Twenty years ago, there were fewer than 10 wineries in Israel.
As of 2021, there are more than 200 wineries, ranging from the northern Golan Heights to the southern city of Eilat.
Israel’s flourishing wine industry combined with people turning to alcohol amidst the pandemic has created an almost utopian reality for winery owners.
Although the pandemic imposed economic difficulties and hardships on businesses, the wine industry in Israel sustained a lesser hit than most.
A 2021 Environmental Research of Public Health study reported that 60% of Americans were drinking more during the pandemic, compared to before.
Israeli wineries echoed this, suggesting that business was faring better than expected.
For Yaffo Winery, which is situated in Neve Michael near Jerusalem, the pandemic wound up not massively affecting revenues.
Stephen, our tour guide at this esteemed winery, suggests, “It was actually okay. We worked more with alcohol stores, but a lot of wineries who work with hotels and restaurants felt it more badly.”
Located among the most scenic hillsides within, is Tishbi Winery, part of the greater Kibbutz Tishbi.
A representative for the gorgeous winery explained, “People bought more wine. Corona changed the wine culture in Israel. Firstly, you couldn’t fly outside of Israel. So no international tourism. So they found out that there are lots of great wineries in Israel.”
Yet, for most wineries, restaurants can be a massive revenue source. Throughout the pandemic, this obviously posed a challenge as restaurants globally were forced to shut down.
However, Stephen of Yaffo Winery states that, “Yeah, we lost the restaurants and the hotels, for a few months. But it was okay.”
He furthers this by suggesting “it wasn’t as bad as compared to a restaurant that needed to close for one month or one year.”
Another winery that shared the same perspective is Gush Etzion Winery, nestled halfway between Jerusalem and Hebron.
Speaking on increased revenues through the pandemic, our tour guide, Yael, described, “People drink a lot. They drank so much that there were some wines that we just didn’t have anymore. People had nothing else to do.” Similar to Yaffo Winery, “the restaurant and everything was closed here, but the winery did well”, Yael accounted.
Gush Etzion is unique in its elevation, with the winery being situated at 997 meters, giving the grape a distinct taste.
Gush prides itself on its incredibly direct and personal business approach. Yael recounts that “usually people send me an email or WhatsApp, and we do have a website. She explains that “a lot of people that live in America, in Canada, when they come here to Israel, they come to visit us every year.”
However, customers will be unable to find Gush Etzion wine throughout Israel. They exclusively sell in boutique liquor stores. They also offer shipping options, “usually most of the clients will just call it and we’ll send it to them, even if they live outside of Israel. We send a lot of wine to people that live outside of the country.”
Of course, tourism for Israel is a massive revenue source for businesses, including wineries.
Stephen from Jaffa relays that “90% of our customers are Israeli and sometimes we have tourists but in the last year before COVID, we had much more tourists.”
He adds that “The only slight issue that arose was shipping and exporting to customers overseas. The United States is the biggest market for exports. The transportation is quite expensive, more expensive than before and it’s very hard to find containers and stuff to export. So the wine was just waiting here for a month. I couldn’t find the right shipment.”
This problem mirrors the massive growth in online shopping that exploded during the pandemic. As wine sales increased rapidly, the shipping demand was a new issue that winery owners had never dealt with.
Stephen recites that “This is a new problem. Because everyone is buying on the internet, shipping is quite expensive. It’s not easy to find big containers and ships. To export and to import is getting more expensive now.”
The rise of shipping demands suggests that Israeli wine is globally and domestically, on the rise.
A Tishbi Winery representative expresses of Israeli wine, “I think it’s here to stay. People got familiar with the wineries, and understand that there are great wineries.”
It’s not surprising that wineries such as Tishbi have massively increased in popularity. The breathtaking views of the surrounding hills at the winery. As well, the array of sweet and dry wines keeps their customers coming back after every visit.
In fact, the winery has done so well recently that it has large growth plans for 2022. Our wine guide spoke of the plans to “have a bigger vineyard that the customers can come to and walk through the rows of grapes and even sit and enjoy wine tastings inside the vineyard.”
Wineries like Gush Etzion used the newfound sense of free time throughout the pandemic to their advantage. “It gave us some time to make new wines because every year we try to make a special edition. And we decided to make it and it came out amazing”, says Yael.
The winery later realized that perhaps they could have produced even more wine throughout the pandemic, “the only thing is that we produced only a couple thousand bottles. And maybe we should have made more because everything was sold very quickly.”
With traveling being discouraged by the Israeli government, there has never been a better time for Israelis to explore wineries in their home country.
For those outside Israel looking to sip some Israeli wines, most wineries offer shipping options, allowing for Israeli wine to be delivered directly to your door.
So whether it’s a sparkling rose or a deep red, or you’re an experienced wine veteran or a first-time winery visitor, Israel truly has a phenomenally diverse range of wineries, catering to every possible wine-loving tastebud.■