Mr. Shimon Peres, President of the State of Israel, devoted a day to visiting the wineries and vineyards of the Upper Galilee Wine Region. He was accompanied by Mr. Shalom Simhon, the Minister of Agriculture and Mr. Beni Muvhar, who organized the days’events.

During the day he visited the Ramat Dalton Industrial Estate which houses no less than seven wineries. The most prominent of these are Dalton Winery, Adir Winery and Kayoumi Winery, which belongs to Carmel. Dalton Winery was founded by the Haruni family in 1995. Adir Winery was established in 2003, and Kayoumi Winery opened in 2004. The President took time to visit Dalton and the brand new visitors’ center of Adir.

He also visited the nearby vineyard of Miles Winery, at Kerem Ben Zimra, where he even participated in the harvest. Later he went to see the Ramat Naftaly Winery, where he was hosted by Yitzhak Cohen, a veteran wine grower.
In the evening he attended an event to launch “Hevel Ha’Cremim” (loosely translated as: the vineyards’ wine region), intended to advance wine tourism to the region. There are 35 vineyards in this area totaling 2,500 hectares.
The event took place at Carmel Winery’s Alma Vineyard in the Kedesh Valley, close to the northern border with Lebanon and was hosted by Israel Ivzan, Chairman of SCV des Grandes Caves (Agudat Hacormim) and CEO of Carmel Winery, and Doron Sassy, the wine grower who manages Alma Vineyard.

In a beautiful, pastoral spot, overlooking the vineyards, is an area used by Carmel for vineyard events to entertain customers and VIP’s. Many of the wineries of the Upper Galilee had stands and Peres took time to visit each one.

Then, TV personality and editor of Wine & Gourmet Magazine, Meni Peer, introduced the formal part of the evening which included speeches, some singing & dancing. Everyone had gifts for President Peres, who was celebrating his 87th birthday.

President Peres is a known wine lover, who is always proud to showcase Israeli wines during his official duties. He is the last of the founding fathers of Israel, and the only Israeli who has held all the most important posts of Government in addition to the Presidency, including being Prime Minister, Defence Minister, Foreign Minister and Finance Minister.

Part of his special interest throughout his life has been the development of the Galilee and the Negev. In his speech, President Peres remarked how incredible the developments were in the area and congratulated the growers and winemakers present on the quality of their products.