Israeli wine has improved over the past decade
"Somalia" Exhibition // Photo: David Silverman
"Ten years, mind you," our trackers said, but the last decade seemed to be saturated with the Israeli wine industry, with one of our wines greatly praised, but on the other, the way to rest under the vine or fig and sip wine without worry - still long.
The best thing that has happened to the wine industry over the past decade is probably the dramatic improvement in the quality of produce. "Qualitatively, the huge road we have made in Israel in such a short time has nowhere else in the world," says "grape man" Haim Gan, who runs a knowledge center, training and experience for the wine world in Jaffa, and produces the international wine competition "Terra Vino" and various wine exhibitions .
"The quality of Israeli wine has improved, we have more professional winemakers in Israel today, and for the first time in Israel, a path to graduate studies in vine growing and winemaking from the Hebrew University of the Faculty of Agriculture on the streets has been opened. This is fantastic.
"The level of vineyard care has also been marvelously upgraded - if in the past winemakers have been awarded almost superstars, then the emphasis in the past decade has been on agricultural practice, and the vineyards that have specialized in this type of agriculture are treated as true partners by the wineries."
Avi Ben-Ami, producer of the "Somalia" exhibition, the largest wine show in Israel, and even behind the "Golden Cluster" and "Best Valley" wine competitions, adds his vision: "For years now we have seen a voluntary regional organization of wineries, but only Recently, the Mateh Yehuda wineries managed to get approval from the Ministry of Justice for a registered sign of their organization, and this precedent seems to pave the way for other wine regions in the country to be recognized, just as in the amended world countries. This is a definite maturity mark for the industry. "
The truth is that if we are in wine regions, we can count as one of the decade's successes the development of areas such as the Negev and Judea and Samaria. "If in the past Galilee and the Golan were considered to be vineyards and winemakers clearly preferred," says Gan, "in the last decade we see More winners and medals for wines coming from vineyards and wineries on the back of the mountain and the Negev. It's really a drama - Ben-Gurion's vision is realized through the bottle of wine. "
Beyond the more elegant wines
Also in terms of the nature of the wine, a significant change has been made in the last decade. "Former, muscular and ripe Cabernet Sauvignon wines dominated here, with bold wood flavors," says Yotam Sharon, longtime and esteemed winemaker, winery consultant and importer of the wine industry, "and in the last decade they see a more elegant wine transition process - less impact , Less alcohol, and more relaxed grape varieties.
"Who is leading this change in consumption is Tel Aviv, which behaves differently, where there is also higher exposure to wines to come, but we definitely see that it is slowly permeating the rest of the country as well. We also found that wonderful white wines can be made here - the demand for them has gone up , Also from the popular varieties such as Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, but also newer varieties such as Rossan, Viounia and Semyon, which proved to be very successful in our region - mainly through the lack of technology and knowledge that were lacking, intelligent use of yeast from varieties that were not available here, and shorter and more correct vintage management, Adapting the production processes to the variety and style desired.
"We also finally won the Rose Wine Revolution that we were waiting for. In the past, it was difficult to sell pink wines here, but - perhaps because of the massive rise in France - it has changed completely, and today there are very high quality Rose wines in a variety of styles, and the demand accordingly."
Advanced in quality, stuck in quantity
Alongside the successes there are also some painful points that unfortunately have not yet been properly addressed. Perhaps the most painful point is the fact that wine consumption in Israel per capita has hardly increased. According to various measurements, personal consumption amounts to about 7 liters of wine per person per year, just like a decade ago. "True, wine is more quality today, but with the quantity we are stuck. Those who saved the industry were consumers in Tel Aviv," says Gan, "where wine is sipped in 'European' quantities of more than 20 liters per year, but also and mainly the religious and ultra-Orthodox sectors. As surprising as it may be, the ultra-Orthodox sector woke up and began to consume wine in a way it never was. The big wine collectors are there, and virtual forums have been set up that lead to physical social gatherings, tastings and wine evenings. The wineries that recognized it before and became kosher, made a big profit. "
Sharon also joins these sentiments, "Over the last decade we've seen investments in setting up new wineries, owned quite a bit by ultra-Orthodox people. This public has discovered the world of high quality wine, and there are quite a few people willing to spend quite a bit of money on super-premium wines. Of these wineries do not know how to speak in the Israeli secular language and so many times they sell within the sector and remain under the general radar - but it is not because of quality but because of problematic marketing, and I believe it is only a matter of time before it is resolved. "
The availability of wine to the general public, for its variety of varieties, will continue to be the challenge of the industry in the new decade. "Wineries that do not talk directly to the consumer will lose it," says the grape man, "rather than investing only in wine shop owners, sommeliers, hotels, etc., should speak to the end consumer. The Israeli audience believes and buys only wineries that speak to it directly. Thus, the average Israeli consumer is biased, and Cabernet Sauvignon is easy to sell, but what about the other varieties? Wine prices in restaurants have not yet dropped to levels that could allow for increased consumption. In Tel Aviv, the top restaurant menus are controlled by importers, alongside a single digit of Local boutique wineries have to change that, and it's better late than never. "
These are all simple challenges that the industry still has to deal with, and this is before we even talked about the lack of regulation and regulation, the Liprol 3 leaf virus that strikes merrily in the vineyards of the country, the state's lack of incentives for growers (as is customary abroad) and the glass ceiling in selling Israeli wine Over the sea - but let's leave something for the next decade too, just wish that in the next decade each of us will have more glasses of wine at the end of the day, and we're all set.