The 2006 harvest at Barkan Winery 

Michal Ackerman, agronomist

The 2006 harvest will not be remembered as one of Israel's best. However, it most certainly will be remembered as a challenging, and demanding year.

As 2005 had been a year of low yields, it had been expected that we would see more fruit in 2006. However as the harvest progressed, it became apparent that yields were if anything slightly lower than 2005.

On the whole, it was also not a high quality year, although here and there, there were a number of striking exceptions.

The year was marked by several dramatic weather events. Sudden, heavy hail struck the Galilee at the end of April, just as the vines were flowering. The destruction of the delicate flowers that should have become fruit essentially limited the yields dramatically. The hail had an even more insidious effect. It was so intense that much of the young wood and green shoots was damaged, leaving sites for the development of fungal diseases such as oidium and mildew.

Another dramatic climactic event was a nine day heat wave in mid- August with extremely high temperatures and humidity. These conditions effectively "shut down" the vines, limiting photosynthesis and not only retarding ripening, but leading to lower acid, color and flavor compound levels. Although the higher altitude vineyards were largely spared this phenomenon, growers in most of Israel, who didn't respond immediately by reducing yields and changing irrigation regimes, found it difficult to bring the fruit to ripeness.

Nor can we forget the war. A number of our best vineyards in the North became closed military zones, which prevented the growers from maintaining them on a timely basis, and in some cases from even entering them without permits from the commanding generals. The war happened just at the time of the most dramatic changes in the vines, and the inability to systematically sample the vineyards and to react to specific problems in them cost us in terms of yield and quality. This was most evident in the earlier ripening white varieties that suffered greatly from fungal diseases and being harvested after their prime did not show the characteristic aromas and flavours of the region.

In addition, many of our young growers were called up due to the war, and finding professional managers and workers to replace them was difficult at best.

Despite all the difficulties, there were a number of pleasant surprises. There were new vineyards and varieties that stood out in addition to some of our established vineyards and varieties.

In 2006, Merlot and Shiraz showed much better than Cabernet Sauvignon. In some cases, the extremes of the weather actually enhancing the fruit, and the "stars" of 2006 were undeniably from these varieties from our higher elevation vineyards, from the Golan and Jerusalem Hills. However, the quality of the fruit from our lower elevation vineyards, Latroun and the lower slopes of the Judean hills was also quite good: concentrated colour and flavour, rich in sugar. The Shiraz from the better vineyards has only just started to be filled in barrels and we look forward to see what they will develop into over the next year or two.

Merlot from the Galilee, Jerusalem Hills and the Golan also was exceptional, perhaps because of the meager yields. The Merlot from the Segal Vineyard at Dovev was perhaps the best of this year's wines: rich in alcohol, colour, flavour and aroma and well developed phenolics, which compensates somewhat, for the extremely low quantities of fruit that the vineyard, which suffered the most from the war, yielded.

The results from our second harvest in our vineyard in the Jerusalem Hills were excellent, and promise to be even better with the years. Five varieties are planted of which three: Merlot, Shiraz and Chardonnay were harvested for the second time. Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc will yield fruit for the first time in 2007. The Merlot and Shiraz ripened slowly and steadily, without any disease problems, and yielded intense, rich wines. Chardonnay is planted with three different clones and these, when blended together at the winery and barrel fermented, yielded complex, elegant wines, which will figure prominently in our Reserve Chardonnay. We look forward to exploring the potential of this fascinating vineyard in the years to come.

The winery continues to experiment with new varieties, most of which are not released as varietals, of which two stand out: Tempranillo and Petite Verdot. These varieties yielded intriguing wines in 2006, and we will continue to develop them and use them in the coming years.

Optimistically hoping for a quiet, productive year, and good wines!