THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY AND… WINE : ISRAEL (1)
From ALEX HARPER /
, January 2014Israel is a country which conjures images of arid sun-baked hills, hot rustic wines, kosher restrictions and an industry which, boasting a winemaking history reaching back to biblical times, might well be forgiven for a certain stubborn traditionalism.
Nothing, I discovered, could be further from the truth.
The Islamic occupation which started in the seventh century effectively saw an end to viticulture and winemaking in Israel until the nineteenth century when Baron Edmund de Rothschild appeared on the scene armed with cuttings from Château Lafite. The modern winemaking revolution however, only began in the 1980’s and thus, unshackled by appellation rules and family tradition, a vanguard has emerged driving the industry forward towards the realisation of premium wine production.