Shiran Winery - Breaking The Rules of Winemaking

By Gregory Aubrey

Meet Eli Shiran, owner and winemaker of Shiran Winery. While traditional wineries [mostly] follow rules and trends in winemaking, Eli is unlike any other in the industry. Shiran Winery was founded in 2012 at the home of the Shiran Family in Efrat, as a small garage winery producing only a few hundred bottles.

In 2018 however, when Shiran Winery grew to produce a few thousand bottles, Eli’s wife gave him 2 choices: it was either going to be wine, or the house. Naturally, he chose both! It was then that Eli and his family moved to the holy city of Kiryat Arba in Hevron.

Trust The Process

Having a passion for food and wine his whole life, he decided in 2011 to take it a step further and take a course in winery management, led by industry-renowned Ido Levinson, former winemaker at Recanati and now at Barkan and Segal Winery. Eli knew that managing his desire to pursue law and winemaking at the same time would be quite the task, but he was determined to make both happen.

Upon completing the course, Eli gave it a shot and tried making his own wine - at home - starting with 100 kg/220 lbs of grapes. While he still had a few doubts about what he was doing, some of his friends in the industry, like Malkiel Hadari from Gito Winery and Kobi Arviv from Recanati Winery, gave him some advice. 

It was in 2012 that Eli really started getting into winemaking, and when he realized that making perfect wine wasn’t necessarily his goal, but rather making wine without any faults or defects was what he was really aiming for. The biggest challenge was perhaps the space needed to make the wine, so Eli produced them from his own house in Efrat.

Traditional grape varietals like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are commonly used in Israel’s winemaking practices, so Eli decided to make a Cab-Merlot blend for Shiran’s first production, named “Chazzan” after his father, to whom he holds very dear. The wine was presented at regional and international competitions - and won Gold Medal both in Israel and Europe. Not bad for a first wine, you might say!

Breaking The Laws of Winemaking, One Grape At a Time

With a naturally “rebellious” or curious personality if you may, Eli decided to swim against the stream and instead focus on producing wines with Mediterranean character and varietals that hold true to Israeli land and its hot climate. It was important to him to craft wines that expressed his character, family, and spirituality - all at once.

Although Eli changes his wines each year, the varietals with which he crafts his wines usually revolve around Carignan, Grenache, Petite Sirah, and Petit Verdot for the reds, as well as Merlot for some blends he produced up until 2015. For white varietals, Semillon, Chardonnay and Viognier are the main grapes, although there could be a few added surprises for the next releases - we’ll just have to wait and see! 

When it comes to blending wines, Eli breaks the rules with the sole purpose of striving to create something different, year after year. He is often advised many times by different people in the industry that blending one varietal with the other would be a terrible idea, but to Eli, that doesn’t matter. As the famous saying from Herzl goes: "If You Will It, It Is No Dream." Many winemakers stick with producing the same blends and single varietals each year, but Eli likes to change things up a bit every year yet while still making wines in a similar style. Why? Because he believes that, just as we as humans have values we stick to and hold by, we develop and change as life progresses, and so should the wine.

Shiran Wines

In 2014, Shiran Winery came out with 2 blends: The Soprano (Grenache and Petite Sirah) and The Conductor (Petite Sirah and Petit Verdot). Each wine is meant to express different feelings and attitudes about life and people. While The Soprano is more feminine with its flowery, fruity and aromatic yet deep character, The Conductor is like watching two excellent dancers passionately dancing on the dancefloor with excellent and flowy movement, a theory for 2 strong varietals that when combined, come out beautifully. Now that we’ve discussed Eli’s approach and a few of his blends, let’s take a deeper look at the creative and high-quality wines coming out of Shiran Winery.

1. The Reds

The Soprano: An expertly crafted blend of Grenache from Gush Etzion vineyards and Petite Sirah from the Ben Zimrah vineyard, these varietals come together to produce a fruit-forward, well oaked red blend. Showing vibrant floral aromas with notes of cranberry and spice on the nose, the palate is bursting with blueberry, raspberry and delicate vanilla and oak flavors. The Shiran Soprano is drinking beautifully now and will continue to age gracefully over the next 4 to 6 years from its current vintage.

The Trio: This creative yet refined blend of Carignan, Petite Sirah, and Petit Verdot is a pleasure for the senses. Fruit-forward, medium to high acidity and well balanced, this wine showcases a complex taste profile that reflects the differences in terroirs and grape varieties chosen for this blend. The vibrant fruit aromas combined with its elegant and subtle oak flavors make this an easy-drinking and pleasant wine to drink now, or to cellar for a few years.

The Conductor: Aged in French, American, and Romanian oak barrels, this blend of Petite Sirah and Petit Verdot come together to create a powerful yet harmonious wine that is bold, yet balanced. Look for ripe red berries, cassis, and leather on the nose, followed by a taste profile that is more fruit-forward with cranberry and black cherry flavors. Due to its grippy tannins, we recommend letting the wine decant for an hour prior to drinking to fully enjoy its potential.

Old Vine Carignan: Originally destined for a blend, this Carignan’s beautiful barrel development led to its bottling as a single varietal. The Shiran Limited Edition Carignan is deep ruby in color, aromas of mixed berries, red plum, and licorice are followed by hints of black pepper, clove, and mint with subtle herbaceous notes follow through on the palate and lead to a long savory finish. This full-bodied wine offers good acidity and round tannins that lend to the balance and structure of this wine. Only 300 bottles of this wine were produced. To enjoy the expression of another Shiran single varietal production, try the Shiran Limited Edition Petit Verdot.

Petit Verdot: The Shiran Limited Edition Petit Verdot is ruby in color, aromas of raspberries, red cherries and freshly cracked nuts upfront lead to subtle hints of toasting and clove followed by a light greenness which adds freshness and offers a pleasant counterbalance to the smoky undertones that follow through on the palate leading to a lingering finish. This wine offers good acidity and round, polished tannins.

2. The Whites

The Triad:  Eli Shiran took Viognier, Semillon, and Chardonnay and somehow found a way to blend all 3 together to create a wine that dances on your palate. This wine shows all the best qualities of each of the grapes and allows the wine to express floral, tropical fruit, and stone fruit notes all while keeping its high acidity and low alcohol. This wine opens up nicely in your glass over the course of a meal, guaranteed to be enjoyed from beginning to end.

Unoaked Chardonnay:  This award-winning Chardonnay is made from grapes grown in the Gush Etzion region at an altitude of 900 meters. This Chardonnay is unoaked and aged for 4 months lending itself to the wonderful creamy texture of the wine.

Don't forget to check out the Semillon and Viognier - the newest whites wines from Shiran Winery that are simply delightful!

Explore The World of Shiran Winery

Now that you’ve read about the wines, Eli’s mindset and philosophy as well as his out-of-the-box approach to winemaking, it’s time to taste the wines for yourself to discover just how great these wines really are. Part of our Micro-Wineries Series, Shiran is truly unique both in its approach and quality, and we're lucky enough to be the exclusive retailer to carry it!