The Shomron region is an excellent one to tour, as it provides close proximity to wineries that are in all stages of development in the country’s wine industry — particularly in the southern Mt. Carmel area. This area is found midway between Netanya and Haifa, and it is easily accessible by the Yitzhak Rabin Highway (Route 6). The region benefits from both cooling mountain ranges and breezes from the Mediterranean. Soils there tend to be heavy and limey.
Mt. Carmel lies at the northeast extension of the Shomron mountains. In the southern Mt. Carmel area is found the famous Carmel Winery, Israel’s largest and oldest wine manufacturer. Established in 1882 by Baron Edmond de Rothschild, Carmel produces 15 million bottles of wine a year and also owns other wineries throughout Israel.
For decades, Carmel wines were primarily Kiddush wine, but the winery joined the fourth wave of Israel’s wine revolution in 2003, producing a line of premium wines as well, ranging from fine merlots to Gewürztraminers.
