This article is from Ha’aretz by Lital Levin: Israel awaited the celebration of the 1954 wine harvest festival with high expectations. Such a festival is a new-old one for Jews. As one of its promoters told Haaretz: “In the Bible and our literature in general, a lot of space is dedicated to wine. Noah was the first wine producer; legend says that the tree of knowledge was a grape vine. The many drinking songs of our medieval literature are also well-known. […]

Read More »

I visited Carmel Winery’s Zichron Ya’akov winery yesterday. I will have more to come later. While Carmel Mizrahi Winery is definitely not my favorite, it is the old man on the block. Founded by Baron Rothschild, who is also the founder of many top French chateaus, in the late 19th century, the history of Carmel is the history of modern Israel. However, for many years that also means that it […]

Read More »

From Ha’aretz, Daniel Rogov reviews the Israeli wines from Recanati, Yatir and Avidan. Wine and Spirits / Notable from Recanati By Daniel Rogov From its inception in 2000 to the present, the Recanati winery has offered a generous selection of wines, many of which have been consistently excellent. Located in the Hefer Valley in the […] Israeli wine is world class. Yes, we’ve heard this recently from the likes of Robert Parker, Mark Squires, Gary Vaynerchuk, Wine Spectator, Decanter, and […]

Read More »

Keeping up with the Jones is tough.  Keeping up with the Mondavi’s is even harder.  Cabernets, Merlots, and even Zinfandels from California to France keep getting top headlines and top scores.  With the Israeli wine scene growing by the day, coming up with the right taste for an ever evolving pallet is the biggest challenge any winery has. So what’s an up and coming winery to do?  Blend, blend, and blend some more. Two such wineries, Agur and Tulip, have […]

Read More »

Stephen Brook, who visited Israel for IsraWinExpo 2008, has written an update to Hugh Johnson’s Wine Companion. The Wine Companion is one of the classic books, which is in the library of every wine lover. Over the years Stephen Brook has been a prolific author and his most famous book is his work on Bordeaux. He is a regular contributor to Decanter Magazine. Hugh Johnson  wrote five editions of this book, which was first published in 1983. For this sixth […]

Read More »

Jerusalem.com has an interview with Dan Vered, owner of the Jerusalem Wine and Art store in the Old City in Jerusalem, which is a new wine shop in Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter. While Israel’s “wine revolution” only took place in the last few decades, as we’ve said before, Israel has been making wine for thousands of years. Dan Vered, who sounds like an American immigrant to Israel, tells the story about Israel’s long history with wine making – and particularly the […]

Read More »

Recanati Winery in Emeq Hefer (in the Industrial Park off Rt. 4) Plenty of food (dairy) and a wide selection of wine for 40 NIS at the winery. Friday June 1st 10am to 3pm. White Red Nights Festival 2012 June 4th-7th, 2012 This is an international festival, focusing on wine, music and cuisine. The festival is produced by the leading production and event management company, “Arnon Paz”, in cooperation with “Avi Ben” wine stores and “Shahar Wine Stores”, which has […]

Read More »

We all know that wine has many health benefits (in moderation). It’s long been known that red wine can be good for the heart. But apparently, it’s also an effective remedy against food poisoning. According to research, first reported in October 2007, conducted at the University of Missouri, red wine “appears to act as a natural anti-microbial in our intestinal tract.” The wines that exhibit this most strongly: Cabernet, Zinfandel, and Merlot. Red grape juice produced similar results but this […]

Read More »

Israeli wine has finally been covered in my hometown newspaper, The Washington Post. This article in the travel section of the Washington Post, by NPR correspondent Linda Gradstein and fellow Jerusalemite, discusses the wines around Jerusalem. In fact, I think there are more wineries now in the Judean Hills than in Zichron Ya’akov, home of the traditional Israeli wineries. Wineries such as Sea Horse, Castel, Agur, Hans Sterbach, Tzora, Tzuba, Teperberg, and more are in the Jerusalem/Judean Hills area. Information […]

Read More »

   With close to 300 wineries to write about, often meeting with wine makers and winery executives is based upon unexpected opportunities as much as who I want to talk to on any given day. So when I was invited to interview Motty Teperberg at the Teperberg Winery in the Judean Hills outside Beit Shemesh, I took advantage of the opportunity to talk with the CEO and owner of Israel’s fourth largest winery which currently produces about 5 million bottles. […]

Read More »