What does the word 'adir' mean?
Here is the Bible: "Great in the sight of the Lord" (Psalms 23:4). And also, "They sank like lead in mighty waters" (Exodus 15:1). This root appears about twenty times in the Bible. Simply put, it refers to something great, strong, and hence giving the name 'Great Winery' to the winery I visited this time served the purpose well.
However, the winery also knows how to play with the letters of their special name.
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The letter A stands for "Ashkenazi", the letter R stands for "Rosenberg". These are the two founding partners of the winery, veterans of the Ben Zimra vineyard families.
Among the letters A' R' there is also the letter D' for "Dir" and the letter Y' for "Yakav".
What are the 'dîr' and the 'yakv'?
History: The Ashkenazi family immigrated from Turkey and the Rosenberg family arrived from Europe, after World War II. Both families lived next door in Kerem Ben Zimra.
Eliyahu Ashkenazi studied agriculture and together with Rosenberg the two decided to raise vines and goats.
Grapevines for wine, and goats for milk and cheese, of course.
The Ashkenazi and Rosenberg families, the founding generation of Moshav Kerem Ben Zimra, established the herd in 1981, which today numbers about 2,000 milking cows.
A dairy specializing in the production of goat cheese was established in 1995. The knowledge for cheese production was acquired through technologists from France, who were invited to Israel specifically to teach Eliyahu Ashkenazi, the dairy's production manager, how to produce hard, semi-hard, soft cheeses and yogurt.
And of course for our purposes, the letter Y - which is the winery built around the family's many vineyards.
This is how we got the creative name 'Adir', which creates excellent cheeses, ice creams, and wines.
But don't make the mistake of thinking that this is the only great thing about the winery. There is something else 'great' about it - after all, it is the winemaker my father, and his family name is of course Rosenberg. How could it not be? The next generation that doesn't disgrace the dynasty.
He has a winning combination: he is both an exceptional winemaker, and an avid agronomist and landowner.
Four years of patience
We encounter the wine in a bottle, the winery people encounter it as crates of grapes after the harvest, the harvesters encounter it in the vineyard, my father encounters the wine in the winter... when the vine is still dormant. Even then, my father sees the buds from which buds will emerge that will blossom into clusters of grapes, and even then, my father knows how much thinning needs to be done, and from which side of the vineyard it needs to be done, so that even someone who is not a professional winemaker will be able to understand the final result well.
From the time the grapes begin to grow in the vineyard until we pour a glass of fragrant, juicy, delicious, caressing, and special wine, there are many more things to know, and four years of patience is also required.
Their vines grow in the Ben Zimra vineyard, which is their quarry. Not only of the fields - but also of the families.
The vineyards grow at a high altitude and probably in one of the best areas we have in our country. One of the reasons for the high quality of the vines there is the extreme cold that prevails in the area in winter. The cold puts the vine to sleep and allows it to rest properly during the winter.
On the other hand, in spring and early summer, when there are high temperature differences between the oppressive heat of the day and the bone-piercing cold of the night, this helps the grapes develop well.
Close readers will surely remember that a lack of sun, combined with cold, is a sure recipe for high acidity – which is both an advantage and a disadvantage.
The advantage: High acidity helps preserve the wine for a long time. The disadvantage: The wine takes on a sour taste. The solution: A good winemaker who knows how to balance and look for the riper wines and blend them together. This is where the professionalism of the winemaker's father is revealed.
And what's on the menu?
The Ben Zimra Vineyard series includes a blend and three varietal wines: Cabernet, Shiraz, and Chardonnay.
These wines underwent an aging process in French and American oak barrels for a period of 12-14 months, and then underwent an additional aging process of several months after bottling.
Kerem Ben Zimra wines are easy to drink and provide a particularly delightful wine experience. These wines offer a fun combination of flavors suitable for a variety of events and drinking occasions.
The special blend is called A, and each year it changes the percentage of its ingredients, according to the personal taste of the winemaker's father. The composition of the varieties: Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc.
The wine, which comes from the plateau vineyard, located at an altitude of 870 meters, undergoes a process of fermentation and gentle pressing, and then ages in new (most) and old (minority) barrels for about two years.
The color of the wine is red with a tendency to purple. Dark purple for wine [F] - rich in black fruit with a bit of greenishness, vanilla, tobacco and cigars, a wide range of spices, medium body and dominant wood, but not overpowering and a lasting finish (120 NIS).
The Cabernet Sauvignon from the same series - the only one left in stock is from 2011. All previous vintages are sold out.
Like its other brothers in the Kerem Ben Zimra series, it comes from the vineyard located at an altitude of 870 meters and is aged in barrels for a little over a year. Its color is purple-red.
The wine is also rich in ripe red and black fruits, plums and red raspberries, a little coffee and cocoa, an acidic wine with powerful but soft tannins, a pleasant and lasting finish (90 NIS).
And the dessert wine "port", or as it should be called the port style, has a different production method.
The grapes come from a late harvest, fermentation is partial to the desired level of sugar, and then alcohol is added to stop further fermentation. It is then put into barrels for about three years, with the barrels left outside in the rain and sun.
The resulting color after these three years is red/brown with flavors of ripe fruit, honey, strong tannins, and a pleasant finish (100 NIS).
In the end, we sat on the balcony of the visitor center. An amazing courtyard with a water fountain, a rich goat cheese platter, excellent hard and soft cheeses, and good wine.
There is nothing to add.
• Shraga Gebhard is a consultant in the field of kashrut and professional wine.
