One of the best Israeli examples of my belief that wine can be called “philosophy in a bottle” is from the Recanati Winery. Israeli born and UC Davis trained Gil Shatsberg took over as the chief winemaker in 2008 and since then, he and his…
Posted at 18:36h in Wine industry by Avi 4 Comments Israwinexpo is coming back! This biennial professional Israeli wine event first occurred in 2006, then again in 2008, and is now coming back to Tel Aviv. Israwinexpo, along with Sommelier, are the two top wine events in Israel. Open to the public only on February 10-11,…
Posted at 20:20h in Wineries by Avi 0 Comments Bat Shlomo Vineyards – Wine fit for a king When Baron Edmond de Rothschild first bought the land now known of as Bat Shlomo, he brought wine experts from France to school the Jewish pioneers in the art of grape-growing and winemaking, planting the original vineyards….
Posted at 21:04h in Events by Avi 2 Comments It’s not my practice to post kosher wine events on this Israeli wine blog, since kosher wine and israeli wine are different — not all kosher wine is Israeli, not all Israeli wine is kosher, but of course many Israeli wine is kosher and the…
Posted at 22:32h in Wine industry by 1 Comment 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… Posted at 17:15h in Wine industry, Wineries by 0 Comments It’s quite possible that Domaine du Castel makes THE best wine from Israel. Unquestionably, they make […]
The 2012 Eshchol HaZahav or the Golden Cluster Awards were just held in Tel Aviv at the Dan Panorama Hotel. It’s the only wine competition that judges only Israeli wines and wines from all price categories. Yet, wine competitions are a curious phenomenon in the…
Posted at 18:32h in Wine industry, Wineries by Avi 0 Comments 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 […]
Posted at 10:19h in Wine industry, Wineries by 0 Comments The following story originally appeared in “the honey,” an English e-newsletter about life and culture in Israel: WINE PURO VINO If this purist bent suits the current fancy, take it a step further and go organic in your wines. The much acclaimed Sea Horse Winery on Moshav Bar…
Posted at 10:41h in Wine 101, Wines by Avi 0 Comments Unfortunately most Israelis associate sweet wines with Kiddush and religious ritual, and therefore the very word ‘sweet’ has connotations of a cheap and nasty wine. Something which is to be avoided, at all costs. However some of the world’s most sought after and expensive wines…
Posted at 14:38h in Wine industry by 1 Comment French food and Israeli wine are not a common combination. After all, when people think Israeli wine they often (wrongly) associate it only with kosher food – thus barring wine and food combinations like mahi in a shrimp sauce with Barkan’s chardonnay. Yet, one French…
