Between Vintages – Bein HaZmanim
Bein HaZmanim (Hebrew for "between the times" – In-Between Times) refers to the scheduled vacation periods in the orthodox Jewish Yeshiva world, occurring after the winter and summer terms. These breaks, roughly aligned with Passover and Sukkot, allow students to rest, spend time with families, and recharge before resuming intense talmudic studies
During the period between vintages – the "in-between times" – the winemaker is busy with many and varied tasks, in the vineyard and the winery, but not only there.
At Lahat Winery, we bottled the red wines of the 2024 vintage and pruned the vineyards. The vines are now ready to bud into the new season, and soon we will begin working on the blends for the white wines and the Garrigue. In between, we also carried out marketing activities, in London and in Israel.
"Between vintages" is also a time of professional soul-searching, reflection and thought. It is a period when wine production in all its dimensions sits at the center of one's thinking: this is the moment to examine the approaches to winemaking, from growing practices and grape variety wine-blending through to aging methods. Everything is assessed through repeated tasting of the various components in the current process, set against the wines of past vintages.
The Quiet That Follows
At the end of January 2026 and the beginning of February, we bottled Lahat's red wines from the 2024 vintage. This vintage was characterized by wines with relatively low alcohol content and a body that leans toward the lighter side. In complete contrast to the turbulence that the war – which raged directly above the winery's vineyards – had brought, the wines themselves express a quiet and harmony that may well instill calm and contentment in those who drink them.
In general, the trilogy of red wines represents three different expressions of the winery's red varieties, true to their vintage year. The three wines of the 2024 vintage are exquisitely balanced, complex and above all delicious; they are ready to drink already in their youth and invite you to keep coming back for more.
And So:
Lahat's red wines from the 2024 vintage will spend at least three more months aging at the winery before going on general sale.
The red wines are enjoyable to drink already in their youth, but in keeping with world-class Syrah-dominant wines, the true reward belongs to those who manage to set aside a few bottles for the medium term (3–5 years) and the long term (10 years and perhaps even beyond).
Written About Us
Ahead of a renewed launch of Lahat wines in the USA, England, and for the first time in Canada as well, wine writer Joshua London published an in-depth and comprehensive piece about the path, philosophy and personal terroir of Lahat wines. The article explores the culinary vision behind the wines, and in the meantime, the bottles themselves are making their way to these destinations and will soon be available again in shops and restaurants overseas.
The Wandering Wine Searcher
The Rioja wine region rose to fame at the end of the 19th century, after winemakers from Bordeaux – whose vineyards had been devastated by the spread of the phylloxera epidemic – relocated to the hills and valleys of this land.
For decades it seemed as though winemaking in Rioja had frozen in place, bound to ancient traditions and rigid appellation rules. These were generations during which heavy wines, aged for long periods in small American oak barrels, defined the region's character and set the tone. On a recent visit I met winemakers who had chosen a different path. Most had moved away from the traditional classifications – Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva – and even when they did produce such wines, they chose instead to highlight other wines, taking pride in careful vineyard selection, controlled yields, the use of large-format barrels and shorter aging. The result is wines that are rich yet also fruity and full of life.
And once again, as in other wine regions traditionally considered "red," the wines that excited me most were in fact the whites, based on the Viura and Garnacha Blanca varieties, among others. These are wines fermented in barrel that manage to be both aromatic and fresh while at the same time carrying real weight and complexity.
Published: March 2026