On a sunny hillside in the Western Galilee sits Kishorit, a kibbutz producing award-winning kosher wines, artisan goat’s cheese and bread, organic free range eggs — and championship-winning miniature schnauzers.
“Everything we do at Kishorit, we aim to be the best” says director of development, Shira Reifman, who is proud of their successes. The various endeavours are even more impressive when you find out that Kishorit is a kibbutz populated and staffed by 175 members with special needs — ranging from developmental difficulties to profound mental illness. Many of them working in the various businesses.
And while you’ll need to head to the promised land to sample most of the fruits of their labours, their award-winning wine label, Kishor, is now available here in the UK. “We bottle 56,000 bottles each year and sell to Israel, the United States and Europe” says Reifman.
The goat’s dairy, which produces 550,000 litres of goat’s milk annually, was created more than 10 years ago, but the first Kishor wines only appeared in 2010, and the label already boasts a trophy cabinet of gold and silver medals.
The winery was the brainchild of overseas fund raisers supporting the Kishorit village. During the second war with Lebanon, bomb shelter space had been tight. So, in 2006, Kishorit’s CEO, Shuki Levinger, went overseas to seek funds to build more. However, one of his usual benefactors wasn’t keen to pay for bomb shelters suggesting instead that the kibbutz become more productive by adding a winery to existing commercial operations.
“He probably saw that demand for Israeli wine was already increasing. He also knew that good wine came with a good story, and no one has a better story than Kishorit” smiles Reiman, explaining that Levinger was then introduced to the UJIA, who adopted the project and raised the funds.
Levinger then employed a winery manager — Richard Davies, who’d made aliyah in 1974, and had studied agriculture in South Africa and in Israel. He was new to viticulture.
“I was asked by Shuki to oversee the vineyard, and the planting of the vines in 2007. I took advice from winemaking consultants over which varietals to grow. I then had time to learn, as you cannot make kosher wine from vines until they are three years old” explains Davies.
Planting grapes on the land around the kibbutz was also risky, as that part of the Galilee was not known for growing grapes. “We’re the only growers in the Western Galilee” admits Davies “We weren’t sure if it would do well. Most of the neighbouring land is owned by Druze and Arabs and isn’t agricultural. We are the first to have grown vines here, but it’s a gamble that has paid off.”
The kibbutz — which sounds like the dream picnic venue — also operates its own bakery, making a range of whole grain bread, challah, rolls, baguettes, focaccia, cookies, birthday cakes and granola. It has a herd of 1,000 goats, from whose milk it produces artisan cheeses and yogurts. The there’s a brood of chickens, producing 500,000 free-range, organic eggs each year. It’s one of the largest producers of goat’s milk in Israel, supplying Israeli giant Tnuva. The community also grows its own organic fruit and vegetables, to feed members, with the surplus being sold in a weekly farmer’s market. Organic vegetable boxes are also prepared for the local community to buy.
All these enterprises are staffed by the members, giving them proper employment and their independence. “We have professional staff in each area” explains Reifman, but our members do most of the work. “The whole philosophy here is that anyone can work, no matter what their disability is and not matter what they do. It’s good for self-esteem” adds Davies.
Professional wine consultant, Itay Lahat and Davies work with five Kishorit members who staff the visitors’ centre and help with packing and picking.
“As the wines are kosher, you need to be Shomer Shabbat to make it, so the members cannot actually touch it. They can pick the grapes though, help with packing and staff the visitor’s centre. Five of the members work here full-time, with more joining at busy periods like harvest” explains Davies.
Davies hopes production will increase to 100,000 bottles: “It could then become a big contributor to the income of the village” he says.
“It has been tremendous working here. It’s much more than just working — it’s like doing a mitzvah every day. The feedback from the members is amazing. They’re so proud of what they’re achieving daily. And I’m proud too. I’m especially proud of our white wines. We’ve grown Riesling grapes, which are not grapes that should do well here, but we’ve made some fantastic wines from it.”
“My favourite part of working in the winery is bottling the wine” says member, David Feiglin. “I love the work here . I love Kishorit — I never thought I would step into heaven before I die.”
“We want people to buy our products not because they’re made by those people on the hill, but because they’re great” says Reiman and it seems they may be succeeding.
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