Meishar Winery

Meishar Winery
41 Meishar
Israel 76850
Phone: 972-8-8594759
http://www.meishar.co.il/

Contact: Haya & Zeev Smilansky
Email: [email protected]

Not on majestic cliffs overlooking awesome waves, not in the high lava plains, not in the noble villages of Bordeaux, neither in the proud valleys of Napa or Sonoma – but right over here, near Gdera, at 58 meters above the sea of Ashdod, Israel, on an unassuming plot of sand and gravel.

And how come the wine is so…? We don’t really know. Perhaps because of the special rootstock – “Saltcreek”, particularly suitable for sandy soils, being resistant to nematodes. Or perhaps because of the small gravely hill nearby. Or perhaps because the vineyard is hardly being watered – inspite of the evil summers in this region – since its roots go down five, perhaps even ten meters deep. Or perhaps because of the way we work it – or perhaps because of love – or maybe just luck. This way or another, this little vineyard – ¾ of an acre Cabernet Sauvignon, ¾ Merlot, and ¾ Shiraz – produces prime fruit, creating wines that we can be proud of, year after year, in spite of the theories.

We make our wine in the simplest way – what is sometimes termed “minimal intervention”. We attempt to make maximal use of the natural richness of the fruit; what the fruit does not have can never be artificially added. Early morning harvest, destemming and gentle crushing – and into the fermentation tank. First racking, malolactic fermentation, cooling – and into the oak barrels, for 12 to 18 months, to get the extra oak flavor.




What else is there to tell?

The winery is a family affair, with no shop, no visitor center, even without workers.

We do all the work ourselves, planting, trellising, training, pruning, and irrigation, weeding, harvesting, crushing, fermenting, aging, bottling, and even the design of the bottles and labels – all done by our family members.

Update Winery information  Submit new wines to be posted