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"We did not have such a thing": the family winery that was badly damaged in a fire in the top five
About 20 tons of grapes were destroyed and about 25 dunams of vineyards at Castel Winery were burned during the big fire last Wednesday.
Due to the approaching shemita year and other laws, new plantings will only be possible towards 2023, and the restoration of the vineyards is expected to take at least about six years.
The owner of the winery maintains optimism: "Life goes on"
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Castel Winery
winery
Fire
Vineyards
Up five
Yael Friedson
Saturday, 12 June 2021, 14:01
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The largest fire in the Ma'ale Hahamisha area this week consumed 2,650 dunams of forest, and fortunately ended without any casualties.
But when the Ben Zaken family arrived the day after the incident at the Castel winery they owned, they were exposed to the extent of the damage: the new winery in Ma'aleh Hamishim was not damaged, but about 25 dunams of vineyards were burned and about 20 tons of grapes were destroyed.
For Castel Winery this is a severe blow.
Even if the winery, which prides itself on producing wine from vineyards it owns, wants to buy grapes from vineyards or other wineries, it will have a hard time doing so because of the approaching shemita year, leading to all wineries increasing production to compensate for the forced break in the shmita year.
"You can't even get a cluster," Eli Ben-Zaken explained the market demand for quality wine grapes this coming summer.
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"It's part of a farmer's life."
Eli Ben Zaken, founder of Castel Winery (Photo: GettyImages, David Silverman)
A significant part of the vineyard was damaged.
Vineyards burned at Castel Winery, this week (Photo: Surfers Photos, Castel Winery)
The shmita year, which will begin this fall, poses great difficulties for the winery's staff in restoring the vineyards themselves, which is expected to last at least about six years, before new grapes are harvested.
Due to the ban on planting new vines and growing them during the shemita year, it will not be possible to plant the vines during the coming summer.
The new plantings will only be possible towards 2023. The
vineyard grapes take time to ripen and in addition, a winery that adheres to kosher, has to wait four years until the first harvest due to foreskin laws, so the upcoming harvest of the grapes, from which wine can be made, is not expected in the next six years.
About 20 tons of grapes destroyed, Castel Winery in the Jerusalem mountains (Photo: GettyImages, David Silverman)
Will have to wait six years until the next vintage.
Castel Winery in the Jerusalem Mountains (Photo: GettyImages, David Silverman)
Castel Winery is considered one of the best wineries in Israel.
Eli Ben Zaken, who established the winery near the family home in Moshav Ramat Raziel in 1995, was a pioneer in the wine revolution in Israel in the 1990s.
In the first vintage, 600 bottles were produced at the winery.
Over the years, his children came into the management of the place, and in 2015 the winery moved to a new building in Moshav Yad Hashmona.
Before the fire, new plots of vines were planted near the winery, named after the grandchildren of the Ben Zaken family, Malbec "Naama", Malbek "Itamar", Cabernet "Bat-Ami", Cabernet "Gideon", Patti Verdo "Polly", Merlot "Alon "And Chardonnay" Spring ".
Significant parts of those plots were damaged in a fire on Wednesday.
"So sad, but tomorrow is a new day," Ben-Zaken said.
Protect the coop.
Aerial photograph of the vineyard (Photo: photos by surfers, David Silverman)
One of the things that Eli is comforted by is that the vineyards, arranged in straight rows, helped to stop the fire from reaching the chicken coops and farm buildings of Kibbutz Ma'ale Hahamisha.
"Wine vineyard - the shield of the mountain," he wrote on his Facebook page.
Despite the damage to the winery, Ben Zaken maintains optimism: "I am a farmer, and that is part of a farmer's life. There was one year that a hail hit us and destroyed an entire plot of land for us, we did not have such a thing. But life goes on."
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