The Tishbi Winery, located in Binyamina, is one of Israel's better known wineries. With a history of grape growing and winemaking going back for five generations, it's wines have mirrored the trend of improving quality since it's inception in 1985. 

     Jonathan Tishbi, the founder of the winery grew grapes for the the Carmel collective before launching his own commercial winery.  Even though his son Golan Tishbi oversees most of the winemaking details, Jonathan stills steers the helm, chairs marketing meetings and supervises many of the day to day business affairs.  This kind of  father/son team work has been proven sucessful at other notable wineries in Israel such as Domaine du Castel in the Judean Hiills and Margalit south of Hadera. Each winemaker son interned or studied overseas and upon their return grew into the winemaker while their fathers continued on as mentors and cheif executives.    Even though Jonathan is clearly in charge of a staff of 50 employees no job is too small for him or other family members.  Golan modestly says 95% of a good wine's quality comes from good grapes and few grapegrowers have more experience or family tradition in their pocket than Jonathan Tishbi.

    Jonathan can often be seen driving the forklift or even filling bottles at the Visitor Center or dining with guests at the vistor center. This isn't the kind of hands on involvement you typically see at Israel's more corporate wineries and the Tishbi's present themselves as Israel's largest family owned winery producing about 1 million bottles/year. They claim their persomal involvment helps them keep the standards they've attained and kept on track for future improvements in their wines as well as their dining facilites.

Daughter Oshra Tishbi has introduced a line of fine foods to the family's product line that compliment the efforts of the winery including Extra Virgin Olive Oil and  Wine Jellies and Jams.  The sold out of last years production, are dramatically increasing this years and our making many of their jams kosher for passover this year.  She's managed to secure a place in Israel's culinary scene and founded the wineries thriving restaurant/wine shop ion the main thoroughfare of neighboring Zichron Yaakov to the north.

The winery has a wide range of selection for the buyer to choose from with four lines. The entry level Tishbi series include a Cabernet-Petite Sirah blend which has been a year to year staple of the winery and as a table wine wine has been a driving force in the winery.  At 25-32 NIS or about $ 6-8/bottle  it's an unoaked, drink now red that's priced to move and popular for large parties and is available like many of their entry-level wines as mevushal wines when the mevushal process is required by certain kosher consumers.

The mid-range Vineyard series offers some of their best bang for the buck (or sheckel) wines though at every level their wines match well with others in Israel for the same price. This is where their Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc singe varietal wines are offered with reds selling at about 43 NIS or $11/ bottle with the whites at about 32 NIS or $8.

The Estate series is where we start to see some of Tishbi's award winning wines.  With hundreds of dunams ( an Ottoman measurement used in the Middle East which equals about 1/4  acre) to choose from, the finest grapes are often chosen for the Estate wines. Since many of these grapes are grown at much lower yields than other grapes for other wines the cost needs to be reflected in the bottle price.  The reds in this series sell for about 85 NIS or $21.

Their best grapes of the year go into their Jonathan Tishbi Reserve series of wines. Though not released every year for the winemaker, Golan wants to make sure this series is exceptional and if the grapes don't warrant it or somewhere in the production process the wine falls even slightly shy of his highest standards for this series.  Their 2004 Sde Boker Reserve, a classic Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc is well worth the 169 NIS (about $42) charged at the winery. It was written up this year by maybe the world's most famous wine blogger, Gary Vandechuk, as his favorite kosher wine and his 4th favorite wine in his book on his favorite 101 Wines. As praised as the 2004 Reserve has been, I was lucky enough to taste the 2007 Reserve from the barrel and I think it might even have more potential to bring even more attention and acclaim to Golan who has only been a winemaker for less than ten years (relatively a few years for a winemaker in charge of such a large winery).

The winery has several special events throughout the year a the visitor center attached to the winery in Binyamina ( a short bus ride from the Binyamina train station)sincluding a Jazz series that host about 100 guests and a grander Junior party every November featuring a Beaujolais Noveau style wine catered to about 600.

The Visitor Center features a kosher restaurant to complement the kosher wines.  As kosher restaurants either feature meat or diary dishes, the restaurant offers only dairy dishes including breakfast dishes such as omelets, Shashuka (a traditional Morracan dish featuring eggs on top of stewed tomatoes) and lunch dishes such as pasta, salads and pizza. The pizza oven has a special meaning for the winemaker, Golan, as he made the oven himself and I've kidded him he's so proud of it he should have a picture of in his wallet. I have to admit as someone born in the States, Israeli pizzas don't ussually impress me that much but these pizzas are a welcome exception with dough made on the premises and the freshest toppings to choose from.  Since they serve dairy dishes they also serve great cheese plates serving local israeli gourmet cheeses and the cheeses are also available to go by the kilo.  The Visitor Center is open 8-5PM Sunday through Thursday and Fridays until 3PM with the restaurant being open until 3PM Sunday through Friday. All kosher restaurants are required to be closed on the Sabbath:  Friday Sunset to Saturday Sunset.

Anyone wanting a later wining or dining expereince with Tishbi wines should visit their Tishbi Wine Shop/ Bistro in Zichron Ya'acov just a few kilometers north of their winery. At the entry way into the town's main boardwalk, it's a great starting place touring one of Israel's most scenic towns or a last stop out of town as it's open to midnight everynight but Friday. It has a similar but more extensive menu than the Wineries vistor center with all their wines for sale though it's a much more happening eatery with a sidewalk cafe feel that reminds one of any other Mediterranean thoroughfare. This restaurant is also kosher but there's nothing about kosher food that should intimidate non-Jewish diners as you wouldn't even know if it wasn't mentioned.

     Few, if any wineries, in Israel have gained as much notoriety as fast and widespread as the Yatir Winery at the northeast edge of the Negev Desert. Adjacent to the ancient ruins of Tel Arad, a Canaanite settlement dating back over 3,000 years, the winery lies at the southern base of the Judean Hills while all of it's vineyards, except their Sauvignon Blanc, lie amoungst the Yatir Forest at about 900 meters above sea level.  In less than ten years, Yatir has managed what would almost be impossible in more established wine regions, to launch from it's first vintage to be among the first mentioned when critics and winemakers talk about the best wineries in Israel.

The 3,000 year old ruins of the Canaanite settlement of Tel Arad

    An initiative by the Carmel Winery since it's inception in 2000, Yatir has operated fairly independently as a unique and distinct brand from Carmel. This was done evidently for at least two reasons.  Primarily, even though the weight of Carmel's place as the largest producer of Israeli and kosher wine could help secure Yatir's exposure in the marketplace, Carmel's previous reputation as a producer of principally bulk wines wouldn't tarnish Yatir's lofty and seemingly now fulfilled aspirations to make some of Israel's best and most sought after wine. Additionally, as Carmel attempts to reinvent itself, Yatir was allowed to focus on establishing and maintaining consistently high standards of viticulture in their dedicated vineyards as well operating with it's own winemaker, staff  and first rate facilities with a focus on exploring every possible avenue in making the best wine it could from day one.

Conifer trees of the Yatir Forest in the southern Judean Hills        

     Ya'acov Ben Dor, the manager of the winery and previous manager of the Yatir Moshav, gives a lot of credit to the terroir of the vineyards to the quality and uniqueness of Yatir wines. As he led me on a personal tour from the Negev lowlands up into the Judean highlands, Ya'acov took special care to point out the unique vegetation in this area compared to the other premier Israeli wine regions such as the Golan or Galilee or the northern reaches of the Judean Hills.  Here there are many spicy, herbaceous xerophytic (drought-resistent) plants whose intense flavors are a defense mechanism from grazing animals who might find their intensity suitable for a nibble but not a whole meal.  Ya'acov implies that this intensity of flavor found in the native flora might be finding it's way to the grapes. The distinctive flavors a terroir imparts can be such a mecurial quality but it's something Ya'acov has obviously considered.  As someone who managed many crops in the area (pistachios, almonds, apricots, apples and cherries are grown nearby) there are few people who know this area and it's agricultural potential than Ben Dor. He was one of the original growers who had the foresight to plant vineyards in the Yatir Forest in 1994 that would become the backbone of Yatir wines. 

Yatir Forest Cherries

    Of course, Yatir's vineyards might never have been planted if the Yatir Forest hadn't brokered the way to show that this arid area had botanical possibilites. David Ben Gurion, Israel's first, most influential and longest serving prime minister was a persistent advocate of developing the Negev and is buried at the Negev's Kibbutz Sde Boker where he had eventually retired and is now buried. It was he who insisted against scientific advice to plant trees in this region. The Jewish National Fund collected donations from around the world to plant conifourous trees in Israel and started planting in the Yatir in 1964 and now it's israel's largest planted forest. As such it plays a part in Israel being the only country in the world to have a net gain of trees in the 20th century.

David and Ancient Wine Press in Yatir Forest:

1) On the left grapes were stomped

2) the juice flowed to the smaller chamber on the bottom and filtered through herbs such as capers, dates and honey

3) the wine fermented in about 5 days and was stored until "bottled" in clay jars, amphorae

     Students of history, however, should have known that the Yatir area could have great potential to be a wine producing area.  there are over 180 ancient wine presses scattered through the Yatir region that had the capacity to produce 3,000 liters or about 4,000 of today's bottle of wine each. in theory that means if all were operating about the same time, these presses could have been producing 720,000 bottles a vintage or even more if there were grapes like today that had staggered seasons so that if there were multiple harvestings 3-4 times as much is concievable as well. Of course climates can change dramtically in decades never mind millenium so a better indicator of the Yatir Forest's potential for sheltering vineyards would be the other crops that have prospered here. The cherries and apricots, almond and pistachio trees that were succesfuly being harvested here prior to the first modern vineyards being planted here must have given confidence that grapes could do well here as well.

The southern Judeans Hills overlooking the northeast Negev Desert

     At 900 meters altitude, about 2700 feet, in the Judean Hills and at the northeast tip of the Negev desert, Yatir's grapes get hot dry summer days and cool summer nights, which has proved an ideal nursery for many of Yatir's planted wine grape varieites.  Frequent mountain winds also help keep the grapes from suffering in the sun and the adjacent Yatir Forest which borders their vineyards on all sides helps cool the area by taking in CO2. The trees have had a side effect of leaching off some of the much needed precipitation, only about 100mm year or about 4 inches falls here, so irrigation is required for the grapes to get their fill. The winds, which are valued for their cooling effect, also increase the evaporation rate and increase the need for irrigation.  Fortunely for Yatir, Israel has been at the leading edge of drip-irrigation technology and water conservation and Israel has exported this technology worldwide including to other regions such as Yatir that were thought previously unsuitable for wine grape production.

a reservoir in the Yatir Forest with pistachio trees in the distance

    Even though Ben Dor comes to Yatir as a grower, it's Yatir's wine maker Eran Goldwasser who overesees the viticulture practices in the vineyard.  Having studied Viticulture & Oenology at the University of Adelaide in Australia, Eran is just one several Israelis to have studied winemaking "Down Under". Having returned to Israel from Australia after workering three vintages, Eran credits just being "lucky at the time that few israelis at the time had been studying (winemaking) overseas" and he was hired from Yatir's inception as it winemaker.  It's without doubt that few winemakers have succeeded so fast to make a name for himself and his wine.  The first wines were released in 2004 and since then Yatir wines have been appearing on every wine writer's list as one of the best wines if not the best wine in Israel.

David & Yatir's Winemaker Eran Goldwasser

   Much of what they have accomplished at Yatir is believed to be on how they manage the vineyards before harvesting as much as the special care  given to the grapes once they reach the winery. 

Yatir Sauvignon Blanc (Negev)

100% Sauvignon Blanc grape

Ramat Arad vineyard in the northeast Negev. A portion of the wine was oaked for 3-4 months in oak barrels.

pale straw with a greenish tinge

"citric grapefruit, (I like to think of as pomelo) and cut grass with a hint of minerality that comes through from it's limited oak agiing " vibrant, epressive and well-balanced with less of a pucker factor than many Sauvignon Blancs.

Yatir Viognier 2008 (Judean Hills) Semi-dry 7 grams of sugar

Yatir Forest vineyards

The grapes that contributed to this 100% Viognier wine had enough acidity that Eran decided not to color within the lines and he created a distinctly balanced barely sweet wine.  Alltough, Viogniers in California and Contreau might age in oak Eran is convinced that this can easily overwhelm the  varietal flavors of Viognier. Even more succinctly Eran affirms "many of them just don't work". Yatir's 2008 Viognier does work and at 13.5% alcohol (less than the 14-15% Viogniers often exhibit) the lower alcohol level gives  room for using some of the residaul sugar to create what Eran believes and I affirm is something special.  When discussing how Viogniers have become popular with some of Israel's winemakers, Eran provides a disclaimer that it might be unrealistic to grow Viognier as extensively as French Columbard with great results because "better Viogniers are grown in cooler areas, they're very fussy vines and the grapes can exhibit elusive aromas'."

Expected Flavors and Aromas:

"green apple, apricot, peach and nectarines an almond /marzapan "  " refreshing acidity, a lot of body with a pleasantly long finish

Yatir Merlot-Shiraz-Cabernet (Judean Hiils) this blend was first introduced as a Cabernet-Merlot-Shiraz but as Eran says he decided that "if people wanted a big, bold Cabernet Sauviignon I was alreaady making one so I decided with the blend I'd make something a bit different. Eran says the Merlot-Shiraz- Canernet is a brand more than a list of the ingredients and Merlot coming first should give a hint to a softer wine. As well, the Cabernet on the label doesn't always refer to Cabernet Sauvignon as in this case it refers to Cabernet Franc which lends to a more food friendly wine with less tannins and more acidity.

Yatir Cabernet Sauvignon (Judean Hills)

Valued Vines of Yatir's Cabernet Sauvignon

Yatir Forest (Judean Hiils)

Yatir's premier label Yatir Forest after being hand-labeled