Sales of pomegranate wine surge
French vintners beware – a pomegranate wine from Israel could just be what the doctor recommends. Pomegranate wine is pleasing on the palate and good for the heart. What more can you ask from a drink? On a recent visit to Israel I discovered pomegranate wine, which could easily become my drink of choice because of the above reasons.
My favourite brand is a pomegranate wine by the name of Saba Yair Delicat, produced by Yair Etzioni from the moshav Ram-On, an Israeli-type of cooperative, about 100 km to the north of Tel Aviv.
Made from fermented pomegranates, Saba Yair Delicat has a dark red colour. Yair serves the 9 % ABV wine chilled, which immediately made me think that his pomegranate wine bears closer resemblance to a "scrumpy" or a "hard cider" than to a wine, given its alcohol content.
Pomegranate wine is tricky to make and expensive to drink, but has unique health benefits. Because pomegranates have a much lower sugar content than wine grapes, they cannot be effectively fermented. To get around this problem, Yair adds some sugar before fermentation, while some of his competitors allegedly use a new variety of pomegranate, which is sweet enough for wine production.
Still, his wine is more bitter than his competitors’ as he does not just use the juice but also the pulp, which he says contains all the goodies that are beneficial to your health.
According to experts, pomegranate wine has lots of health benefits: It may help decrease the risk of heart disease, heart attacks and strokes. Evidence shows that drinking pomegranate juice daily may help sustain the normal blood flow to the heart and, because of its antioxidant properties, may prevent bad cholesterol from forming, therefore helping maintain the arteries clear of blood clots.
It may assist the body’s normal defences in avoiding certain cancers. Pomegranates have very high levels of antioxidants called “flavonoids”, considered to be effective in fighting various cancer-causing radicals. They may help decrease the risks of health problems such as atherosclerosis, osteoarthritis, and diabetes. Conditions that are identified to cause the thickening and hardening of the walls of the arteries and those that cause damage in cartilage and joints may be avoided by drinking pomegranate wine; it is an abundant natural source of various vitamins: A, C and E and also contains folic acid
(source: www.dailyfruitwine.com).
Yair developed an interest in pomegranate wine about a decade ago. That’s when he planted a pomegranate orchard. As his wine production has doubled each year to about 50,000 bottles last year, he relies on sourcing pomegranates from other growers. Israel has roughly 5,500 acres of pomegranate orchards, which meet the local market’s culinary as well as horticultural demands.
In the Upper Galilee, the Judean foothills and Israel’s coastal plain, several wineries have recently popped up to compete with Yair and the Rimon Winery, that are considered the vanguard in pomegranate wine production.
Almost any kind of wine can be made from pomegranates, including sparkling wines and port. Yair’s range includes dry, semi-dry and sweet pomegranate wines. In Israel, a bottle of his wine retails at about NIS 60 (EUR 12.80) per bottle, but prices for a bottle of premium pomegranate port (750 ml, 18% ABV) costs NIS 99 at most specialty wine shops and heath food stores, compared to NIS 33 for port made from grapes.
At present, no one knows how pomegranate wine ages because whatever is produced is sold instantly. This year Yair plans to sell about 100,000 bottles domestically. But as with many of Israel’s agricultural products, the real future of Israel’s pomegranate wineries lies in exports.
If Yair’s pomegranate wines attract mostly the health-conscious consumers, some wineries have started producing pomegranate ciders for a younger, more fun-oriented crowd. The Hagalil Winery in Kiryat Shmona, Galilee, does a very nice pomegranate cider which has 5.9% ABV. Two years ago they also launched a pomegranate wine range with the brand name Galilee Boutique Winery that has won international prizes and recognition, they say.
If you plan to visit Israel, don’t forget to sample the pomegranate wines and ciders. Or contact Yair Etzioni (www.sabayair.com) to ship you a box.
