Inside a candlelit room at a west Houston Italian restaurant, the Israeli government sought to change Israel’s international image with help from one of the world’s oldest industries: wine — glasses and glasses of wine.
The government recently teamed up with its wine industry and U.S. importers to promote the beverages made from grapes grown on the land immortalized by biblical figures Noah, Samson, and David and Goliath.
These days, Israel is known more for conflict and tension than for its wines, local Israeli government officials said.
“Israeli wine can help rebrand Israel,” said wine importer Richard Shaffer, who is working with the government by hosting wine-tasting parties.
Wine production began in Israel millennia ago, Shaffer said, peppering his wine dinner speech with biblical references.
Read the whole article about Israeli wine in the Houston Chronicle
Living in Israel and not having been abroad for two years gave me a warped perspective on Israeli wine. Not bad, of course, but I separate the world of Israel and the world of Jewish and kosher wine. In Israel, you can go in the finest wine shops and see a bottle of the now-kosher Yarden HeightsWine, Domaine du Castel ‘C’, and Tzora Blanc next to to the not-kosher Pelter, Clos du Gat, and Tulip wineries. Go to the finest non-kosher restaurant in Tel Aviv and, along with a full array of shrimp and shellfish, you will see Castel and Yatir and Carmel Single Vineyard on the wine menu.
But, as I recently discovered on a visit to a wine shop in Maryland, that’s not the case abroad. There, below the Yarden Sauvignon Blanc, will be some Herzog Zinfandel not near the rest of the Zin, and below that will be half a row of the atrocious thing called Manishewitz (I was seriously tempted to yell at the store owner for even stocking that and calling it wine!), made in New York. They have nothing to do with each other and, as I’ve often said, where is the Israeli section? Kosher is not a country!
Can you tell me how to change this?
Israel’s premier food and wine critic, Daniel Rogov, is featured in an article in Hadassah Magazine. The Brooklyn-born, European-trained, Israeli-resident discusses his favorite foods, how he got to Israel, his background, and the quality revolution taking place in Israel.
The article about this Mediterranean food and wine critic can be found here and the entire contents of this month’s Hadassah Magazine is online here.
The dates have just been released for the annual Jerusalem Wine Festival, held at the Israel Museum.
I’ve previously written about the festival and it is always a joy to attend.
This year, the festival is August 4-August 6 (Tuesday to Thursday) at the Israel Museum.
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 on the specific wineries can be found in the sidebox article, featuring contact information for Castel, Sternbach, Mony, Sea Horse, and the local tourism group.
According to Gradstein:
The climate of the Judean Hills around Jerusalem is perfect for wine grapes: It’s hot by day but cool even on summer nights. And, of course, wine professionals talk about the area’s terroir, the soil characteristics that give a wine its unique taste.
One of the most interesting wineries mentioned is Ze’ev Dunie’s (non-kosher) Sea Horse Winery. Dunie, a former filmaker, makes some of Israel’s most unique and interesting wines. If you’re a Zinfandel fan, this is the winery to check out!
“If cabernet and merlot are classical music — serious, aristocratic, dressed in a suit and tie — syrah and zinfandel are jazz: sensual, warm, simultaneously complex and rich in taste,” Dunie says.
And his wines have cool names. The zinfandel is called Lennon, and a cabernet blend is called Fellini. Dunie also is about to come out with a white wine made of chenin blanc grapes, which he says is the first in Israel.
I received the following report from Neta Reef of Israeli Wine Company, about the recent Israeli wine festival hosted by Kehillah Jewish High School in California. If you’ve attended or run an Israeli wine event contact me to post it beforehand and let me know how it went and maybe I will post it here.
Yesterday, June 4th, the Kehillah Jewish High School together with the Israel Wine Company hosted an Israeli Wine Festival and a tasting at the beautiful Jennings Pavilion located in Holbrook-Palmer Park in Atherton, CA
The wineries that participated include: Yatir, Ella Valley Vineyards, Domine du Castel, Yaffo Winery, Bazelet Ha-Golan, Hamasrek Winery, Tabor Winery, Rimon and Teperberg. Only the high-end wines of each winery were offer at the event.
Neta, of Israel Wine Company, said they had more then 150 wine lovers that had the opportunity to taste the wonderful wines of those wineries: “in order to give Israeli wines the place they deserve in the American market people need to actually taste and explore all this great wines. Such an event helps to bring more people to get hands-on Israeli wines”.
The money raised from this event will be used by Kehillah towards programming, financial aid programs, and teacher resources. Kehillah Jewish High School, located in Palo Alto, is the area’s leading independent pluralistic Jewish high school dedicated to providing an outstanding education to its students.
Israel Wine Company will be at the Israel in the Gardens event this Sunday June 7th at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Gardens.
My buddy Ari Erle and his company, Israeli Wine Company, will be pouring Israeli wine in California at two events this week (including one TODAY):
TODAY, Thursday June 4, 2009 at 6:30-9:00PM Holbrook-Palmer Park, Jennings Pavilion 150 Watkins Avenue
Atherton, CA
