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 “All our scriptures are full with wine and with grapes — before the French were even thinking about making wine, we were exporting wine. We have a very ancient identity, and for me, reconstructing this identity is very important. For me, it’s a matter of national pride,” says Eliyashiv Drori, oenologist at the West Bank-located Ariel University, who is heading a research team that has produced at the Recanati Winery a wine called Marawi, believed to have been produced in at least 220 AD.
The project aims to use DNA testing to identify and recreate ancient wines drunk by the likes of King David and Jesus Christ. Recanati Marawi wines mark a turning point in modern Israeli winemaking which has so far been using European grapes like Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc and Syrah.
The old-indigenous grape Israeli wine was presented and tasted at the recent international Expo Milano which ended on October 31.
Drori says that there’s abundant archaeological evidence of intensive winemaking in Israel starting from around the 28th century BC. Yet all the indigenous grapevines in Israel today are table grapes, not considered suitable for fine wine. That’s why Baron Edmond de Rothschild, owner of Chateau Lafitte in Bordeaux, brought in French wine grapes when he reestablished the wine industry here in the late 19th century, according to a Report
It is not our policy to bring religion and politics into our Articles but according to NY Times the redevelopment of indigenous grape varieties is not free from political controversies. The new labelling guidelines by the European Union require wines from the West Bank and the Golan Heights to carry a label saying they were made in Israeli settlements. Palestinians also claim ownership of these grapes.
For Israel, the search for an old indigenous variety is also an opportunity to distinguish their wines and have a USP in a highly competitive wine market where they may find it difficult to compete or at least grow. Archaeologists and geneticists are testing new methods for analyzing charred ancient seeds. In the endless struggle between Israelis and Palestinians, it is a quest to underscore Jewish roots in the holy land.
Palestinians claim the hamdani and jandali grapes used in the wine are Palestinian. But the Palestinian suppliers to Recanati sold the grapes to the winery on conditions of anonymity to avoid backlash over working with Israelis, or even helping make wine, which is generally forbidden in Islam. Recanati reciprocated by using Arabic language on the Marawi label and hiring an Arab-Israeli singer to perform at its October Launch for 50 select sommeliers.
Wine presses have been uncovered in Israel and the West Bank, dating back to biblical times. But winemaking was prohibited after Muslims conquered the holy land in the seventh century. When Baron Edmond de Rothschild, an early Zionist and scion of a famed Bordeaux winery, helped restart the local craft in the 1880s, he brought fruit from France.
Separately, researchers have identified 70 distinct varieties, using DNA and a three-dimensional scanner that has never before been successfully employed this way, from burned and dried seeds found in archaeological digs. The idea is to match such ancient seeds with the live grapes, or someday perhaps to engineer fruit “Jurassic Park” style.
Given the difficulty of procuring the grapes from Palestinian farmers, Recanati produced just 2,480 bottles of the 2014 Marawi, which is available in only about 10 Tel Aviv restaurants. The winery has about 4,000 bottles of 2015 Marawi aging and hopes to soon plant its own vineyard to expand and refine the brand.
To their efforts we would raise a glass and say L’Chaim! Lechaim!! Cheers!!! Jai Ho!!!!
Subhash Arora |