The story of 'Mezuda Winery' is that of a pair of young friends and brothers-in-law, Yossi and Yair, who for several years have been investing their best energy and wealth in order to achieve a superior product.
Yossi studied wine studies in college, and together with Yair decided, with pretension and ambition, to open a winery that produces only the highest quality wine possible - in every respect.
To achieve such a result, one must first of all not compromise on anything.
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At the very beginning, everything must be done in the best and finest way - both in the tools, in everything around them, and of course in the raw material of the wine.
In addition, for the wine to be 'the best', the winery itself must also be in the best location.
Here we enter a rather complex and complicated issue: How do you determine which place is best?
A question of geography
Jerusalemites are certain that there is nothing like Jerusalem, and Londoners know that...
So how do you still open a map and point to a certain point and say: "Here! This is the best place?""
Is there such a thing in the world? It turns out there is, and the hardworking and talented duo found it.
''The Palace of the Messiah', called 'Beit Yehudiof Hefetz' - the famous house located on Ezra Street in the Bukharim neighborhood of Jerusalem.
The house was built about 120 years ago by the Yehudioff family. The house served as both a synagogue and an event hall, but its uniqueness was that it was designed to be the 'Palace of the Messiah' - where we hope He will come every day.
Likewise, its wide, circular balcony overlooks the Temple, so that the Messiah could supervise the work of the priests from there.
As was customary in those days, under every house there was a cistern to collect rainwater, and this large house was no different in this respect, except for the fact that the cistern was in - a-n-k.
Yair and Yossi managed to reach this 'house' and 'pit', and determined the ground level and the pit for the winery, from which the Messiah would take provisions for the Temple.
Like 3000 years ago
It was quite complex and complicated to convert the place to a quality winery. But in honor of Messiah and all the ideology surrounding it - there are no holds barred.
On this distinguished stage, the first wine was pressed with great excitement.
The wine fermented there just as it fermented three thousand years ago somewhere nearby, for the purpose of sacrifices in the Temple.
After a reasonable amount of time, you could start to see a blessing, but this blessing itself made the place small and cramped: there is no parking space for a truck, you can't bring a forklift there, you can't store empty bottles before filling them, and the same goes for unfilled ones afterwards.That's right. There's not enough room in the barrels to age them for two years.
In short, everything you can imagine as 'crowded' was true for a winery that is starting to get a good name, and people are starting to look for its products in wine stores.
The two realized that a crowded, urban place like the Bukharim neighborhood in Jerusalem was not suitable for winemaking.
What is the solution? Moving to another place? That is indeed the only option - but how?
How do you go down a level? Just rent a square building in the industrial area?
Suitable for 'snaps' and events
If we move from the 'Palace of Messiah,' it must be exclusively to a special place. If it is to be a different uniqueness, then at least it must be very, very special.
Thus the winery migrated to the fortress on Givat Yearim.
A pastoral place at the edge of the moshav, a panoramic view of the Jerusalem mountains, pine forests in all directions and terraces that descend to them by stairs integrated with nature, with hammocks and seating areas with armchairs - all in the shade of the trees. Very suitable for gatherings, family and social events.
I chose to write about only two of their excellent wines:
Raziel-Merlot Series 2011 - The grapes came from Mount Bracha, a vineyard located at an altitude of 840 meters, and were aged for 18 months in oak barrels.
A wine with a dark red hue, subtle astringency, good body and a delicate flavor.
Anyone who wants to taste a hundred types of Merlot can do so, but before that, they also need to know what a real Merlot is, and then look for the most similar or least similar ones. For all of this, you need a benchmark. The 'Mezuda' winery can give you that.
This is the taste of a classic French Merlot - inhale it.
Coffee and chocolate
The higher-end wine is called 'Har Eitan.' A total of 1300 bottles in 2012 - this is a blend of 50% Cabernet and about 30% Merlot, and the rest is Petit Verdot and Shiraz.
The blends were made in these percentages, after a great deal of tasting and deliberation, experimentation and wondering, testing and comparisons, and not for technical reasons of 'what's left in the barrels,' of course.
Each variety was carefully selected from the best vines of the best plot, then hand-harvested and fermented in small tanks, then aged in oak barrels for 12 months, after which the composition and percentage of the final blend was decided, blended and aged in barrels for another 12 months.
The wine has a dark, clear red color, with aromas of coffee and chocolate.
The 14.5 percent alcohol is not noticeable at all, due to the right balance of acid, fruit, and barrel.
Flavors of ripe black fruits like plums.
Helpful recommendation: The last sip should be saved for the moment you leave the visit, that way the good taste of a long, pleasant finish remains for a long time.
• Shraga Gebhard, professional and training consultant in the wine field 052-6176201
