Table-grape breeding · Karmei Yosef, Israel
New grape varieties, bred where they are grown
Home of the protected Big Bear and Late Bear varieties - and a curated collection of about 160 selections, bred vine by vine at Bazak Farms for growers and breeders worldwide.
The Bear Varieties
Four named cultivars, bred and proven at Bazak Farms
Our business model: outright sale of the cultivar - full ownership, no royalties.
The business approach →The Mission
Novel super-grapes for high-end markets
The Bazak breeding program is developing a basket of aromatic seedless grapes - green, black and red - with new flavors: Muscat, mango, berries and passion fruit. Flavor comes first, not only sweetness; taste over size, for the markets that value it most.
Inside the breeding program
From Seed to Vineyard
A four-year road from cross to cultivar
Every variety begins as a controlled cross between flowering parents, passes through embryo rescue and in-vitro culture, and earns its place through years of evaluation in high-density vineyards - first as a single seedling, then in stations of ten, then with commercial partners.
See the full process →
The Breeder
Forty-three years of Israeli viticulture, distilled into one family program
Hanan Bazak served as the Israeli Chief Viticulturist and led the national Extension Service before turning his life's work to breeding. Today the family farm in Karmei Yosef is home to one of Israel's most ambitious table-grape programs.
The full story →No one buys a grape from a photograph
Visit Bazak Farms in season - walk the commercial plots, taste the fruit, and judge every variety on the vine.