Last week, Daniel Rogov unveiled his annual Guide to Israel Wines at Tel Aviv’s Wine Route. Unfortunately, due to horrible traffic, it took me longer-than-anticipated to reach Tel Aviv and I only arrived after the event was over. Nevertheless, the Israeli food portal Bakbuk was there and covered the event. Most importantly is a video of part of Rogov’s address. Rogov releases his annual Israeli wine guide Since Daniel Rogov first arrived in Israel in 1978, he’s been tasting wine. […]

Read More »

ISRAEL21c’s new video format was at the ISRAEWINEXPO. I admit that I wish I had pitched this to them myself, but the video is a nice montage of scenes and quotes from officials in the Israeli wine industry (although I would have preferred someone other than Hevron Heights Winery and more talk about the non-kosher producers). If you missed the event, well, the video can’t replace the great Israeli wine but it will make you even more upset for missing […]

Read More »

Well, I can’t just drink Israeli wine all the time. This past Thursday, I returned to Jerusalem’s Wine Hall – a relatively new but top wine store in downtown Jerusalem – for a tasting of the California Herzog line of wines. As you may recall, I first went to their Carmel Limited Edition and Single Vineyard tasting, but they had several other weekly tastings. For New Year’s Eve, they will be doing a tasting of sparkling wines. Attendees of the […]

Read More »

(This article first appeared on wines-israel.com and is reprinted with permission) Two wines were recently launched on the same date, at the same venue, with a tasting by a select group of Israel’s leading wine journalists & critics. As the wines were tasted together, it was the perfect opportunity to compare the story and tasting notes of two of Israel’s finest wines. The wines referred to are Carmel Limited Edition 2007, produced by Carmel Winery, and Yatir Forest 2007, produced […]

Read More »

While Carmel Mizrahi Winery is definitely not my favorite, it is the old man on the block. Founded by Baron Rothschild, who is also the founder of many top French chateaus, in the late 19th century, the history of Carmel is the history of modern Israel. However, for many years that also means that it was the history of bad Israeli wine. To this day, they are still the prime producers of the sickly sweet Kiddush wine that has more […]

Read More »

Israeli wine made from the Barbera grape are becoming more and more popular. Several new wineries have been introducing this Mediterranean varietal into their wines. Originally seen only by Dalton and Recanati, Galil Mountain has also recently introduced an Israeli Barbara. Barbera is not known much outside of Italy, but it is one of the most common varieties in Italy – a country not too far away from Israel: both are in the Mediterranean region. The Jerusalem Post recently wrote […]

Read More »

    Wine by the glass, a rip-off or an inexpensive way to expand and enhance your lifetime journey with food and wine. At times it can be one or the other or both depending on how your approach it and where you partake.     Wine by the glass is generally determined by the wholesale price of the bottle so if a restaurant paid NIS 30 or NIS 45 per bottle for instance for a bottle of Dalton Canaan or Carmel Appellation (two […]

Read More »

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 […]

Read More »

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 […]

Read More »

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 […]

Read More »