Israel Sips A New Passion

The Mideast peace process is restrained and unemployment in Israel is high. It might not seem like a good time for Israelis to let the good times roll, but despite their problems -- or maybe because of them -- many are discovering a passion for one of the world's great luxuries. It's a passion for wine, reports CBS News Correspondent Jesse Schulman.

Â"If youÂ're going to drink and if tomorrow the world might end, you might as well drink something good, Â" says one of IsraelÂ's winemakers, but there appears to be more to it than providing refreshments for the apocalypse.

So-called Â"boutiqueÂ" wineries are spouting in the Promised Land, offering Israelis for the first time high-quality, home-grown wine made in their own self-image – Â"very, very forward, very powerful wines to go along with their nature,Â" as winemaker Barry Saslove puts it.

Winemaking goes back a long way in this part of the world. The fruit of the vine is an ancient, potent image. Biblical-era grapes were pressed on mosaic floors; a convenient cave passed as a wine cellar.

Modern boutique wineries in Israel use techniques and know-how imported from CaliforniaÂ's Napa Valley, with the extra touch of finesse added by aging the wine in oak barrels from France.

Wine drinkers dancing on the edge of the volcano and winemakers looking back down the ages, both thirsting for the good life in an ancient troubled land.

Reported by Jesse Schulman
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