History of Israeli Wine
Israel is an ancient wine-making country at the dawn of the wine culture. The hills of Judea were considered the Bordeaux of antiquity. Grapes were grown on terraces. Wines were made in limestone wine presses in the lowlands and stored in cool cave amphorae. They were then exported around the ancient world. After the Muslim conquests, the once proud wine industry was abandoned, but the Israeli wine trade was revived in the late 19th century by the Rothschilds, who planted grapes in the vineyards of Israel’s coastal areas. In the 1980s, improvements to quality winemaking began, based on expertise introduced from California. This was an innovation that brought a new world of viticulture and winemaking to Israel. As the desire to make better quality wine grew, Israeli wine moved north and east in search of higher altitudes and cooler temperatures. New vineyards opened up in the hills of Judea and their potential to produce high quality wines was identified.