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 […]
Isawinexpo 2012 is coming! This industry wine event occurs only every 2 years at Tel Aviv’s Ganei Taharucha convention center. It will take place February 21-23 (February 21 only for members of the trade, 22-23 for the general public). The ISRAWINEXPO exhibition is organized by the Israel Trade Fairs & Convention Center in cooperation with the Israeli Wine Magazine and The Grape-Man Wine Center and is sponsored by the The Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute. The exhibition will take […]
Just watched the WLTV clip. Gary gives a shoutout to my favorite wine critic – Daniel Rogov, the guru of Israeli wine and the only wine critic in Israel writing in English and for a foreign (and local) audience. It seems that Gary very much enjoyed the Yarden 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon. I’m not surprised as all of the wines from the Golan Heights Winery are at a high level (OK, I admit I’m not a huge fan of the Golan […]
Syrah is a grape native to France’s Rhône Valley, I believe this varietal has great potential to be among those most appropriate to showcase Israel’s unique terroir (in my opinion, Grenache, Carignan and Cabernet Franc also top that list of potentials). However, as Syrah continues to make inroads within the Israeli market, sales of California Syrah in the United States have crashed and burned, dashing the hopes of many for the varietal to become the US’s next big thing. While […]
I’ve previously written about Adam Montefiore, currently a manager at Carmel Winery. The dean of Israeli wine marketing (a topic close to my heart) and someone I’m privileged to have met and call an associate and friend, Montefiore is also known by his moniker ‘The Ambassador of Israeli Wine’ – a title well deserved. As one of the main spokespeople for Israeli wine in the English press, I was pleased to see an interview with him in the Huffington Post (and, for […]
Israeli wine is on the rise according to Food and Beverage Magazine. People are starting to get it! Food & Beverage Magazine, an important trade magazine for the food, beverage, and hospitality industries just published an excellent article about Israeli wine. According to Jacques Capsouto, owner and wine director of New York City’s Capsouto Frères, one of New York City’s premiere French restaurants, “I like to drink the quality wines, instead of quantity wine. Israel is about quality.” (If you […]
Here are some pictures from ancient times (Byzantine era to the Babylonian era) of wine vats (called amphorae, also the name of a great winery in Israel – which is selling under the name Marvah in the United States) that were discovered off Israel’s coast. They were used by ships near the Mediterranean and are on display at the Israeli Maritime Museum in Haifa:
Wine Spectator has a fascinating little video on Israeli wine (with a Dalton Chardonnay and a Clos De Gat red blend) from editor Kim Marcus. I can’t embed it but it’s currently on the Wine Spectator home page but this is what I think is the permalink to it — check it out! Here is also another direct link to the video.
Carmel is Wine Enthusiast’s Editors’ Choice No less than three Carmel Appellation wines have scored 90 points in the Wine Enthusiast, and in addition, each wine was also awarded the prestigious ‘Editor’s Choice’. The wines were as follows: Appellation Cabernet Sauvignon, Upper Galilee, Carmel Winery 2009 90 points & Editors’ Choice Appellation Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz, Upper Galilee, Carmel Winery 2009 […]
This weekend, I opened up a bottle of the 2006 Galil Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. Unusually, Rogov says that it is best starting in 2009. Yet, like most people, I am not going to store this wine until 2009 – as the wine is still good and I lack adequate storage solutions. For those who don’t have an extra $20,000 or more lying around and a basement to construct a home wine cellar, how do you store your wine? Do you […]
