The term ‘Sommelier’ is the one of the most abused words in the Israel wine scene. Anyone who serves wine in a restaurant is referred to as a sommelier and people who complete wine courses also use the term loosely. Of course, a real sommelier is something virtually unknown in Israel. The genuine article will have spent years learning their trade. They will be responsible for purchasing good value, unusual and high quality wines from around the world. They will […]

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Rogov’s Reviews: Sophisticated Benyamina 9, Jul 2008 Tweet Daniel Rogov has a positive review of the Benyamina Winery in last week’s Ha’aretz. Benyamina is a large winery, often overlooked. It’s great to see that this Israeli winery is constantly improving. Wine and Spirits / Sophisticated Binyamina By Daniel Rogov That Binyamina winery is on the way up is beyond question. With far […] Rogov tastes whites 8, Jun 2008 Tweet It’s summer time and that means it’s time to break […]

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New Hebrew words for wine 24, Mar 2009 Tweet In honor of the Passover holiday, which features lots of wine, and the growing wine culture in Hebrew, the Hebrew Language Academy (yes, for better or worse, there is such a thing) has come up with Hebrew words for wine-related terminology. The Academia L’Lashon HaIvrit was established by the Israeli Government in 1953 as […] In: Wine industry Tags: hebrew, Hebrew language, wine terminology Israelis are drinking more and more quality […]

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Shavuot Cheese Wine Pairings: Perfect Time for Cheese & Wine 6, Jun 2011 Tweet This article appeared on wines-israel.com and was written by the Carmel Wine Education Department At the Jewish Festival of Shavuot, it is traditional to eat dairy products. This gives the perfect opportunity to hold a cheese and wine tasting! There is no better or more basic, rustic meal than to have a hunk of […]

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Beersheva Wine Festival 16, Aug 2011 Tweet Good wine isn’t just in the center or Jerusalem. It’s also coming to Beersheva, with the fifth annual wine festival to be held on September 14-15. Here is the details from Daniel Rogov’s forum: The 5th Annual Beer Sheva wine festival is scheduled to take place on Wednesday and Thursday, 14 and 15 September. […] In: Events|Wines Tags: Beersheba, Beersheva, wine festival

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I’m not going to write much about the Golan Heights Winery because it is one of Israel’s best known – and best – wineries. If you aren’t familiar with their wines from the Katzrin, Yarden, Gamla, and Golan labels, than go out RIGHT now to pick something up (from the GHW, I would say, with the exception of the highest level Katzrin, preferably a varietal wine and not a blend). From the moment Golan Heights Winery released its first bottle […]

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(This article appeared in wines-israel.co.il and is reprinted with permission) Mark Squires has written reviews of Israeli wines in the latest edition of Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate. This is the second major tasting Squires has undertaken on Israeli wines this year. He tasted 76 wines this time. Some wineries sent a large number of wines in the hope a least one would strike lucky. Twenty of the wines were from the Golan Heights Winery. They sent no less than 11 […]

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The following article is from wines-israel.com and reprinted with permission Golan Heights Winery recently earned the Gran Vinitaly Special Award as the best wine producer at the 19th International Vinitaly 2011 Wine Competition, which was held from March 28 to April 1, 2011, in Verona, Italy. In winning the top award at this prestigious competition, the Winery beat out over 1,000 wine producers from 30 countries including traditional wine-producing powerhouses such as France, Italy and Spain. Golan Heights Winery earned […]

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The Golan Heights Winery, for the last twenty years, has been one of the most influential wineries in Israel. Having been cited as the winery that sparked the quality wine revolution in Israel, Golan Heights has grown into the third largest producer of wine in the Holy Land but maybe should be rightly known as the largest producer of consistently good wines.  Under their flagship label Yarden (Hebrew for “Jordan” as in the Jordan River), this winery has paved the […]

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13 Nov 2007 by Israeli wine has a bad rap. Too many people associate it with either cooked wine (due to the old way that mevushal ­–a kosher stringency – was done, but wine that is not mevushal is equally kosher and, as I will repeat over and over again, there are plenty of non-certified Israeli wines that have come out within the past two decades) or Concord sweet, sickly wines like Manishewitz. Yet, Concord was used in kosher wine […]

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