The History
Once upon a time…
Jerusalem Winery
Until the 19th Century
It is the story of a people exiled from his land, two thousand years ago because of their sins, and who wander, since, from country to country, century after century.
It is also the story of families whose wine needs are closely linked to faith in the Torah of Moses and the love of vines and wine. These families lived without ever forgetting their attachment to the Land of Israel and, above all, to the temple of Jerusalem, where the priests proceeded daily to the libations of wine on the altar of the Eternal.
The obligation to produce wine despite the ban on becoming vine owners encouraged the Jewish notables of each community to set up wine cellars under their houses where they brought back the grapes bought from the growers to carry out the vinification themselves in the strictest conditions imposed by Judaism.
Exiled to Rome two thousand years ago, the Murciano and Sasportas families found then themselves in Spain for a few centuries before being expelled again in 1492 and hosted by Morocco.
It is there in Fes, the kingdom of the Cherifian empire, that these two families of notables and Rabbis produced in cellars under their houses, wines for all the Jewish communities of the ghetto of Fes called the Mellah in Arabic.
Rabbi Samuel Murciano was known throughout the city and even in the neighboring towns of Meknes and Sefrou as a producer of kosher wines, among other things, and recognized for his ability to produce excellent wines consumed during Shabat and Holydays.
After the emancipation of the Jews following the conquest of Morocco by the French in 1907, his grandson Isaac Murciano produced wine with modern methods and the skills of the French who exported Moroccan wine to France.
Further north, in the Berkane region, the Sasportas family planted vineyards and vinified impressive quantities for the local market and export.
At the end of the 1950’s, the wars of independence in Morocco and then Algeria once again forced the Jews into exile, and most of them chosed France.
On the school benches, the children of these new exiles bonded by sharing the common memories of the harvest and the beautiful moments lived in the cellars of their fathers and grandfathers in North Africa.
This love of wine has been passed down from generation to generation. The two families vowed to fulfill the shared dream of establishing Jerusalem Winery upon returning to Zion after two thousand years of exile.
1998
It was in 1998 that the decision was made to unite the skills and efforts of the two Sasportas and Murciano families to found Jerusalem Winery. Regular trips to see the company and carry out scouting concerning the vineyards and the future location of production.
Step by step, the solutions are found, and the motivation to see ourselves producing wines in Israel has increased our strength tenfold to make the dream of returning to Zion come true.
2000
The year 2000 was pivotal when the grape purchase contracts and the plantations of French grape varieties started. We hired Francois Raynal to advise the purchase the best French and Italian equipment and to supervise installation to be ready for the 2001 harvest.
From 2001
From 2001 and for more than 20 years now, the grape harvests followed one another while waiting for the final stage where the Temple of Jerusalem would be rebuilt and where we would be able to bring our wine to the priests to carry out the libations ordered by our Master Moise on the Altar of the Eternal at Jerusalem.
