In Israel’s arid Negev of all places, just an hour south of Tel Aviv, you’ll find a wine-making renaissance in full sway. It’s true, grapes are not new to the Negev––the Nabateans were raising them here 1,500 years ago. Today, Cabernet, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Shiraz, Carignan and Zinfandel grapes all thrive under the hot Negev sun.

A small yield per acre, which produces a higher concentration of flavor and color, and which must be maintained elsewhere by rigorous pruning, occurs naturally in the desert because of the minimal moisture in the soil. Dryness also helps prevent disease and mildew, while nights are surprisingly cool and humid. The Negev’s cloudless skies are also an advantage, allowing the sunlight to flow to the grapes’ skin, which produces the wine’s flavors.

Some vineyards are on the desert’s edge, in the hilly Yatir Forest, which also has a number of visitor sites you can easily fit into your wine-route itinerary. In other areas of the Negev, you can also combine sightseeing with wine-tasting, for example, at the vineyards at Kibbutz Sde Boker, near the grave and home of David Ben-Gurion, and family farms near the Nabatean ruins of Avdat and Nitzana.