Cremisan Winery, Baladi

The Cremisan monastery and winery was founded in 1885 by Fr. Antonio Belloni an Italian Salesian Monk. He opened the wine operation in an attempt to create a revenue source for the monastery’s orphanage.

Cremisan is located on the northern slope of Mount El Ras just outside the city of Bethlehem and only 12k away from Jerusalem. The name Cremisan comes from the Arabic “Kerem Zan” meaning the Vineyard of Zan grapes, an indigenous Palestinian varietal.

Cremisan was the first winery in the region to use indigenous Palestinian grapes, sparking both regional and international interest in Palestinian grapes. Cremisan’s interest in the grapes stemmed from research conducted by now Head Winemaker, Fadi Batarseh. For his university disseration, Fadi studied 64 different grape samples from around Palestine and concluded that Palestine is home to 21 unique genomes. Fadi and the Cremisan team picked the most promising four (Dabouki, Baladi, Hamdani, Jandali) to utlitize commercially.