David Rhodes talking about the Ramat Aviv Wine Festival with DJ Richard Freeman on Rustymikeradio.com
David Rhodes talks about Israeli wine and food & wine pairing for the holidays
David Rhodes discusses wine and food pairing for Rosh Hashana
The following article was written by David Rhodes. for Viewpoint Magazine, for the Young Israel movement and National Council of Young Israel Magazine.
Download the PDF, Viewpoint-WineMakingIsrael
The Jerusalem Post has published an edited version of my article Wine Recommendations for Rosh Hashana.
Read the article in the Jerusalem Post.
Below is an excerpt from the article:
What’s good in Israel? Israeli wine! Wine recommendations for Rosh Hashanah
By Avi Hein, Editor-in-Chief: HaKerem: The Israeli Wine Blog
It’s not a Jewish holiday without wine. While the traditional Rosh Hashanah greeting is for a sweet new year, there’s no reason to settle for sweet wines (unless, of course, you’re pairing your wine with some sweet food like a honey cake or ice cream).
The religious commandment is to enjoy and feast. In order to truly fulfill this commandment, one should not drink any grape beverage but rather sanctify themselves with world-class wine that brings enjoyment to the drinkers.
Holiday Recommendations
Yatir Viognier — Yatir, one of Israel’s finest wineries, partially owned by Carmel Winery, recently received three to four stars in Hugh Johnson’s 2012 Pocket Wine Book. The Viognier is a fresh, white wine, which has tinges of autumn fruits, including citrus. The best Israeli Viognier. Yatir’s parent winery, Carmel, also makes a great Viognier in the Carmel Appellation series, a close second to Yatir’s take. NIS 75
Yatir Cabernet-Merlot-Shiraz – This blended red is full bodied and elegant. Royal purple, with deep tannins and hints of plums, berry, and cherry. Not meant to be drunk quickly but rather sipped and savored slowly, with a long finish. NIS 95
Tzora Neve Ilan –Tzora is a boutique winery in the Judean Hills, outside of Jerusalem. According to Mark Squires, who writes about wine for The Wine Advocate, “The Judean Hills is one of the most underrated wine regions in the world.” The Tzora Shoresh is also highly recommended. Both are complex and reflect the terroir-driven approach of the winemakers. NIS 134
Saslove Aviv –Saslove Winery was established in 1998 by Canadian immigrant Barry Saslove. Highly recommended include the Saslove Aviv “April,” which is a blend of 40% Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Nebiolo, 40% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon and the Saslove “Marriage,” which is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Shiraz, as well as Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Nebbiolo. Saslove is kosher as of the 2010 vintage and also made a line of kosher wines under the ‘Sagol’ label. The Aviv wines retail for about 79 NIS.
Recanati Sauvignon Blanc — Recanati is one of Israel’s top value wines, with options at any level and budget. A short drive from Ra’anana and Kfar Saba, Recanati is straw in color with hints of citrus and grassy tinges, refreshing for a light meal or holiday lunch. NIS 50
The Derekh HaYayin (Wine Route) chain also has a Red and White “Special Edition” which are well recommended for about 60NIS/bottle.
Segal Dovev Argaman Red – While Argaman was the failed experiment of the Israeli wine industry, this varietal, developed by Professor Roy Spiegel in the early 1990s, Segal’s Dovev Argaman is anything but a failure and Segal’s winemaker has shown that great wine can come from this grape. The 2007 vintage won the equivalent of a Gold Medal at ‘Les Citadelles du Vins’ Competition held in Bordeaux, France. NIS 90
Barkan Superieur Cabernet Sauvignon – Varying in quality from year to year, Barkan’s Superier Cabernet Sauvignon is dark, royal purple, firm, and concentrated, with a mineral finish. NIS 180
Barkan Altitude +720 – Barkan’s Altitude is composed of grapes from a variety of altitudes in Israel, from Mitzpeh Ramon in the south to Dovev on the Lebanese border. NIS 109
Teperberg Silver Sangiovese – the only mevushal wine on this list, Teperberg is one of Israel’s oldest wineries that began making worthy table wines in the past decade. The Sangiovese, a traditional Italian grape, is perfect with pastas, brisket, and foods with deep red sauces. NIS 45
Teperberg Late Harvest Riesling – Not for Kiddush at the main meal, but rather to enjoy as an aperitif or dessert, this wine will go great with an apple and honey cake, especially if you manage to make it a la mode. Teperberg also makes a white and red moscato, for a more simple dessert wine, and the only mevushal sparkling wine in Israel. NIS 50
Best Value Wines:
Young Value Wines: Don’t want to burst your budget or just need to make it to the nearest supermarket? At or under 40NIS, try Segal Fusion series, or the Carmel Private Collection or, for a sparkling wine, Carmel’s Selected Brut. Carmel has made an amazing turn around in the past few years and the Private Collection series provides some of the best quality-for-price.
A Holiday Bonus:
Rimon Winery – not a traditional grape wine, but rather a pomegranate fruit wine. As a pomegranate is one of the major symbols of Rosh Hashanah, Rimon (which means pomegranate in Hebrew) Winery makes several dessert wines and a unique sparkling wine as well. It’s a fitting addition to any Rosh Hashanah table. NIS 66 – NIS 75
Read the rest in the Jerusalem Post
Wine has evolved over the millennium into an important part of celebrations for billions of people all around the world. Yet, for Jews in and outside of Israel it holds special significance. Every week’s Friday night dinner and Saturday lunch, it’s common to go through a bottle or two of wine with family, friends and guests while observing the Sabbath. Even less religious families frequently have family meals over the weekend that feature the host’s taste in wines or a guest’s gesture of gratitude. Weddings & bar mitzvahs can go through dozens and even hundreds of wine bottles depending on the size of the reception. Wine also plays a special role in holiday meals such as Passover in the spring and Rosh Hashanah in the fall, so wineries often release new wines to coincide with those holidays and they have become traditional gifts for companies to give to their employees as well between friends, family and colleagues.
Two neighboring wineries located on Kibbutz Eyal in Israel’s Sharon region, on September 17th (coincidentally my birthday) hosted tastings celebrating their 2011 harvest as well as the release of earlier vintage wines. The Saslove Winery, featuring father & daughter winemakers Barry & Roni Saslove, is not only renown for their quality boutique wines but for a passion educating inspiring winemakers or just anyone curious about wine. Barry gave a lecture on the 17th discussing the 2011 harvest and I got a chance to ask him about what seems to be a promising vintage. The winery was decorated with bowls of several grape varieties from their Tzivon, Alma, Miles, Safsufa and Kadita vineyards in the Galilee and they were serving juice from some of their prospective wines for tasting. If you’ve never had juice from wine grapes before fermentation, you’re surely missing out. This was the unfiltered must that hadn’t been left on the skins and those who had stopped by were lucky enough to taste their white Viognier (which at this stage looked like a banana smoothie) and a few reds: Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Merlot and Nebbiolo. The raw grapes were a treat to taste as well and although delicious they’re obviously not suited as table grapes as they are a lot smaller with a much higher ratio of skin to pulp which helps provide the color and tannins needed for wines capable of aging for a decade or more yet aren’t the pulpy payoff one wishes when eating plumper and often seedless grapes.
According to Barry, the winter of 2010-2011 provided his vineyards with 20% more water than the average year, about 1.2 meters compared to the typical 1 meter, and the rain came fairly evenly through out the “offseason” so there was little runoff which happens when the soil doesn’t have a chance to absorb the previous rain before the next rain comes or if it comes all at once. The moderate temperatures also were the “best he can remember” with “the nicest and longest spring” with cool days lasting into the middle of June, pleasant for both the residents of Israel and maturing grapes on his vines. Although the temperatures seemed ideal, there was an overabundance of humidity which contributed to ‘the full range” of pests from mite bearing ants, flying insects and lots of mildew and fungus which can decimate a crop. Typically, Barry and Roni might spray their 14 plots of grapes spread over 5 vineyards 7 times/season and this year they had to spray 15 times to prevent pests from either decimating his crop or being forced to pick early.
Because of the unusually fair weather but abundant pests, Barry thinks the 2011 vintage will be a real “winemaker’s year.” According to Saslove, this year might really show what a winemaker is made of as he thinks how a winemaker/viticulturalist reacts to the exceptionally fair temperatures, extreme humidity and plenty of pests will all show up in the final grapes and eventually the wine. It’s not uncommon for winemaker’s to say that 95% of what makes good or great wine good or great is the grapes. Another common saying in the industry is that “you can make bad wine out of good grapes but you can’t make good wine out of bad grapes”. Barry believes this might be the “best year yet for fruit” for the Saslove Winery. This is also good news for some other discriminating Israeli winemakers since the Saslove’s sell about 1/3 of their grapes to other boutique wineries which gives the Saslove’s the potential to grow from their current 80,000 bottles to eventually 120,000 bottles.
In the spirit of the New Year, the Saslove’s are also releasing their first series of Aviv red wines under the kosher certification that started for all their wines in 2010. They’ll be easy to spot on the shelves as the labels look dramatically different from previous year’s with colorful drawings of birds that seem lifted from a birdwatcher’s guide. The Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Shiraz each sport a single avian avatar with the Marriage blend of six grapes (Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Nebbiollo) sporting a couple of yellow “lovebirds.” Previously, they only made a limited Cabernet Savignon called “Sagol” for distribution in Jerusalem. All four Aviv wines retail for about 79 NIS. From earlier in 2011, they also released their Lavahn (84 NIS), their new semi-sweet blend of Gewurztraminer, Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc. This wine is seemingly addictive to some and a great match for many of Israel’s spicier dishes whether it’s local white fish with spicy Moroccan or Yemenite sauces or Thai or Indian curry this wine is like nectar and worthy of making any bee or hummingbird jealous of those lucky enough to sample any of the bottles only available through the winery. They also released a red blend from 2010 aptly called April (79 NIS) just in time for Passover that’s developing nicely even though it wasn’t made as a wine meant to age for as long as their other reds. So now they have six kosher wines available for Rosh Hashanah with their upper echelon wines from 2010 still aging in oak barrels for future bottling and release in the next few years with all wines thereafter from all series being certified from 2010 onwards. With the addition of certification, the wines haven’t changed in their flavors, aromas, balance or complexity. The winemaker’s at the Flam and Tulip wineries would agree since their wines came under kosher certification with their 2010 vintages as well. As Israel Flam succinctly says of his sons’ wines, “our wines were always kosher. Now they’re just certified kosher.”
Only a few meters away from the Saslove Winery is another family owned boutique, the Avidan Winery. These friendly competitors make dramatically different wines though they are both highly prized and well regarded by Israeli and international critics. First, Avidan’s winemaker,Tzina Avidan tends to use mostly less commonly employed grapes which are bound to result in different wines. Avidan regularly releases Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Petite Sirah and often makes blends consisting of Grenache, Mourvedre and Carignan which aren’t grapes being found under the Saslove label or many other boutiques in Israel although Avidan has Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot based wines (like Saslove and so many others) for those who don’t want to stray too far from more traditional wines.
Additionally, even though they’re making much less wine than Sasloves (30,000 bottles compared to 80,000) they have about twice as many labels. This comes from a lot of experimenting with different versions of wines from the same grapes, several blends or putting the same wine out in different incarnations to see maybe what the consumers want from future vintages. Larger commercial wineries often make similar “test wines” but don’t always release them. Avidan bravely bottles and releases these wines and many wine lovers and writers are glad they did. They have one series called “Fringe” embracing wines that defy traditional grape combinations and expectations. Of course some wine drinkers want wines that fulfill their preconceived stereotypes but Fringe wines seem slated for “open minded connoisseurs”.
For instance, Tzina has been experimenting with different styles and grape combinations for making ros`es. The 2009 was a dry blend of Grenache, Carignan and Pinot Noir with the 2010 dropping Pinot Noir from the blend with the addition of Merlot ( a much more traditional ros’e grape). Yet, in 2010 Tzina made and released two versions one fruitier and slightly sweeter than the other. These sell at the winery for about 50 NIS. For this New Year, Avidan is releasing their 2008 Petite Syrah. (Yes, I know it’s more commonly spelled Sirah but I’m just reporting what’s printed on the label which is not uncommon in Israel). Either way, this robust wine is derived from Judean Hills’ grapes and it’s impenetrable purple color hints that it will match well with savory grilled meats or BBQ with plentiful black fruit and ground pepper that isn’t lost to the two years of French oak aging that delivers a lot of chocolate in both the aromas and flavor. This wine goes for 160 NIS but is the equal of many finer wines in this price range yet one of the most expensive single varietal Petite Sirahs available in Israel.
Last but not least on my “birthday visit” to Avidan was a taste of their selection of semi-dry and dessert wines. Their 2007 Gran Soliel is 100% Chardonnay and just slightly sweet though it has surely given the wine more aging ability than the average Israeli white wine. Tzina is coy sometimes about telling a taster what grapes make up a wine since her wines don’t always fit what industry people call “varietal specificity.” By that I mean, certain grapes often have certain flavors and aromas that wine professionals and consumers expect when the grape is mentioned on the front of the label so Avidan’s “Chardonnay” is wisely not called a Chardonnay on the front label as it might disappoint someone seeking a Chardonnay they may have had in the past. Tzina’s intention was to stress more tropical fruit than classic apple, pear or citrus flavors and the wine avoided the secondary fermentation process that makes so many “New World” Chardonnays “butter bombs”. Three years of oak aging imparted a rounder body and mouth feel but since the barrels were older they were more neutral in imparting flavors and little vanilla is detectable that might be expected otherwise. This is another example of how Avidan’s “Fringe” wines might not deliver a wine you expect but you might start to expect that their wines are uniquely desirable for just that reason. At 99 NIS, its a worthy investment.
To push the point forward about how many different wines they do have although some are just variations of a familiar theme, Avidan has a white port style wine also made from 100% Chardonnay grapes. By port style, I mean that the wine was fermented into a wine with only 9% alcohol leaving residual sugar for a sweeter wine then fortified later with neutral spirits to raise the total alcohol to 17%. This Avidan Gold is another Avidan wine aged 3 years in neutral barrels and it exhibits golden delicious apples, notes of mango and pineapple, caramel, butterscotch and vanilla and without a mistake honey. Seemingly a great match for many sesame seed based desserts, marzipan, apple pie or strudel or creme brulee. At 120 NIS, don’t think this is a wine you have to drink in one sitting. Because of its sweetness and it’s higher alcohol, fortified “port-style” wines last far longer than dry table wines after opening even weeks or months depending how finicky you are.
Although I enjoy flirting with white fortified wines, my preference though is for red “ports” whether from Israel or port’s true home in Portugal. Red grapes seem to have the extra gravitas to stand up to the additional alcohol more so than white. I’m often talking with winemakers how it could be advantageous for Israeli dessert wines to find an identity and branding of their own like dessert wines from Portugal, Spain, Germany, Hungary and Canada have branded for themselves. Until then, we can still enjoy the increase in more and sweet and succulent wines as Israeli winemakers embrace dessert wines that were snubbed for so many years as a way of escaping guilt by association with sacramental “kiddush wines” that harken to a past when Israeli wines weren’t winning more than their fare share of international accolades.
Avidan’s “red port” called Ruby and Saslove’s red “Kadita” (139 NIS) are two great examples of confident Israeli winemakers who have great reputations for making dry wines delivering to consumers great dessert wines as well. Any respectable wine region is remiss without its share of dessert wine options and on the boutique scene, Avidan and Saslove have two hard to find but easy to savor dessert wines ideal for raising a glass to the traditional Hebrew toast “l’shonah tovah tikatevu” May you have a good and sweet New Year.”
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 trialed and erred their way to creative prowess. Agur Rosa combines Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc grapes using the Sur Lie method to produce a beautiful rose that while fruity and light is dry to the pallet. It takes the concept of rose to a completely new category. Their combination of Vigonier and Johannesburg Riesling make the Blanca, one of the crispest and refreshing new white wines to come out in years.
The story of Tulip Winery begins in 2003, when the Yitzchaki family began their winemaking with a vision. Based in Kfar Tikva – Village of Hope – Roy and Yitzchak Yitzchaki make their wine with a purpose. Hiring workers from Kfar Tikva – a special needs community – Tulip winery had some hard decisions to make when going kosher. In the end they were able to keep their devoted workers and go kosher without any compromise of quality. Their first production of kosher, the 2010 Tulip White, a Gewurztraminer and Sauvignon Blanc blend, was such a hit, it has been a high demand around the globe.
So now that they’ve come up with a new breed of wine, it’s time to let the world know. Who do you choose to tell the world about yourself? Sometimes a fresh face can make all the difference. Enter Premier Wine Imports (premierwineimports.com), a new importer of boutique style Israeli wines that gears to promoting the specialty and uniqueness of the Israeli wine and terroir.
As co-owner Adar Ben-Lapid says “spreading the word will be easy once someone takes a sip. Israeli boutique wineries have so much to offer and yet have a hard time getting the public at large to stand up take notice… That’s where we come in”. Available across the United States, these Israeli boutique wineries have taken a huge first step to putting themselves on the map with the rest of the wine world.
If you are interested in purchasing Agur or Tulip in the United States, or stocking it in your shop or restaurant, contact Adar Ben-Lapid at [email protected]. Tell ‘em HaKerem sent you!
A review of the Jerusalem Wine Festival
The following is from ESRA Magazine and reprinted with permission of the author.
In Israel, there’s an underused practice that could save you a lot of money when eating out and drinking wine. In the United States and in Europe, it’s very common to be able to bring your own wine to a restaurant. The price you pay a restaurant for the privilege of bringing your own bottle is commonly called “corkage”. It’s a great way of saving money as a diner and insuring that you have a wine you like with dinner.
There are some ground rules for corkage that you should understand before you try it for the first time. First, if you can, it’s best to call ahead to the restaurant to see if they have a corkage policy. As it’s less common in Israel than overseas, the waiting staff might not be familiar with it, so you might have to work your way on the phone to the manager or owner before you get a firm answer -yea or nay. The other reason for calling is to check how much they charge and to negotiate that in advance. You don’t really want to do it as you walk in the door. Additionally, you should check if they have the wine you’re bringing on the wine list. One of the reasons corkage is allowed is so you can have a wine you want that evening regardless of where you decide to eat. It is considered ill-mannered to insist on bringing a wine that the restaurant already serves. If you’re lucky, the restaurant has its wine list online, but that’s far less common in Israel than in the Diaspora.
Why do restaurants charge you at all for opening your wine? Well, they are running a business and their wine sales are part of how they pay their bills. There’s also a certain amount of glass breakage, and cleaning and polishing wine glasses is labor intensive. That being said, the restaurants in Israel that do have corkage policies tend to have reasonable rates. Typically, the average is NIS 25 to NIS 35 per bottle, with some being less and some being excessively more.
When I plan wine events throughout Israel, I first investigate the restaurants’ corkage policy to gauge how easy they might be to work with. If you plan ahead on Sunday through Tuesday, some restaurants will even waive corkage fees altogether if everyone drinking is ordering a meal. They want to fill seats on slow nights to pay the staff and cover other expenses. On busy nights, however, they’re not apt to waive corkage when there could be other people filling those seats who might even buy wine at their inflated wine list prices – though in Israel some eateries have far lower mark-ups on wine than in the U.S.
Sometimes, on a whim, I’ll grab a good bottle and meet up with friends in a neighborhood restaurant and just negotiate my way to no or little corkage on a slow night. I have no expectations in Israel to get away with that on a Wednesday or Thursday night, the two busiest dinner nights in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, especially at kosher restaurants that aren’t open Friday night and open late, if at all, on Saturday night, an hour after Shabbat ends.
Some restaurants will have excessive corkage fees as a way of saying that you can bring your bottle but you’re going to pay through the nose to do it. They may charge NIS 50-100 a bottle, or even charge you by the person. This can really add up. At NIS 50 per person, the corkage can cost you almost as much as your entree. At those prices I wish they would simply say they don’t allow corkage rather than insult people’s sense of fair play.
Another reason for corkage and why some diners do it from time to time is not only to save money, but to really make a dinner special. You might have been saving a particular bottle for a special occasion and don’t want to be limited to drinking it at your home or when invited to dine with friends. If such is the case, mentioning it to the staff is a way to soften or waive their fees if they’re at all hospitable – but they might be suspicious if you celebrate your birthday more than once a year.
So how much money can you save by bringing your own bottle out to eat? A bottle that costs NIS 100 in a wine store might cost NIS 175- 250 in a restaurant. If you paid NIS 35 in corkage fees you would save NIS 40-115 per bottle, which could cover the cost of an entree or dessert for two. And although I enjoy trying new wines at festivals and wineries, trying new wines at restaurant prices is an expensive price to pay to satisfy my curiosity, when I’m concerned with just satisfying my appetite.
This article is from wines-israel.com and printed with permission of the author
It is proving to be a sad month for Israeli wine. A week ago Israel’s number one wine critic, Daniel Rogov, passed away. Now just a week later, on September 14th, the death of Dalia Penn-Lerner has been announced. Dalia Penn-Lerner, 75, was a famous actress, including starring in the Forsyte Saga, a famous BBC television series.
She was most well-known in Israel as a food connoisseur and writer. She wrote for the Hadashot newspaper, was heavily involved in Israel’s Chaines des Rotisseurs chapter and was one of the leading people responsible for charting, recording and pioneering the advance of Israel gastronomy.
However the wine industry will remember her for her part in the development of what many believe is Israel’s finest winery.
When home based winemaker and restaurateur Eli Ben Zaken made a wine called Castel Grand Vin in 1992, Penn-Lerner asked for two bottles. They were delivered to her Savion home by Arnon Geva, then Eli Ben Zaken’s son in law. Instead of enjoying them herself, she forwarded them on to Serena Sutcliffe, Master of Wine and Head of the Sotheby’s Wine Department. Serena Sutcliffe was a person of some influence in the wine world. She tasted them and wrote that they were the finest Israeli wines she had ever tasted.
The rest is history. On the basis of this letter, Eli Ben Zaken had the stimulus to invest further, and expand the winery. It now produces over 100.000 bottles a year, has received scores of 93 points from Robert Parker and the maximum four stars from Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book. Arnon Geva went on to be CEO of Domaine du Castel for a number of years, before moving to Carmel in 2008. He is now international business director for Carmel & Yatir Wineries.
It was because of Dalia Penn-Lerner’s sense of style and quality, that she recognized the wines from Castel, were special. Furthermore it was through her contacts that she was able to pass the bottles on to an international wine expert. This changed the story of Israeli wine in the 1990’s.
She was married to Dr. Alec Lerner, one of the senior board directors of Marks and Spencer.
Wines-Israel sends condolences to her two children.
Gamliel Kronemer, the New York Jewish Week’s wine writer and a fellow member of Rogov’s forum, wrote a fitting tribute to Daniel in this week’s New York Jewish Week.
Some highlights:
It was after he had moved to Israel, that David Joroff adopted the pen name Daniel Rogov. Joroff was a shy, private man, and the use of a pen name, I think, gave him a greater sense of privacy. He chose the name Rogov in homage to a 19th-century Russian aristocrat whose colorful life story appealed to his sense of whimsy.
However, Daniel Rogov was not his only pseudonym. He also wrote under the names David Gershon and David Louison. During the early 1980s he even wrote a series of travel books and cookbooks that were “co-authored” by all three of his pseudonyms.
In the last decade of his life, particularly after he started publishing his annual “Guide to Israeli Wine” in 2004 (the last issue of which will be published, posthumously, early next year), Rogov became ever more influential as a wine critic. In one of our last conversations he told me that “if I give a wine a high score like 93, within a few days it can be sold out [in Israel.]”
While Rogov may have become a cosmopolitan Israeli, there was a part of him that was forever a New Yorker. “The greatest compliment I ever had in my life,” Rogov once told me, “is the day I opened an e-mail with a picture of a back of a New York City bus in Brooklyn. On the bus was an ad for a Herzog Special Reserve wine with [the text] ‘Daniel Rogov Score 92’ and my photograph … You know you’ve made it in life when they put your picture on a New York City bus!”
Read the full article here.
…says winemaker Golan Tishbi. “It’s a lot better than last year.” as he tends to his family’s estate vines in Zichron Ya’acov and who harvests grapes from all over Israel to produce about 1 million bottles every year at Israel’s 6th largest winery. The Tishbi Winery has already harvested several kinds of grape varietals from their estate coastal vineyards including Sauvignon Blanc, French Colombard, & Emerald Riesling and expect their thicker skinned Cabernet Sauvignon from Judean Hill vineyards to be the last grapes they harvest from cooler higher latitude vineyards. Stop by over the next several weeks at their winery and visitor center in Binyamina and you have a good chance to witness grapes coming in from the fields and you can even try their recent addition of a French gourmet chocolate & Tishbi red wine pairing.
Just north in Zichron Ya’acov, is Israel’s largest winery, the Carmel Winery which makes about 30% of Israel’s wine and depending which way you enter town you might get stuck behind the stream of trucks bringing grapes from neighboring vineyards from some of their 300 growers who contribute to what is actually one huge collective under one management and winemaking team. Adam Montefiore, Carmel’s director of development, relays that Carmel’s chief winemaker (the bigger wineries often have several) Lior Lacser is very pleased and cautiously optimistic with the harvest so far. The beginning of maturation for vines was delayed and so will be most harvests of 10 days to 2 weeks and they expect their last harvest might take place in November with their more northern and higher altitude vineyards.
Although the temperate temperatures this summer compared to most is producing great results in Carmel’s lower lying coastal vineyards, in the Upper Galilee and Golan Heights it could prove problematic if the harvest is interrupted by rain or ideal picking days fall around holidays when pickers would not be available or even allowed for a kosher winery. Rain is an issue because it can cause mildew or fungus or other pests that might force picking earlier than a winemaker otherwise would like to insure fully developed aromas, flavors, tannins and complexity. Israel’s long dry summers are often rainless which means on the average like in California most vintages are far more consistently good than in many famous European wine regions like Bordeaux or Tuscany.
Carmel’s sister winery, Yatir, which makes about 10,000 cases of wines, is located in the northeastern Negev with vineyards in the southern Judean Hills and the Negev’s Tel Arad and is experiencing similar delays of 10-14 days with slightly lower yields than usual yet with the typically good and exceptional quality grapes that provide the foundation for some of Israel’s most acclaimed boutique wines. Speaking of acclaimed Israeli boutique wineries, I had the pleasure of catching up on the phone with the winemaker from Israel’s first boutique winery, the Margalit Winery. WInemaker Assaf Margalit,is the second generation of winemakers since the winery launched Israel’s boutique bonanza in 1989.
Assaf took over as senior winemaker about a decade ago although his father and winery founder Ya’ir Margalit, who by the way was the first winemaker at Tishbi, is still a vocal presence and valuable resource to the winery having written two internationallyand widely circulated textbooks on winemaking and over a decade helming what most consider as one of if not the best winery in Israel. In fact, Ya’ir is currently in Napa, California for a one year sabbatical updating his two tomes with updates based on his and others’ research since the books’ last pressing. Assaf, a renown wine educator in Israel in his own right, has only harvested, at this time, his Cabernet Franc from their Binyamina vineyard which was just one week later than usual. From what he hears from other winemakers, many who are former students of his and his father’s, is that 2011 seems like a good year.
“Moderate temperatures have resulted in grapes retaining higher acidity and lower PH than usual (the lack of acidity in grapes is often a problem in warmer growing regions like Israel that tend to produce more sugar and riper fruit)”. From Assaf’s sources, he’s hearing that Judean Hill vineyards are experiencing 10 to 15% lower yields although with good quality grapes although this might be a boon to Upper Galilee vineyards such as his cherished Kadita vineyard where several wineries have experienced higher yields of 10 to 15% of good if not superior grapes. This will be pleasant news to many winemakers like Margalit who suffered lower yields due to an extremely hot season in 2010. The Margalit’s, in order to insure the quality of their wines, produced about 16,000 bottles worth of wine in 2010 (although it’s still aging in the barrels) compared to about 20,000 bottles which they have produced most years of late. In their Kadita vineyard, picking might begin as early as this week from 4 different plots which include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petite Sirah and this year’s new arrival Petit Verdot. The Petit Verdot will be made as a separate wine as Assaf typically does from all his grapes and then decide whether to blend it with wines made from other grapes or to release it as its own single varietal, which he does every vintage with the Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc and occasionally with the Merlot when it meets his exacting standards or as a part of his Enigma blend or to supplement another single varietal wine. Just as you can’t tell but hope how a child might mature, Assaf has high hopes for the Petit Verdot but will taste how it matures and decide after several months after harvesting how it will best move on whether as the star in its own bottle or a supporting role in another wine.
A one time summer intern of the Margalit’s is today part of the well regarded Recanati Winery team (after spending years gaining further experience in France, Italy and Tasmania), winemaker Ido Lewinsohn. The esteemed Gil Shatsberg and Ido took over as the winemaking team from founding winemaker Lewis Pasco in 2008 with Gil taking the lead. Recanati gets most of its grapes from the Upper Galilee, the Judean Hills and close to the winery from coastal vineyards. Ido expressed his pleasure with a “very, very good year” producing lots of color and aromas and low PH. They are picking later than normal for them but earlier than most other wineries since Gil and Ido prefer more nuanced, higher acidic, lower alcoholic wines than most other Israeli winemakers including Pasco (who has since moved to California after leaving Recanati). Their Sauvignon Blanc grapes from Binyamina vineyards kicked off their harvest in mid-August although they’re typically picked in late July. Ido expects Recanati’s Ben Zmira Upper Galilee vineyards to produce their latest harvest with plots bearing Cabernet Sauvignon which is often the last grape picked at many wineries large and small.
Ido also runs a small “cult” winery with his father aptly called Lewinsohn’s Garage de Papa which produces a Blanc made up 100% Chardonnay and a Rouge made of any number of combinations of red grapes each year. Ido shops for the best grapes on the market each year, avoiding for now long term contracts with growers and the potential of having a bad vintage any year yet his knowledge and contacts with growers has paid off for each of his first few vintages as the several thousand bottles they produce have been touted as some of the best wines in Israel and are often featured on some of the most prized wine lists at Tel Aviv’s best restaurants as much a limited supply of only 500 cases/year might allow. He’s happy with the selection he has available for his two wines this vintage though he did move from using Upper Galilee grapes from those of the Judean Hills to bolster the higher acidity he wishes for his “Papa” Blanc.
Of course the region that started the quality wine revolution in Israel was the Golan Heights with plantings in 1976. The Golan Heights Winery, with its Yarden, Gamla and Golan labels, is Israel’s 3rd largest winery producing about 6 million bottles annually with grapes primarily from the Golan Heights supplemented with some grapes from its sister winery, the Galil Mountain Winery at Kibbutz Yiron in the Upper Galilee.
Their senior winemaker, Victor Schoenfield, is the most experienced and prolific winemaker in the Golan Heights having led the winery for close to twenty years. So I found it insightful when Victor took time to chime in on this year’s harvest in the little free time he has available managing their many vineyards through out Israel’s most northern and highest altitude vineyards. “We have harvested about 15% (of our grapes) so far, which is the lowest percentage we have ever harvested to date. Last year, an early year, we were close to 50% harvested (by) now (which was ahead of the typical curve). We are seeing delays anywhere from one to four weeks. We have so far harvested Muscat Canelli, an early (white) variety which happens to be in our warmer areas, and Pinot Noir for sparkling wine (Gamla Brut). We have harvested quite a lot of Chardonnay for sparkling wine (their Gamla Brut and Yarden Blanc de Blanc), as well, though we will only finish this up next week. So far things look very good. The only worrying thing is the calendar date. If we have an early winter, we could run into some serious problems. In a normal year, we normally pretty much finish up by the end of October, so we could be harvesting well into November this year, which could be dangerous as we could run into cold temperatures and rain. As always, we are at nature’s mercy. As normal, we will probably finish with our later varieties in our coldest areas, which normally means Cabernet from a northern Golan vineyard. As of now, yields look normal”. Victor’s assessment is an encouraging indicator from one of Israel’s largest producers of mostly premium wines. In fact, this year the winery was picked out as the “Best Winery in the World” in a competition in Italy of about 3700 wineries. This year’s harvest might help keep Victor getting similar accolades.
Tal Pelter, the winemaker at the nearby and prestigious Pelter Winery, who has consulted for other aspiring winemakers in the north, seems to agree with Victor’s view on the harvest so far though his vineyards aren’t at risk by being mostly at the lower extreme of higher altitudes in the Golan Heights. His whites including Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc are almost all harvested with their larger selection of red grapes beginning to be harvested next week. Tal claims that the moderate temperatures have grapes being picked even later than in colder years like 2005 and 2007.
After talking to some winemakers I hold in high esteem, it seems that the lack of any heat waves all summer could result in a vintage worthy of remembering and savoring for years to come. In November, as the last grapes are harvested I hope to check in with these and other winemakers to see how their predictions panned out.
