Nestled amongst the vines of Israel’s largest contiguous vineyard at Kibbutz Hulda, about thirty minutes southwest of Tel Aviv, Israel’s second largest winery, Barkan, hosted a press event to inaugurate it’s new and long awaited visitor center and to launch its release of their three Cabernet Sauvignon’s in their 2009 Barkan Altitude series. Over 30 wine writers and bloggers were invited from all over Israel to witness what is a major accomplishment in Israel, getting approval for a large visitor […]

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The 2013 winners of the annual Eshkol Hazahav Awards were announced at the Dan Panorama Hotel in Tel Aviv, June 3rd to a good turnout of many of Israel’s best winemakers & an array of wine insiders. It’s the only annual wine awards focusing entirely on Israeli wines (supplemented a Best Value Awards) organized by sommelier Avi Ben Ami. Fifty four Israeli wineries submitted 236 wines to be judged. It was hosted as part of Culinary 2013, an exposition which […]

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I’ve never had the Segal (I’m scared away from them because of their low-end stuff), but will be looking out for this wine shortly due to Gary V’s review. I strongly enjoy the Yiron myself, and just picked up the Yiron-Syrah last week (a different wine) but yet to open. Carmel still has to get past their history and make more serious wines, but some of the Single Vineyard is pretty good, but they still have to improve, I admit. […]

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The following post is from wines-israel.com and reprinted with permission. Eli Ben Zaken, owner of Domaine du Castel, invited some of the world’s most famous wine personalities to Israel. They included Michel Bettane from France, Robert Joseph from England, Jan Van Lissom from the Netherlands, and Jeannie Cho Lee from Hong Kong. Michel Bettane is France’s most famous wine critic. He wrote for many years for La Revue du Vin and is author of the book “The World’s Greatest Wines.” […]

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When I moved to California from Massachusetts, I missed the embedded and concentrated layers of culture and history that New England had to offer over the American Southwest. Yet when moving to Israel, those hundreds of years of New England culture were overshadowed by thousands of years of civilizations that can be overwhelming to a resident as much as to a tourist exploring without a guide. I’ve half-kidded that with the right tour guide, you could easily walk every ten […]

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The following is reprinted from wines-israel.com. I don’t have to mention that another great source of Israeli wine news is this blog, aggregating and publicizing in Israel in English the story of the Israeli wine scene. The wine critic is someone who is wine knowledgeable. His job is to taste wine on our behalf and write about in a way that is informative and helpful. A critic will gain a guru-like following of people who follow every word. He quantifies […]

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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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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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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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Earlier this month, Adam Montefiore published a list of top wine resources in his Jerusalem Post column. Looking for last-minute gifts, here are some recommendations: as well as several websites. Notably, this site gets a shout out: The main wine blog on Israeli wines is www.israeli-wine.org. This is created and maintained by Avi Hein, a canny marketer using social media. Here, you will find regular articles of interest.

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