HaKerem: The Israeli Wine Blog

Posted at 13:20h in Wine industry by 0 Comments Sonadora, a hotshot DC lawyer cum wine aficionado had an interesting wine-food pairing the other day: tacos with Israel’s Flam Classico. Well, the pairing was a flop but, according to Sonadora, the Flam has “the nose that I now really love about a Cabernet Sauvignon.” The Flam Classico comes from one of Israel’s top boutique wineries. Flam, a family winery, was established in 1998 by two brothers. It’s located just half-an-hour […]

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Posted at 12:00h in Wine 101, Wine industry by 1 Comment Here are some pictures from ancient times (Byzantine era to the Babylonian era) of wine vats (called amphorae, also the name of a great winery in Israel – which is selling under the name Marvah in the United States) that were discovered off Israel’s coast. They were used by ships near the Mediterranean and are on display at the Israeli Maritime Museum in Haifa:

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One of the best Israeli examples of my belief that wine can be called “philosophy in a bottle” is from the Recanati Winery. Israeli born and UC Davis trained Gil Shatsberg took over as the chief winemaker in 2008 and since then, he and his associate Ido Lewinsohn (who trained at the University of Milan and also worked in France and Australia) have transformed one of Israel’s largest wineries from a winery known for mostly premium New World style wines […]

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Posted at 15:06h in Wine industry by David Rhodes 0 Comments The Five-towns are getting their own wine festival as Hadera hosts the 2013 Sea Village Wine Festival Wednesday & Thursday June 19th & 20th starting each evening at 18:30 (6:30 pm) until 11PM at the Sea Village Spa, Benjamin Bay, Hadera. 2013 Sea Village Wine Festival in Hadera entry is NIS 85 including a wine glass for an unlimited choice of tasting from the dozens of Israeli wineries pouring. […]

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Posted at 12:55h in Reviews, Wine industry by 0 Comments Israeli wine made from the Barbera grape are becoming more and more popular. Several new wineries have been introducing this Mediterranean varietal into their wines. Originally seen only by Dalton and Recanati, Galil Mountain has also recently introduced an Israeli Barbara. Barbera is not known much outside of Italy, but it is one of the most common varieties in Italy – a country not too far away from Israel: both […]

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Posted at 12:09h in Reviews, Wine industry, Wineries by 0 Comments Monday night I had the opportunity to taste five truly amazing wines. While most were from California (including Covenant’s second label, the Cabernet Sauvignon Red Sea 2003), there was one unique and special wine from Israel. In fact, it was from a winery that I had never tried before: Psagot. While we didn’t take formal tasting notes, the Psagot Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, was quite an interesting wine from an […]

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Posted at 22:32h in Wine industry by Avi 0 Comments I’ve previously written about Adam Montefiore, currently a manager at Carmel Winery. The dean of Israeli wine marketing (a topic close to my heart) and someone I’m privileged to have met and call an associate and friend, Montefiore is also known by his moniker ‘The Ambassador of Israeli Wine’ – a title well deserved. As one of the main spokespeople for Israeli wine in the English press, I was pleased to see […]

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Posted at 12:55h in Reviews, Wine industry by Avi 1 Comment Galil Mountain Winery, one of the best new world wineries in Israel, has just launched a new wine, which is going to replace their Yiron Syrah. Called the Meron, it is a blend of 78% Syrah, 11% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 11% Petit Verdot. It is now available in Israel’s best wine shops and, I hear, highly recommended. I have not yet had a chance to pick up this fine […]

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Posted at 13:53h in Wine industry by 2 Comments Living in Israel and not having been abroad for two years gave me a warped perspective on Israeli wine. Not bad, of course, but I separate the world of Israel and the world of Jewish and kosher wine. In Israel, you can go in the finest wine shops and see a bottle of the now-kosher Yarden HeightsWine, Domaine du Castel ‘C’, and Tzora Blanc next to to the not-kosher Pelter, Clos […]

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July 22 (Bloomberg) — Kosher wines from Israel have long had a reputation for being coarse and syrupy sacramental offerings. Now they have improved so much that they can exploit their kosher label and win a wider global market, according to Ariel Ben-Zaken, whose family owns the Domaine du Castel winemaker. Wine exports grew 42 percent in 2007 to $21 million, said Israel’s Export Institute. Kosher wines won praise from U.S. guru Robert Parker, who said on his Web site […]

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