Posted at 11:47h in Kosher, Wine 101 by 3 Comments
I have said this before and I will say it again: Israeli doesn’t equal kosher and kosher doesn’t equal Israeli. That is to say a very simple thing – not all Israeli wines are kosher and not all kosher wines are Israeli. Why am I saying…
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 some of the best wine in the world. I first encountered the wines of Castel only last year, when I was asked to write a story on them for…
Posted at 15:26h in Wine industry, Wineries by 0 Comments
Chateau Golan is a small, boutique winery on the Golan Heights. While its modeled after a French chateau, its winemaker was trained in Oregon. Unlike the Franco-phile Domaine du Castel, which is truly making French-style wines, it appears that the Chateau Golan’s decision, with its…
Posted at 09:37h in Wine industry by 1 Comment
I have just been informed by Richard of Israeli Wine Direct that limited quantities of Clos de Gat is being made available. Clos de Gat is also available in the US via some New York-based distributors, but besides IWD’s purchase, had to find outside of…
Posted at 15:12h in Wine industry, Wineries by 1 Comment
Bazelet HaGolan is a winery that I recently “discovered” on my trip up north. Bazelet means “basalt,” and refers to the volcanic terroir of the Golan Heights. The winery was founded in 1998 and released only Cabernet Sauvignon until 2005, and is releasing its first…
Posted at 12:38h in Wine industry, Wineries by 4 Comments
I’m not going to write much about the Golan Heights Winery because it is one of Israel’s best known – and best – wineries. If you aren’t familiar with their wines from the Katzrin, Yarden, Gamla, and Golan labels, than go out RIGHT now to…
Posted at 16:22h in Wineries by 1 Comment
It’s no secret to readers of this blog that one of my favorite wineries is the Galil Mountain Winery (not, as my tour guide kept on annoyingly referring to it as the Mt. Galilee Winery). Owned by the vineyards (which also own the Golan Heights…
Posted at 19:19h in Wine industry by 0 Comments
Robert Parker talks about Israeli wine in his Business Week column, with rankings for Castel, Yatir, Carmel’s Limited Edition. Here is the link. It’s great to see Israeli wines begin to get the recognition that they deserve. Wine Spectator also recently featured an article about Tulip…
Posted at 11:36h in Reviews, Wines by 0 Comments
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…
Posted at 10:40h in Wine industry, Wineries by 0 Comments
Israel’s Upper Galilee is one of the best areas to make wine. Dalton Winery was founded in 1993 by Mat Haruni and is consistently making high quality wines at reasonable prices. In fact, Daniel Rogov writes that “Dalton has earned a consistently good name for…
Posted at 17:54h in Wine industry by 0 Comments
Will have much more to say about Golan Heights Winery (had some excellent wines from them last week), but in the meantime, here’s a picture I took last Monday of an Israeli flag flying over their steel barrels outside of their winery in Katzrin, on…
