Vered Ben-Sa'adon: Founding Tura Winery Amidst Struggle, Passion, and Legacy

Welcome to The Kosher Teruah.

I'm Simon Jacob, your host for this episode from Jerusalem. Before we get started, I ask that wherever you are, please take a moment and pray for the safety of our soldiers and the safe return of all of our hostages. Tura Winery was founded by Vered and Erez Ben-Sadon in 2003. It is an extremely well-regarded boutique estate winery located in the village of Rechelim in the Shomron, Samaria, Israel. The couple initially planted vineyards on Har Barakha in 1997, focusing in on the area's ideal climate, altitude, and terroir for high-quality wine production. The following is a conversation with Vered Ben Sadoun. She plays a dynamic and multifaceted role at Tora Winery. Beyond her official title as co-owner with her husband Erez, Vered is not just a passive partner but instrumental in both the strategic and day-to-day management overseeing the winery's operations, marketing, and outreach efforts. She is also deeply committed to promoting the winery's unique identity, which is tied to the geographical and religious significance of the Shomron, Samaria. Advocating for the winery's mission, the importance of the land, and passionately representing the region and its wines both within Israel and on the international stage. If you're driving in your car, please focus on the road ahead. If you're home, please select a wonderful bottle of kosher wine, sit back, relax, and enjoy this truly passionate wine episode.

First of all, Vered, welcome to the Kosher Teruah. Okay, that's the beginning of it.

Thank you very much.

So welcome, welcome. Can you tell me a little bit about your unique background? And how your family's history influenced your path towards living in Israel and starting the winery, especially. Mm-hmm.

So I'm 47 years old. I was born in Holland to a non-Jewish mother and a Jewish father. My parents were students in a theology school. They were learning about Buddha, and when they finished learning, they asked the teacher, why don't you teach Judaism? And he told them he don't know how to teach it. So they began to ask other people in Israel, and we Medeliato Israel and converted by the Rabbi Goren himself. Today my parents live in Kochav Shachar. It's like half an hour from here. Beautiful area. And they're neighbors of my in-laws that came from Morocco and Iran. And that's how I met Erez. We married very young. We live in Amankatzim. And we want to settle the land. And that's why we began to plant vineyards. My parents have no background with agriculture. Also not my indoors. We wanted to settle the land and that's why we did what we did. And it became one of the famous places for best grape, the best grapes in Israel today because of Mount Grizim, not because of mistakes. I know it's because of that, but not everybody knows that.

Kochava Shakhar, was it a special place to grow up? Did it impact your view on the community?

And so Kochava Shakhar is a very nice place to live at. A lot of nature around and also agriculture. So as children, we were working there. We worked there in the fields, in the vineyards, and helping the season, during the season. But I think the most important thing was that after we married and we lived in Ma'angrezim, that was like, we were family number 14. It was too small. It was really, we wanted to settle the land. So we did agriculture, not because we thought it would be a good business to do. It was because we knew that every Jew in Samaria has like maximum half a dunam. If you have agriculture, you can have hundreds of dunams. So that's the way to settle the land. So that's why we did it, not because of experience, because of money, because of nothing. So yeah, but Baruch Hashem, God promised who will love the land, they'll have will give him love back. So that's what we see.

What motivated you and Erez to establish the Tora Winery, especially in 2003, which was the, you know, Second Intifada? It was in the middle of everything that was going on.

Yes, we lived there actually on that time. We maybe a year or two before we moved to another hill next to Mount Grizim because we want to expand our bacha. And we lived there with like nobody. There was even a tank of the army that took care about us as a family, like went around and around the caravan. We were young. We went to settle the land, no other reasons. And it became an empire, all this area. Like every— also today you can see kids like 17, 20 years old, they're living on a hill alone, no nothing, no nothing around them, and it will be a yeshuv, b'ezrat Hashem, one day. So that's how this area is growing, because of pioneers. To be a pioneer in this region, that's— you need to be. Today it's easier, much easier than it was. We see many tourists in normal days, not in days like this. But you see people come because it's like more normal to live here, and you see places, nice places, and restaurants and places to sleep at. So it became more normal to live here, and that's good. It's a good thing.

Anyway, how does Tura reflect, uh, the two of your Tzioni background?

I was never thinking even. It's like We did what we needed to do.

Okay.

So we grow, we produce, we sell, we show the people that to be a normal person and to have good and normal life, that's our mission in my life.

Okay.

So we never thought about what we want to do. We like, we went into it with no pri'ra. No, we didn't choose it.

Okay.

And every day is like you are on a mission without you want.

So how did you get, how did you start the winery?

So after we married, we lived in Mount Grizim.

Yeah.

Uh, we began planting. We had no knowledge because we want to settle the land because what I told you.

Yeah.

So we grow, and after 4 years we began to sell the grapes to a big winery in Israel. And they stopped— they bought for 2 years our grapes, but after 2 years they got problems because they bought wines from the occupied territories, so-called.

Okay.

So they stopped buying the grapes. And we got a problem. We said, okay, what can we do? And we said, okay, we will try to open a winery. And that's the, that's the real story. We opened a winery in Osori with 4 barrels. Today it's already 280,000 bottles a year. So imagine how much we grow in 23 years. It's a lot. And 4 barrels, it's around 1,200 bottles.

Yeah, it's 300 bottles a barrel approximately. Right. What were the challenges you faced at the beginning? Were there some challenges you could talk about?

So you mentioned the Second Intifada.

Yeah.

We lost many friends at that time and it was very hard to live here. Thank God things changed. Fortunately, now in all Israel, it's not easy to live.

Yeah.

Because it's not easy to be a Jew. And that's what I'm telling the people already 20 years. I'm hosting the people here in this place and I'm telling everybody who's asking, we don't live here because of the neighbors or because of money. We live here because we need to settle the land. And we had a time, it's much better than that one. It was in the beginning, we saw tourists, many places, new places. It's much better. The place grows, many families, new families and more Yeshuvim, many, many things changed. But unfortunately, these days we see that in the end, you know, people blamed me for years that I'm the problem of the universe because I'm a settler, right? And I told them, no, you're not right, it's not me, trust me, they hate you because you're a Jew even you live in Tel Aviv, right? And they were arguing with me many times. These days I think people, some of them, not all of them, understand that to be a Jew and to live in Israel, it's a mission. It's something you need to love to do it and to want to do it or not. Because you need also to sacrifice even you live in Tel Aviv. That's it. 100%. And it's not about if we will be kind or give land back or even only if all of us will move to Uganda, maybe then. But also, I don't think so.

I don't think so. I don't think so at all. I don't think so.

They didn't kill us in the Holocaust because we were settlers, right?

Right.

So I think it's the same thing. Look, from October 7th, I realized more and more that's my job in my life, to be a Jew, to be a good Jew, and don't think too much what people think about us. Do what you need to do, and that's it, because Even if you tried, and trust me, I tried many times to host Arabs and to invite them from the Arab village around. I was naive. Today I'm not anymore. I don't trust them. I can't. Sorry, I can't. I can't take any more risk. That's it. I think it's, I don't know how to say it in English. I think it's, um, I think it's a reality in like Hashem created the world.

Yes.

He said, it's written, "Esav son elei hakol." Yeah. It's a fact to stay like that.

Yeah.

And I know as a Jew, and I'm sorry to say it, but I have 2 kids that's fighting in Gaza right now. So I know what the feeling is. And as a mother, it's very hard. But I know that it's a fact. And if we will try to do different, if we will give back, if we will do this and that, in the end, it will be happening again in 100 years, 10 years. Because it's a fact in the world. That's how Hashem created the world. We as Jews need to do what we need to do. And that's how it will be forever until Mashiach will come.

Right.

And until then, we need to do what we can. And it's not helping. We need to defend ourselves. But if we think stupid things, thoughts of giving land back, we saw in Gush Katif it was not helping. It's even worse. Everything what Happening today is because of that, from my aspect. That's what I believe. So we need to understand who created the world, what is our tafkidh in this life.

That's the trick.

And that's it.

To be a representative of God. And it's a huge responsibility.

We didn't choose this. No, we didn't choose this. He chose us.

Yes.

Okay, so maybe some of us will say, no, we, okay, we don't want it. We give up.

Talk to me a little bit about your expansion into the international markets? So we're especially Dubai and what have you.

Okay, so we're selling today 55% outside the country. Okay, uh, to many places, most of it to New York, like most of the other wineries in the country. We have Russia, we have the East, uh, Singapore, for example. We have Europe. Europe, by the way, these days is not easy. Also, the Jews that live there are suffering, so it's not easy as well. And Dubai, like after the peace process, we went there. I went there after a few weeks, maybe 3 weeks, and we sold wine and olive oil. These days, unfortunately, it's not so easy. There still is the peace process still continuing.

Right.

But the Israeli people are not going there so often anymore. By the way, the government is telling them not to go these days. You know, you don't know. You don't know who is waiting to kill you. So also to Morocco and places like that. So, um, yeah, so it's less these days. Europe and Dubai, of course, is less. And we even— Morocco is still too, but it's now less. But we believe one day it will be better.

Tell me a little bit about your hope for what people feel when they drink your wine.

I'm telling the people when you drink Tour Wines, it's not only a wine, a special wine, a good wine with awards, that by the way, we have a lot of awards from all around the world, but it's more than that. When Jeremiah came after the exile, he told the people here in the land of Israel, he told them, "Oti tikra mim be'ereshon gon." It means one day, he promised them, you should come back to your land. To produce wine and plant vineyards and so on. That's what he promised. So we had the honor to come after 2,000 years back to Mount Grizim that was empty waiting for us, plant the vineyards and have the best melograpes in Israel. So that's something with no knowledge, with nothing. It's a miracle. Like the first wine got the first medal. So this is more than a good wine. It's a very good wine, it has many awards, many good scores, but it's much more than that. This is the prophecies that you're drinking. It's like you're holding the prophecies of Jeremiah that promised us to come back. So we came back, we succeed, we have very good wine. And Baruch Hashem, it's really, I'm telling it to every group and I'm still excited by this fact that it's really a miracle. I really feel and believe in it.

It's an incredible time to be in Israel.

So it's not easy, but I will tell you something, because I was not, I was not born as a Jew.

Yeah, I converted.

So I still ask from time to time, I ask myself, why do I need this? Why? But my grandmother that survived the Holocaust, she said, like, it's a nice country. There are things you need to fix. No question, no doubt. But never get used to the fact that you have a country, that you have your own country. So she, as a generation who suffered so much in the Holocaust, she told us, she educated us. So it's not perfect. Israel is not perfect. But don't get used to the fact that you have your own country. Never. So even today, if it's hard, I'm trying to remember what she said.

Is there one incredible experience that you've had that made you feel incredibly special at the winery or in what you've done with the winery?

So small stories and big stories. Like yesterday, there was, we had a visit of the ambassador of Taiwan. Okay, this for me a small story, but it's a big miracle.

Yeah.

Why they even think about Rihaelim, or about Torah, why they even came here. So that's a small story. And a big story is the fact we had the honor to light the torch in Yom Ha'atzmaut, the Israeli Independence Day, for 75 years, um, like a year and a half ago on Mount Herzl. Okay, so that was a big, big, big story for us.

How were you chosen?

The idea was, uh, they looked The subject was pioneers. So they look for pioneers all around Israel to light the torch and to get this big honor. And no question we are pioneers, but unfortunately the people in Israel and the state of Israel never sought to give this honor to the people living in Judah and Samaria that sacrificed so much. So I was the first settler that the first time light the torch in Israel after so many years.

Wow. Wow, wow, wow, wow. Is there any advice you could give to a young woman looking to break into the wine business?

Don't ask, don't think what other people will think. Do what you need to do and do it with all your love and faith. And even if it will be hard, try to look at the bigger picture because I know how it is even today. With small things that happening and not easy. But when you like look a little bit on the bigger picture, you will see how much you did already and you will get the faith how to continue. So yeah.

What role does the family play in the winery?

So if you will come to Shabbat, you will see like the Shabbat dinner is like a business meeting. Everybody is talking about what was in the last week, who did what, what's what's new and so on, what wines we need to produce, what we need to change. It's all together, business and family. It's never separate, even if we try to do that. It's hard, but it's also good. So our son, Baruch Hashem, finished Gaza. He is an officer in the army, was fighting for 7 months. He lost more than 50 friends. And he left Gaza 2 months ago and he joined us. So he is now working with us.

He's working in the— he's working in the warehouse.

And we really need hands. So that was really good. Our other son is still fighting Gaza. He is in the commando unit. We have another daughter. She's also in the Air Force. So she's there. And we hope the little one will join us and the other son after he finished the army as well. But in Israel, because we are serving the army, we need to be patient and wait. But you can see on our logo, it's patience and inspiration. It means we need to wait, and only if you wait you will see the results, the good results. And inspiration is because all of this area, the biblical area of Shomron, of Samaria, that's what gives us the courage to do what we are doing. We know we're not the only one. We're not the first one. We only continue doing what people stopped doing 2,000 years ago.

Just a few more questions. I promise I'll let you go. What's your hope as far as the impact of the winery on the perception of wines coming out of the Shomron, out of Samaria?

So I hope that one day the wines from Israel will be so good that people will know them all around the world like the ones from France. France or Italy, not because they are kosher, not only Jews, but in general people will enjoy a bottle, a good bottle of Israel, of Israeli wine, only because of the fact they hear the wines are Israel are good because we're the land of milk and honey. So they will look to see where they can find the wine from Israel, a bottle, a good Israeli bottle.

Can you tell a little bit of a story to share a moment when you felt that all that hard work and struggle were worth it?

So there were many during the years, but it's when you get an award, when you see a couple that get married and have the wine at the chuppah, not because I gave it to them, but because they took it from the shelf in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. When I see people from Tel Aviv not religious, that they come here and sit on a good bottle of wine because they want it, because they choose it. Of course, the torch.

Awesome.

That's, of course, was a moment I told my mother because my mother, like my grandmother, I told you, from the Jewish side survived the Holocaust, I told you.

Yes.

But from the non-Jewish side, my grandmother, the mother of my mother, helped the Nazis during the war.

Wow.

So she for years said, please don't mention that. And I said, Mommy, you don't have to be ashamed because of that. It's not you. Look what you did. You chose different. You came to Israel.

Everybody chooses their life.

Right. And you came here and you have grandson that are serving in the army and look what's going on. Like, and on that moment when I light the torch, I was looking at her. She was sitting with all the audience. And I knew it's for her. More than me. I knew it's for her. Because she was the one who did the big step. It's not me. So yeah.

It's a huge deal.

Okay.

Can you tell me a little bit about your wines?

Of course. Which one did you taste?

I tasted the white.

Yeah. What did you think about it?

It's beautiful. It's incredibly well-balanced. And it's just— it's lovely.

It's new on the shelf.

It's new?

Yes, and it's on the way to the States. It's even up there. It's on the way. It's Sauvignon Blanc 2003. No, 2023. 2023. It's a very good balanced wine. No oak, very refreshing, good for these very summer.

It's got acid.

It's sharp. It's not too acidic.

Yeah, no, but it's lovely. And I can imagine that this with food would be fantastic.

Right. So thank you.

Okay.

So the people in the States who are listening right now, look for it in the stores, I hope in one month. It's on the way. Second bottle is the Heartland. In the States they have 21, here in Israel we have 22. So the wine is a blend of Cabernet, Merlot, Petit Verdot.

Okay.

It's a blend of that was for 10 months in oak, used oak. We are still in the entry level. We have 3 series. The Mountain Vista is the entry series. Then we have the Mountain Heights. We have their Cabernet Merlot Shiraz, 2 years in oak, very interesting and premium wines. And the Mountain Peak that we have is our flagship. It's the best one that we produce. Most of the awards, the best grapes, the best barrels, we mix them together and it's—

The Mountain Peak is what?

That's the blend.

It's a blend as well. If you want, I can give you a taste.

I'll take a bottle with me.

So that's fine.

So you need time. For Mountain Peak, you need time. You need to open it a few hours before and then sit with it and you will see how it will develop in your glass every 10 minutes.

Okay.

So you need time. But you can see the Heartland that we're tasting right now is a very nice blend. Value for money, it's a very good bottle of wine. Not too expensive. Here in Israel, it's around, let's say, 90 shekels. In the States, it's around $30, more or less.

Same. Very cool.

Very cool. So it's ready to drink.

Yes. It's very approachable.

Right. That's the word. So the Shiraz is already from the premium level. I didn't taste the wines with you. I hope they're okay.

What?

I didn't taste the wine with you. I hope they're okay.

Yeah, so far they've been amazing. Yeah.

Okay, so the Shiraz is, uh, you need— it's a niche wine. Like I'm telling you, most of the people are asking for Cabernet, usually in plants, but Shiraz is a very, very interesting variety that grows on Mount Grizim very well. I think it's one of our best wines. That's my opinion. Of course, if you have a different one, let me know. But it's a—

It is.

Still, people don't know enough about Shiraz.

So one of the things I found with Shiraz is that it can go either way. It can be either very— you can, if you're a winemaker, you can make it light. And for a light, light sort of wine, like almost like a Grenache type of wine. Or you can make it very heavy, or you can make it anywhere in between.

The Shiraz in this area is not light.

Yeah.

But what Ez is doing is— you can hear the airplanes.

Yeah.

You hear that?

All morning over Jerusalem. I get up for sleepwalks, so I was up from 4 o'clock in the morning all morning.

So our soldiers are working really hard right now.

Really hard today.

Yeah. Yeah. We send our blessings to them that we can sit here and drink wine, right?

Yep.

Because of them. How crazy it sounds, that's our reality.

It's, it's absolutely crazy, crazy.

It is, I know. So, uh, what I wanted to say, so our Shiraz in this area is not light. Yeah, but the work of my husband, of Erez, is that he keeps very nice the balance between the wood, the alcohol, and the fruit, the fruits. So it's never too oaky, It's never too alcoholic. And I think also in this Shiraz, you can see it's like it's his hand. You can see it's very like in all our wines, you can see the balance is very good. And I think that's the whole chokhmah, to keep the balance, because that's how you make a good wine.

That's the basic goal for the wines that you're making.

Yeah.

To keep the balance and to have it very— yeah. If you put the wine inside the barrels for 2 years, like, forgot them there, will be too oaky. That's not the idea. So to know when to take it out, that it will not damage the fruits or the alcohol, and not to make it too— when to harvest, it will be not too alcohol, and so on. That's why you need to learn, and you need the experience of time, like we have.

Yeah. Baruch Hashem. So you've been here the This is the Harvest 11?

We are here, we are— the wine is 23 years old.

Okay.

Uh, but no, 20, 21 years old.

21 years old?

Yeah, 21 years old.

Because it's 2000, you opened in 2003 and it's 2024.

21 years old, but we began sold our wines only after 4 years, like all wine at Har Har Bayit, and then the time that was aged. So, oh, '06, we planted '97, '98, and we planted then the vineyards, and after, like, the first one we produced in '03, and we sold it in '06. That was the first time.

Okay, wow.

So yeah, it's a long time ago, right?

I know you're involved in the business side of it. Are there any goals for the future?

Yeah, the first one is we're planning the new winery, the building.

You're building a new winery?

B'ezrat Hashem, in the entrance of Rechelim, to this community. It's a lot of money. We need to sell a lot of wine. Please God. Yes, so we are working very hard. And again, this building is more than a winery. It's a place that will be a part of Yeshuva, it's of pioneers, of people will come visit and see what a shomron is. So that's very important. And it's supposed to be nice and big that many people can come. So that's our goal. And in these days, what I'm telling, I just came back from the States, you know, because we spoke there. What I'm telling the people, I don't know who is your audience, more people from Israel or outside?

All over. All over 57 countries.

I will say to the people that lives outside the country, outside Israel, guys, we need you. People in Israel are sad, they're not buying so much wines, right? And we need you. Please go and buy, grab a bottle of tour wines from the shelf. We need you so we can continue. We can't do it alone by ourselves, we can't. So people in Israel, please try and enjoy it. It's more than a bottle of wine, like I mentioned before.

What I tell people from the States is one of the best ways to support Israel right now is a way that you could be very— it helps you too. Buy a bottle of Israeli wine and have it on Shabbat. You know, try Israeli wines because they're amazing.

They're absolutely amazing. And also that's how they can Take apart.

Yes.

That's very important.

Yeah. Because you're actually drinking the terroir from the Shomron here.

Right.

Right, right out of a glass.

Right.

It's amazing. It's amazing.

It's a miracle. Yeah, it is. We're waiting for so many years to drink wines from Israel. So we have an opportunity. Don't focus on that.

100%. You also make olive oil.

Yeah, we make extra virgin olive oil. It's almost out of stock. Will be again, B'ezrat Hashem, December when the harvest begins.

Okay. So the harvest is over for you now, or it's—

The harvest of the wines or the olives?

No, for the wines.

So the wines, we're still in the middle. Usually we finish harvesting in the middle of October.

Okay.

So this year it's a little bit earlier. Because it was very hot in Israel. So I guess the beginning of October we will finish.

Okay.

Like 2 weeks before. And then in November, b'ezrat Hashem, the harvest of the olives begin. Until there will be olive oil will be December.

Okay. Is there anything else, you know, we can ask of people to come and visit, people—

Okay, so we're soon at Sukkot.

Yes.

And I'm praying that this Sukkot will be different than the other one. Like, not the other one, but yeah, than Pesach was. That we will see, B'ezrat Hashem, many tourists, many people from Israel that will do Aliyah La Reguel to the Shomron, to Rechelin, to Tura. We need the people. We need to see them. You see, the place is empty. We need the people to come. Yeah, that will give us the courage to continue.

Please, God. Please, God.

Yes. Thank you very much for your time, for your effort to come here.

No, thank you for spending the time.

No question.

Baruch Hashem. Pleasure.

Thank you very much. Chag Sameach, Shana Tova, that we should have a better Shana and L'Chaim.

L'Chaim tovim, Shalom.

Baruch Hashem. Amen.

Thank you.

This is Simon Jacob again, your host of today's episode of The Kosher Teruah. I have a personal request. No matter where you are, or where you live, please take a moment to pray for our soldiers' safety and the safe and rapid return of our hostages. Please subscribe via your podcast provider, to be informed of our new episodes as they are released. If you are new to the Kosher Teruah, please check out our many past episodes.