Wine is more than a beverage — wine is an ambassador. Founded in 2008, the Twin Wineries Initiative links renowned wineries from Germany and Israel. Inspired by the idea of classical sister-city partnerships, it builds a bridge between two cultures that share a deep passion for viticulture.
The idea: wine as a connector
The Twin Wineries Initiative was born in 2008, when Israeli wineries first appeared jointly at the international wine fair ProWein in Düsseldorf. From that initial encounter, Renée and Hohey Salzman — owners of the Tel Aviv-based wine exporter Zag Wines — developed the idea of pairing individual German and Israeli wineries in the spirit of classical sister-city partnerships. The very first such partnership was concluded between Weingut Heymann-Löwenstein of Winningen on the Moselle and Margalit Winery in Binyamina. Today the initiative comprises 27 German and 27 Israeli member wineries.
Substantively the initiative pursues three aims: mutual understanding through intercultural dialogue, knowledge transfer between the oenological traditions of both countries, and visibility of German wines in Israel and Israeli wines in Germany. To this is added a deliberate focus on training the next generation through internships and exchange programmes. Partnerships are sustained through reciprocal visits and alternating Wine Summits in both countries; a visible token of the bond is a bilingual brass plaque displayed in the vinotheque of every partner winery.
Renée Salzman — a biographical bridge
Renée Salzman, born Sztabelski, herself bridges two German-Jewish lifeworlds. In 1956 she came to Israel as a child with her parents Adam and Rosa Sztabelski and her brother Leon; in 1959 the family moved to Germany, where Adam Sztabelski opened a restaurant in Hanau. After her father’s early death in 1960, Renée grew up in Wiesbaden, Hanau and Karlsruhe, later with her aunt Blanka Zmigrod, who ran a restaurant in Karlsruhe. She holds an MBA from the Boston University Brussels Graduate Center and founded a technical-scientific translation agency in Brussels that became the largest in its sector in Belgium.
Since 2005 Renée Salzman has lived again in Tel Aviv. In the emerging Israeli wine sector she recognised the diplomatic potential of wine; together with her husband Hohey and the wine expert Yuval Shamir she founded Zag Wines, which exports leading Israeli wineries such as Tulip and Vitkin to Germany. The Twin Wineries Initiative has been her principal personal undertaking ever since.
Eva Raps — the German side
On the German side Eva Raps leads the initiative. From 2009 to 2017 she was managing director of the Association of German Prädikat Wine Estates (VDP) and is today co-owner of Weingut Kaufmann (Rheingau, formerly Hans Lang). She first travelled to Israel in 2009 to develop the initiative, founded one year earlier, together with German Twin members. In 2017 the Twin Wineries received the German Wine Critics Prize of Weinfeder e. V., which explicitly honoured the initiative for its “exemplary commitment to international understanding”.
The Moselle-Saar partnerships
Eight member wineries from the Moselle and Saar regions are actively involved in the initiative. Together they represent the full range from the Lower Moselle through the Middle Moselle to the Saar and the Ruwer:
| German winery (Moselle/Saar) | Israeli partner | Region in Israel |
|---|---|---|
| Heymann-Löwenstein, Winningen (Lower Moselle) | Margalit Winery | Binyamina (coastal plain) |
| von Hövel, Saar-Mosel | Bazelet Hagolan Winery | Kidmat Zvi (Golan Heights) |
| S. A. Prüm, Wehlen (Middle Moselle) | Recanati Winery | Ramat Dalton (Upper Galilee) |
| Nik Weis Urbans-Hof, Leiwen (Middle Moselle) | Flam Winery | Eshtaol (Judean Hills) |
| Selbach-Oster, Zeltingen (Middle Moselle) | Tzora Vineyards | Tzora (Judean Hills) |
| Materne & Schmitt, Winningen (Lower Moselle) | Nana Estate Winery | Mitzpe Ramon (Negev) |
| Joh. Jos. Prüm, Wehlen (Middle Moselle) | Lewinsohn Winery | Petach-Tikva (coastal plain) |
| Geheimrat J. Wegeler, Bernkastel (Middle Moselle/Rheingau) | Barkan Winery | Hulda (Shephelah) |
The geographical pairings are carefully composed: two Middle-Moselle slate-steep-slope estates (Selbach-Oster, J. J. Prüm) are paired with the cool sites of the Judean Hills; the Saar estate von Hövel with the volcanic soils of the Golan Heights; and Lower Moselle and Negev as extreme sites of their respective regions.
The forerunner: Otto Loeb
The Twin Wineries Initiative does not stand in a historical vacuum. Otto Loeb (1898–1974) — a Trier wine merchant of Jewish origin, driven into exile in London by the Nazi regime — was the first to introduce German Moselle wines systematically into the Anglo-Saxon market. His book Moselle (Faber and Faber, London 1972) remains the most comprehensive English-language work on Moselle viticulture. Loeb’s approach — wine as a mediator of cultural understanding across the ruptures of the twentieth century — is taken up by the Twin Wineries at a new, German-Israeli level.
The 5th German-Israeli Wine Summit: Mainz, 15 June 2026
On 15 June 2026 the fifth German-Israeli Wine Summit will be held at the Electoral Palace in Mainz. The programme includes the presentation of new Twin partnerships, a panel “In Search of Terroir” on identity-formation through grape varieties and cellar work (with Franziska Schätzle, Johannes Hasselbach, Dan Sheinman of Tzora Vineyards and Hai Vortman), and a joint tasting under the motto “Simply the Best”. Welcome addresses are announced from, among others, the President of the German Bundestag, representatives of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate, the Consulate-General of the State of Israel and the Lord Mayor of Mainz.
After 7 October 2023
In the autumn of 2023, German Twin wineries launched a solidarity campaign in support of their Israeli partners. The hashtag #thetasteoffriendship made it visible that the initiative takes its task most seriously in times of crisis: wine as a gesture of solidarity, not a mere commercial good. The 5th Wine Summit 2026 is explicitly held under the motto “Now More Than Ever — Yes to Friendship”.
Contact
Contact persons for the Twin Wineries Initiative are Renée Salzman (Tel Aviv) for the Israeli side and Eva Raps (Weingut Kaufmann, Rheingau) for the German side.