Abbey Greenberg
About 5 years ago, Binyamina Wineries, an established Israeli vineyard, decided to launch a new standalone line of wines called Yogev. Literally translated as ‘worker of the land, the name bears nostalgic ties to the early years of the state of Israel—alluding to the honest, laborious efforts put forth and its gratifying rewards. It pays homage to vine growers, in an Israeli spin-off of how American ads have glorified the cowboy over the years. The Yogev succeeded in creating an instant iconography. It was amazing no one had done it to that extent before.
Until that point, the winery had two brands: Binyamina and Binyamina Special Reserve. Their reasoning for launching the new line was twofold: to gain a new audience, while cultivating a new kind of wine. “The Yogev label was initially launched from a marketing point of view, not from a wine making point of view,” says Timna Shetrit, head of marketing for Binyamina. She adds that before Yogev, Binyamina was perceived as a ‘supermarket wine.’ Yogev allowed the company to offer high-end wine consumers a quality product at a marginal cost. The boutique wine industry was just developing in Israel when Binyamina developed Yogev. It was a substantial detour, but one that put them back on the map.
Binyamina eventually caught wind of Anat Kleiman’s talents, owner of a small graphic design studio in Tel-Aviv and enlisted her to work on Yogev’s branding. To begin, Kleiman went searching for a photo, something depicting a winemaker in the process of fermenting grapes into wine, but she came up empty. Without an image to work from, she created her own. She photographed her husband with a laundry basket suspended over his shoulder—a man ostensibly at work in the fields. She referenced this photo in replicating the iconic image now interchangeably associated with the Yogev brand.
In 2005, Binyamina debuted the first 4 bottles of Yogev and has since added two more blends to the collection. Each bottle is a mix of two kinds of grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon-Shiraz; Cabernet Sauvignon-Petit Verdot; Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot; Cabernet Sauvignon-Zinfandel; Sauvignon Blanc-Chardonnay; and Aromatic Blend. Since then, the collection has grown and the seventh wine, Yogev’s first non-blend, will be on sale in early 2010.
Within four years, Yogev has doubled Binyamina’s exports, specifically to the United States, heralding Binyamina as a preferred restaurant wine, a previously untapped resource for the winery. Priced between 35 to 55 NIS a bottle ($12-16), Yogev is a wine for oenophiles who are looking for a tasteful choice that is also easy on the wallet. Yogev’s red wine blends age only 6-8 months in the barrel and the white blends are fermented and stored in stainless steel tanks. The concept is that the wine will be ready to drink when it is served—and not an hour later.
Sasson Ben-Aharon is Binyamina’s chief vintner; he is responsible for the company’s wine production from vineyard to bottle—managing everything from the choice of the grape, to the creation of the blend, to when the wine hits the market. He was instrumental in creating the new wine. Binyamina wineries exist all over Israel from the Upper Galilee in the north to Mitzpeh Ramon in the south and the Yogev excels at mixing and matching grapes and growers for each wine. “I am looking for the typical characteristics of a certain grape, but I am also looking for the grower with the best quality,” he explains. Often, the grower comes from a region that is not known for producing the best variety of that grape and Ben-Aharon supports using grapes from unconventional regions. “It is the grower that makes the grape great, not the region,” he says.
Everything from the brand to the label to the actual taste of Yogev reflects the company’s motto: for people who love wine, from people who love wine. “The concept is to say thank you to the wine growers for all the great grapes that make the wine what it is,” Kleiman explains. This is the reason why each bottle reads the vine grower’s name on the label and the packaging proudly bears the stained fingers and pleased expressions of its growers. It bridges the gap between the grower in the field and the drinker in the city. “Everyone talks about the land, the terroir, the technology and the winemakers, but Binyamina talks about the vine growers,” says Shetrit. “For the growers, it is like pregnancy and birth; their personal name is on the wine—it is very emotional for them.”
In lieu of Binyamina’s celebration of the land and those who work it, they also recently launched the gourmet extra virgin Yogev olive oil. “This was a great way to further emphasize the brand’s tie to the land,” says Shetrit. It’s also a great way to rethink not only about what we eat and drink, but the love and labor that goes into them.