(For the thread, go to Daniel Rogov’s wine forum) Daniel Rogov recently visited the Israeli boutique winery of Vitkin. Here are his thoughts and tasting notes for the recent and soon-to-be releases of this Israeli winery. Established by Doron and Sharona Belogolovsky on Moshav Kfar Vitkin on the central Coastal Plain, this winery released its first wines from the 2002 vintage. Bordeaux-trained winemaker Assaf Paz relies on Carignan, Cabernet Franc, Syrah, Tempranillo, Petit Verdot, Petite Sirah, Viognier, French Colombard, Johannisberg […]

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As Gary V says “LINK IT UP” If you’ve been enjoying reading this blog than please be sure to add a link to your blog, website, twitter feed, or even e-mail signature. Link it up baby! And, of course, I always accept tips in the little “tip jar” on the top right.

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To learn more about Rogov brandy, download the Rogov Leaflet. Carmel Winery has launched a new prestigious, limited edition, ‘wine finished’ brandy in memory of Daniel Rogov, z”l, who passed away recently. Daniel Rogov was Israel’s most celebrated wine critic, the voice of the Israel wine revolution and a strong advocate for Israeli wines. For nearly thirty years he was Israel’s most famous writer on both food and wine. Rogov Brandy was distilled mainly from Colombard grapes. It is made up […]

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Stephen Brook, who visited Israel for IsraWinExpo 2008, has written an update to Hugh Johnson’s Wine Companion. The Wine Companion is one of the classic books, which is in the library of every wine lover. Over the years Stephen Brook has been a prolific author and his most famous book is his work on Bordeaux. He is a regular contributor to Decanter Magazine. Hugh Johnson  wrote five editions of this book, which was first published in 1983. For this sixth […]

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Israeli wine isracontact.com – wideo He speaks in French and Hebrew, so I only understood what Agur Winemaker Shuki Yashuv said in Hebrew, but for Francophiles, this is a little taste of Shuki Yashuv and Agur Winery. I had the pleasure of tasting Agur at the Jerusalem Wine Festival and was absolutely blown away by this great wine. As of the 2007 vintage, it’s also a kosher wine – but no difference in quality (well, an improvement, if anything) between […]

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For the religiously observant who do not want to attend a wine festival that also has non-certified kosher wine, and a testament to the growing sophistication of even the more observant populations, a rival wine festival that consists of solely kosher wine is now also taking place in Jerusalem. More than 40 wineries will be exhibiting at the Jerusalem +972 Kosher Wine Festival. The festival is one of the largest and most professional in the kosher wine world, featuring some […]

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The following article was reprinted with permission from wines-israel.com. See previous articles about Amphorae Winery here. Rumors abound that Amphorae Winery will be renamed Maharal Winery. As it is situated at Kerem Maharal, just north of Zichron Ya’acov, it would certainly be an appropriate name. Amphorae Vineyard was founded in 2000. The winery had a good start and the wines received good reviews, before business problems took over. A recent change of owners only increased the uncertainty and confusion. Wines […]

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The 2013 Tel Aviv Wine Festival will take place on May 28th to 30th at the Eretz Israel Museum (Haaretz Museum) 7-11PM featuring different musical acts each evening. Guests of the festival will enjoy tasting any of the 160 types of wine from 40 wineries around the world including a large selection of Israeli wines. The price of an entrance (NIS 99) to the festival will give guests access to all the live shows and a glass with unlimited tasting […]

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Twenty years ago there was a large market for Israeli brandies. Stock 84 and Brandy 777 were big domestic brands. In the 1990’s Carmel & Tishbi brandies won major international recognition at the very highest possible level. Yet high domestic taxes and the fact that brandy just drifted out of fashion, have contributed to an ongoing decline in Israeli brandy, which has continued until today. This is sad because Israeli brandies are good and deserve better. The new brown spirits […]

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From Daniel Rogov’s forum: Wine and Gourmet Magazine will be holding its 12th wine tasting event at Museum haAretz in Tel Aviv on Wednesday and Thursday, 21 and 22 October. A small change this year, for whereas in the past the event featured only Israeli wines, this time imported wines will also be offered for tasting. A list has not yet been made available of wineries or importers participating but when that follows, I shall post additionally.The event will be […]

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