During a sojourn in Israel 20 years ago, I had a hard time finding a good cup of coffee to begin my day and an even harder time finding a good glass of wine to end it. How that has changed: The country is now awash in espresso bars that would pass morning muster with the Milanese, and the countryside is producing so many worthy wines that you could drink a different one every night of the year. Come Monday evening, when Jews sit down to the seder table, the choice of Israeli wines that are kosher for Passover will be more interesting than ever.

Much of that interest is due to the extraordinary reawakening of Carmel, the country’s oldest and largest winery. Founded as a cooperative by Baron Edmund de Rothschild in 1882, Carmel was meant to be a poster child for progressive winemaking in the Holy Land. But Carmel’s vineyards fell victim to disease, and the wines were disappointing. For more than a century, Carmel could be counted on only for sweet sacramental wines. Its dry wines were sold on sentiment, not quality. Carmel failed to climb out of mediocrity even after the upstart Golan Heights Winery demonstrated, beginning in the mid-1980s, that Israel could produce first-class wine.

Perhaps the biggest impediment to upgrading the quality of Carmel wines lay with its raw material. Committed grape growers know that they must reduce yields in the vineyard in order to intensify flavors in the bottle, but that was an alien idea to the 300 or so contract growers who delivered grapes to Carmel’s crushers. The growers had always been paid by weight rather than by quality, and breaking the volume habit was hard to do — but new management and a brace of hotshot young winemakers, led by Burgundy-trained Lior Laxer, have radically changed the culture at Carmel. “Our new interface with the growers isn’t always easy,” Mr. Laxer said in a phone interview yesterday. “We tell them that if they want their grapes to go into our best wines, then a severe protocol must be followed: You’re going to prune a certain way and do just this much irrigation. At any given moment, we can say, ‘Thanks, but your effort isn’t good enough. We’re downgrading you.'”

Not content with merely laying down quality standards to others, Carmel has also become an owner of key vineyards so that it can totally control quality. It has created a trio of new boutique wineries — in the Upper Galilee at Ramat Dalton, in central Zichron Ya’acov, and in a new wine region at the southern edge of the Judean Hills. Called Yatir, this pioneering winery is nestled deep in the Yatir national forest where blistering summer days give way to relatively cool nights, during which red wine grapes gain vivid, crisp flavors. Carmel now produces several tiers of brands, the topmost being the Single Vineyard Series and the Appellation series. Standing alone is the Limited Edition, a Bordeaux blend from seven different vineyards.

While Carmel was being reborn, an all-new winery called Galil Mountain was putting down its own roots on the border with Lebanon in northwestern Israel. Since their first vintage in 2001, I’ve found a striking purity of fruit in Galil Mountain wines. The lowslung, visitor-friendly winery, on Kibbutz Yiron, is the handsomest in Israel.

The Passover seder is meant to celebrate the delivery of the Israelites from enemies of any era, not only from the Pharaoh of ancient Egypt. Last August, it seemed that the harvest might not be delivered from the Hezbollah rockets raining down on much of northern Israel. Galil Mountain, given its particular vulnerability, had to be closed for several weeks as the fruit approached maturity. A cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah on August 14 saved the harvest from rotting on the vine. On Monday evening, Galil Mountain gets a special salute at my seder table.

Recommended Carmel & Galil Mountain Passover Wines

Note: All the wines below are available at Gotham Wines, 2517 Broadway at 94th Street, 212-932-0990, gothamwines.com, and at Skyview Wines, 5681 Riverdale Ave. at 258th Street, Bronx, 718-601-8222, skyviewwine.com.

Carmel Carignan, Appellation, Zichron Ya’acov, 2004 $26) A throwback from 30-year-old vineyards, this humble grape, treated to skilled winemaking, delivers a blast of spicy, gutsy flavor. While carignan isn’t known for being well structured, this one gets a spine-stiffening dollop of petit verdot.

Carmel Cabernet Sauvignon, Single Vineyard, Kayoumi, 2003 ($36) Lively and stylish, with a touch of menthol, adding interest. Not a monster, but the kind of wine that won’t tire you out at the table.

Yatir Sauvignon Blanc, Ramat Arad, 2005 ($22) Lemony-fresh aromas, with grassy and herbal tones in the mouth. This white shows that blazing heat does not have to mean baked wines.

Carmel Limited Edition 2003 $58) Deep, subtle, and well-balanced, this Bordeaux blend is Carmel’s priciest effort, and the more it is sipped, the more it succeeds. Like all the best wines, its flavors expand and persist.

Galil Mountain Yiron, 2002 $20) Bright, intensely spicy fruit is the trademark of these wines from rugged vineyards, but the tannins are gentle. A blend of 54% cabernet sauvignon and 46% merlot. Smooth stuff.