The last time we met the folks at Tura Winery, I was taking my Nephew around the country and I was freaking out about the roads and the such. This time, it was just me and GG and GG was driving, so I was far more relaxed, to say the least. Also, this was the third time I have visited the winery. The first meeting and the wines tasted there can be here, the second I did not, but my notes on those wines are listed below as well. I thought a third time would be a charm, and boy was I right.

Things have changed since I first visited Tura in 2012. The winery has grown from  10k bottles in 2000, to 25K in 2013, and then 56K in 2014. They will not be releasing wines in 2015, as that is shmitta. Beyond the growth of the winery, the real change is the quality of the wines being produced. Sure in 2012 the Merlot was wonderful, but now with the help of Itay Lahat, things are really looking up. It has been four years in a row, of some of the worst wine vintages in recent Israeli history, 09/10/11/12 and the wines have been improving year after year. Many think 2012 was a great year, but actually it was far hotter in some regions and out of control as in 2010. The best vintage in sometime (since 08 anyway), in Israel, was the 2013 vintage – most call it perfect. We did not taste the red wines from 2013, but the whites from 2014 are showing beautifully.

My last post on the Shomron wineries; Tura and Har Bracha, showed my respect for the passion that the Shomron wineries show for their land. This post is all about the impressive growth in wineries like Gvaot and Tura, and hopefully in Psagot with the Yaacov Oryah joining the ranks.

Still, this post is about Tura Winery. The winery is the brain child and life of Vered Ben Saadon and her husband, Erez, the winemaker and viticulturist, who are also both deeply religious and deeply passionate about the very land they planted their vines upon. This is not a discussion of Zionism or rights, this is a simple statement that the people I met have a deep religious, personal, and deeply passionate relationship with the land of the Shomron. For Vered and Erez, their deep relationship with the land started in 1995, befitting soon after they got married and started their own relationship together. It started with a few acres of organic apple fields, from there they bought some 20 dunam of land on the top of Har Bracha (yes the same place where Har Bracha Winery planted their grapes, though Erez was there first by a year or so). In hindsight, you can say it was luck, kismet, or maybe destiny, but the very land they planted and nurtured became some of the most sought after vineyards in all of Israel, and in the Shomron for sure. Why? Simple, as I have stated a few times now, Merlot from Har Bracha is a real “bracha” blessing, and one of Israel’s no-brainers when faced with a wall of kosher Israeli wine.

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