For many years we were led to believe that good wine can only be made from the grapes of Zichron Yaacov, where the old wineries of Israel were located.
In the late 1980s, with the establishment of the Golan Heights Winery, we began to think that the best wine in Israel comes only from the far north, but in recent years it has turned out that excellent Israeli wine also comes from the mountain range, ie - Judea and Samaria.
Wineries like Shiloh, Givot, Gush Etzion, Psagot and Tanya have already gained international recognition, but it turns out that over time more and more intriguing boutique wineries have sprung up there, some of which have already breached the barriers of anonymity and most still pass by word of mouth.
Here's a little about three of them;
Tom Winery
At the eastern end of Samaria, the one bordering the Jordan Valley, Tomer Pnini (42, originally from the Jordan Valley) lives with his family.
On a lonely hill in the Itamar ridge with the obligatory name -777, he established and owns with his own hands a farm that includes a sheep pen, greenhouses for growing flowers and blueberries and also a vineyard of about thirty-six dunams, from which he harvests nine grape varieties for his boutique winery, Tom Winery.
Tomer Pnini.
Pnini Winery, Ronen Perlmutter
The wild view from all sides is amazing in its beauty.
In the distance is the settlement of Gitit in the Jordan Valley and on the other side - Beit Furik and other Arab villages.
"We moved here from the Golan Heights because we were looking for spaces that could be grown and developed," he says.
"We built everything here from scratch - we trained the area, we set up the herd, the vineyard and our house. Living here is a work around the clock because we take care of everything ourselves, even the most trivial things like electricity, running water or keeping at night."
So what is wine all of a sudden?
Pnini: "I settle the country through agriculture. I saw that the quality of the grapes obtained here is amazing and the demand for them is insane, so I went to study wine with Ido Levinson and Shivi Drori (Barkan and Givot Winery winemakers, respectively. R.P.) and was captivated by the magic of the drink."
An integral part of Pnini's agriculture is social activity.
He picks up on the farm young people who have not found their place in the usual frameworks, have left home and severed ties with their families, and they are integrated into farm work while rebuilding their lives.
Some of the graduates of the "Pearl Project" have already enlisted in elite units in the IDF and returned to talk to their parents, others have even completed their matriculation.
When we went down to the vineyard, we were greeted by an iron gate with the inscription "Kerem Meirav".
"Meirav was the wife of my friend Yehuda-Arie Polak."
Pnini recounts, "They were not only our neighbors in Ramat Gan, but really partners in the journey, and to this day Yehuda-Arieh helps me a lot in the winery.
After they moved to Tekoa, Meirav went out to catch some peace at the edge of the settlement and there she stumbled, fell onto a cliff and was killed.
It was very natural for us to commemorate her in the name of the vineyard and in the settlement of the country.
She was so young, a total of twenty-four years old, leaving behind her husband and their three children.
Next year by the way, a year of shemita, we are planning to drop this vineyard and not produce wine from it and I very much hope that people will come here to fortify and make themselves holy wine.
This is the essence of the shemita - to connect the people and that everyone can enjoy the fruits of the land equally. "
Pnini Farm, Ronen Perlmutter
Our recommendation: Assis, 2018 Tom Winery - an intriguing blend of Merlot and Shiraz grapes from the Meirav vineyard, whose name is very juicy, laden with aromas of ripe fruit (plums and cassis) and smoke, spiced with vanilla and with a muscular but velvety body.
(150 NIS, discount for buyers in the winery itself)
Sheeran Winery
For Eli Sheeran, wine is a second career, or a kind of early retirement occupation, depending on how you look at it.
At the age of fifty he sold his supermarket chain, enrolled in law school and at the same time studied wine.
By the way, he successfully completed both.
"Wine is a kind of bacterium that if it catches you - went on you," he says with a smile, "and it turns out he caught me too - and strong."
In the early years his private home also served as an active winery;
The patio was converted into a refrigeration room and barrels, the living room - into a warehouse of finished products and production in the yard, but with the increase in quantities and after an ultimatum he received from his wife, he already rented a tidy place and established the permanent winery in Kiryat Arba.
It has already been said that the wine is a replica of the personality of the winemaker behind it, and in the case of Sheeran, who is not afraid to break professional conventions, the wines are also sometimes surprising in their combinations.
Grenache with Petit Syrah, Petit Syrah with Petit Verdot and more from screens that a traditional Hess winery would be worth mentioning.
He does not grow the grapes himself ("I won a lot from my parents but I did not get them to be farmers with a farm") but picks them up from all over the country ("the harmony between the regions creates perfection"), and he also changes the variety and dosage from vintage to vintage .
Eli Sheeran, Sheeran Winery
"I do not like to repeat things I have already done," he says, seriously doubting doubtfully.
"What interests me is to explore and learn and if I repeat myself every year, what can already be renewed?".
Despite its unique winemaking style, and perhaps precisely because of it, its wines are also in demand abroad and today about half of the produce is already shipped overseas.
His other wines include an intriguing Riesling from Kerem Ben Zimra, excellent Semyon from the Golan Heights, Carignan mature vines and 'The Soprano', a fascinating blend of granache grapes with 'Kick' by Petit Syrah.
Our recommendation - the song of the birds, 2019 - from a Priorat-style screen installed from mature Carignan grapes from Neve Yarak, and Syrah and Grenache from Dalton.
After a year of aging in barrels, each variety separately, the wine was combined and an elegant drink was obtained with high and fresh acidity, with a fruity nose (red grains), seductive earthiness, medium body and a pleasant finish.
pleasure.
(119 NIS)
Tzovner Winery
Yossi Tzovner (50), is a well-known Jerusalem chef (owner of catering and "Aka" restaurant) who specializes in Eretz Israel cuisine, believing that culinary is an important part of the nation's culture.
All his life he moved on the Israel-USA line; he was born in Miami, immigrated to Israel at the age of five but returned to the Big Apple to study culinary, lived in Orlando and finally returned home.
As a descendant of the renowned Jerusalem rabbi Avraham Shag-Tzovner (Rabbi Yosef-Chaim Sonnenfeld's rabbi, who is also buried next to him), he decided to implement the grandfather's saying that "a Jew in Eretz Israel should have land, otherwise he is not complete."
He located about 20 dunams of land in Sde Boaz in Gush Etzion, and after receiving the permits, he planted a vineyard on it about a decade ago.
"I'm not a religious person," he tells us, "but my connection with the country, especially when you have your own farmland, is very deep."
He cultivates Carignan, Grenache, Morvader, Syrah, Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc varieties - definitely not a common variety, produces about 7,000 bottles and sells the rest of the grapes.
Until the last vintage, he consulted with winemaker Yaakov Uriah, and starting this year, Dror Engelstein will serve as the winery's winemaker for the winery.
Yossi Tzovner, Zovner Winery
On the bottle labels you do not mention at all the varieties from which the wine was made but rather the number of rows in the vineyard.
"The unusual name for wines is of interest and curiosity. My attitude is terrorist - the variety is less important in my opinion. What matters is the trout in which the vine grows, and my vineyard is near Bethlehem, the regional district where King David grew up. Unfortunately many people are fixed on grape varieties. "We know and do not give a chance to unique varieties, and it's a shame. I want people to enjoy my wines without prejudice."
Our recommendation - 35.40.2, 2016, Zubner Winery - a wine composed of 40% Grenache, 45% Syrah and 15% Morbedre.
The nose is elegant and restrained, in a sip it caresses the palate with ripe fruit (cherry and pomegranate) combined with warm spices like cloves and cardamom.
The finish has a slight bitterness that gives the wine an intricate appeal.
Great wine.
(160 NIS)
