A celebration of History

Kerem Montefiore is different. Not only is it Israel's only openly commercial négociant winery, but far more important than how it makes its wonderful wine, is does so as a salute the history of a family that traces its roots as far back as the 15th century, it is a proud celebration of Zionism - past and present.

The winery was established in 2010 by CEO Arnon Geva with David Montefiore and his sister Rachel Nataf Montefiore, the direct descendants of the great British philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore who in 1860 founded Mishkenot Sha’ananim, the first neighborhood outside the Old City and the cornerstone of modern Jerusalem. Adam Montefiore, Rachel and David's father, is the winery's Honorary Chairman, who moved his family to Israel when they made Aliyah in 1989.

The winery buys all its grapes from vineyards in the Judean hills and is made by Sam Soroka. Today they produce 6 reds - three varietals and three blends, a blended white and a blended rose. Montefiore Red, a Mediterranean style blend made from Malbec, Shiraz and Petite Sirah, has been nominated as Best Value wine of 2016 by Itay Gleitman, of Haaretz newspaper. New York wine writer Cathrine Todd lauded the wine, saying: This is lovingly nicknamed “3 cats fighting in a sack” and has chewy tannins, bright black and blue fruit flavors with good restraint, making it a good food wine and so ideal to drink every day!

Adam, who has been at the forefront of promoting the Israeli wine industry for over 30 years, regards the Petite Sirah as one of the finest produced in Israel.

Kerem Montefiore have recently opened their tasting room 7 Yo'ezer Street in old Jaffa, where for just 25 shekels a glass one can explore their wines and buy bottles of all their recent vintages at reasonable prices. For more information call +972 3 5342247, or email info@montefiorewines.net.

Photos by David Silverman. Copyright © 2017 dpsimages. All Rights Reserved