Team
Our small team shares a deep and profound
love of fine wine. This passion drives us
as much in the vineyards as in the wine cellar.
Eran Pick MW
Winemaker & General Manager
I vividly remember the moment I fell in love with wine. During a vacation in Germany, a friend suggested we visit a small winery in the Mosel. At the winery we were offered a TBA from the 60s. When the wine was poured into the glasses, the wonderful flowery aromas filled the entire room. A true love from the first sight.
Eran Pick completed his B.S degree in Viticulture and Enology with Highest Honors at the University of California, Davis. He is a Master of Wine since 2016. Pick joined Tzora Vineyards’ team in 2006, following a few training periods at wineries in Napa, Sonoma, Barossa and Bordeaux.
Dan Sheinman
Winemaker
Winemaking represents an interaction between inspirations and aspirations; nature and craftsmanship, tradition and innovation, history and culture, creativity and curiosity. As a winemaker, I have the privilege of engaging in alchemy – transforming the fruit grown under our hands into wine that embodies and reflects a sense of place.
Dan obtained his B.Sc. degree in plant sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Faculty of Agriculture. Following his studies, Dan spent three years in Burgundy working in a vineyard and as Assistant Winemaker, mastering both vineyard and cellar approaches and practices.
Dor James
Vineyard Manager
I obtain my inspiration from the magnificent vineyards and the nature reserves which surround them.
Dor James is a part of the winery’s team since its establishment in 1993, and has been serving as the Vineyard Manager since 2005. His ambition is to capture and enhance the superb quality of the grapes. As an apprentice to Ronnie James, he is a true believer in the concept of terroir.
Michal Levy
Visitor Center Manager
Wine to me is a composition of tastes and textures, exactly the way music is a composition of sounds and tones, and drawing is a composition of colors and lines. As someone with Synesthesis (simultaneous sensory stimulation), wine is a world full of excitement and adventure, that takes me with its taste to realms of color, shape and sound. What I love especially in the winery is meeting different people and connecting them to wine in harmonious discourse and listening.
Michal has BFA in Visual Communication from Bezalel Academy of Arts, a musician, and worked as Creative Director in different technology start-ups. She developed “Doodling Way”, a system for creative expression.
Sveta Yushenko
Senior Visitor Center Sales Associate
My connection to wine dates back to my childhood. My grandparents in Uzbekistan would make wine out of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, and until today I still remember the taste. Wine for me relates to family and people. This is why familial hospitality is important to me in the winery’s visitor center. My biggest passion in life is to create a common ground and even profound love with different people via food and wine, a primal connection to other human beings.
Sveta joined the winery’s team in 2007 and has been a central figure to the family-like feeling identified with the winery. Sveta has a Culinary and Pastry diploma.
Shula Solomon
Senior Visitor Center Associate
“As man, so is wine, but the imprint of his native landscape”. I rely on a higher authority when I connect to Roni’s version of Tchernichovski’s famous sentence, which to me expresses the essence of wine. I started working in the winery after a career in teaching and continued naturally to connect with people and to connect them to the splendid creation called wine.
Shula joined the winery’s team in 1997 and has since been an important link in a small and quality team, continuing to drive the winery to excellence. Shula has a BA in education.
Founder, Vintner, Winemaker
Ronnie James
1945–2008
Ronnie James’ connection to the land was established early in life at various agricultural schools. His affinity to vines began some 50 years ago when he was asked to take over responsibility for Kibbutz Tzora’s long established vineyard. His love affair with wine began when he first tasted a wine made by a winery which purchased Tzora’s crop. Immediately, he decided to begin making his own wines.
James viewed the wine through the vines and weaved the various components together with an artist’s touch. He studied the behavior of the vines, analyzed weather conditions, took calculated risks – and ultimately followed his own instincts.
As the Israeli pioneer of Terroir, James was awarded the “Eshkol Hazahav” (Golden Bunch) award for his remarkable contribution to Israel’s wine culture. Sadly, he passed away in April 2008.