Adam Montefiore

Career

Adam Montefiore works in the wine trade and he is a specialist on Israeli wines. He has been involved in advancing Israeli wines for over thirty years. He has been referred to as 'The Ambassador of Israeli Wine,' and 'The English Voice of Israeli Wine.' He is the wine writer for the Jerusalem Post and has written books on Israeli wine.

Montefiore worked for many years for Charrington and Crest Hotels (both part of the Bass Charrington Group), starting in beer and moving into wine. He studied wine at the WSET and was a Founder and later Honorary member of The Academy of Wine Service. He moved to Israel in 1989. He then worked for two of Israel's most famous wineries, Carmel Winery and Golan Heights Winery. In the 1990s he played his part in the building of the successful brand of Yarden. In the 2000s he was part of the renewal of Carmel and the successful launch of Yatir Winery, a subsidiary of Carmel.f.. In the 2010s he built the brand and marketing concept for Montefiore Winery.(www.montefiorewines.net).

He regularly writes about wine. He has been the wine writer for the Jerusalem Post since 2010. He also writes about wine for the Jewish Chronicle and www.wines-israel.com . For many years he has contributed to Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book, Oz Clarke's Wine A to Z, The World Atlas of Wine and he writes the section on Israel and Kosher for Jancis Robinson MW's Oxford Companion to Wine.

He is now a partner in both The Israel Wine Experience (www.israelwinexp.com), which educates about Israeli wine and Handcrafted Wines of Israel(http://www.israelwinexp.com/handcrafted-wines-of-israel/), which markets a prestigious group of boutique wineries. He is also a Wine Consultant (http://adammontefiore.com/wine-consultant/), advising wineries.

Personal life

Adam Montefiore was born in Kensington, London. His father was Dr. Stephen Eric Sebag-Montefiore. They are descended from a line of wealthy Sephardi Jews who were diplomats and bankers who originated from Italy and Morocco. The Montefiore family originally came from near Rimini and Ancona on the Adriatic coast of Italy. The Sebags came from Mogador in Morocco, known today as Essaouira. In the 18th century the Montefiores and Sebags moved to England. Adam Montefiore's great, great grandfather was Sir Joseph Sebag-Montefiore, the nephew and heir of Sir Moses Montefiore. In the early 19th century Sir Moses Montefiore was an international financier and a business partner of his brother-in-law, Nathan Mayer Rothschild. He became a philanthropist and was a famous figure in the history of both the Jewish people and Israel.[3]

Adam Montefiore's mother, Phyllis April Jaffé, an author, comes from a Lithuanian Jewish family of scholars. Her parents fled the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century. They bought tickets for New York City, but were cheated, being instead dropped off at Cork, Ireland. Due to the Limerick pogrom in 1904 his grandfather Henry Jaffé left the country and moved to Newcastle, England.

Adam Montefiore is the brother of Hugh Sebag-Montefiore, the writer, Rupert Sebag-Montefiore, ex chairman of Savills estate agents and Simon Sebag-Montefiore, the historian. He was educated at Wellesley House and Wellington College. In 1989 he moved to Israel, where he lives in Ra'anana, north of Tel Aviv. Adam Montefiore and his children represent the fifth and sixth generation of the family and the first to live in Israel. He was married for 33 years to Gillian (Jill) Leah Montefiore, who passed away in 2015. He has three children, Dr. Liam Murphy Sebag-Montefiore, David Jonathan Montefiore and Rachel Leah Montefiore, and five grandchildren. Two of his children, David and Rachel, also work in the wine trade.

Books