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News
Israeli winery turns military bunker into wine cellar
A winery in the disputed region of Golan Heights in Israel has embraced its fraught history as a former battlefield by transforming a disused Syrian military bunker into a wine cellar.
Photo credit: Duby-Hadar
Built in support of the boutique Ein Nashut Winery, the military bunker now houses wine instead of wartime ammunitions, as reported by The Jewish Press.
The bunker was discovered by the Kabalo family when they arrived in Kidmat Tzvi in the 1980s. The community was founded in 1981 on the ruins of a Syrian military outpost used during the 1967 Six Day War.
Abandoned in 1967 as it stood, for many years the bunker lay dormant, until the Kabalo family founded the Ein Nashut Winery in 2007. Needing a cool space to store their wines from the searing summer heat, the family set about renovating the bunker with the help of local farmers.
The Kabalos cleaned the walls, installed a new tile floor and converted its single ladder entrance into a stairway. Today the Ein Nashut Winery produces over 12,000 bottles of wine a year from vineyards planted with Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Merlot, and Syrah wines – its cellar standing as a poignant reminder of the region’s past.
Golan Heights is a disputed region on Israel’s border with Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. Israel captured the region from Syria and occupied during the Six-Day War in 1967. It then unilaterally annexed the territory in 1981, though the annexation has never been recognised under international law.
Golan Heights’ volcanic soil is heavily planted with vines and the region is home to a growing boutique wine industry.
Those of us in the industry would be grateful for news items to be industry-related, and not focused on politics, wars, insinuations, propaganda and ill-intentions.
The Golan Heights are not “disputed territories,” rather – once annexed, decades ago – part and parcel of Israel.
As for accuracy, Israel and Syria are still in an ongoing state of war, for the 1973 war has not resolved between them. Israel and Syria have been living “peacefully” side by side for a long time, with extensive travel (Druze families living on both sides of the border), commerce (apples and other agricultural products) and assistance (primarily in water technology from Israel).
Then the civil war in Syria started, with more than 300,000 Syrians butchered by the Syrian regime, and millions of refugees (the majority of which found refuge in Jordan).
Israel has built a field hospital and has been accepting people for treatment in Israel.
If not for this civil war and the threat of Daesh (IS/ISIS/ISIL) spreading and controlling massive parts of the entire area, peace was indeed within reach between the two nations.
As one looks at the bigger picture, it is easy to recognize ancient anti-Semitism. There are those who do not recognize Israel’s right to exist, anywhere whatsoever between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. Quite a pity. The Jews are back in their ancient homeland, and there are those who still are determined to fight them to extinction.
Today, the Golan Heights wineries offer some of the best wines in the entire region. The readers are invited to try and judge for themselves.
Anyone who wants to venture to the Golan Heights can do so with an easy drive up the mountains from the Sea of Galilee. The traveler is invited to stop at the northern part of the Sea (a large lake by any other standard) at the synagogue where Jesus taught. Or climb up the mountain where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount and taught us, among else:
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
The wineries of the Golan Heights and the Jordan River Valley are indeed quite amazing and newsworthy. The neighborhood is where Western Civilization is nestled. Let us help promote a shining jewel, rather than help attack Israel for no fault of her own. After all, Daesh is working relentlessly to take the entire region back to the 7th Century, and then expand and bring the entire world under an Islamic Caliphate of their formatting.
From Beverly Hills, CA, USA,
Ari Bussel