The mealybug is a huge pest in the vineyard; it causes untold damage to the vines and is responsible for spreading a virus that has decimated many of our vineyards. Here are a couple of natural and ecological ways we have tried to combat the situation.

It is a site that no winery owner wants to see, bunches of fruit lying on the ground. But for a vineyard which is yielding for the first year it is a worthy investment.

As part of the winery’s efforts to contribute to a greener future, we have committed ourselves to installing two photovoltaic solar arrays capable of generating 50kWp each as part of the Israel’s new feed-in tariff scheme. With all that sun we are getting it seemed a shame not to use it.

The Elkosh vineyard in the western galilee is the largest vineyard project that the winery has ever undertaken. It is a 230 dunam site (23 hectares). We began preparing the property in January 2009. Now the time has finally come to plant the vines. Yesterday I visited the site to witness the exceptional progress and even planted a few vines myself.

With so much happening in the new vineyards at the moment it is easy to forget about the progress of our existing vineyards. This week sees the beginning of veraison. This is the time when the red varietals transition from growing to ripening. Until now the bunches have been green and very sour, now they are transitioning to their final red color and start developing sweetness and phenolic ripeness. To us in the winery is signifies that vintage is just around the corner.