Posted at 20:38h in Wine industry by David Rhodes 1 Comment Tel Aviv Wine Festival this week…Wednesday March 6th & Thursday March 7th (NIS 70 at the door or NIS 50 by phone: 054-437-9144 or 054-225-0144) at ZOA (Zionist Organization of America) at corner of Ibn Gvirol & Daniel Frisch 6PM t0 11 PM featuring about 30 Israeli wineries offering about 100 wines to taste… a great price for a great night…for the price of two glasses at a wine […]

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Rosé is a tremendously underappreciated wine that goes well with an incredible array of food with the ability to provide welcome respite from the uncomfortable summer heat and humidity. With all due respect to Eric Asimov, while I do sometimes enjoy Rosé during the year Rosé is and always will be the perennial summer wine for me. As someone who revels in the continuous proliferation of great kosher options for the budding wine lover, I enjoy most varietals and many […]

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Posted at 13:00h in Events, Wine industry by 0 Comments So I returned Wednesday night from the first public night of the Israwinexpo 2008, Israel’s 2nd international wine trade show. While the two public days were mostly wine tastings attended by Israel’s growing oenophiles (and a few tourists, including my parents), the first day was only for professionals. Journalists from Wine Spectator, Decanter (one of Europe’s top wine magazines), several Asian wine journalists, and top wine critics (including Mark Squires, […]

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Posted at 07:47h in Wine industry by David Rhodes 0 Comments Besides the heat and humidity, one way I can tell summer is creeping up is when Israeli wineries start releasing their new vintages of white wines and rosés. One of the first Israeli wineries to land their new wines on my doorstep this spring is…

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Buy The Ultimate Rogov’s Guide to Israeli Wines The following is printed with permission of the author The ultimate, and final, Rogov Guide has been published. It contains nearly 687 pages. Last years version had a mere 603 pages! This year there is no International kosher wine Guide, nor a version in Hebrew. The book is published by Toby Press, the publisher, which has provided a wonderful service to Israeli wine over the years. Rogov’s Guide was first published in 2005 and […]

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Posted at 17:58h in Wine industry, Wines by Avi 0 Comments Petite Sirah was a new immigrant to Israel in the 1970’s. It came in a package ordered by Charles Loinger, the director of the Israel Wine Institute, from UC Davis. Partners in the same journey were French Colombard and Emerald Riesling. The impact of those two white grapes on the Israeli market was initially far greater than Petite Sirah. Colombard became the largest planted white grape in Israel. Even […]

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Posted at 20:31h in Wine industry by Avi 0 Comments Decanter.com has reported that: “An army of marauding baboons has been terrorising wine growers in the Franschhoek Valley region of South Africa, raiding local farms and devouring grapes.” One winery reported that he had lost nearly 40% of his crop to the animals! In Israel, maybe grapes aren’t eaten by animals as exotic as baboons, but there are certain local animals that enjoy feasting on the fruit. On the Golan […]

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Posted at 12:35h in Wine industry by Avi 0 Comments The following post is reprinted from wines-israel.com In a unique event, Eli Ben Zaken hosted the main wine critics of Israel and four very special international guests to a vertical tasting of Castel’s finest wines. Domaine du Castel was founded in 1992 by Eli Ben Zaken at Ramat Raziel in the Jerusalem mountains, west of Jerusalem. His first vintage was a mere 600 bottles.He now produces over 100,000, and runs […]

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Posted at 08:57h in Events, Wines by David Rhodes 0 Comments This is a shortened list from a longer article for those who like lists rather than reading explanations. Some wines I consider the best of the expo, some sentimental favorites and some just intellectually stimulating and worth mentioning as being illustrative of emerging trends. A few special wines were all of the above 2009 Tishbi Single Vineyard Malbec 2009 Ramot Naftaly Malbec 2008 Teperberg “Terra” Malbec 2008 Yatir Petit […]

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This post includes the best Israeli wines I tasted in 2012 (for a more comprehensive list, including non-Israeli wines, check out my website). As with prior years, in addition to the “best” wines of 2012, I have also included a list of the most interesting and exciting wines I tasted this year – many of which give more pleasure than some of their “near-perfect” brethren who are included in the more prestigious list. The “Exciting/Interesting” list is also an indicator […]

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