This morning I took a short ride to Zafririm Winery in the Adulam Region of Judea. Ten years ago, following a growing appreciation of wine and completing the Soreq Winery’s winemaking course, Lori and Shaike Lender opened the Zafririm Winery located on Moshav Zafririm.

Whenever I speak about Israeli wines, I like to emphasize that even though we are considered “New World” winemakers, we go beyond the definition of “Old World/New World”. Israel is an “Ancient World” winemaker. The Land of Israel was an important producer and exporter of wine in the ancient world. For a period of over 2,500 years wines produced here were highly desired throughout the surrounding empires. This very important and thriving wine industry disappeared following the Muslim conquest in the Seventh Century due to the prohibition of consuming wine in the Quran.

Although wine production almost disappeared, remains of the ancient wine production abound. There are many thousands of ancient wine presses scattered around the country that attest to the importance of wine in both Israel’s wine culture as well wine’s importance in the diet of ancient Israel. Archaeological sites reveal large quantities of amphorae that aged and stored wine. If today, the Vatican leads world per capita wine consumption with over 70 liters per person, and the consumption in Israel at around 6 liters per person, in ancient Israel wine consumption for the adult population was between 250-350 liters per person.

Zafririm Winery is very much rooted in this ancient wine culture. Shaike is an archaeologist at the Israeli Antiquities Authority and Lori edits the IAA’s English publications. Feeling a very deep connection to the ancient wine culture of Israel, Shaike and Lori decided to limit their sourcing of grapes to the a very small area near the moshav, at the same altitude so that their wines would reflect a very limited and defined terroir.

I arrived at Zafririm Winery together with half a ton of Merlot grapes harvested from a vineyard in the Elah Valley near Roglit, a mere 6 kilometers away and at an elevation slightly more than 300 meters above sea level.

This was my first experience of receiving grapes in a small boutique winery. Zafririm Winery produces only about 4,000 bottles of wine annually, all of them red. Lori, the winemaker, would like to make a white wine, but the Lender’s loyalty to their terroir makes this difficult. Good white grape varietals in this area need more altitude.

It didn’t take long to crush the grapes. As you can see in the photographs, the destemmer/crusher separates the stems and then crushes the grapes.

Shaike oversees the must and the skins flowing into buckets.

The buckets are then brought to Lori perched on a ladder above the stainless steel fermentation tanks. When the Lender’s four sons were younger, they used to provide all of the manpower needed in the winery, making this a true family venture. Now that they’re older, they are serving in the army and are not able to help out during the harvest.

After crushing the grapes, the next task is cleaning up. Cleanliness is very important in wine production and Lori ensures that the winery is quickly returned to its pristine state.

This year’s harvest has some surprises. We were blessed with an unusually cold and wet winter and our usual hot summer. The must measured out with a high sugar content of 26 Brix, which is expected in our hot climate.

What surprised Lori this year is the high acidity with a measured pH of under 3.4. The high acidity should allow Lori to manipulate the wine less.

The high acidity was noticeable not only in the sweet and sour taste of the must, but the acid left white spots on the floor where the must dripped on its way to the fermentation vats.

I plan to return to Zafririm Winery within a few days to sit and chat with Lori and Shaike when they’re not so busy working. Look forward to my next post about Zafririm Winery where I’ll write a bit more about the winery as well as talk about the wine!