Inside a community's olive oil production in the fields of Tura

In early November I went up to Rehalim to see how Tura was making inroads in olive oil production.

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN
Workers rake up the glorious olive harvest (photo credit: SETH J. FRANTZMAN)
Workers rake up the glorious olive harvest
(photo credit: SETH J. FRANTZMAN)
In the beautiful flowing hills of Samaria in the northern West Bank, where once the tribes of Israel hoed the land and pressed olives, is the village of Rehalim. In 2003 Vered and Erez Ben Sa’adon founded Tura winery in the small community. Their vineyards stretch out nearby.
In early November I went up to Rehalim to see how Tura was making inroads in olive oil production. It has a new olive press which uses modern technology. The olive groves are 20 minutes south of Rehalim near Shiloh. There, in the tender soil, and nestled between Shiloh and Palestinian villages, the fields of Tura’s olives spread their wings. Tura says on its website that this is ideal “rocky terra rossa soil,” and that the uniqueness of the land is reflected in the uniqueness of the oil that comes out of the olives. Tura blends three varieties, Picual, Barnea and Arbequina.
On that warmish day in November when we went among the fields to see the groves and sample the glory of the harvest, it was as though we were in Tuscany. The trees were bloated with olives, ready for picking, and men, most of them foreign workers, came to shake the trees and rake up the olives. After the olives are picked, they are transported to the olive press and turned into oil. We tasted some of the varieties, which ran a gamut from a kind of rounded spicy taste to more modest tones.
Back at Rehalim a spread of local food was prepared. Salads, eggplant, cherry tomatoes and Tura’s famous estate wine, prepared with “patience and inspiration,” was laid out. I drank some of the Cabernet Sauvignon 2015, which has an image of a biplane on it and says “Wine from the land of Israel.” Later I purchased some olive oil in a tin.
Tura winery and its olive press are one of the many wineries and olive oil makers pioneering production, part of a revolution in Israel that is seeing more glorious wines and local, boutique olive oils burst forth onto the market.
A visit to these places is a unique experience. At Tura we saw the owners and the personal touch they put into their work, and the clear pride they take in it. Like farmers of old, such as those who might have lived in the time of the Judges, they have rebuilt the ancient landscape and cultivated the mountains.
They are clearly inspired by this history, but they also discuss the political controversies that underpin production in the West Bank. Nevertheless, it seems Tura and others, because their products are first-rate, have moved beyond the political hurdles.