The town of Zichron Ya’akov which now has a population of 18,000 was established as a small village in 1882 by the French Baron Edmond de Rothschild who wanted to establish Jewish settlements throughout the north of Israel.   Even then it was determined that this was an excellent wine growing region and so establishment of a small town based around winemaking became very successful.  Rothschild brought in architects and planners from France to build French style stucco houses with tile roofs, and small gardens. A number of them can still be seen in the historic center of town.  This town is the home of the Carmel Winery, which is the largest winery in Israel.  It’s the Israeli equivalent of Manischewitz though has more varieties of wines they produced.