EVENTS AND NEWS

First Single-Vineyard Wine from Golan Heights Winery: Yarden Odem Organic Vineyard Chardonnay 2002

March 15, 2004

 

The Golan Heights Winery announces the creation of Yarden Odem Organic Vineyard Chardonnay 2002, the company’s first single-vineyard wine and also its first wine made from organically-grown grapes.

In 1998, the Golan Heights Winery decided to dedicate an organic vineyard—the Odem Vineyard, located in the northern, coldest part of the Golan Heights at 1,200 meters above sea level—to test the effect of organic viticulture on the grapes’ quality and character, and to reduce the use of chemicals and pesticides. “As farmers and residents of our area, we were interested to explore more environmentally friendly methods of farming, both to promote well-being as well as sustainability,” notes Victor Schoenfeld, the winery’s chief enologist.

Following three good years, the vineyard was officially certified as organic. "The relationship between the vine and soil is more dynamic and interactive in the organic vineyard,” says Schoenfeld. “This heightened intimacy increases the chances that the wine will have a truer expression of our terroir—our unique combination of soil, climate, and topography." With this goal in mind, lessons learned from the organic vineyard’s success are now being applied to other Golan Heights Winery vineyards, including the use of physical methods instead of chemicals for weed control, composting grape pomace and returning it to the vineyard to improve soil quality, and utilizing environmentally-friendly biological pest controls.

While the winery is pleased with the success of its program, organic farming is not without its risks. The two biggest concerns are potentially not being able to effectively deal with new vineyard pests and the possibility of significantly higher farming costs. “We have been able to bring farming costs down most years to near-conventional levels,” says Schoenfeld. The winery’s current policy is to slowly expand the amount of acreage farmed organically, in order to maximize the positive benefits seen thus far.

Produced exclusively from grapes grown in the Odem organic vineyard, Yarden Odem Organic Vineyard Chardonnay 2002 was fermented in French oak barrels and aged on yeast sediments for seven months. It is a complex wine, combining floral, citrus, pear and tropical fruit flavors together with vanilla and mineral aromas. This is a concentrated, full-bodied white wine with a long, enjoyable finish.

The Yarden Odem Organic Vineyard Chardonnay 2002 will continue to improve in the bottle for two more years from vintage and will remain at its best for five additional years. It can be enjoyed with rich fish or chicken dishes and goes particularly well with cheese and butter-based sauces. The wine is expected to be available in the US market in April 2004, with a suggested retail price of $18.99.

The Golan Heights Winery has produced 2,000 cases of Yarden Odem Organic Vineyard Chardonnay 2002, packaging each bottle in a special box. The text and the photographs on the box tell the story of the Odem organic vineyard and also describe another unique feature of this wine: its association with the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel. The Golan Heights Winery will donate part of the wine’s sales revenues to the Society’s barn owl project. Barn owls have been shown to be excellent for biological extermination of rodents, significantly reducing the intensive use of pesticides, and thus are a boon to organic agriculture.

Yarden wines are distributed nationally through Yarden, Inc. For ordering information please contact Yarden, Inc. at (212) 605-0478.

 

Available for Download:   Yarden Odem Organic Vineyard Chardonnay ( Word-Format)

Contact

Golan Heights Winery
Yarden, Inc.
575 Madison Ave., Suite 1006
New York, NY 10022
Tel: 212-605-0478
Fax: 212-605-0479
Email: hhassin@aol.com

Visit their Website:
www.yardenwines.com

 

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