Month: September 2018

The Eastern Mediterranean gave wine culture to the world, yet made terrible wine for 2,000 years, but in the last 15-20 years has undergone an exciting wine quality revolution. It is now a modern, dynamic,   exciting wine region, in one of the oldest wine growing regions on earth. The wines of Lebanon and Israel have been the ones leading the charge, and lately Turkey has had a great deal of attention for its indigenous varieties. Even a Syrian wine has been widely praised. Cyprus would seem to have been left behind in the noise stakes, but there, there have also been exciting changes, wine wise.

As a first, Israel has recently hosted a delegation of twelve Masters of Wine, who came to Israel to learn about Israeli wine. This was arguably the most prestigious wine visit to Israel since Baron Edmond de Rothschild first arrived in 1887! The Institute of Masters of Wine is the parent body that administers the Master of Wine program. There are only 370 people on planet earth certified as Masters of Wine, who are permitted to put the letters MW at the end of their name. When you consider the number of winemakers, sommeliers, wine buyers and wine critics there are, you can appreciate that to be a Master of Wine is to be the cherry on the top of the cake. They form the crème de la crème and carry the utmost respect of the community of all wine professionals. They represent the pinnacle of our industry.