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As I was walking down the street one steamy afternoon in Tel Aviv, I walked by Wines & More at 208 Ben Yehuda (part of Israel’s largest chain of wine shops oddly enough owned by Christian Arabs). I frequently poke into wine shops and restaurants to see what’s on the shelves and wine lists,respectfully, to have a better grasp on the market place to uncover what’s new, popular and rare that reading press reports, attending tastings, wineries and festivals may have left uncovered. And I like talking with wine shop managers and customers as well to get their impressions on what’s going on in the industry.
WInes & More at 208 Ben Yehuda, Tel Aviv On this stop, shop manager David Bitton was a bit busy getting ready for a sorta block party later that evening at the shop so he couldn’t talk much but he invited me to stop by for their 5 hour free tasting of Israeli wines, imported beers and vodkas. As he mentioned some mutual acquaintances were attending, I thought free wines (or wholesale or BYOB) was typically how this wine writer spends a Thursday night and I might extend my social circle a bit and I anyways I often jokingly tell people “I live in Tel Aviv but sleep in Ra’anana” so I have to try to live up to it less my veracity on other issues be challenged. So I got at the festive tasting about 8PM and a DJ was “spinning” danceable classics outside where half the pouring stations were set up on retired oak barrels. 
amiable Wines & More store manager David Bitton It was a steamy Tel Aviv early summer evening so it didn’t take much for me to keep to protocol and try the chilled Israeli white wines available first (though the beers and iced vodka was beckoning me or was it just the pretty young Israeli lasses…must have been the beer and vodka since the wine had equally charming young ladies pouring). The whites were all wines I had tasted before but its good (and sometimes intoxicating) to try wines more than once (if no news wines are available) and truth be told I mostly had come for fun. 
Danielle offers up some of the More of WInes & More
Israeli whites being poured were the 2012 Binyamina Sauvignon Blanc Reserve, 2012 Carmel Appellation Chardonnay, the 2012 Mony Gewurztraminer, 2012 White Tulip and 2012 Tabor Roussanne. I’m posting scores with a disclaimer I’ve used before that I think wine scores, for me, capture a moment in time. People, including me, are not perfectly calibrated machine and these were far from perfect circumstances in the heat and loud music (and when scoring I prefer as few people around while I’m sitting down relaxed). Yet, scores are for the reader to help make buying decisions more than anything else and if my scores from one tasting may contradict the scores from a previous tasting, wine is organic and changes over time as I am and the circumstances of a tasting may alter the results favorably or unfavorably for some wines. So, here I go.
My favorite white wine this evening was a wine I’ve had I think three times before the 2012 Tabor Roussanne (91 points) NIS 59 or 2/100. With 14% alcohol, that can be a lot for an unoaked white wine yet this wine comes across as very balanced with grassy and herbal notes on the nose reminiscent of a White Bordeaux yet it was resplendent with ample citric notes of lemon custard, lime zest and golden delicious apples, Asian pears and even some tropical hints of mango. The more I have this wine and the more familiar I become with it the more I enjoy it as I seem to pick up some other nuance I hadn’t noticed before. To me that’s one sign of a good or great wine is its layers of complexity are worth revisiting and not done justice to the few minutes some wines are allotted for tasting in many wine competitions where judges often have to tasted 50 or more wines in a day. Binyamina also recently released a 2012 Roussanne and I hope I will see (rather taste) some other examples especially from boutique wineries.
The 2012 White Tulip (88 points) NIS 79 is a blend of 70% Sauvignon Blanc 30% Gewurztraminer with a crisp acidic finish with peach, lychee and on this occasion red grapefruit and apricot shining through. Modest alcohol for a dry Israeli white makes this wine an easy drinking wine good for food pairing or drinking on its own.
Another dry white was the 2012 Carmel Appellation Chardonnay(87 points) NIS 65. An unoaked Chardonnay it had typical green apple notes with hints of minerality and a bit of citric lime. This is Carmel’s highest series Chardonnay and its nice that they let the fruit go unoaked and its a nice example of how more and more Israeli Chardonnays are being made more fruity and less buttery vanilla oak bombs.
Charming Tair pours a selection of Carmel Wines one steamy summer evening
The last dry white I sampled that evening was the 2012 Binyamina Sauvignon Blanc Reserve (86 points) NIS 65. I hope I get to try this wine again under more ideal situations. It wasn’t a flawed wine and it hit some varietal notes of herbs and citric fruit yet it wasn’t as expressive as I had hoped or had experienced from previous vintages and I hope another tasting might be more revealing. Even though it was chilled, I think the aromas were perhaps more nuanced and lost to the heat of the night and chaos of the nearby frolicking. Such is a tasting on Ben Yehuda on a Thursday night in Tel Aviv.
The only semi-dry white of the evening was a 2012 Mony Gewurztraminer (88 points) NIS 59 (2/100). Ripe peach and dried apricots, some guava and lychee with notes of honey and smoked almonds make this a wine I want to try the next time I have red curry or some sushi with wasabi.
There were several reds to try as well including a few special ones. Amphorae are wines I often enjoy revisiting as its winemaker Dr. Arkadi Papakan advises for several other wineries so its interesting look for a motif between his wines and those of wineries under his sphere of influence. Reds were a difficult challenge as a writer or just for fun. The evening screamed for a chilled or iced beverage and it would have been perhaps more prudent if the reds were served a little cooler (they would have warmed quickly anyways in the glass) but few if anyone does that in Israel though when not in a climate controlled room many of our long summer evenings seemingly warrant it or at least that’s my experience but I guess the general public might shriek at being served a briefly chilled red (say 20 minutes before serving).
Anyway, I found the 2009 Amphorae Rhyton (90 points) NIS 89 rich and luscious with layers of black, red and even blue fruit. Cassis, plums, red raspberries and hints of blueberries. Light notes of black peppercorn, tobacco leaves and cloves. Two years on oak barrels hadn’t diminished the wine’s brilliance and has contributed to a satiating body that’s pleasing from start to finish.
Another red that showed well was a nice surprise. With the Tabor Winery having new wines coming out from vast new vineyards coming on line I’m starting to see not only new varietals like the Roussanne but new blends. Case in point on this particular evening was the 2009 Tabor Adama Merlot/Petit Verdot (89 points) NIS 80 or 2/150 which was aged 12 months in French and American oak. Dark plums,creamy black raspberry sorbet and blackberries married well and I really want to revisit this wine after some decanting.
Wines & More also offers a good selection of Tabor Wines
The tasting party attracted a nice local crowd, many of whom I expect to recognize at other events and look forward to their company as there’s So Much Wine and So Little Time and as Good Wine Makes for Better Friends, Good Friends also Make for Better Wines.
David Rhodes can be reached at [email protected] or dialing 052-702-WINE (9463) in Israel.
David Rhodes’ WIne Score Key
97-100 A+ 5 * Best of the Best, or One of the Best in Recent Memory (- 0.5% of wines)
The kind of wine that opening creates a special occasion.
93-96 A 4 1/2 * Extraordinary, Great Example of What Israel does Right (-1%) A Wine Worth Remembering & Drinking Again and Again
The kind of wine that’s great for special occasions.
89-92 A- 4 * Very Good, Highly Recommended: Interesting and Expressive (-3-5%) This is the kind of wine that doesn’t just complement a meal or an evening but
can elevate it.
85-88 B+ 3 1/2 * Good, Recommended as a wine that shows some merit (-5-10%) A good guest brings a B+ or above wine unless a host doesn’t appreciate
wine & you know no one else at the meal does either or just bring cake.
81-84 B 3 * Fair, Not Recommended to Elevate a Meal or an Evening (50%+) Typically I won’t publish these scores, there’s too many better wines to focus or that merit more attention & praise but MOST wines in Israel that sell 4 or 5/NIS 100
fall into this category (or below) with a few if any exceptions reaching B+.
80 or less 2 1/2 * or less Not Recommended, Published or Worth Commenting About
The Israeli wine scene continues to heat up. A new winery recently opened on Kibbutz Hanaton, in the heart of the Beit Netofa Valley, in the Lower Galilee region of Israel.
The Jezreel Valley Winery was founded by entrepreneur Jacob Ner-David, originally from New York, living in Israel since 1996, and Yehuda Nahar, a Jerusalem native and graduate of the Tel Hai College’s winemaking course. Ner-David and Nahar both moved to Kibbutz Hanaton in 2010.
The winemaker is Ari Erle, an American immigrant, who has worked on over 7 harvests in Napa Valley, CA, including Colgin Wine Cellars, O’Shaughnessy Winery, Elizabeth Spencer, Clos De Gat and Chang Family.
The connection was immediate between Erle, Nahar, and Ner-David, and a new winery was born. The Jezreel Valley Winery aims to have the highest level of winemaking, technology (apt for a winery co- founded by a high-tech entrepreneur), as well as traditional values like honesty and simplicity.
I recently spoke with Jacob Ner-David and he told me that it had long been his dream to open up a winery in Israel. With the Jezreel Valley Winery, that dream is being realized.
The winery gets its grapes from vineyards in the Jezreel Valley, upper Galilee, Shefa region, and Judean Hills. Every vineyard was chosen based on the ideal topographical conditions of its individual varietal.
For the 2012 harvest, Jezreel Valley Winery is releasing the following wines:
- 2012 Chardonnay – Yehidani Vineyard –aged 8 months in French oak.
- 2012 Redblend – A blend of 3 varietals that tell the story of Israel – Argamon, Carignon, and Syrah. Each varietal was oak aged separately for 10 months and then carefully mixed to create a rich, deep red blend.
- 2012 Rose – a blend of Argaman and Syrah. A mix of Mediterranean varietals make a light, fresh, and fruity rose.
Jezreel Valley Winery bottled 25,000 bottles for the 2012 harvest and aims to double that in 2013, hoping to bottle 50,000.
You can learn more about the winery or sign up to their mailing list at http://jezreelwinery.com/
The winery is open for visitors Sunday – Thursday between 9:00-16:00
The 2013 winners of the annual Eshkol Hazahav Awards were announced at the Dan Panorama Hotel in Tel Aviv, June 3rd to a good turnout of many of Israel’s best winemakers & an array of wine insiders. It’s the only annual wine awards focusing entirely on Israeli wines (supplemented a Best Value Awards) organized by sommelier Avi Ben Ami. Fifty four Israeli wineries submitted 236 wines to be judged. It was hosted as part of Culinary 2013, an exposition which featured several wineries, a dozen gourmet cheese dairies and an assortment of boutique olive oil, honey, smoked fishes, artisan breads, “molecular cusine”, fresh pastas, ice cream and Israeli microbrews.
Sauvignon Blanc 1) 2012 Carmel Sauvignon Blanc, Appellation 2) 2012 Amphorae Sauvignon Blanc 3) 2012 Tabor Sauvignon Blanc Gir-Adama
3) 2012 Binyamina Sauvignon Blanc Reserve
Chardonnay (Oak Aged) 1) 2011 1848 Chardonnay Reserve 2) 2011 Yarden Chardonnay Odem Vineyards, Golan Heights
3) 2011 Carmel Chardonnay Appellation
Other White Varietals 1) 2011 Carmel Riesling Single Vinyard Kayoumi 2) 2012 Binyamina Viognier 2) 2012 Yarden Gewurztraminer, Golan Heights
3) 2012 Binyamina Roussanne
White Blend 1) 2012 Carmel Appellation White Ridge 2) 2012 Binyamina Yogev White Blend
3) 2011 1848 5th Generation White Blend
Cabernet Sauvignon (NIS 60-100) 1) 2009 Carmel Cabernet Sauvignon Appellation 1) 2010 Tabor Cabernet Sauvignon Terra Rosa 2) 2010 Gamla HaShmura, Cabernet Sauvignon
3) 2010 Mony Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve
Cabernet Sauvignon (NIS 100+) 1) 2008 Carmel Cabernet Sauvignon Kayoumi Single Vineyard 2) 2009 1848 Cabernet Sauvignon 7th Generation
3) 2009 Yarden Cabernet Sauvignon, Golan Heights
Merlot (NIS 60-100) 1) 2010 Jerusalem Winery, Niknor Merlot Reserve 2) 2010 Recanati Merlot Reserve
3) 2010 Tabor Merlot Adamah-Bazelet
Merlot (NIS 100+) 1) 2010 Dalton Merlot Reserve 2) 2010 Tura Merlot 2) 2009 Segal Merlot Unfiltered – Rechasim-Dovev
3) 2009 Bazelet Merlot, Bronze
Syrah/Shiraz (NIS 60-100) 1) 2010 Tabor Shiraz Terra Rossa 2) 1848 Syrah 5th Generation
3) 2011 Kedma Syrah
Syrah/Shiraz 1) 2011 Recanati Syrah/Viognier Reserve 1) 2009 Carmel Shiraz Kayoumi 2) 2010 Tura Shiraz 3) 2010 Binyamina Odem Syrah
3) 2009 Yarden Syrah, Golan Heights
Cabernet Franc 1) 2011 Vortman Cabernet Franc 2) 2009 Carmel Cabernet Franc Appellation 2) 2010 Stern Cabernet Franc
3) 2010 Recanati Cabernet Franc Reserve
Petite Sirah & Carignan 1) 2008 Carmel Petite Sirah Appellation 2) 2009 Ella Valley Petite Sirah
3) 2009 Carmel Carignan Appellation
Red Blend (NIS 60-100) 1) 2010 Tabor Shiraz-Cabernet, Adama 2 2) 2010 Dalton Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot-Cabernet Franc, Alma
3) 2010 Stern, Peleg
Red Blend (NIS 100+) 1) 2010 Tura Mountain Peak 2) 2009 Tigra Reserve, Kitron
3) 2009 Tzion Winery, Armon
Other Red Varietals 1) 2009 Weizman, Petite Verdot, Dionysus 2) 2011 Teperberg 1870 Malbec Terra
3) 2011 Tura Pinot Noir
Dessert White 1) 2009 Carmel Late Harvest Gewurztraminer Sha’al 2) 2012 Mony Muscat
3) 2011 Yarden Heights Wine, Golan Heights
Dessert Red 1) 2007 Carmel Vintage 2) 2010 Teperberg 1870, Nevel-Harp
3) 2012 Zion, Dolev, Cabernet Sauvignon
Small Boutique Wineries — Up to 12,000 bottles per year
Cabernet Sauvignon
1) 2010 Aligote Cabernet Sauvignon 2) 2010 Simchon, Cabernet Sauvignon
3) 2010 Nahmani, Gilad Cabernet Sauvignon
Merlot 1) 2010 Nahmani Hagar Merlot 2) 2010 Aligote, Merlot
3) 2011 Berenice (Berneki) Merlot
Blends 1) 2010 Ramat Naftali, Duet 2) 2011 Wertman Shambor
3) 2011 Berenice (Berneki) Blend
During the last five years, I’ve attended dozens of Israeli wine festivals. Now I even consult for a few festivals. Before I moved to Israel I helped start a wine festival for San Diego County’s wineries. After years of offering free advice, I found often that the only way to get people to listen to you is to charge for your advice. Sadly most people seem to put value on advice depending how much they pay. Some doctors and lawyers have told me similar tales where plenty of friends ask them for free advice or consultations which are often ignored but if they charge they’re more apt to listen to the exact same advice. So I might be spinning my wheels writing this article but at least I can send it out en masse instead of wasting my time over and over again. It’s not in my best interest commercially doing so but I didn’t move to Israel to further my self-interests. I moved here to spread the word about the rapidly improving quality of Israeli wines and raise the culture of wine appreciation and wine tourism. Wine festivals are a great tool to do both but only if the festivals serve the interests of all involved. So who are all the parties served by and supporting wine festivals. First are the wineries. Typically 20 to 30 Israeli wineries (out of approximately 300) attend and they are often complemented by imported wines (which I feel help put the Israeli wines into context), gourmet Israeli cheeses, olive oils, chocolates and a wide array of treats that guests attending would be likely to enjoy and purchase. The wineries though are the focus and most often they pay hundreds if not thousands of NIS to attend typically two to four evenings. Sometimes the organizers are wine shops that offest the costs of booths by purchasing wines from the wineries attending but either way the wineries have to pay for staff to pour or for small wineries the winemaker or their family is behind the counter. And they pour (and are not compensated for) dozens if not hundreds of bottles depending on the size of their booth, how many wines they pour and how many thousands of people attend and stick out their glass for a taste. Larger wineries can better afford to attend more often than the smaller wineries but often their marketing people are taxed to attend as many festivals that have recetly popped up. Key people including the winemakers do enjoy attending, I’ve found, but not so often as many are on salary and its extra work they don’t get compensated for so often the swelling amount of wine festivals is too much of a good thing for wineries. It’s a great opportunity to be exposed to the public but you can be overexposed and overtaxed and if a winery has a budget of how much wine they pour for free in a year (3-5% is an industry standard in some countries) then a small winery can exhaust that easily at a few festivals and not have enough samples to pour for their own tastings at their visitor center or even to satisfy demands of retail or wholesale customers. Festivals that focus on promoting a theme (for instance white wine or kosher wine or promote wines from a different wine region) are a nice way to differentiate one festival from another and help the wineries reach different market segment that the same festival over and over again might attract. Additionally, as it gets later each evening of a festival (typically after 8 or 9PM for events starting at 6 ot 7PM resopectfully) people stop tasting and start drinking. It’s heartbreaking for winemakers and owners who often to put their hearts and souls into their wines so see people belly up to their stand and stick out their glass and request red or white not caring which winery is pouring what wine whether its a NIS 33 bottle or NIS 150 bottle. It’s the most common complaint I’ve heard from wine insiders that too many people ahow up for a cheap drunk. I think when organizers print out a list of all the wines it helps people be a little more contmeplative. Giving tasting tickets out is one remedy but it typically punishes everyone for the behavior of wine neophytes who don’t realize is wine is best savored and not tossed back. Festivals who’ve switched to tickets have typically floundered for doing so. The only thing the wineries dislike nmore than spending a lot of money to pour a lot of wine is pouring a lot of wine for hardly anyone. It’s hard to find a happy medium. I thin the wineries could do a better job preparing for festivals they attend to. They could help market the festival to their e-mail lists not so much to attract people to their own wines (these people are already on their e-mail list) but to draw people to the festival who have shown an interest in wine. Each winery doing this would help the overall type of crowd the festival attracted and made sure new festivals were less apt to struggle establishing themselves. Additionally, some pouring people need to better trained. At a recent event I attended the pourer for one of the top ten wineries (who I have seen pouring many times in the past the same wines) couldn’t tell me some basic information of the three wines at his table. Only three wines and you don’t know everything about a wine you’ve poured multiple times? Worst yet his manager didn’t seem to care either. Don’t blame the attendees for not caring much about what wine they’re drinking if the wineries aren’t showing they care what they’re pouring. Information in Hebrew (and English for tourists) that can be handed out when lines are long are a good idea or even laminated fact cards that people can read while a pourer is pre-occupied is something I’ve seen work effectively at festivals and busy winery visitor centers. So there’s no point of the wineries having a rewarding experience if the people paying to attend don’t have an overall positive experience,too, right? So what makes it pleasant for everyone. A nice location is a start. Scenery sets the stage just like the atmosphere in a nice restaurant. Jerusalem and Ramat Aviv have festivals in gardend behind museums and seaside events in Tel Aviv, Herzilya and now Hadera offer inviting venues to highlight the wines. Ra’anana offers up its beautific city park and Rosh Pina its multi-tiered Rothschild Gardens. So the festival has a nice venue, what’s next? How about a good selection of good wines. As a writer I often attend festivals multiple nights but most people only come one night and the best festivals often have more wines than most could hope to taste in one evening. If 20-30 wineries offered 100-120 wines and you tasted all of them and you only tasted 1 oz/ of each that would be four to five bottles of wine and most people don’t spit out what they are tasting. If you only tasted one or two wines at each booth its still like drinking one or two bottles of wine. It’s a lot of wine especially if you don’t drink much that often. So there’s plenty of wine typically so if the organizers make sure that there’s quality wine in the mix it helps some drink less to help savoir what’s being pured and attract the type of people who will come early to ask questions when the staff at each booth isn’t overwhelmed. What else makes for a good experience? Good music can set the mood. Jazz and Reggae and even some Classic Rock or Folk music provide for a nice relaxed vibe. It should be at either end of the festival so people can talk over it at the stands and ask questions and hear the answers other wise the wineries might as well just pour money down the drain, in my opinion. Having an area set aside to that people can wander over to and listen is better than the music encompassing every nook and crannie of the event. Additionally, since people are drinking believeit or not some people will get drunk. It happens even to the pros. Sometimes, at a certain point the evening I decide its either time to go home and type up my notes or stick around and have fun. I taste so often professionally that if I never let loose occassionally I would never have fun around wine if I didn’t stay “after work.” Festivals are a much better venue to let yourself go than after an industry event but you know what as a journalist I’m writing not jsut for myself but my readers so how do I empathize with my readers if I’m never getting a bit silly, not sloppy but a little silly. That being the case public transportation close the festival for me (and thousands of others) is a good idea. If there is no nearby bus or train within a few minutes walk I suggest a shuttle bus or buses to help people get to or from the closest train or bus station before and after the event. Publicizing what buses and trains are available will help fewer poeple drive home drunk and help avoid anyone getting hurt coming home from what should be a good time. Having a designated driver program wouldn’t be a bad idea as well. Alerting taxi companies ahead of time would make them aware to be availble when the event is winding down for those less apt to take public transportatiobn or going somewhere off the beaten track. Since the idea is to taste wine, smoking cigarettes and worse yet cigars shouldn’t be allowed unless FAR away from the event in an outside area. It can ruin the experience for serious tasters. Of course there are worse things than smelling tobacco. One recent festival I attended on a kibbutz offered some of the best wines in Israel under an open air tent which allowed the eye-tearing scent of the nearby dairy farm to engulf the whole event. Considering their lighting kept going on and off, I was wondering what other of my senses would be assaulted or deprived that evening. So if the wineries are happy and the guests are happy, who else is left to please? Well, I will make a special appeal that at least one evening preerbly the first wine writers and other journalists and bloggers be allowed to arrive two hours early to be able to write about what’s offered and to taste the wines in less distracting circumstances. Its better for the guests too since winemakers can be a bit demanding and get in the way of the experience of the public once they arrive. It’s such a good opportunity for a wine writer to taste a lot of wines in one or two nights that would take them weeks or months to taste on their own travelling to wineries all around the country or attending winery sponsored events that writers are under pressure to make the most of each opportunity that offers up dozens of wineries and possibly over 100 wines they haven’t tasted before or at least their newest vintage. Last of all is the organizer of the event. As someone who hosted literally hundreds of parties big and small. I’m not sure event planners in Israel always get this. Even though they need to make it worth their while and at least cover expenses (unless someone like the municipality is hosting it knowing they may not cover costs), an event planner should make sure everyone is happy first. Unsatisfied wineries + unsatisfied guests= an unstainable wine festival that will either not be repeated or have a different organizer the following year. One too many organizers sabotage their own events by starting too late to plan and promote their event putting pressure on everyone who might help them (often for free) if they had started two, three six months (or even a year in advance as is often the case overseas). Lots of free press in publications with deadlines are missed because of a late start. Lots of international guests might make travel plans taking the festival in account if they knew far enough in advance to buy tickets at the best rates as well as schedule their vacation time accordingly.
Chances are as long as I’m writing about wine, I will still attend these events as they are a great opportunity for me to taste wines, network with wine insiders (many who I count as friends) and meet my readers (many who have become freinds as well) yet its hard for me to communicate much enthusiasm for an event when the organizers don’t seem “organized”. I’ll still attend to get the most out of the opportunity but I’m far less convincing to wineries and consumers to attend when the event doesn’t do a good job convincing me that they cared about putting the together the best experience for all parties involved. What some might say is a win/wine situation but what I like to call a wine/wine situation.
David Rhodes can be reached at [email protected] or in Israel at 052-702-WINE (9463) or 972-52-702-9463 from overseas.
