This article is from wines-israel.com and printed with permission of the author
It is proving to be a sad month for Israeli wine. A week ago Israel’s number one wine critic, Daniel Rogov, passed away. Now just a week later, on September 14th, the death of Dalia Penn-Lerner has been announced. Dalia Penn-Lerner, 75, was a famous actress, including starring in the Forsyte Saga, a famous BBC television series.
She was most well-known in Israel as a food connoisseur and writer. She wrote for the Hadashot newspaper, was heavily involved in Israel’s Chaines des Rotisseurs chapter and was one of the leading people responsible for charting, recording and pioneering the advance of Israel gastronomy.
However the wine industry will remember her for her part in the development of what many believe is Israel’s finest winery.
When home based winemaker and restaurateur Eli Ben Zaken made a wine called Castel Grand Vin in 1992, Penn-Lerner asked for two bottles. They were delivered to her Savion home by Arnon Geva, then Eli Ben Zaken’s son in law. Instead of enjoying them herself, she forwarded them on to Serena Sutcliffe, Master of Wine and Head of the Sotheby’s Wine Department. Serena Sutcliffe was a person of some influence in the wine world. She tasted them and wrote that they were the finest Israeli wines she had ever tasted.
The rest is history. On the basis of this letter, Eli Ben Zaken had the stimulus to invest further, and expand the winery. It now produces over 100.000 bottles a year, has received scores of 93 points from Robert Parker and the maximum four stars from Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book. Arnon Geva went on to be CEO of Domaine du Castel for a number of years, before moving to Carmel in 2008. He is now international business director for Carmel & Yatir Wineries.
It was because of Dalia Penn-Lerner’s sense of style and quality, that she recognized the wines from Castel, were special. Furthermore it was through her contacts that she was able to pass the bottles on to an international wine expert. This changed the story of Israeli wine in the 1990’s.
She was married to Dr. Alec Lerner, one of the senior board directors of Marks and Spencer.
Wines-Israel sends condolences to her two children.
