History

Carmel, has the two largest wineries in Israel, Rishon Le Zion Wine Cellars, south of Tel Aviv and Zichron Ya’acov Wine Cellars, south of Haifa, both built in the 1890’s.  The company also owns state of the art wineries at Tel Arad, in the north-east Negev, built in the year 2000 and at Ramat Dalton in the Upper Galilee, built in 2003. Carmel is the largest producer of kosher wines in the world, one of largest producers in the Eastern Mediterranean and the largest producer in the Middle East. The winery sources grapes from 1,500 hectares of vineyards from the premium Upper Galilee and Golan Heights in the north of Israel to the Negev desert in the south. Carmel produces table wines at every price point, and also sacramental wines, natural, pure grape juice and brandies.

In 1882 Jews who were making aliya (immigrating) to Israel from Russia, founded Rishon Le Zion. At the same time a group of Jews from Romania founded the village of Zichron Ya’acov. They both sought financial assistance, which was provided by Baron Edmond de Rothschild, owner of Chateau Lafite from Bordeaux - one of the most famous wineries in the world. Rothschild’s experts recommended vineyards as the crop most likely to succeed on the stony, sandy soil and a massive planting program was begun in the 1880’s. In the 1990’s he built two large wineries, which remain Israel’s largest until today. At both wineries, Baron Rothschild had to build deep underground cellars to ensure a constant cool temperature in the hot climate of the Levant.  Rothschild’s contribution to Israel was immense. Rishon Le Zion Wine Cellars cost 6 million francs and Zichron Ya’acov Wine Cellars cost him 5 million francs – which was considerably more than the 4 million francs it cost the Rothschild family to purchase Chateau Lafite!

Rishon Le Zion, which means ‘First to Zion’, was the first of the new Jewish towns formed. It is now the fourth largest city in Israel and it has literally grown up around the wine cellars. Zichron Ya’acov, situated on Mount Carmel overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, means ‘In Memory of Jacob’. This was named after Baron Edmond de Rothschild’s father, James Jacob de Rothschild, who had bought Chateau Lafite for the family in 1868.

The history of Carmel really matches that of modern Israel. The first telephone and electricity used in Israel, was used at Carmel. No less than three future Prime Ministers of Israel, worked at Carmel’s wineries & vineyards in their early years. Israel’s first prime minister David Ben Gurion worked at Rishon Le Zion in 1907 and Levi Eshkol managed one of the Rothschild vineyards close to Rishon Le Zion in 1915. The third, Ehud Olmert, used to help out at Zichron Ya’acov Wine Cellars in his youth. The early advisors were from France and the winemaking consultants were from Bordeaux. They included Charles Mortier, the Maitre de Chai of Chateau Lafite itself.

In 1895 Carmel Wine Co. was formed to market the wines produced in export markets and it became Israel’s first exporter. (The meaning of the word ‘Carmel’ is G-d’s Vineyard.) Offices were opened in Warsaw in 1895, Vienna in 1897, Berlin & London in 1898, and New York in 1900. Theodore Herzl, founder of Zionism, was a shareholder of the Austrian company. The company in England was called the Palestine Wine & Trading Co. – hence Palwin, Israel’s oldest wine brand, which is still sold in the U.K. The company selling wine in the near east, was called Carmel Mizrahi (Eastern or Oriental.) They sold to places like Damascus, Beirut, Istanbul, Alexandria – and of course to Jaffa and Jerusalem.

In 1906 the management of the two large wineries was deeded over to the growers, who formed a cooperative called: Societe Cooperative Vigneronne des Grandes Caves, Richon Le Zion & Zikron Jacob Ltd. The registration in French was in honor of the Baron.  James Rothschild, Baron Edmond’s son, donated both Rishon Le Zion & Zichron Ya’acov Wine Cellars to Carmel in 1957. Thus the involvement of the Rothschild family with Carmel, Rishon Le Zion & Zichron Ya’acov extended from 1882 to 1957.

Carmel introduced the premium grape varieties, Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc, to Israel in the 1960’s and sold the first varietal wines in the 1970’s. The legendary Carmel Special Reserves of 1976 and 1979 were thought to be Israel’s first genuinely international class wines, heralding the wine boom that was to follow. During the 1980’s the ‘Selected’ wines became Israel’s largest selling brand. In the 1980’s and 1990’s Carmel’s Special Reserves, and the Rothschild and Private Collection labels were regarded as amongst Israel’s finest wines. In 1990 Carmel began to produce Sabra Liqueurs for Seagram. In 1998 a Carmel Brandy won the Trophy for the ‘Best Brandy Worldwide’ at the prestigious International Wine & Spirit Competition in London. By the late 1990’s Carmel had 50% of the Israeli harvest and apart from wine and grape juice and was a major producer of spirits, liqueurs and olive oil and an importer of wines and gourmet products.

After 100 years of producing wine and spirits to satisfy Jewish communities around the world, Carmel took special steps to renew itself at the beginning of the 21st century. The company was renamed Carmel Winery and the following changes were made:

• New vineyards were planted in the finest quality wine growing regions of the Upper Galilee & Golan Heights.

• Carmel planted new vineyards in the Negev at Ramat Arad – fulfilling Ben Gurion’s dream of making the desert bloom.
• New, young, highly qualified winemakers were recruited, including Lior Laxer, Sam Soroka, Eran Goldwasser and Kobi Arens, all of whom studied or worked in Australia. Peter Stern from California, who has worked for Gallo & Mondavi, was appointed winemaking consultant.
• The latest new technology was introduced at Zichron Ya’acov Wine Cellars, the largest winery in Israel.  A small facility for handling small lots from single vineyards was built within the Zichron Ya’acov facility.
• A new small state-of-the-art winery was built at Ramat Dalton in the Upper Galilee, close to key vineyards.
• Yatir Winery, a small boutique winery, was launched at Tel Arad in the north-east Negev.
• Carmel became the first Israeli winery to launch a series of single vineyard and regional wines.
• Carmel decided to concentrate on wine and other grape based products. The decision was taken to stop the production of all spirits (apart from brandy), all liqueurs (apart from Sabra Liqueurs, which Carmel purchased in 2003), olive oil and wine vinegar.

Carmel has produced wine in three different centuries, under the Ottoman Empire, the British Mandate and the State of Israel. It has never missed a harvest despite World Wars, Arab Israeli Wars, Gulf Wars, Intifadas and suicide bombings. Today it is regarded as the market leader in different categories of the market:

Fine wines: Carmel Limited Edition, Carmel Single Vineyard, Appellation
Mass market: Private Collection, Vineyards Selected
Traditional market: King David, Palwin & Carmel Tirosh Grape Juice
Quality spirits market: Carmel Brandies and Sabra Liqueurs.