature and less tannic to avoid a clash. For this you will need older vintages.
Soft Cheeses This is the hardest category to find a match. A creamy, fatty cheese will make most reds seem like water. The fat in the cheese will neutralize the tannin. Alternatively an oaky and tannic red wine will taste slightly metallic when these cheeses are ripe and runny. A pasteurized Brie or Camembert would best be served by a lightly oaked Chardonnay with good acidity, like the Private Collection Chardonnay. If you prefer a red wine, then one which is soft, full of fruit and with no astingency will be adequate. The Selected Merlot and Carmel Ridge Red, a Carignan Shiraz blend, have the mouth filling flavor to cope with these cheeses. If the Brie or Camembert is un-pasteurised it is even more difficult to find a partner. Anything in the spectrum from an off dry wine like Appellation Gewurztraminer, a semi dry wine like Selected Emerald Riesling to a fortified wine like Carmel Vintage might be best, depending on the ripeness of the cheese.
For a soft cheese like Mozzarella, a delicately flavored, unoaked dry wine, without too much varietal character is preferable. The Carmel Ridge White would be a good choice. The slightly more acidic Feta would need a wine with higher acidity like the aromatic Private Collection Sauvignon Blanc.
Blue Cheese
Salt accentuates tannin so the myth that red wine goes with all cheeses is shown to be most false when a red wine is matched with a blue cheese. However as compensation, there are two possible matches made in heaven. Roquefort with a sweet, high quality dessert wine like the Sha’al Gewurztraminer Late Harvest and Stilton with Carmel Vintage, a port style wine, are ideal combinations. The salt and sweetness contrast to enhance both cheese and wine. Tasting these together should be part of any course matching food and wine to illustrate the theory does sometimes work and that ‘one plus one can equal three.’ However the rule does not always apply. Authentic Danish Blue and the strongest Gorgonzola may just be too strong to be wine friendly.
Goats Cheese This category produces Israel’s finest cheeses. They have a strong character but can go with either white and red wines. The classic combination for a young goats cheese is a varietal Sauvignon Blanc. Either the Yatir Sauvignon Blanc from the Ramat Arad vineyard in the northeastern Negev or Appellation Sauvignon Blanc from the Upper Galilee would be the perfect accompaniment.
An aged Chèvre can be matched successfully with a mature well-structured and not tannic red like Appellation Merlot, Appellation Cabernet Shiraz or Private Collection Cabernet Merlot. Avoid excessive tannin, which will clash with the pungent flavor of goats cheese.
Smoked Cheese
The best bet to go with an Austrian smoked cheese is a spicy white wine with slight sweetness, but not too much. The Appellation Gewurztraminer, which is off dry, or Private Collection Emerald Riesling, one of the drier Emerald Rieslings in the market, will both accompany a smoked cheese well.
Cooked Cheese Cooked cheese is also better with white wine. A cheese sauce, like Mornay, will usually be matched well with an oaky Chardonnay, the weight of the sauce being matched by the intensity of oak. The Appellation Chardonnay is lightly oaked, and will match a sauce that is not too heavy. For a Fondue, a Sauvignon Blanc like the Private Collection, is recommended.
A Pizza is best with a young, fruity red with good acidity and bold fruit.
Regional Choices
Do not be afraid to regionalize your choice. Local tradition plus terroir, which is the same for wine and cheese, can sometimes be surprisingly successful. An example is Munster with Alsace Gewurztraminer or a Loire Chevre with Sancerre. Why not make it a regional tasting? For instance match a goats cheese from the Galilee with a Sauvignon Blanc from the Upper Galilee.
Cheesecake
Finally with a New York cheesecake there is nothing better than a fortified Muscat like the Private Collection Muscat, an aromatic ‘vin doux naturel.’
So cheese and wine do go together, but not every cheese is the perfect accompaniment with every wine. If the prime objective is a wine tasting, it is self defeating to choose cheeses, which show the wines badly. When you open the fine red wine that you have been keeping for a special occasion, a simple, basic cheese will almost certainly be a better choice than one more fully flavored. So don’t spoil a wine by choosing a cheese only for its quality and not for its ability to make the wine look good.
A formal dinner offers the interesting possibility of matching the wine chosen to accompany the cheese and another course. If, like the French, you take the cheese after the main course, but before the dessert, you could start your red wine with the main course and continue it with the hard cheeses. Alternatively, if like the English, you serve the cheese course after the dessert, the sweet wine could be enjoyed with the dessert and continued with the blue cheese. This sort of creativity can make food and wine matching a vertical as well as horizontal process.
The Israeli cheese and wine industries have much in common. Both have undergone quality revolutions in recent years. Both industries have much to be proud of. It is possible that that the strides made by Israel in areas of food culture and gastronomy can best be sampled in its cheeses & wines.
This article was written by Carmel Winery’s Wine Education Department.
