The "Cooperative Vigneronne des Grandes Caves Richon-Le-Zion & Zichron-Jacob" is the largest cooperative winery in Israel. Baron Edmond de Rothschild (1845-1934), son of the founder of the famous Château Lafite-Rothschild James de Rothschild (1792-1868), founded the wineries Zikhron-Yaacov (Jacob) south of Haifa on Mount Carmel (Book of Kings 1/18), already mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible, and Rishon Le Ziyyon near Tel Aviv in 1882. He then gave these to the winegrowers in 1906. The Hebrew word "Carmel" means "vineyard" or also "God's vineyard", because viticulture was already practised here by the Israelites in biblical times. The baron thus became the founder of modern viticulture in Israel (in addition to a financial donation of 60 million gold francs).
The headquarters of the winegrowers' cooperative is in Rischon LeZion in the southern part of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa metropolitan area; large wine press and cellar facilities as well as a tasting room are also located in Zichron Ja'akow. Wines and spirits are produced under the "Carmel" label. From a total of about 2,000 hectares of vineyards with international and local new varieties, wines in all price and quality classes are produced in state-of-the-art, computer-controlled facilities. Mainly kosher bulk wines are produced for the Israeli market, but also high-quality wines. Among the top products are the Private Collection Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. The standard product line is the Vineyards Selected wines. About two-thirds of domestic consumption is produced by the cooperative.
Image: By RickP - Own work, CC BY 2.5, Link
