[I plan to write much more on this next week, but here is a post that I wrote on Daniel Rogov’s forum]
I’m just reading it now (Hope to have more on it on my blog sometime next week) but it analyzed the California wine industry and found:
700,000 people watch wine related videos each month. Over 7000 wine tweets/ day The wine experience has become portable with over 300 iPhone apps.
There’s a Twitter meme called #winewednesday (I’ve used it occasionally to raise awareness of wine from Israel). They claim (I’ve seen more so I wonder if this is California only 126 Wineries have Twitter Accounts. There are virtual wine tasting events (where people from disperse geographic areas taste wine and discuss the wine via social media channels, including different websites. Many forum members share their tasting notes on corked, a social wine sharing site. Something else that I seem to get from the study (and does reflect a lot of what I see) is that you have a few people talking a lot. In america, New York and California are huge consumers and content contributors. Another thing that is ESSENTIAL when talking about media and reviews is that the Top 20 wine bloggers have more readers than Wine Spectator. Incidentally, something that I’ve discovered myself is that, for example, the daughter of the founders of Wine Enthusiast Magazine (heavily involved in it herself) links to my blog (among many many others) on her blog. As far as I know, in Israel, Yarden, Tishbi and Recanati have taken small stabs on Twitter but they have been very inactive and non-conversational. Dalton’s tried a bit to blog and some individual winemakers have some Hebrew blogs but Hebrew sites don’t spread Israeli wine outside of our small country. In the meantime, follow me on twitter and fan Israeli wine on Facebook.
(The following is a guest post from Irene Sharon Hodes, reprinted with permission)
I had the opportunity to taste a wine that is new to me, Vitkin’s 2006 Petite Sirah. A friend brought the bottle to the vegan dinner party I hosted last Friday (an exceptional experience I really need to get on to blog about). She knew that I adore Syrah, but made the common mistake of mixing the two varietals.
Israel is one of the relatively few wine regions growing Petite Sirah, officially known as Durif, as a single-varietal wine. Not to be confused with Syrah, the Petit Sirah, although related, is a different grape altogether. In the past it has been considered only as a “filler” for other more grand and accepted varieties, or a straight-to-jug kind of cheaper swill. In fact, during my wine training, this is essentially how this variety was presented.
Not so, anymore. To quote from Wikipedia on Israeli Petite Sirah:
In Israel, Petite Sirah had a history much like that in California—historically used as a blending grape to add body to inferior wines. However, Petite Sirah has recently experienced somewhat of a revival, both in high-end blends and bottled as a single or majority variety. TheUC Davis-trained winemaker and Ph.D. chemist Yair Margalit, familiar with the grape from his time in California, showed that Petite Sirah need not be consigned to jug wine when he blended small portions into his reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Seeing that Israeli terroir could grow great Petite Sirah, wineries such as Recanati followed suit with Petite Sirah blends, while others like Sea Horse, Carmel, and Vitkin have made single-varietal Petite Sirah in addition to using it for blending.
Going back to this particular bottle, I found it delightfully complex. Although closed and young-feeling, it was still a real treat to be drinking something so different from the norm. A mature many-layered aroma, it was a peppery wine, light fruit, with a really great acidity. Deep deep dense purple color, just gorgeous. It’s pretty different from my Syrahs, but I would certainly drink it again, despite the lack the rich dark fruits I so admire.
Reading about it on the Vitkin Winery website, however, I just learned that this wine is quite closed upon opening the bottle – something I really understand now – and they recommend opening it several hours before drinking. Perhaps the claimed “meatiness” and richer fruits would have appeared had I done this. This being reality, I personally think it’s quite absurd to think the average enthusiast (or even minor connoisseur) would do the research and think to open a bottle many hours before a meal AND to decant. And this from a wine that’s been aged 16 months in oak barrels! Perhaps the winery should have held onto the bottles for another year (it’s not like there’s a high demand for Petite Sirah).
All in all, I applaud Vitkin for taking the stand, being brave, and heralding once destitute varietals and creative new blends, including a Cab-Carignan-Petit Sirah Port and a the Israeli Journey Syrah-Carignan-Cabernet Franc table wine.
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, 2010 from 16:00-22:00 (4PM-10PM), the Israeli wine tasting will be held at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds & Exhibition Hall, the Ganei HaTaurucha. Those interested in more information or pre-ordering tickets can view the fair’s official website at http://israwinexpo.fairs.co.il/. If you pre-order tickets via the website (Hebrew only), you will get a discount and pay 49NIS instead of 60NIS at the door.
Participating wineries include:
- DomaineVentura
- Villa Willhelma
- Tzion
- Shilo
- Avidan
- Adir
- Alexander
- Bashan
- Gvaot
- Dalton
- Galil Mountain
- Vitkin
- Tulip
- Teperberg
- Sea Horse
- Chillag
- Tzora
- Tishbi
- Binyamina
- Recanati
- Barkan
- Carmel
- Yatir
- Noah
- Golan Heights Winery
- Saslove
- Ben Haim
- Amphorae
- Lurie
Click on the image to see it in full size (Hebrew)
This is an event not to be missed! 60NIS for 10 tastings at the door and 49NIS if tickets are pre-ordered online. If you want to read my coverage of the event two years ago, check out Israwinexpo 2008 here and here.
It is also open to members of the trade on February 8 and on February 9-10 from 10AM-10PM. Attendance on the first day is by invitation only.
Journalists, importers and wine buyers can gain further information by sending an email to Ms. Michal Neeman at [email protected] Those wineries considering participating but not yet enrolled can send an email to Ms. Dganit Aharonov at [email protected]
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 best kosher wine comes from Israel.
So, I thought my readers might be interested in two kosher wine events run by Royal, a large kosher wine importer in the United States and probably the importer of the most Israeli wine into the United States – representing top flight wineries like Carmel and Yatir, Castel, Agur, Psagot, Tzuba, Binyamina, and Barkan. So these events will have lots of Israeli wine and there is a possibility that Daniel Rogov, Israel’s top wine critic, will attend.
In California, at Herzog Winery, is the 2010 International Food & Wine Festival. This event, on February 3, 2010 at 7:00PM will feature wine from the Israeli wineries of Domaine du Castel, Yatir, Barkan, and Binyamina, as well as some of the best kosher wine from France, Spain, and California. For more information please visit Herzog’s website.
In New York, Royal Wine (owners of Herzog Winery), will be hosting a gala kosher food and wine event on February 1. This event will take place at 6:30PM at Pier 6.
This event will feature wine from the Israeli wineries of Binyamina, Carmel, Barkan, Castel, Yatir, Segal, Psagot, Gamla, Tzuba, Zion, Shiloh, and more.
It will also feature food from some of New York’s finest kosher restaurants.
You can purchase tickets online to that event from Royal.
A unique gathering of international chefs came together in Jerusalem to cook a Gala Dinner, to honor Chef Shalom Kadosh. Two hundred people paid NIS 1,800 (nearly US$ 475 each) for a ticket for this unique and prestigious event. The proceeds went to Beit Issie Shapiro in Ra’anana, which cares for children and adults with disabilities.
Chef Shalom Kadosh, 62, has been Executive Chef of the Sheraton Plaza Hotel, now renamed the Leonardo Plaza, for thirty five years. This event was an opportunity for the culinary and wine industries to come together in order to pay respect to one of Israel’s finest and most modest chefs. His main achievement over the years has been to show that the words ‘kosher’ and ‘fine cuisine’ can co-exist together. For many years, his ‘Cow On The Roof,’ was the finest kosher restaurant in the world. During his illustrious career he has cooked for Kings, Queens, Presidents, Prime Ministers and all sorts of celebrities, who beat a path to his door.
The Gala Dinner, held at the Leonardo Plaza, was made up of six courses, accompanied by four wines. The panorama of visiting chefs included some of the greatest names in the culinary world. Georges Blanc, Michel Lorrain, Marc Haeberlin, Nadia Santini, Philippe Legendre, Michel Rostang, Emile Jung, Jacques Chibois and Jeffroy Patrick. These illustrious Chefs, worth 22 Michelin Stars between them, had gathered in Jerusalem to cook a kosher meal! They were joined by France’s most famous food critic, Gilles Pudlowsky of the famous Pudlow Guide.
Such a rare gathering of culinary talent reminded many of the twelve course dinner to celebrate 3,000 years of Jerusalem, held in 1996, which was accompanied by six wines. That was the first time the world’s most famous chefs came to cook in Israel. The organizer and coordinator of that unique event was also Shalom Kadosh! Now 12 years later, he had again invited the world’s best, and showing their immense respect for Kadosh, they came again, some even canceling winter holidays.
The foreign chefs were assisted in the kitchen by some of Israel’s finest chefs including: Haim Cohen, Yonatan Roshfeld, Meir Adoni, Nir Tzuk, Yoram Nitzan, Moshe Aviv, Meir Adoni, Yonatan Roshfeld and Yaron Kestenbaum. Special care was taken to match the food with some of Israel’s finest wines. These were selected from two Israeli wineries. One was Carmel Winery, Israel’s largest and most historic winery, founded in 1882 by Baron Edmond de Rothschild. The other was Yatir Winery, a boutique winery situated in Tel Arad, founded in 2000. The wines and after dinner drinks were as follows:
Pommery Champagne A kosher cuvee of the French champagne was chosen for the aperitif, in honor of the French guest chefs.
90 points Daniel Rogov.
Yatir Sauvignon Blanc, Negev One of Israel’s finest Sauvignon Blancs, from a most unlikely place. This wine comes from a vineyard in the Negev Desert.
Carmel Limited Edition The flagship wine of Carmel Winery. An elegant, old world, Bordeaux style blend.
93 points Daniel Rogov; 90 points Robert Parker; ‘One of 100 Most Exciting Wine Finds’ Wine Report.
Yatir Forest, Judean Hills Blend based on Cabernet Sauvignon from Yatir Forest in the southern Judean Hills.
93 points Robert Parker; 92 points from Wine Spectator; 94 points Daniel Rogov; “Best Israeli wine ever tasted” Wine Report.
Carmel Sha’al Gewurztraminer Late Harvest, Golan Heights Late harvested dessert wine, from northern Golan Heights vineyards.
Winner of gold medals in London & Israel. 90 points Robert Parker; 95 points Howard Goldberg.
Carmel Vintage, Judean Hills A fortified wine made in the style of vintage port. Made from Petite Sirah grapes.
One of Israel’s best port style wines.
Carmel 100 Brandy
Pot distilled brandy, with components in the blend ranging from 8 to 25 years old. Aged in used wine barrels, in 100 year old cellars. Past Winner of the Trophy for Best Brandy Worldwide at the IWSC in London. “Best Israeli brandy” Daniel Rogov.
Such was the interest in the visit of all these chefs, that the event was covered by Israel’s Channel Two Television.
At the end of the evening, there were a number of speeches and presentations. Carmel Winery presented Chef Kadosh with a Magnum of Carmel Limited Edition in a special wooden box, signed by winemaker Lior Laxer and all the visiting chefs. In a speech to close the evening, Shalom Kadosh pointed out that the dinner had proved that Israeli food and wine could be at the very highest quality level of international cuisine… and be kosher at the same time!
He made clear that events such as this had put Israel on the world map of gastronomy.
