HaKerem: The Israeli Wine Blog

Bloomberg gets the message that Israeli wine doesn’t suck. I’m a little surprised that the article used the traditional framing of “Israeli wine used to suck, now kosher wine is good” (making the association between bad kosher American wine with great Israeli wine [which wasn’t always kosher, even]). This is especially surprising coming from such […] My good friend Richard Shaffer of Israeli Wine Direct has recently started an absolutely fascinating series of podcasts with Israeli wine figures. The first […]

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Mark Spivak, a wine reviewer who has written for the Palm Beach Post and Palm Beach Media Group, and other Florida and national magazines, and is the host of a wine show on NPR, recently visited Israel. After not visiting Israel for over 15 years, Spivak was in for a shock.  His past experience: To put it bluntly, wine here used to suck, and that was a shame because there was no reason that Israel couldn’t make outstanding wine. This, […]

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Jewish holidays are full of wine. On Shabbat, evening and morning, Jews say the kiddush (sanctification) blessing over wine. On Jewish holidays, we also say the blessings over wine. However, on one holiday, it really is all about wine — on Passover, in addition to the holiday meals during the day and the last day or two (2 days outside of Israel, 1 in Israel) of the week-long holiday, Jews have to drink four cups of wine at the seder […]

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Haven’t watched it yet but Gary Vaynerchuk has the 2003 Yarden Cabernet Sauvignon on the latest Wine Library TV. Now, if only he referred to it as Israeli and not kosher (although it is a great wine – like most of Golan Heights Winery – that happens to be kosher)! Why do you think he didn’t simply describe the Yarden as Israeli? This is a great wine for Hanukkah (which starts tonight) or Christmas. Check it out on my WLTV […]

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I often refer to wine as “consumable organic art.” A good winemaker needs to be part viticulturist and biochemist to make sure nothing goes wrong with a wine, first with the grapes in the vineyard then with the juice fermenting into wine at the winery. As well, a winemaker needs to be part artist to use their sense of aesthetics and their craftsmanship to deliver something special from the grapes they have available the same way a sculptor might bring […]

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Wine Blogging Wednesday featured kosher wine and was hosted by The Corkdork. Yes, I know, it’s Thursday, but Wednesday was chag, the last day of Passover in Israel and the second-to-last day in the Diaspora. More importantly, I was invaded by the in-laws, so my Wine Blogging Wednesday post had to wait. For WBW: Kosher Edition, I bring you a list of links on kosher wine – and a reminder that not all kosher wine is from Israel and not […]

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I received the following report from Neta Reef of Israeli Wine Company, about the recent Israeli wine festival hosted by Kehillah Jewish High School in California. If you’ve attended or run an Israeli wine event contact me to post it beforehand and let me know how it went and maybe I will post it here. Yesterday, June 4th, the Kehillah Jewish High School together with the Israel Wine Company hosted an Israeli Wine Festival and a tasting at the beautiful […]

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David Rhodes talking about Beaujolais Nouveau style wines and traditions including Israeli versions including Tishbi Junior, Binyamina Baby, the Golan Heights recently discontinued Gamay Nouveau and Carmel’s original 20 year Nouveau wines from 1983-2003. The following is from David’s radio show on Rusty Mike Radio. Click here to download or right-click “save as”

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Located between Zichron Ya’acov and Binyamina at Ramat Hanadiv Gardens, possibly Israel’s most majestic private park this park could have gone by many titles. Ramat Hanadiv, Mt. Carmel, Zichron Ya’acov could have easily found their way into the name of the Ramat Hanadiv Wines & Plenty Festival. The park is situated just south of Zichron Ya’acov, on the road (Route .652) leading up from Binyamina (about 7.4 km from the train station). If you’ve never been to the Gardens before […]

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Binyamina Winery is for sale! The Israeli discount supermarket chain Chetzi Chinam is currently in negotiations to buy Israel’s fifth largest winery, Binyamina, according to the Israeli Hebrew press. This site is the first place to report this story in ENGLISH. According to the Israeli financial newspaper, Globes, the negotiation between the heads of Hetzi Hinam to acquire Binyanima Winery for about 42 million shekels (about $11.8 million) include not only the winery but also the brand and property in […]

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