Cremisan Dabouki, West Bank 2020 (750 ml)

Place: Cremisan Valley, Bethlehem, Palestine (800m)

Grapes: 100% Dabouki, an indigenous Palestinian white grape

Soil: Limestone

Alcohol: 13% abv

Farming: dry farmed, hand pruned and harvested

Production: 10,000 bottles (750ml)

Grape Yield: 15hL/Ha

Winemaking: Hand picked in mid September. The grapes are destemmed and soft pressed into stainless tanks. The juice is fermented with carefully chosen yeasts and left to age on lees for 4-6 months. The juice is filtered twice before bottling. Straw yellow color with high acidity and minerality. Notes of Dead Sea salt, lime zest, melon, and apricot.

Tasting Notes: Notes of Dead Sea salt, lime zest, melon, and apricot.

Pairings: Fattoush, Pesto Genovese, summer time vibes by the water

Previous Awards: 2013 vintage was awarded 89 points by Wine Spectator

About Cremisan

The Cremisan monastery and winery was founded in 1885 by Fr. Antonio Belloni an Italian Salesian Monk. He opened the wine operation in an attempt to create a revenue source for the monastery’s orphanage.

Cremisan is located on the northern slope of Mount El Ras just outside the city of Bethlehem and only 12k away from Jerusalem. The name Cremisan comes from the Arabic “Kerem Zan” meaning the Vineyard of Zan grapes, an indigenous Palestinian varietal.

Cremisan was the first winery in the region to use indigenous Palestinian grapes, sparking both regional and international interest in Palestinian grapes. Cremisan’s interest in the grapes stemmed from research conducted by now Head Winemaker, Fadi Batarseh. For his university disseration, Fadi studied 64 different grape samples from around Palestine and concluded that Palestine is home to 21 unique genomes. Fadi and the Cremisan team picked the most promising four (Dabouki, Baladi, Hamdani, Jandali) to utlitize commercially.