Winemakers bring hope from Israel’s frontlines

On Oct. 7, 2023, everything changed for David Pinto.

The co-founder and CEO of Pinto Winery was vacationing in northern Israel, far from his home in Yerucham in the country’s south. But when Hamas brutally infiltrated Israel that morning, Pinto — an IDF officer with the rank of major — was immediately called up to serve in the reserves.

It took him a whole day to reach his home, with roads shut down across the country. He gathered his belongings, left his wife and daughters in Jerusalem and spent 170 of the next 22 months fighting for Israel’s survival.

The timing couldn’t have been worse for Pinto Winery, which launched in 2020. The war struck a significant financial blow to the young business, derailing its ambitious plans for growth — including opening a flagship visitor center.

“It was not easy,” Pinto told JNS. “We had to reinvent ourselves.”

Instead of expanding across Israel, the company pivoted to exports. Despite complex global markets, Pinto said the family-run winery — now producing around 100,000 bottles annually — managed to sell its entire supply. Still, with limited staff and resources, not everything ran smoothly.

The Pintos — a philanthropic family who launched the winery as an impact investment to boost Yerucham’s economy and image — remained focused on their main mission, “to sell top-quality wines from the desert because of the desert, not despite it.”

“The desert is so extreme — 325 days of sun a year and only 80 millimeters of rain annually,” Pinto explained. “Vines shouldn’t grow here. But we make them grow because we’re crazy — and because we have access to water to irrigate. Wines from the desert are very special. The whites are crisp, rich and beautiful. The reds are spiced and fruitful.”

This month, Pinto Winery was preparing to finally open its long-awaited visitor center and, for the first time, participate in the Israel Museum Wine Festival in Jerusalem.

Festivalgoers can sample unlimited tastings from dozens of booths while enjoying live performances by popular local artists, including Sugarbeat, the Salomon Brothers, the Tzanchani Brothers, Gavraband, and several surprise street acts.

Alongside Pinto, guests will have the chance to try wines from across the Negev and the North regions that the ongoing war has deeply impacted. Wineries from Judea and Samaria as well as from other parts of the country will also be featured. Participating producers include Tania Winery, Jaffa Winery, Har Bracha, Teperberg, Chateau Miron, Adir Winery and many more.

The organizers reflected on the festival’s legacy, recalling moments over the past two and a half decades that left a lasting impression — like discovering a small boutique winery and becoming a loyal fan, dancing under the stars, raising glasses in celebration and soaking in the unique Jerusalem atmosphere.

Yaara Alfasi Biadgalin, vice president of marketing and export for Mount Odem, said that winery barely paused operations since the war began. Her parents founded Mount Odem when she was a child.

On Oct. 7, the winery was in the middle of its annual harvest. Her two older brothers — Yishai, the winemaker, and Adam, the vintner — were both called to reserve duty, along with her husband, who manages the agricultural department, and the company’s CEO. Alfasi Biadgalin was seven months pregnant with their third child.

“It was a tough spot since all of our vineyards were declared a military closed area and we could not harvest them,” she recalled.

Almost all of the winery’s employees had either been drafted or evacuated. But the grapes couldn’t wait.

“We knew we had to harvest the grapes or everything would be lost,” she said.

Ten days into the war, the family secured special permission to return to their vineyards in the Valley of Tears, just 500 meters from the Syrian border. Determined not to lose the season, they handpicked the grapes themselves, one by one, and produced the 200,000 bottles they had committed to for the year.

About 45 days later, Alfasi Biadgalin made another bold decision: to reopen the winery’s visitor center.

“Even if no one would come, we did it for ourselves,” she said. “We opened this winery when I was 12 years old. If we closed, someone else was winning the war — and it wasn’t us.”

What stood out most to her during this time was the people’s resilience in Israel’s northern region.

“You don’t think about the consequences. I stayed the whole time,” she said. “The people of the North are very brave. I didn’t realize it then, but you can now see how people in the North and South stood together — with each other and their land.”

Although Odem Winery has often participated in the Jerusalem festival, Alfasi Biadgalin admitted that this year feels different.

“I feel awful. There is nothing nice about this war that keeps going on and on,” she said. “Two years is too long. It’s surreal to be at a wine festival while the country is still under fire.”

Still, for her, sharing her family’s story is part of their mission.

“All this time, we’ve been living in this beautiful place, high up in the mountains. We have a mission to be there,” she said.

Now, more than ever, she believes it’s essential to support the people of the periphery — winemakers and farmers who have held the line under unimaginable pressure.

“Show them how much you care,” she exhorted.