Wherever Jews have resided, there has always been home based wineries making wine for the Kiddush sanctification of the Sabbath. For the required blessing, grape beverages are necessary. Apart from a regular wine, either raisin wine or even grape juice is also suitable according to Jewish traditions, being regarded by Jewish law with the same reverence as wine. Jewish agricultural laws, with regard to vineyards in the Land of Israel, go back to the Biblical times. The Kosher wine laws […]

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A new updated wine map has been produced in English, called The Israeli Wine Map. It features a hundred of the best wineries of Israel from the northernmost Odem Mountain Winery, in the northern Golan Heights, all the way down to the Derech Eretz Winery, in the deepest Negev Desert. It runs from A to Z, or from ‘Adir to Zion’. It covers the wine routes of the Golan Heights, Upper & Lower Galilee, Mount Carmel, Sharon Plain, Judean Plain, […]

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David Rhodes is the only guy I’ll call the Israeli wine guy besides myself. He’s definitely one of my favorite Israeli wine guys — and a neighbor to boot. David was just on Gary Vaynerchuk’s Sirius radio, talking about Israeli wine. Listen to David on Gary’s show: Download Now.

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Segal Argaman 2007 from Dovev Vineyard in the Upper Galilee, has won the equivalent of a Gold Medal at ‘Les Citadelles du Vins’ Competition held in Bordeaux, France. Argaman is a cross between Carignan and Souzao, a Portuguese variety. Avi Feldstein, winemaker of Segal Wines, produced a single vineyard wine from Argaman grapes grown in a vineyard in the Upper Galilee, which created new interest in the Argaman grape. Now the wine has won this prestigious award. Segal Wines is […]

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This week is one of my favorite wine events of the year (although as I recently moved to a suburb of Tel Aviv, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to make it)… the Jerusalem wine festival at the Israel Museum! From Daniel Rogov’s post: The annual wine festival held in the sculpture garden of the Israel Museum has, since its inception six years ago, proven to be one of the most pleasant wine events of the year, attracting wine […]

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As Israeli wines continue to win international awards and recognition, Israeli wineries have found new ways to stress and market quality over quantity. Even though the largest wineries have taken similar steps to improve their wines every year, often the way they bring these wines to market differ. The Carmel, Yarden and Tishbi wineries have all offered single vineyard wines that emphasize that these wines come from their best vineyards out of the dozens if not hundreds they have to […]

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This article is from Ha’aretz by Lital Levin: Israel awaited the celebration of the 1954 wine harvest festival with high expectations. Such a festival is a new-old one for Jews. As one of its promoters told Haaretz: “In the Bible and our literature in general, a lot of space is dedicated to wine. Noah was the first wine producer; legend says that the tree of knowledge was a grape vine. The many drinking songs of our medieval literature are also well-known. […]

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I visited Carmel Winery’s Zichron Ya’akov winery yesterday. I will have more to come later. 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 […]

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From Ha’aretz, Daniel Rogov reviews the Israeli wines from Recanati, Yatir and Avidan. Wine and Spirits / Notable from Recanati By Daniel Rogov From its inception in 2000 to the present, the Recanati winery has offered a generous selection of wines, many of which have been consistently excellent. Located in the Hefer Valley in the […] Israeli wine is world class. Yes, we’ve heard this recently from the likes of Robert Parker, Mark Squires, Gary Vaynerchuk, Wine Spectator, Decanter, and […]

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Keeping up with the Jones is tough.  Keeping up with the Mondavi’s is even harder.  Cabernets, Merlots, and even Zinfandels from California to France keep getting top headlines and top scores.  With the Israeli wine scene growing by the day, coming up with the right taste for an ever evolving pallet is the biggest challenge any winery has. So what’s an up and coming winery to do?  Blend, blend, and blend some more. Two such wineries, Agur and Tulip, have […]

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