Carmel Winery has just announced the launch of its award-winning premium brandy, the Carmel 100. This quality Israeli brandy was aged for at least eight years in oak barrels. This new release of the Carmel 100 brandy is in honor of the hundredth anniversary of Carmel Winery. Brandy Carmel 100 is made with Columbard (70%) with the addition of Chenin Blanc and Emerald Riesling. Most of the brandy (75%) was produced with double distillation (pot still) as is common in […]

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The following article is from wines-israel.com and reprinted with permission. In December 2011, Zichron Ya’acov enters its 130th year. It was way back in December 1882, that settlers from Romania, first arrived in Givat Zamarin to put up their first tents and then houses. It was 130 years ago that they took their first tentative steps to viticulture. The first exploratory vineyards were planted using Carignan cuttings taken from the Mikveh-Israel Agricultural School. It was the start of a romance […]

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The White and Rosé Wines Binyamina, Chardonnay, Teva, 2008: Golden straw in color, an unoaked, crisply dry with fine acidity and showing appealing tropical and citrus fruits. Not at all complex but a very pleasant quaffer and at NIS 28 fine value for money. Drink now. Score 86. K (Tasted 30 Mar 2009) Binyamina, Rosé, Yogev, 2008: Light rose petal pink in color, opens quietly but develops nicely after a few minutes in the glass. Good acidity here to keep […]

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This article is reprinted with permission from Wines-Israel Arguably the most famous wine family in the world are the Rothschilds. This Jewish family originally were owners just of Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Chateau Mouton Rothschild, and Chateau Clarke, all situated in Bordeaux. Since then, they have expanded to all parts of the wine globe with their respective negociant businesses. Now through Domaines Barons Rothschild (Lafite), Baron Philippe de Rothschild SA and Compagnie Vinicole de Edmond & Benjamin de Rothschild, they have […]

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Boycott Israeli wine! No, really, start a boycott of Israeli wine! Have I gone nuts? Too much time in Israel has made me anti-Israel? No, rather, perhaps you should boycott Israeli wine because that will lead to more Israeli wine being bought! Does that make any sense? Well, yes, this is what happened last April when a group of Canadians called for a boycott of Israeli wine – the community went out and bought Israeli wine. Of course I don’t […]

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It’s a few days until New Years – or Sylvester as we call it in Israel – and with that comes bubbly. Yup, sparkling wine (or champagne, but champagne really only refers to sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France). Well, Israel isn’t known for being a world-class leader in this category but there are several worthwhile (and a few lacking, I admit) Israeli sparkling wines worth opening this December 31. The always-excellent Golan Heights Winery makes two different […]

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I don’t know whether to be happy that many people have already discovered this blog after only a week of existence or upset that many – by no means all – discovered this blog because they were looking for information on kosher wine. This will be a constant refrain on this blog:  ISRAELI DOES NOT […] Israeli wine has a bad rap. Too many people associate it with either cooked wine (due to the old way that mevushal ­–a kosher […]

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Bloomberg gets the message that Israeli wine doesn’t suck. I’m a little surprised that the article used the traditional framing of “Israeli wine used to suck, now kosher wine is good” (making the association between bad kosher American wine with great Israeli wine [which wasn’t always kosher, even]). This is especially surprising coming from such […] My good friend Richard Shaffer of Israeli Wine Direct has recently started an absolutely fascinating series of podcasts with Israeli wine figures. The first […]

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Mark Spivak, a wine reviewer who has written for the Palm Beach Post and Palm Beach Media Group, and other Florida and national magazines, and is the host of a wine show on NPR, recently visited Israel. After not visiting Israel for over 15 years, Spivak was in for a shock.  His past experience: To put it bluntly, wine here used to suck, and that was a shame because there was no reason that Israel couldn’t make outstanding wine. This, […]

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Jewish holidays are full of wine. On Shabbat, evening and morning, Jews say the kiddush (sanctification) blessing over wine. On Jewish holidays, we also say the blessings over wine. However, on one holiday, it really is all about wine — on Passover, in addition to the holiday meals during the day and the last day or two (2 days outside of Israel, 1 in Israel) of the week-long holiday, Jews have to drink four cups of wine at the seder […]

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