Tura Winery. Family owned and operated winery.
Tura is a winery located on a family estate (estate winery). Its founders are Vered and Erez Ben-Saadon. For a winery to qualify as an estate winery, it must own its own vineyards. In addition, the wine must be produced on the premises of the winery from the time of fermentation, aging and bottling. The vineyards are not required to adjoin the winery, but must be geographically located in the same area.
Vered and Erez Ben-Saadon are very attached to Israel and its land. They are people who do their business with love, paying attention to every detail. Six months after they married, they invested all their savings to buy 20 square kilometers of land for vineyards in the Bracha village. At first the couple sold their grapes to other wineries, but this led to political problems related to customer preferences in European markets.
At this point, the Ben-Saadon couple decided to take a winemaking course and produce their own wine. This decision was the right one, the Tura winery was a resounding success. Thanks to the blind tasting method, far removed from political squabbles, the products of the Tura winery have won a number of awards and favorable reviews, and the winery itself has become a place of pilgrimage for Israeli and foreign wine connoisseurs.
Erez Ben-Saadon
Erez’s parents came from Morocco and Iran. He grew up in Jerusalem and moved to the village of Kohav al-Shahar at an early age. In the army, Erez served in the paratroopers, and after his demobilization he decided to return to his first love – farming and land work. Erez is an enterprising man who lives his dreams, sees the big picture and pays attention to the small details. He oversees the wine making process at all stages, from growing the grapes to marketing. His decision to create his own winery with his wife was no accident.
When Erez touches the stones in the vineyard, he feels the realization of a biblical prophecy in the book of Jeremiah: “You shall yet plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria. Those who plant them, they will enjoy the fruit” (Jeremiah 31:5).
Vered Ben-Saadon
The story of the Vered family is impressive: Her grandmother, the Dutch Jewess Licha de Parise, was a 15-year-old girl when World War II broke out. For several years, the family hid in different places. At first, Lisha was separated from her parents and lived for some time on an island in the north of Holland. There she kept a diary, just like another Dutch girl, Anne Frank. At the end of the war, Lisha married a Jewish survivor of the Shoah. They had two sons. One of them is Father Vered. “When Daddy was eight years old, his father died. Grandma remarried, to a Dutchman named Roll Meyer. Lisha’s son from his first marriage fell in love with Meyer’s daughter Els, his half-sister. That’s my mother,” recalls Vered.
Despite the fact that Els was non-Jewish, she showed an interest in her husband Yoel’s cultural and religious heritage. Els (now called Rivka) and Yoel enrolled in religious studies, but even there they were unable to get answers to their questions. Relatives who lived in Israel helped Yoel and Els and their two young daughters to come to Israel. After some time, Els and the girls converted to Judaism. The ceremony was conducted by Israel’s chief rabbi, Shlomo Goren.
Vered grew up in Jerusalem. From a young age she was a determined girl. At 15, she met Erez, her future husband. Erez and Vered were engaged in 11th grade and married in 12th grade. Vered took her math final exams while pregnant. She received her university degree in education while raising her 3 children. The couple now has five children.
As a winery founder and companion, Vered has become a kind of “spokesperson for Samaria.” Visitors taste wine, learn about Vered’s biography and learn a lot about Samaria in general.
On the 75th Independance Day of the State of Israel, Vered Ben Saadon was chosen to light a torch at the torch lighting ceremony on Mount Herzl in honor of the farmers, the residents of Smaria and the honor of Israeli Wine.
History
In 1997, the newlyweds chose to live in the village of Bracha in order to farm the land. Vered and Erez invested the money they received as a wedding gift to buy the first 20 square kilometers of land. The father helped buy a tractor, the grandmother and aunt bought grape seedlings, and the planting was done by friends and volunteers who worked from dawn until dusk.
In accordance with kashrut requirements, after only four years, the couple began to sell grapes. One of Israel’s largest wineries became their client. Only in the summer of 2003 Vered and Erez established the Tura winery. Of the equipment there were four barrels. Originally the winery was housed in a building that was built by the first inhabitants of the village of Rehelim. All members of the Ben-Saadon family, including the children, participated in the process of building the winery. The work was done by hand, in an atmosphere of love and joy.
Giving into the excitement, the owners of the winery sent their first batch of wine to the Golden Bunch competition. Thus, the Tura winery received its first medal. Subsequently, its products would be awarded a number of prestigious prizes.
