At the edge of the Artists’ Colony in Tzfat, a building riddled with bullet holes marks the dividing line between what were once the city’s Jewish and Arab neighborhoods. This building is the Antique Safed Winery.
In 1948, when the British withdrew from the land that would become Israel, they offered to shuttle every Jew in Tzfat out of the city to protect them from the Arabs, who outnumbered them seven to one. Not one Jew boarded the British buses, and the ensuing battle between Arab militants and the Palmach raged for eleven days. The Antique Safed Winery survived the gunfire, and within its chipped, punctured walls, the Alon family now makes wine.
In accordance with halakha (Jewish law), the Antique Safed Winery lets their vineyards fallow once every seven years. While this brings them no wealth and saddles them with a mess of weeds and critters to contend with at shmita’s end, it may help them in the long run. Much of the reasoning behind the food and agriculture laws of the Torah is practical: predator meat is more likely to contain pathogens and parasites than herbivore meat; pork spoils quickly in the desert; and gardens, when left untreated, allow the soil to rebuild its microbiome and nutrient content.
The Antique Safed Winery works mostly with Cabernet Sauvignon. Their 2010 vintage is rough and rustic. Leather, plum, and cocoa prevail on the palate; chalky tannins give way to a brief finish. I’d pair this one with borscht, red meat (probably burgers), or a fruit-heavy chicken tajine.
The Antique Safed Winery doesn’t have a website, but you can read more about them at http://www.safed.co.il/old-tzfat-winery.html
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