When he was made the head of Tiferet Yisrael Yeshiva, he moved to Jerusalem. In those days, the Jewish community was very poor. For this reason, his son Rabbi Yitzhak Galin opened a winery to earn an income.
He married the daughter of Aaron Shor, the owner of a wine store, and adopted her surname to make use of the permit they had from the Turkish authorities, allowing him to open a winery.
My distinguished forebear Sir Moses Montefiore was a wine lover and connoisseur, drinking a bottle of wine every day. He believed that Jews should work for a living, not just live off charity, and recommended agriculture as a trade.
Daniel Rogov, the late esteemed wine writer, wrote: “The inspiration of Rabbi Shor was Sir Moses Montefiore, who visited the Holy Land on numerous occasions and while here encouraged the Jews to work the land and plant vines.”
Shor Winery was opened in the year 5608, which corresponds to 1847-48, and the first harvest coincided with Montefiore’s third visit to Israel. The winery was situated in a cellar on Hagai Street, backing on the Western Wall. Family members recount that a row of wine barrels was placed along the part of the Holy Wall adjoining the winery so that forgetful workers would not touch it by mistake!
The Montefiore censuses of 1849 and 1855 list both the family and their profession. It is often claimed that this was Israel’s first winery. I think this was unlikely. Wherever there were Jews, there were domestic wineries. Certainly there were quite a few in the Old City of Jerusalem in the mid-19th century. I suppose Shor was remembered because the family is still in the wine trade today, whereas the others did not stand the test of time. So it is more accurate to say that Shor was the first recorded winery.
The family used to receive grapes from Hebron. This may have included local white varieties such as Hallili (a.k.a. Hevroni), Sallati, Marawi, Sharwishi, Dabuki, Gendeli, Halbani, Romi, Hadari and Hamdani; and red varieties such as Zeitani, Singeli, Karkashani, Razaki, Shemi and Karashi. Family folklore tells about the long carriage of donkeys that would arrive from Hebron during harvest, carrying two baskets of freshly picked grapes, one on either side. The family would wake up to a braying courtyard full of donkeys.
Most of the wine was sweet simply because a sweet wine was more likely to last. The main market was for the Jewish community that wanted to make kiddush. There was also a Christian market seeking altar or communion wine from the Holy Land.
In 1925 the British decreed that businesses had to move out of the Old City. This and the Arab riots of 1929 encouraged Shor Brothers to move to a new home in Beit Israel, near Mea She’arim. The building was on three levels and included a cellar, winery, living quarters and a synagogue. The cellar was to prove useful during the 1948 War of Independence when Jerusalem residents joined the family in sheltering there.
By 1951 the family had grown too big for the business, and brothers Avraham and Moshe decided to go separate ways. Moshe and his son Yitzhak opened a new business in Tel Arza, mainly producing spirits and liqueurs, while Shor, later renamed Yikvei Zion, continued to produce wine and grape juice. In 1958 the Tel Arza business split again, and Hacormim, another winery branch of the Shor family, was formed.
In 1976 Mordechai (Motti) Shor took over the running of Arza Winery. He was the seventh generation and grandson of Moshe, the “M” of A&M Shor Bros.
In 1982, Arza moved to Mishor Adumim. Grapes by this time were more likely to be Carignan and Alicante. Tractors with small trailers had replaced the donkeys at harvest time. The business was based on inexpensive wines and grape juice.
Motti Shor oversaw a period of growth that resulted in Arza’s becoming a major player on the Israeli wine scene. In 1999 and 2000, Arza harvested only 600 tons of wine grapes. By 2012 Arza was harvesting three times as much and had grown to become the seventh largest winery in Israel. By now the grapes were arriving in large trucks. No longer donkeys or tractors!
In the mid-2000s his son Elchanan, the eighth generation, became involved, and Arza Winery began its own mini wine revolution. Firstly they employed an internationally trained winemaker. French-born Philippe Lichtenstein joined in 2005. He had studied at Montpelier, had experience in France and Corsica and was for many years the wine - maker and manager of Carmel’s Zichron Ya’acov Cellars, then the second largest winery in Israel.
Motti gave a new direction. Philippe added the quality, and Elchanan brought a new creative marketing mind.
They launched a very innovative range of sacramental wines called Hallel, which were in touch with the modern consumer. The wines included a traditional kiddush wine but also low-alcohol and semi-sweet versions. To cap it all, the wines had a Zork closure (peel and reseal), which was very user-friendly and easy to open.
Then they launched a secret wine with a QR code as a label, which could only be read by smart phone. This innovative idea had the whole wine industry talking, and many first tasted the wines not knowing where they were from but also had no preconceived ideas. When revealed, consumers found out the wines were part of a new series called Tel Arza, with an attractive drawing of the Montefiore windmill on the label.
Finally they launched the most prestigious wine called Auteur. This is the flagship wine of the winery, with a silhouette of winemaker Philippe Lichtenstein on the stylish black-and-white label.
Today, more than 160 years later, the Shor family is still making wine, now split among three separate wineries – Arza, Hacormim and Zion. They are all situated on the same street in Mishor Adumim.
A few years ago I would have said that Hacormim was the one famous for kiddush wine with Conditon, that Zion was most well known for its table wines with its 1848 and Armon labels, and that Arza was mainly known for grape juice. Today this would no longer be true. Arza, with its Auteur, Tel Arza and Charisma table wines and Hallel sweet wines is now flying the quality flag for the family.
Seeing grandson Daniel with his grandfather on a tractor in the vineyards, one can only assume that the ninth generation is being groomed for succession. I think it was Baron Philippine de Rothschild who once said, “Making wine is not so bad. The first 200 years are the difficult ones. Then it gets easier.”
Well, after 165 years, the Shor family is well on the way.
Wines recommended include:
Hallel Semi-Sweet
A semi-sweet wine with good cherry fruit, made from Merlot grapes. Not too sweet and cloying. A kiddush wine for the 21st century.
Price: NIS 25
Tel Arza Malbec 2010
A well-balanced red wine, full of red fruit flavors, reminiscent of cherries and strawberries. I also like their new Mediterranean style blend under the same label.
Price: NIS 65
Auteur Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
This wine has delicate fruit of blackcurrant, blackberries and a touch of vanilla in the background.
Restrained but with nice balancing acidity, soft tannins and a long finish.
Price: NIS 170
Adam Montefiore works for Carmel Winery and regularly writes about wine in Israeli and international publications. adam@carmelwines.co.il
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