This is part of the mystique of Israeli wine and perhaps a marketing niche for export.

It only takes a drive through the country's five wine regions to find wineries congested with grapes. There are now vineyards where only apricots and cherries once grew. During the last 10 years, Israelis have discovered wine and, more importantly, they discovered Israeli wine. That means that the wine was always there? It was not. Two decades ago, Israel was home to just a few wineries and today there are almost 200 - an astounding growth in such a short period of time. The Israeli wine business is certainly expending, thanks in large part to a generation of winemakers who quite literally changed the landscape by creating many prized vintages in world competitions ( Yarden, Carmel, Yatir, Recanati).

The winemakers who make wines such as these come from different backgrounds and have varied goals. They collectively share a passion for their craft and an enthusiasm for being pioneers of a renewed ancient tradition. They did not create the Israeli wine industry, but they did revitalize it, refine it, and raised the world's admiration for Israeli wines for using additional stringent standards: kosher rules.

Without question Israeli wines are approaching a state of quality and sophistication with many more surprises to come. A recent RCNielsen market study showed Israel being already the third fastest-growing wine region in U.S. sales. It's not just for Passover any more... L'chaim!

All Photographs: Avi Roth /2006 ©vineyardreport.com