Posted at 11:39h in Wine industry by 0 Comments
Richard, a nice American blogger who also shows the love to Israeli wine, interviewed Mark Squires on his blog Israel Wine Direct (the only other Israeli wine blog, but missing out on a ton since Richard’s in America – but he’s scheduled to bring great Israeli wine to American direct consumers).
The interview is worth paying attention to for what’s needed to improve Israeli wine. Read the whole piece for more, but I have to admit mixed feelings.
Israel has this well-known problem of being associated with poor kosher wines — even poor kosher wines that aren’t Israeli! Squires accidently makes this own association himself when he writes:
3. Does Israel produce the best kosher wines?
I think so. Not that I’ve gone out of the way to search out non-Israeli Kosher wines, but as someone who grew up with Mogen David at Passover Seders, I think Israel has improved on that quite a bit.
What’s the mistake here? Simple – Mogen David — a nasty kiddush wine — ISN’T ISRAELI! Why should Israel be associated with Mogen David and Manishewitz (which I hope goes out of business quickly, as it does a great disservice to kosher wine). Although even I made this mistake when I interviewed Eli Ben-Zaken by associated Castel with Manishewitz and the whole “kosher wine doesn’t have to be bad.” But if even I and Squires can do it, than this is still a MAJOR hurdle that the Israeli wine industry needs to get through.
I don’t agree with all of Squires comments. Do you?
