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Research Symposium: “Bustan Gardens and Heritage Trees – Past, Present and Future
June 2024, Ramat Ha’Nadiv National Park
Within the context of our ERC funded and University of Haifa operated Proof of Concept research project, we collaborated with researchers from the Volcani Institute, an Israeli agricultural research center of international standing, and a number of local environmentally-oriented NGO’s to host a symposium on the subject of heritage horticulture revival. Entitled “Bustan Gardens and Heritage Trees – Past, Present and Future” the symposium was held in early June, 2024 at the Ramat Hanadiv Gardens and National Park located in the southern end of Mount Carmel, Israel. The event included some 20 speakers (both academics and in-field agents and managers) and 150 participants (hailing from an interdisciplinary range of disciplines and professional backgrounds). Talks initiated with a focus on the archetypal landscape and situational architecture of heritage gardens in Israel. Later sessions reported on ongoing fieldwork pertaining to the discovery, recovery and biogenetic-assisted revival of various heritage cultivar species (including olives, grapes, dates, almonds, figs, pomegranates, apricots) within a modern framework.
The final segment of the symposium featured a panel discussion on current attempts to revive heritage grapes within the contemporary Israeli wine industry. Heritage grape winemakers representing various Israeli wineries (Gava’ot, Barkan, Dalton) discussed their personal rationales and individual processes for cultivating heritage grapes and creating heritage-based wines for the present-day market. Our discussion considered a number of challenges and triumphs encountered within this dynamic and, going forward, the paths to amplifying consumer interest, increasing species diversity and generating economic value within a competitive wine market facing the increasingly threat of rising temperatures and climatic adversity.
The session was capped off with a tasting of wines made from heritage grapes: Dabouki Pet Nat (in-bottle fermentation sparkling white wine), Hemdani-Gandali (a blend of two crisp native white grapes) and a red grape varietal known as Yael that is vinted from the clones of a grape that was recently discovered growing feral in the dunes of the southwestern coastal plains along the Mediterranean Sea in southern Israel and genetically traced to regional archaeological viticultural remains that date to the 8th century CE.
Prof. Mouna Maroun, Rector at the University of Haifa welcomes symposium participants, recounting the heritage gardens of her youth that grew in the Druze village of Isfiya (photo credit: Roni Keisari).
Prof. Guy Bar-Oz delivers an opening talk at the “Bustan Gardens and Heritage Trees – Past, Present and Future” symposium, June 2024.
“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life.” (Jon Muir, Our National Parks, quoted in a talk on ‘The Bustan as a cultural landscape’ presented by Prof. Elissa Rosenberg of the Bezalel Academy of Arts)
Dr. Shivi Drori from Gava’ot Winery speaks about his research on novel Vitis vinifera sylvestris in Israel.
Heritage winemakers Ari Erle, MW Ido Lewinsohn and Shivi Drori with the British-Israeli wine writer and industry professional Adam Montefiore.
Prof. Aaron Fait from the French Associates Institute of Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev speaks about the need to customize viticulture practices of individual heritage grape vines to realize their potential as a sustainable crop for arid environments.
Amit Pompon, owner of a heritage nursery, brings native fig tree specimens, gathered from wild samples and cultivated at his nursery, to hand out to the symposium participants. (photo credit: Ronen Cohen).
Dr. Joshua Schmidt (University of Haifa) and Prof. Gideon Avni (Israel Antiquities Authority) host a panel discussion on the value of heritage wine with three local winemakers who make wines from native grapes (photo credit: Ronen Cohen).
Participants of the symposium were privy to a wine tasting of heritage wines made from endemic grapes (photo credit: Ronen Cohen).
The symposium also featured an exhibition of photographs documenting our fieldwork that were taken by Dror Maayan, a local photographer who works with rare mid-19th century camera equipment.
