Carmel Winery has just announced the launch of its award-winning premium brandy, the Carmel 100. This quality Israeli brandy was aged for at least eight years in oak barrels. This new release of the Carmel 100 brandy is in honor of the hundredth anniversary of Carmel Winery.
Brandy Carmel 100 is made with Columbard (70%) with the addition of Chenin Blanc and Emerald Riesling. Most of the brandy (75%) was produced with double distillation (pot still) as is common in the Cognac region. A quarter of the blend was distilled in a continuous still. The brandy was aged in the historic Carmel Winery in Rishon L’Tzion in French oaks that were previously used to age wine. The youngest components were aged for eight years and the oldest components were aged for twenty five years.
It sells in Israel for 215 NIS and the master distiller was Mendel Gil. Gil was born in Moldova and has a doctoral degree in wine making from Odessa. He has significant knowledge in brandy making from Crimea. He was also responsible for the Israeli Wine Institute and works at Carmel Winery on their brandy and dessert wines.
I had the opportunity to have a little sniff of this brandy several months ago and, while I am not very knowledgeable about brandy, it seemed enjoyable.
Carmel Winery has been continuously making brandy since 1898. The distillation tower at the Rishon L’Tzion winery has been in continuous use since it was built in 1930. As I mentioned above, the new release of Carmel 100 is in honor of the 100th anniversary of Carmel Winery. In 1998, the Brandy 100 won “Best Brandy Worldwide” at the prestigious international competition of the IWSC in London. In recent years, Carmel Winery has been focused on making quality wines but continues their tradition of making small quantities of quality brandy.
Ha’aretz Magazine has a profile about several of the farmers who are growing grapes for some of Israel’s best wineries. Check it out.
Pleasure Hunting / In the shade of the vine
By Ronit Vered
A time to uproot
Name: Eliezer Rushansky Place: Moshav Yonatan Vineyard: Yonatan Grape varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Sangiovese, Pinot Noir, Syrah Wine made from the vineyard”s grapes by Golan Heights Winery: Gamla Sauvignon 2005
Eliezer Rushansky holds the large clusters of Sangiovese grapes, from which Chianti is made, and decides how much of the fruit has to be eradicated before the harvest to help the vines produce perfect grapes for winemaking. Sometimes as much as 70 percent of the Sangiovese crop is dumped on the ground and dries up.
“It hurts,” he admits. “There is nothing more painful for a farmer than to throw out fruit. But the first thing a good winegrower has to understand is the connection between the vine and the final product: the wine. Sometimes you have to forgo the good of the vine, and seemingly also the good of the farmer in the short term, to achieve a certain quality in the final product. The vintner has spoken.”
A melodious Brazilian accent still lurks in his quiet, patient voice. He was born in Recife, known as the “Venice of Brazil” because of the rivers that cross the city. He chose to lead the life of a farmer on Moshav Yonatan, a cooperative village whose small homes and jointly run institutions recall the kibbutz of yesteryear. Yonatan’s vineyard was one of the first to be planted on the Golan Heights, at the beginning of the 1980s. At first the output was sent to the veteran Carmel Mizrahi Winery, in a period when no one separated grapes according to quality or talked about regions that were appropriate for specific varieties. Subsequently, the Golan Heights Winery was founded, the harbinger of the quality revolution that transformed the Israel wine industry.
The Sangiovese, which, according to some researchers, is an ancient species in the Land of Israel that the Romans took with them to Italy and which disappeared from this country during the period of Muslim rule – is only one of the grape varieties, most of them red, for which Eliezer is responsible. His son Yishai, a biotechnology graduate from Tel-Hai Academic College, now works with him. He, too, is planning to spend his life among the vines.
Continue reading Meet Israel’s grape growers
The Wine Spectator’s Kim Marcus has a new article on “kosher wines for the High Holidays” in the latest Wine Spectator (free until October 1).
Not surprisingly, all but one of the wines are from Israel. Whether you are Jewish or not, celebrating the holidays or not, these are great wines to seek out. You have to read the article for the whole story and tasting notes but here are the wines tasted and scores:
GOLAN HEIGHTS Cabernet Sauvignon Galilee Yarden 2004 Score: 90 | $27 GOLAN HEIGHTS Chardonnay Galilee Yarden 2005 Score: 90 | $16 GOLAN HEIGHTS Gewürztraminer Galilee Yarden Heights Wine 2005 Score: 90 | $23 / 375ml CARMEL Cabernet Sauvignon Galilee 2004 Score: 89 | $35 DOMAINE DU CASTEL Grand Vin Haute-Judée 2005 Score: 89 | $68 GALIL MOUNTAIN Shiraz-Cabernet Galilee 2005 Score: 89 | $18 RECANATI Cabernet Sauvignon Galilee Reserve 2005 Score: 89 | $25 BARKAN Cabernet Sauvignon Galil Altitude Series +624 Reserve 2005 Score: 88 | $38 GALIL MOUNTAIN Cabernet Sauvignon Galilee 2006 Score: 88 | $15 GALIL MOUNTAIN Viognier Galilee 2006 Score: 88 | $15 RECANATI Syrah Galilee 2005 Score: 88 | $16 YATIR Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot-Shiraz Judean Hills 2003 Score: 88 | $30
The Jewish holidays are a great time to find lots of Israeli wine – even if you aren’t Jewish. Rosh Hashana and Sukkot, two great feasting holidays, are coming up soon (Rosh Hashana begins this year on the night of September 29 and lasts two days) and this is a great chance to buy kosher Israeli wine. (Of course, as a reminder, there is also boutique wine from Israel that is not certified kosher).
What to get? Wine Tasting Guy did a great post for Passover, so I suggest reading that (but recognizing, of course, that some wine may be past its peak while others have since entered the market) first. When you’re done, here is some more suggestions:
Continue reading Great Kosher Wine for Rosh Hashana (and year round)
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 outside Jerusalem, near Bet Shemesh and the foothills of the Judean Mountains. Of the 2006 Flam Classico, Rogov gives it 90 points and describes it as “generous and mouthfilling.” It’s available in the United States via Israeli Wine Direct.
According to Sonadora, “Overall, the wine had a very firm structure and plenty of tannins to spare. Serve it with a big juicy steak!” Just not tacos, I guess.
From Ha’aretz, Daniel Rogov reviews the Israeli wines from Recanati, Yatir and Avidan.
From its inception in 2000 to the present, the Recanati winery has offered a generous selection of wines, many of which have been consistently excellent. Located in the Hefer Valley in the northern part of the Sharon region, the winery relies on grapes from its own vineyards, as well as contract vineyards, located in the Upper Galilee.
The winery produces wines in several series: the top-of-the-line age-worthy Special Reserve wines, which are often blends of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot; and two varietal series, Reserve and Recanati, which now include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Petite Sirah, Chardonnay and most recently Sauvignon Blanc. Current production is of about 600,000 bottles annually.
Recanati, Special Reserve, 2005: Deep royal-purple, full-bodied, with firm, still rough-edged tannins, those integrating nicely with light spicy wood and fruits to show fine balance and structure. A blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Merlot, this is a big, rich and bold wine, with concentrated layers of currant, blackberry, anise and sweet cedar flavors. Drink now-2013. NIS 185. Score 92. K
Recanati, Cabernet Franc, Reserve, 2006: With its once firm tannins now integrating nicely, showing medium-dark garnet, full-bodied, and reflecting its 14 months in oak with generous but not imposing sweet cedar. Opens with blueberries and blackberries, those going on to show black cherry and plum fruits highlighted by notes of tobacco, bell peppers and a hint of licorice, all lingering nicely on the finish. Drink now-2013. NIS 120. Score 91. K
Recanati, Cabernet Sauvignon, Reserve, 2005: Showing better than at an earlier tasting. Dark garnet, medium- to full-bodied, with softly caressing tannins and showing a generous array of blackcurrant, wild berry and purple plum fruits, those supported nicely by hints of sweet herbs. Rich, round and generous. Drink now-2011. NIS 95. Score 90. K
Recanati, Petite Sirah-Shiraz, Special Edition, 2007: Lives nicely up to the good reputation that this wine has earned in past years. A blend this year of 60% Petite Sirah and 40% Shiraz, dark royal purple in color, medium-bodied, showing soft, well integrated tannins and just the right note of dusty oak. On the nose and palate: blackberries, blueberries and cassis, those matched nicely by notes of chocolate and mocha. Simultaneously “fun” and elegant. Drink now-2011. NIS 75. Score 90. K
Recanati, Sauvignon Blanc, Reserve, 2007: Crisp and aromatic, unoaked and showing fine fresh fruit and good balancing acidity. Light straw in color, light- to medium-bodied, with appealing grapefruit, kiwi and passion fruit backed up by hints of white pepper and a note of freshly mown grass. Lively and refreshing and with just enough complexity to grab the attention. Drink now. NIS 70. Score 89. K
Recanati, Chardonnay, 2007: With its notes of melon, lemon, lemon peel and light hints of fresh sea air and minerality, this calls to mind a Petit Chablis. Developed sur lie for several months, showing fine crispness and liveliness, a very good bet for summertime drinking. Drink now-2009. NIS 60. Score 88. K
A special wine from Yatir
From time to time, a wine appears on the local market that is good enough to make one catch his breath with pleasure; so it seems to be on a regular basis with the release of Yatir’s flagship wine. Set in a state-of-the-art winery near the archaeological digs of Tel Arad at the foot of the Judean Hills, this boutique winery draws its name from the Yatir Forest.
The winery, certainly one of the best in the country, currently produces about 120,000 bottles annually. Although the winery is owned by Carmel, it maintains complete autonomy under the supervision of Australian-trained winemaker Eran Goldwasser.
Yatir Forest, 2005: A full-bodied Bordeaux blend of 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Petit Verdot and 10% Merlot. One third aged in new and two-thirds aged in old barriques for 15 months, this dark royal-purple to garnet, deeply aromatic wine casts intense orange and green reflections. Soft tannins and wood integrating beautifully and the wine opens with spicy berry and cassis aromas and flavors, those going on to show blackberries and an underlying and fascinating melange of bitter herbs. Long, generous and elegant but needs a bit more time in the bottle. Best 2009-2014. NIS 230. Score 94. K
Avidan, Grenache, Premium, 2006: Rich and concentrated, medium- to full-bodied, with soft tannins integrating nicely and reflecting its 10 months in barriques with gentle spicy oak. On the nose and palate: a generous and intriguing array of aromas and flavors, including currants, blackberries, plums, nutmeg, sage, vanilla with oak rising on the finish with hints of grilled beef and cloves. A fine wine but frankly overpriced at NIS 240. Drink now-2010. Score 91.
Avidan, Reserve, Shiraz, 2006: Deep garnet in color, dense, intense and full-bodied and unfolding on the palate to reveal soft, mouth-coating tannins, rich blackberries, dark plums and peppery spices, along with an overall fine balance. Long and generous. Drink now-2012. NIS 85. Score 89.
Avidan, Blend des Noirs, Orange, 2006: Garnet to royal-purple, an oak-aged blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. Medium to full-bodied, with ripe blackberry and cassis fruits, which open to show notes of orange peel and chocolate. Drink now-2010. NIS 85. Score 86.
Avidan, Blend des Noirs, Red, 2006: Aged in French and American oak for 10 months, a blend of Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah (45%, 35% and 20% respectively). Medium to full-bodied, with chunky, somewhat coarse tannins, showing straightforward berry and currant notes. A pleasant country-style wine. Drink now. NIS 85. Score 85.
JERUSALEM, Sept. 10, 2008 —
Eli Gilbert Ben-Zaken, the founder of Domaine du Castel, one of the world’s most prominent wineries, had a gut feeling that Monday was the perfect time to harvest his grapes.
“I imagine a lot of the smaller wineries are harvesting with a scientific method and not a gut feeling. But, we are definitely operating under a gut instinct,” Ben-Zaken told ABCNews.com. “The decision of the day of the harvest is so important. It’s irreversible and it’s going to be what you’re getting for the next two years.”
On that gut feeling, about 45 students, Israeli soldiers and Thai workers woke up at 3 a.m. to handpick the ripe grapes at Ben-Zaken’s kosher winery in the Judean Hills in Moshav Ramat Raziel, just west of Jerusalem.
The harvesters, who typically wake up at 6 a.m. and work until the late afternoon or evening, represent a broad swath of cultural backgrounds all coming together to produce the kosher wine.
“Today is special,” Thai worker, Phuwanai Sriboran, 46, told ABCNews.com.
Having grown up in Thailand working closely with sugar cane and rice, Sriboran came to Israel three-and-a-half years ago to make more money for his family.
“I didn’t only come to live on a Kibbutz and for the landscape and the view,” he said. “I want to learn about the culture in Israel.”
Wine From Biblical to Modern Times
Sriboran doesn’t have to venture far from the vineyard to have a cultural experience. The winery is located on the same hills that produced wine in biblical times.
“The wine that was made here thousands of years ago was made to be drunk at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem,” Ben-Zaken said. “I don’t know exactly what kind of wine they were making, but to make a wine in the same area that is being spoken of in the Bible we can see such a strong link.”
More than just a connection to the past, Ben-Zaken explains that Israel’s ability to produce world-class wines also speaks to the state’s modern, sophisticated culture.
“It’s not just the wine itself that can be appreciated,” he said. “It shows that this country is not just about suicide bombers and terror, but that it understands culture. It shows a different side of the country.”
Global Hesitance Shrinking
While Ben-Zaken acknowledges that wine critics have been especially good for Castel wine, he hopes to see all Israeli wine receive global recognition. In 2003, he organized the first Israeli international wine tasting, bringing together 18 Israeli wines for the global community to try together.
“I feel like I am part of a team,” he said. “I don’t think Castel can do it by itself. I want to show the world that it’s not a flop that just one winery can do it. Now they know it’s not, and now they have something to talk about — Israel.”
By drawing attention to Israel’s successful wine production, Ben-Zaken believes that the global hesitance to buy Israeli wine is diminishing.
“First, our reputation when we started producing wine was that there was a political prejudice,” he explained. “Second, people were reluctant to buy Israeli wine because a lot of people say, ‘desert’ or ‘camels’ when they think of Israel, and they didn’t know that we were growing grapes.”
Tough Climate Good for Grapes
Vineyard manager Marc Sarrabia agrees that the Mediterranean climate could seem unforgiving. The clay land and lack of rain are not the best conditions for every farmer, he says.
But, in the case of growing grapes, he says it is for the best.
“From Shavuot until Sukkot, it does not rain at all. So, we are in perfect control of irrigation and nutrition,” Sarrabia told ABCNews.com.
“In France, there are good years and bad years. It rains there in the summer and too much water dilutes the taste,” Sarrabia said. “Even though it’s more difficult because of the poor land in Israel, it’s good for us that we can control everything.”
The high-density planting encourages grape vines to compete with each other, which ensures high-quality grapes are produced, Ben-Zaken says.
Domaine du Castel is the only Israeli winery to use this “Old World” approach, which is favored by leading wineries worldwide.
Castel has been recognized repeatedly on an international level and is compared to the best French wines.
“We don’t make our wines for the critics,” Ben-Zaken said. “But, we are very proud that this is where we are. My goal is that I hope in 20 years time all the professional wine tasters will say in a blind tasting we know this wine style and we know where it’s from.”
There are numerous events taking place in Israel, particularly near the Judean Hills, to celebrate the Israeli wine route.
Israel is also an excellent wine tourism destination.
Check out this article in ynetnews.com for more details.
A bit behind the times, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency has the stereotypical “Israeli wines used to suck, now they are good story.” Focusing on Castel, a story I did two years ago. But, perhaps the most important as it’s the Jewish crowd that is most stuck on an image of Israeli wines from 30 or 40 years ago and doesn’t represent the great wines being made in the 21st century.
Eli Ben Zaken smells a wine in one of the cellars of his Domaine du Castel, near Jerusalem, on Sept. 8, 2008.
Israeli winemaking has undergone a transformation over the last couple of decades that now is being recognized widely overseas.
Published: 09/10/2008
RAMAT RAZIEL, Israel (JTA) — It’s harvest time at the Domaine Du Castel winery and crates full of small, plump grapes the color of blueberries are being loaded into a machine that removes them from their stems and pumps them through plastic piping into a towering, silver-colored vat.
This is how the two-year process of wine making begins in a terra cotta-colored building that originally was a chicken coop and is now considered the producer of some of Israel’s finest wines.
This year the winery was awarded the much-coveted four-star rating in one of the world’s premier wine guides, Hugh Johnson’s “Pocket Wine Book 2008.”
In Israel, “there is a wine revolution going on when it comes to quality,” says the founder of Domaine Du Castel, Eli Ben Zaken, a mild-mannered man with thick, wavy hair and a beard.
A former restaurateur, he began making wine as a hobby until the top wine taster at Sotheby’s in London came across one of his bottles and, much to his surprise, declared it “an outstanding” find, Ben Zaken said.
Wines have been produced in these Judean hills, not far from Jerusalem, since biblical times. The remains of a wine press from the Second Temple period was unearthed near where Domaine Du Castel‘s grapes are grown.
But only in the last 25 years or so have Israel’s wines begun to take off around the world, transforming the reputation of kosher wine from the syrupy kosher kiddush variety to world-class vintages.
“International expertise, modern technology and dynamic wineries have ensured continued advances in quality,” Johnson wrote of Israeli wines in his book.
A key turning point in the “coming out” of Israel’s wines came just last year when Robert Parker, a leading American wine critic, tasted more than 40 Israeli wines for the first time. He awarded 14 wines scores higher than 90 on a 100-point scale. A major achievement for any winery, the scores signified an exceptional world-class product.
A list of some of Parker’s favorite Israeli wines was published in Business Week.
The highest score, 93, went to a pair of Israeli red wines: the 2003 Yatir Forest wine from the Yatir Winery and the 2005 Gewurztraminer Heights Wine Yarden, a desert wine from the Golan Heights Winery.
Israel’s wines began their metamorphosis in the 1980s. Israelis started traveling abroad in increasing numbers and returned with an appetite for better food and, with it, better wine, according to the restaurant and wine critic for Israel’s daily Ha’aretz, Daniel Rogov.
Some Israelis began studying winemaking in places such as France and California, returning home with the expertise not just on how to make wine but where to make wine. They began planting fewer vineyards in Israel’s low-lying coastal areas and more in higher-altitude regions like the Golan Heights, the Upper Galilee and the Judean Hills, where the climate has proved better for growing quality grapes.
The Golan Heights Winery, established in 1984, played an important role in the quality revolution of Israeli wines, bringing in expertise from California and raising the bar for other wine makers here, said the director of wine development at the Carmel Winery, Adam Montefiore, who also has worked at the Golan Heights Winery.
“The planting had been going on in the wrong places of the coastal plane, where the soil was not right and with grapes that were not the right varieties,” Rogov said. “In the Golan Heights, the primarily volcanic soil is excellent for grapes and the chalky, volcanic red clay of the Upper Galilee is also very good.”
When he came to Israel 25 years ago, the country was a “wine desert,” said Rogov, who runs an online forum on Israeli wines and is the author of “Rogov’s Guide to Israeli Wines.”
“If people told me then that Israel would be producing the wines they are producing today, I would have laughed in their faces,” Rogov said.
The return of modern winemaking to the region began in 1882 with the investment in wineries in Zichron Yaakov and Rishon Le-Zion by philanthropist Baron Edmond de Rothschild. The baron, who in France owned Chateaux Lafite, arguably the world’s most famous winery, hoped a wine industry would help support Jewish settlement in what was then Ottoman-ruled Palestine.
Rothschild’s wineries eventually morphed into the Carmel Winery, still Israel’s largest. But for decades it was Carmel that was synonymous with the thick, sweet kosher wine that Jews around the world used for kiddush on Shabbat and holidays.
“Liquid religion,” Montefiore, who works for Carmel, calls it. “Probably the most famous Jewish brand name in the world.”
In the past eight years, Carmel has worked hard at a transformation of its own, and it’s now recognized for a collection of top-quality wines. It’s a shift that, according to Montefiore, is part of a larger revolution in which up-and-coming boutique wineries have pressured Israel’s older, more established wineries to react by creating top-quality wines.
“It’s been fun to be part of building an image rather than holding on to an image,” said Montefiore, whose great-great-grandfather was the heir and nephew of Sir Moses Montefiore, the famous Jewish philanthropist from London who invested heavily in the Jewish community in Palestine in the late 19th century.
Israel today has about eight major wineries, 10 medium-sized ones and nearly 180 boutique wineries. They range from the high-end Margalit and Yatir wineries to the innovative and organic Neot Semadar Winery, the southernmost winery in the country, located deep in the Negev Desert.
At Ramat Raziel, a moshav in the forested hills outside Jerusalem, Ben Zaken has spent the last few weeks walking through his vineyards testing the grapes until they were ripe for harvest. An Egyptian-born immigrant from Italy, Ben Zaken says the process of working the land makes him feel especially rooted here.
He says he also sees a role for Israeli wine beyond the pleasure of its taste.
“Here you can show the world that Israel is not only about wars and violence,” he said. “And their image of Israel changes.”
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, after all, is one of the cradles of wine history. Wine was made here thousands of years ago, long before it was made in Europe. Wine is mentioned in the Bible many times. It has always been an important part of most Jewish religious ceremonies. Noah planted a vineyard. Spies that Moses sent to the land of Canaan returned with grapes. Jesus’ first recorded miracle was turning water into wine. Ancient wine presses and vessels have been unearthed all over the country. It’s been a part of this area for a long time, yet in previous visits I was rarely offered a glass of wine in anyone’s house and almost never saw a wine list in a restaurant. The wine just wasn’t very good, and quantity trumped quality in the roughly 10 wineries that were operating then.
His most recent experience:
Today there are somewhere between 200 and 300 wineries ranging from significant operations to many garagistas located all over the country. Israel is a land of an enormous number of microclimates capable of producing all sorts of wines, much like other “long” places such as Chile, California and Italy. There is land influenced by its proximity to the sea, there is desert, there are mountains and there are plains. There is reddish, mineral rich soil known as terra rosa, there is limestone, there are chalk deposits, and there mountains formed by basaltic lava flows. There is lots of sun. Basically you have every possible combination of soil and temperature that you need to produce good wine from almost any grape, and you have it all in a country the size of New Jersey. What’s been added in the last 10 years is the desire to make great wine. Israelis have become wealthier. Their standard of living is rising. They travel around the world. They see what other people eat and drink. Many have come home demanding better wine. Some have returned with the desire to make it, and I saw the same passion in the Israeli wine makers that I have seen in people who make wine all over the world. They feel they were born to do this and they are not going to stop until they are producing world class wine. Per capita wine consumption in Israel has doubled in the last 10 years, indicating that they are well on their way.
On Mark Spivak’s recent visit to Israel, he toured Vitkin Winery, Galil Mountain Winery, Bazelet HaGolan Winery, Golan Heights Winery, Ella Valley Vineyards, Sea Horse Winery, and Domaine du Castel. To see what he thought about these great Israeli wines, read the whole article.
Residents of Israel have occasion to celebrate. The revolutionary Golan Heights Winery, which is celebrating 25 years this year, is having a celebration at the Tel Aviv port between September 11-20.
Golan Heights Winery will both pour those Israeli wines that are available at retailers and also open some special vintage wines from their library that are no longer available and even considered quite rare. There will also be all sorts of vertical and blind tastings. Wines will be poured at a symbolic fee, to promote enjoyment and not rowdiness. Some sessions may also have a small charge.
Opening evening: Thursday September 11, 8:00-11:00PM
Sunday-Thursday: 6:00PM-11:00PM
Friday: 12:00-5:00PM
Saturday Evening: 8:00PM-11:00PM
