Jerusalem is hosting its 2nd Annual all–Kosher Wine Festival at the International Convention Center (ICC) Binyanei Ha’Uma in Hebrew, January 28th to the 30th 3PM to 11PM, conveniently within a few minutes walking of the Jerusalem Central Bus station and new light rail trains. Its also known as Wine Seven Two, a play on 972 (the international dialing code to Israel) a catchy play on words (but not easy for finding any info online if you don’t know the moniker).
The event should be well attended like last year. It caters to kosher keeping Jews who might not attend the annual Jerusalem festival held each summer at the Israel Museum because some Jews won’t attend a wine event if even one non-kosher wine is being served yet all are welcome and the wines promise to be just as good as those at a “mixed” festival.
There will be several kosher dining opportunities to enhance your wine tasting experience and bolster your fortitude so you can taste more wines including:
Osaka – Sushi (a good match for white wines) Jacob’s Farm- A wide selection of Gourmet Cheeses with plenty to match any style of wine Lerner Coffee – coffee and pastries, fresh juices Cherry Bakery – breads, etc. La Cuisine – Desserts De Radiation – Chocolate La Bonita – Chocolate (“Mrs. Yael Halperin!”) Saba Habib – “milling”, milk and Olive Oil Olya – Olive Oil Sickle – Olive Oil
Macho – Alshmz”a Cuisine
Whether a wine is kosher or not today has no bearing on whether a wine is good. If it’s mevushal (“cooked” flash pasteurized for specific situations and religious requirements) that’s another topic and today most Israeli kosher wines are not mevushal when ten years ago most were.
About 3,000 tasters were reported attending last year and the festival this year, in its second year, is expected to attract more even though the event still could use better PR in English to attract tourists and foreign residents working and living in Israel who generally are ignored by most PR efforts for wine festivals in Israel, an untapped market that could really help the wineries create demand for exports of Israeli wines which is at least 1/2 of what it could be.
I don’t blame the organizers but the wineries need to demand as part of attending that the events are promoted MONTHS (and not weeks) in advance and at least in English like festivals overseas so people might actually plan trips from overseas. No one wants to book an airline ticket without much notice which can causes prices to jump 2-3 times the price when you have time to shop and secure competitive rates. It might also attract more importers and foreign wine journalists who could more easily organize their work schedule. So many Israelis do things last minute they shouldn’t assume that the rest of the world works that way and should try to facilitate attendance by those who don’t (and the people we will want the most to attract have the most regimented schedule booked months in advance). .
Besides tasting wines from dozens of kosher wineries (maybe as many as 40…the actual count at every festival seems lower than what was quoted to journalists) there will be discounts on wines presented and gourmet cooking workshops (featuring dishes with wine as an ingredient) staged by Israeli Celebrity Chefs Segev Moshe, Aviv Moshe and Shaul Ben Aderet.
Wineries that will participate in the exhibition include Barkan, Golan Heights, Galil Mountian, Benhaim, Har Bracha (Mt. Blessing) , Carmel, Tulip, Yaffo, Ruth, Lueria, Tanya, Baron Herzog Winery (from California), Teperberg 1870, Saslove and Alexander. So an assortment of Israel’s biggest commercial wineries and most established and up and coming kosher boutique wineries. Saslove and Tulip just became kosher with their 2010 vintages (as did Flam that year) and they now have more and more of their red wines mature enough to taste and sell to the public with more reserve wines and their highest tier wines soon to come.
The event is handicap accessible (which most festivals are not since there are most often held outside in graveled areas and this one is indoors) and includes free parking for visitors (over 800 parking spaces) but think of taking mass transit if you can so you can taste/drink more without worry of criminal prosecution or hurting anyone (including yourself) driving home though I do often joke that a typical drunk American can drive better than the typical sober Israeli lets not test the theory since more Israelis die each year from car accidents than terrorism or military conflicts. But hey these guys help prove my contention that most Israelis would rather “Make Wine, Not War“.
The NIS 80 price (about $20) includes a souvenir wine glass and tasting at each each of the winery stands.
I’ll be there at least the first day if you want to meet up with one of Israel’s better known winos (we in the industry use the term wino as a term of endearment and the difference between a wino and a drunk is a wino is still standing at the end of a festival and of course the difference between a drunk and alcoholic is that an alcoholic has all those damned silly meetings to attend).
For ticket info (which can be bought at the event but will save you waiting in line) call 02-581-1122
I, David Rhodes, can be reached at [email protected] or 052-702-WINE (9463)
I hope to see you there and I hope this article gets more Anglos to attend and buy at least One More Bottle of good or great Israeli wine this year (2013) than last year.
