Month: June 2019

Winemaking is part scientific and part art. The scientific winemaker will make technically perfect, clean wines, whilst the artist will make wine more naturally with character, dirt and terroir. Winemaking is normally a combination of the two. The wine educator also comes in two ways. He or she may have encyclopedic knowledge, know all the facts and the student sits, (like at University in front of a knowledgeable Professor), and picks up the nuggets they can. Or the wine educator may be an artist, who talks in broad strokes, inspires and enthuses.

Taking the Eastern Mediterranean as a whole, Israel is seen to have a dynamic, lively wine industry which shines brightly and proudly. Most Israelis are therefore quite surprised to hear that the most famous wine of this historic region is Lebanese, not Israeli. I am referring to Chateau Musar. Arguments about which are the finest wines are less clear cut, but the last edition of the World Atlas of Wine implied that the best was no less than a Syrian wine named Domaine Bargylus. The country with the best range of indigenous varietals may be Turkey.
It should certainly make us humbler, to understand we are not the only pebble on the beach. Surrounding us is a rich region of variety and quality, with a history no less long than our own. However, this is our region. We are part of it and if we do not want to be only on the kosher shelves, then this is where we should be….in the Eastern Mediterranean, alongside our neighbors on the wine store shelves and restaurant wine lists.