MUGI – My Unique Gift Idea

Yesterday I had quite an experience at a winery and vineyard. This was not just any vineyard. It was Biblical in every sense. What I mean is, the guy who operates it, a man named Ariel Ben-Sheetrit, could have come out of the times of the Davidic kings of Israel. He lives just off the Israeli town of Yitzhar, located right by his vineyard. He told us that ever since he was a kid, his dream was to own a vineyard and to make wine. Winner of a silver medal for his wine, he seems to have succeeded.

The most unique thing, however, about this wine is that it is grown in complete accordance to Biblical law. That is, on the seventh year of the Biblical agricultural cycle observed in the land of Israel, the vineyard is not tended and the earth lies fallow. The problem with this is that the grapes can die if they are not tended for a whole year.

For the year preceding this past 7th year, he was trying to figure out what to do to keep his vineyard from dying, knowing that he would not be able to prune it. He was told to water it very scarcely so they vines wouldn’t grow as much, and therefore pruning would not be as necessary. That he did, but the advice didn’t work. They grew like mad anyway, and all he could do was wait out the time.

Yet, instead of dying, the vines, beyond all expectation of the French-trained winemaker he solicited for advise, grew so successfully that in the year following, the produced 14 tons of grapes instead of the average 4 for the size of the vineyard. That’s 3.5 times average.

He capped off the story this way. In the Bible, it is assured that if the 7th year is kept in full and the fields of Israel are left fallow, then God will provide on the 8th year, enough for that year and the two years following. That would be three times average, three years in one. That is exactly what happened here, plus another half.

The vineyard produces a tiny 5,000 bottles a year, making this wine very rare.