A new wine was recently launched from the Fauker Winery in Nir Oz. Hundreds of wine lovers attended the launch event at Grainman’s House in Jaffa.
It turns out that Kibbutz Nir Oz also has a winery that not many people know about. The winery was founded by kibbutz member Gideon Pauker with the help of his friends from Shagun Line Gideon Pauker was murdered on October 7 in Nir Oz, his friends Haim Peri and Yoram Metzger were kidnapped to Gaza and murdered in the tunnels, and his friend Gadi Mozes was kidnapped and is still being held prisoner by Hamas.
Gal Fauker, grandson of the late Gideon, decided to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps, and took over the operation of the home restaurant from Haim Gan, CEO and owner of ‘The Grape Man’, who brought him together with wine makers and winery owners in Israel. Among them is the winery ‘Tura’ in the settlement of Rachel. In addition, he planted a vineyard with new varieties of grapes in Ein Hashur. From this vineyard is a wine called “Pawker Red Vintage 23”. 4 varieties are combined in production – Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Petit Verdot.
When winemaker Gal Fauker introduced it, he said “This is the first wine my grandfather didn’t work on.” In his opinion “the process of making wine is as challenging as giving birth to a child”.
Haim Gan (left) with son and grandson of the late Gideon Fauker (Photo: Tomer Haroubi)
Pauker Winery produced about a thousand bottles of vintage 23 this year, which began to be marketed to the public in a commercial way at a price of NIS 150 per bottle. Most of the bottles from Pauker Winery are distributed only to members of Kibbutz Nir Oz, and this includes other wines as well.
At the launch event, a taste of the new wine was distributed, but we did not taste it because it is not kosher. This is a harvest that is “sown and reaped”. Differences of opinion arose among my wine-loving friends who drank the new wine. Some said it was an excellent wine, others said it was mediocre and boring. According to some, the taste does not justify the price of NIS 150 per bottle, but perhaps the interesting story behind the winery justifies the price. It is hoped that in the future Kibbutz Nir Oz will be able to obtain a kosher certificate for the winery, and then sales will increase.
Haim Gan said at the event: “The new winery is a story of resilience, talent, passion and Israeli expertise. Senior agronomists and winemakers join the new winery to help. It all started with a small vineyard that becomes a vineyard. vineyard, excellent vineyard!”
Among the many guests at the launch event we also saw the ambassadors of Sri Lanka and Japan in Israel. When I asked the Sri Lankan ambassador, Menik Bandara, how he related to this incident inside Israel, he replied that two Sri Lankan agricultural workers in Nir Oz were massacre on that terrible day, and this also connects Sri Lanka to everything that happens in Nir Oz. The Japanese ambassador to Israel, Arai Yusuke, and the culture and correspondent of the Japanese embassy, Dr. Yoshi Higuchi, graced the opening ceremony with their presence.
