On Oct. 7, 2023, everything changed for David Pinto.
The co-founder and CEO of Pinto Winery was vacationing in northern Israel, far from his home in Yerucham in the country’s south. But when Hamas brutally infiltrated Israel that morning, Pinto—an IDF officer with the rank of major—was immediately called up to serve in the reserves.
It took him a whole day to reach his home, with roads shut down across the country. He gathered his belongings, left his wife and daughters in Jerusalem and spent 170 days of the next 22 months fighting for Israel’s survival.
The timing couldn’t have been worse for Pinto Winery, which launched in 2020. The war struck a significant financial blow to the young business, derailing its ambitious plans for growth—including opening a flagship visitor center.
“It was not easy,” Pinto told JNS. “We had to reinvent ourselves.”
Instead of expanding across Israel, the company pivoted to exports. Despite complex global markets, Pinto said the family-run winery—now producing around 100,000 bottles annually—managed to sell its entire supply. Still, with limited staff and resources, not everything ran smoothly.
“We’re a small family business, and we couldn’t manage everything,” he said. “There were many processes that were not seen through and had to wait.”
The biggest dream put on hold was opening the visitor center in Yerucham. Pinto said he ran out of funds and lacked the manpower to navigate the bureaucracy required to complete the project. “We were set back by a year, which is kind of dramatic,” he said.
But the family didn’t give up. The Pintos—a philanthropic family who launched the winery as an impact investment to boost Yerucham’s economy and image—remained focused on their main mission.
“Our mission is to sell top-quality wines from the desert because of the desert, not despite it,” Pinto explained. “People talk about terroir. The desert is so extreme—325 days of sun a year and only 80 millimeters of rain annually. Vines shouldn’t grow here. But we make them grow because we’re crazy—and because we have access to water to irrigate. Wines from the desert are very special. The whites are crisp, rich and beautiful. The reds are spiced and fruitful.”
In August, Pinto Winery will finally open its long-awaited visitor center and, for the first time, participate in the Israel Museum Wine Festival in Jerusalem. While Pinto wines are already available in select stores in the Holy City, the company is now making a big push to reach the broader kosher wine-drinking community.
“We see the festival as a great opportunity for people to really get to know us, to know the wines and what we can do,” Pinto said. “Now we are looking forward and trying to be optimistic.”
Pinto Winery is joining more than 25 local wineries and brands at the upcoming Jerusalem Wine Festival, which takes place August 5–7 at the Israel Museum. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the summer tradition.
Festivalgoers can sample unlimited tastings from dozens of booths while enjoying live performances by popular local artists, including Sugarbeat, the Salomon Brothers, the Tzanchani Brothers, Gavraband, and several surprise street acts.
Alongside Pinto, guests will have the chance to try wines from across the Negev and the North regions that the ongoing war has deeply impacted. Wineries from Judea and Samaria as well as from other parts of the country will also be featured. Participating producers include Tania Winery, Jaffa Winery, Har Bracha, Teperberg, Chateau Miron, Adir Winery and many more.
The organizers reflected on the festival’s legacy, recalling moments over the past two and a half decades that left a lasting impression—like discovering a small boutique winery and becoming a loyal fan, dancing under the stars, raising glasses in celebration and soaking in the unique Jerusalem atmosphere.
They said in a statement that this year’s festival is more than just a milestone celebration. It’s a chance to bring together all the beauty and flavor of Israel’s wine culture, set against the backdrop of one of the most special cities in the world.
Among the wineries participating in the festival is Mount Odem Winery, located just two kilometers (1.2 miles) from the Syrian border and seven kilometers (4.3 miles) from Lebanon. It is Israel’s northernmost and highest-elevation winery.
Yaara Alfasi Biadgalin, vice president of marketing and export for Mount Odem, said the winery barely paused operations since the war began. Her parents founded Mount Odem when she was a child.
On Oct. 7, the winery was in the middle of its annual harvest. Her two older brothers—Adam, the winemaker, and Yishai, the vintner—were both called to reserve duty, along with her husband, who manages the agricultural department, and the company’s CEO. Alfasi Biadgalin was seven months pregnant with their third child.
“It was a tough spot since all of our vineyards were declared a military closed area and we could not harvest them,” she recalled.
Almost all of the winery’s employees had either been drafted or evacuated. But the grapes couldn’t wait.
“We knew we had to harvest the grapes or everything would be lost,” she said.
Ten days into the war, the family secured special permission to return to their vineyards in the Valley of Tears, just 500 meters from the Syrian border. Determined not to lose the season, they handpicked the grapes themselves, one by one, and produced the 200,000 bottles they had committed to for the year.
About 45 days later, Alfasi Biadgalin made another bold decision: to reopen the winery’s visitor center.
“Even if no one would come, we did it for ourselves,” she told JNS. “We opened this winery when I was 12 years old. If we closed, someone else was winning the war—and it wasn’t us.”
She cleaned off the shelves and reopened the doors. At first, the only visitors were IDF soldiers stopping by for a glass of wine or a hot coffee to warm up. Then came families visiting their homes in the North. Eventually, as more residents returned, the country followed—and so did the wine lovers.
“Now, we are open for everyone,” she said.
She noted that some rockets did fall in the vineyards, but no one was injured, and the damage was minimal. The winery pressed on.
What stood out most to her during this time was the people’s resilience in Israel’s northern region.
“You don’t think about the consequences. I stayed the whole time,” she said. “The people of the North are very brave. I didn’t realize it then, but you can now see how people in the North and South stood together—with each other and their land.”
Although Odem Winery has often participated in the Jerusalem festival, Alfasi Biadgalin admitted that this year feels different.
“I feel awful. There is nothing nice about this war that keeps going on and on,” she said. “Two years is too long. It’s surreal to be at a wine festival while the country is still under fire.”
Still, for her, sharing her family’s story is part of their mission.
“All this time, we’ve been living in this beautiful place, high up in the mountains. We have a mission to be there,” she said.
Now, more than ever, she believes it’s essential to support the people of the periphery—winemakers and farmers who have held the line under unimaginable pressure.
“They’ve waited patiently,” she said. “When these wineries come to Jerusalem from the North and South, I hope people will come out, drink, enjoy and buy a few bottles.”
“Show them how much you care,” she exhorted.
