Israel’s boutique winery sector is growing exponentially. Photo courtesy of Clos de Gat. In the last 18 years the number of boutique wineries in Israel has leapt exponentially from seven to nearly 300. The quality of these new wines is attracting connoisseurs worldwide.
Israel’s wine industry has become a favorite topic of conversation among the world’s top connoisseurs. A country with scarce farm land, Israel nonetheless continues to produce top-quality merlots and sauvignons.
“Wine has been made in the Holy Land for millennia, but Israel’s wineries have come into the modern age since the 1980s, when producers began borrowing vinification techniques from France and the US. The region’s wines are getting better all the time, and some are superb,” writes leading US wine critic Robert Parker.
Similarly, in his 2012 Pocket Wine Book, British wine expert Hugh Johnson highlighted 32 Israeli wineries.
“Israeli wine has been transformed in the last 20 years by producers who have imported wine expertise to go with their existing technological and agricultural prowess,” writes Johnson.
There are more than 300 wineries in Israel, ranging from small boutique enterprises to large commercial production plants. The biggest jump in business has been in the boutique marketplace.
“Until 1995, there were just seven boutique wineries in Israel. By 2000, we had 100. Today, there are between 280 and 300,” Oded Shoham of Israel Wine Experience tells ISRAEL21c.
Shoham recommends visiting the vineyards, not just purchasing their products.
“You see people who have fulfilled their dream and you taste it in their wine,” says Shoham, who has been on the forefront of the Israeli wine industry for more than 25 years. “It’s not like buying a bottle off a shelf and not realizing there’s a person and a temperament that stands behind the bottle. It makes it a more interesting story.”
Sales of Israeli wines stand at $315 million per year, according to Wines Israel, and the country exports some $30 million worth of wine annually. The main importers of Israeli wines are the US, France, the UK, Canada, Poland, Germany and Holland.
“Once, recommendation of Israel wines was mostly of a sentimental nature. That is no longer necessary,” writes Frank Prial in the New York Times.
If that’s the case, it’s time to raise a l’chaim to Israeli wine. ISRAEL21c checked in with the experts for the 10 best boutique wineries in Israel today. Drink up and enjoy.
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