Carmel Winery - History

History

When the settlers of the First Aliyah, Jews who immigrated to Palestine from Eastern Europe in the second half of the 19th century, encountered difficulties in cultivating the land due to their lack of experience and the soil's characteristics, they began to seek support outside of Palestine for establishing vineyards and wineries. Their representatives traveled to France, where they met Baron Edmond de Rothschild, owner of Château Lafite. As a Zionist, Rothschild provided financial and moral assistance to the settlers. His first vineyards were planted near Rishon LeZion, south east of Jaffa. In 1882, French rootstock was imported, and the Baron sent his own wine specialists to advise the pioneers in this enterprise. Construction began on a large wine cellar in Rishon LeZion. Later, a second winery was established in Zikhron Ya'akov, situated on Mount Carmel just south of Haifa.

In 1895 Carmel Wine Co. was formed to export wines of Rishon LeZion and Zikhron Ya'akov, first in Poland, then in Austria, Great Britain and the United States. In 1902 Carmel Mizrahi was founded in Palestine to market and distribute wines to the cities of the Ottoman Empire.

In 1896, the first Carmel wines were presented at the International Exhibition of Berlin at a special pavilion devoted to the industries of the Jewish colony in Palestine. Over a hundred thousand people visited the exhibition, looked at the products, and drank a glass of Rishon LeZion wine. A year later, a world gardening exhibition was held in Hamburg where the settlers' wines were well received. Rishon LeZion wines won a gold medal at the Paris World's Fair in 1900.

In 1906, both the vineyards and the management of the two wineries were deeded to the winegrowers, forming the "Societé Cooperative Vigneronne des Grandes Caves, Richon le Zion and Zikhron Jacob Ltd."

Interestingly, many of Israel's historical figures worked in the vineyards and in the wineries. Perhaps the two most famous were the first Prime Minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion and his successor, Levi Eshkol.

Through the early decades of the 20th century the wine business bloomed. Branches of Carmel Wine Co., were opened in Damascus, Cairo, Beirut, Berlin, London, Warsaw and Alexandria, and sales increased, particularly during the First World War, when allied troops passed through Palestine. However, the businesses fell sharply when the war was over. The industry lost its principal markets in Russia due to the October Revolution, in the United States because of Prohibition, and in Egypt and the Middle East because of Arab nationalism. Many of the vineyards were uprooted and replanted with citrus trees.

However, during the Second World War, the industry began to grow again and with successive waves of immigrants, drinking habits gradually changed. In 1957, the estate of the Baron Edmond de Rothschild deeded over the two wineries to the Cooperative of Winegrowers, the Societé Cooperative Vigneronne des Grandes Caves, by then, better known under the trade name Carmel Mizrahi in Israel and Carmel worldwide.

For some years after the end of the war, Carmel's output was focused on sweet wines used for sacramental purposes. However, with the emergence of the new world in wine making, Israeli wine makers sought new varieties of grapes, thus in 1971 Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc, the first varietal wines from Israel, were presented in the United States market.

In the early 1980s, the wine industry in Israel fell upon hard times, but in the second half of the decade, wine became more popular and demands for quality stimulated tremendous improvements in the varieties of grapes being grown, the cultivation of new growing regions and the updating of fermentation and production techniques.

Over the past few years, new state-of-the-art wineries have been built, the existing wineries have been renovated and a new team of young, highly qualified wine makers have been employed. The constant search for improvement is now part of the fabric of the cooperative.

In 2003 Carmel agreed to sponsor 'Carmel Trophy for Best Eastern Mediterranean Producer' at I.W.S.C. in London. In 2004 Peter Stern (formerly at Mondavi & Gallo) from California was appointed wine making consultant. The same year Carmel founded 'Handcrafted Wines of Israel'.

Exporting to over 40 countries, Carmel products are found in wine stores and retail chains around the globe.