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While Adam Sandler’s character Zohan may eat American hummus (which, I must ask, what was up with that? No self-respecting Israeli would eat American hummus), it appears that Adam Sandler is enjoying some Israeli wine.
On a recent trip in California, Sandler and his entourage visited O’Shaughnessy Estate Winery, where Ari Erle is the assistant winemaker. Ari, as you may know, runs Israel Wine Company, a great wine club focusing on Israeli wines and he also makes wine in Israel. So, of course, Ari gave Sandler some Israeli wine including the Rimon Wine and Clos de Gat, which they planned on tasting shortly after the visit.
Interesting article about Israeli wine, especially Flam – whose father was the first Israeli to study at the University of California Davis’s winemaking program and was the winemaker at Carmel for decades. In honor of the Jewish Vinter’s event in California last weekend, several Israeli winemakers were there including Golan Flam (of Flam), Assaf Paz (of Binyamina and an advisor for Vitkin), Gil Shatsberg (of Recanati, formerly of Amphorae) and Ariel Ben-Zaken (of Castel).
Check out the article and check out the wine.
School’s out! The tourists have arrived. Israelis are on vacation and visitors from around the world are amassing on Israel for their summer vacation.
While you’re here this summer, there are some tremendous events not worth missing on the wine scene:
24 June – Lecture Series: Wine in Ancient Israel
The Tel Aviv wine shop Pri HaGafen is hosting a series of lectures by Professor Amos Hadas who is indeed one of the most knowledgeable people in the world on this subject of wine in ancient Israel. The first lecture will take place on Tuesday, 24 June on the premises of the store at Rehov Achad HaAm 4 in the Neve Tzedik quarter of Tel Aviv. It begins at 8:00PM and the fee is NIS65. Several wines will be tasted during the event.
25-26 June – Wine Fair at the Land of Israel Museum
As previously mentioned, the Eretz Yisrael Museum in Ramat Aviv (next to the Tel Aviv University campus and near the Arlozoroff bus station) will play host for the 12th wine fair of the Wine and Gourmet Magazine. Admission is 57NIS. For more information: 1-700-504-404.
4 July – Pelter unveils two new wine’s
On Friday, 4 July, Tal and Nir Pelter of the Pelter Winery will host the unveiling of two new wines – the 2006 Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon in their T-Selection Series. The event will take place on Moshav Tsofit from 10:00-19:00. In addition to tastings of the two newly released wines it will be possible to purchase any of the wines of the winery.
Precise driving instructions and further information can be gained by email to [email protected] or by telephone to 052 8112385.
15-17 July: Jerusalem Wine Festival
Especially appropriate for visitors, the Jerusalem Wine Festival will be held at the Israel Museum’s splendid sculpture garden on 15-17 July, from 7:00PM until midnight. There will be about 35 wineries represented and the cost of admission is 55NIS, which includes a tasting glass and unlimited tastings.
We all know that red wines have compounds that can be quite healthful, in moderation. The health benefits of red wines have been touted for decades. Yet, these health benefits do not exist in white wines — except for the Israeli winemaker Binyamina’s wines.
According to this report:
A white wine with the same health benefits as red has been developed by scientists.
The wine, from Israel, has boosted levels of plant chemicals which are thought to combat heart disease.
Red wine is naturally fortified with the polyphenol compounds, which are concentrated in grape skins. Fermenting the skins of grapes along with their juice gives red wine its colour, and antioxidant properties.
White wine is not made with grape skins and therefore lacks health-giving polyphenols.
But researchers at Technion, the Israeli Institute of Technology, have developed a way to boost white wine polyphenols six-fold.
The technique involves incubating squeezed grapes in the presence of alcohol for 18 hours before removing their skins.
The polyphenol-charged wine looks and tastes the same as regular white wine but has the same antioxidant activity as red wine.
Israeli wine manufacturer Binyamina has now started using the recipe to manufacture the healthier white wine. It is expected to be on sale in the US by the end of the year.
Following is Daniel Rogov’s latest review in Ha’aretz. This week he reviews the Bustan Winery and Saslove. I admit that I haven’t had either, but I plan on tasting some at some upcoming wine festivals over the next month. Bustan is available in North America (imported by Royal) and Saslove is available in Canada, as its winemaker Barry Saslove is originally from Canada but has lived in Israel for several decades.
Founded in 1994 and set on Moshav Sha’arei Tikva in the Shomron region, the Bustan Winery has earned a good name for its distinctly French-style wines. Even though this tiny winery produces only about 2,000 bottles annually, the wines are sought after by many, as they have been not only consistently excellent but interesting.
Perhaps no less important, the vast majority of the Bustan wines have earned scores of 90 or above. The winery has just released three new wines, and those are available at branches of Derekh HaYain in Tel Aviv and Gush Dan, as well as at Avi Ben and Shachar in Jerusalem.
Continue reading Rogov’s Reviews: Bustan – Small But Special
The following is a guest post from Ezra Butler, a fellow evangelist of Israeli wine. It was originally printed on Jewneric. I love his call to “be an Israeli wine evangelist.”
Maybe it’s just me, but everywhere I turn in Jerusalem, I am sucked into a conversation about wine. People who know me professionally lament to me, asking “Why doesn’t Israel market itself through its wines?” My friends will either tell me about their favorite wine store (and physically take me there), or have a nice bottle with me (lately, its been on my porch, with perfect Jerusalem summer weather). And many of the wine professionals here give me new things to taste, to expand my palette. Even the younger brother of my best friend has started reading Rogov’s book, and asking me my thoughts on certain grapes and varieties. A good friend of mine has started a blog Israel Wine that aggregates news about Israeli wines (and of course, the prerequisite associated Facebook Group.
Don’t get me wrong. I love it. Finally the tides are changing. Israeli wines are good. Really good.
Carmel is no longer “oh that brand”, it has really come into its own. It even just released a Brut (a sparkling “champagne-like” wine) with an extremely reasonable price point, with excellent reviews from trusted sources. I’m excited to taste that.
Change your attitude towards wine: It’s not just for Shabbat or Purim. Wine is meant to be enjoyed. There is nothing better than a bottle of chilled Rose on a summer Friday afternoon with a friend, trust me.
Continue reading Drink Wine. Israeli Wine.
My good friend Richard Shaffer of Israeli Wine Direct has recently started an absolutely fascinating series of podcasts with Israeli wine figures.
The first one has just been posted with Adam Montefiore. I’m listening it to it now and, despite knowing a lot about Israeli wine and Israeli wine marketing, I am learning a ton from Adam!
Listen here
Derekh haYayin (Wine Route) has put the June 30 Wine Spectator article on Israeli wine online. It’s here in PDF.
However, if you haven’t already, please buy the magazine. There’s also an article on the Galilee region of Israel in the magazine, which I look forward to reading once I get my copy mailed from America. There are many benefits to this blog being written from Israel – this isn’t one of them.
Is this how to sell wine to the Millenials? Would you buy this wine?
Why or why not?
