When I first came to Israel, there was one wine region that was considered above all others. The Golan Heights with its high elevation, volcanic soil and black basalt stone, was considered perfect for growing grapes with the potential to make high quality wine.
The Golan Heights Winery carried not only the wine hopes of the region, but the whole country. New World winemaking technology, the idea of making wine in the vineyards and the introduction of new varieties made this the pioneering winery.
The close association between winery and growing region, encouraged the winery to promote ‘The Land of Wine’ referring to the Golan. I remember Segev Yerovam, ex CEO of Golan Heights Winery and Galil Mountain Winery, predicting that one day there would be a wine route on the Golan. At that time there was only one winery on the Golan, but Segev, a true Golan patriot, looked into the tea leaves and saw the future.

There are no end of options for the wine tourist in Israel and there are wine routes that cover the country. There is the Galilee & Golan Heights in the north, Mount Carmel & the Sharon Plain in the northern coastal plain, the Judean Foothills & Judean Hills in the center of the country. To these you can now add the Central Mountains and Negev, where there also viable wine routes.
I believe Israel is a country which may be viewed through the prism of its wineries, vineyards and wines. This will put you in touch with history, archaeology, agriculture, religion, gastronomy, peoplehood and technology. Those who know Israel well, will only gain further insights by experiencing Israel’s wine industry.

I usually write about Israeli wine and do not differentiate whether the wine is kosher or not, on the basis that wine is wine, and it is not better or worse because it is kosher. However, for those interested in kosher wines, I have decided this week to recommend a few imported kosher wines, which represent excellent QPR (quality per price.)
The history of wine kashrut is deeply interesting. There was no kashrut supervision until the 1920’s. Before that, apart from Carmel, kosher wine was more or less a domestic cottage industry. You bought from someone you knew personally if the provenance of the wine was important to you. Whilst the kosher meat industry built up a kosher infrastructure by necessity, wine was comparatively slow to get in on the act.

I have always been interested in developing Israeli Carignan. When I worked for Carmel Winery it was a policy, but even though there is a lot of Carignan in the country, there are not so many varietal Carignans made here. Nevertheless, it remains even today the second most planted grape variety in Israel. We are obviously drinking far more Carignan than we are aware of!
Over the years I have written about Carignan in Israel, but my interest received an infusion after meeting Momo Shmilovich at his Neve Yarak Winery. He has taken over the mantle of Carignan warrior in Israel and organizes a Carignan Day, which encourages visitors, hosts tastings and lectures all on the subject of this far from noble variety, which has a long association with volume rather than quality.
There is no grape variety which tells the story of Israeli wine quite like Carignan. It is part of the modern history of Israeli wine. It has been here from the beginning, from even before Baron Edmond de Rothschild’s involvement.

If you ever hike in Israel, you are quite likely to come across a dilapidated flat, square stone trough. You may not know what it is, but you may have stumbled across an ancient wine press. They don’t carry a neon sign saying ‘Winery’ in big letters and they all differ in the way they look. There is no standard. However, they do all share the basic characteristics that identify them…..and there are simply thousands spread over the land of Israel. It always gives me the chills when I see one of these, because it connects winemaking today with winemaking in ancient times. Clos de Gat has one in its vineyard.

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.

There are four products that symbolize the culinary revolution in Israel more than any others: bread, wine, cheese and olive oil. The festival of Shavuot gives us the opportunity to enjoy all four together. It is, among other things, a harvest festival celebrating the first fruits and the grain harvest. As it is a tradition to eat dairy products, what could be more appropriate than to enjoy a selection of Israeli cheeses, a hunk of bread – with olive oil drizzled on it, of course – and washed down with some Israeli wines?

On Seder Night, we read the Haggadah, together with our close and wider family. It is a unique annual family occasion, at which wine plays a star role. We have to drink four glasses. In the Haggadah we read about The Wise Son, The Wicked Son, The Simple Son, and the fourth one who does not know even how to ask. Let us assume these are grown up sons, responsible for the wine buying.
The Wise Son will understand wine and may be looking for something interesting, new to him, of good quality. However, he is smart. He is prepared to pay for quality, because you get what you pay for, but he is not going to pay over the odds. He likes to visit the wine shops, taste and buy something that he thinks is a good find.

I have been representing Israeli wine for 33 years. I started way back in the 1980’s working with Yarden, Gamla and Golan wines in the UK. After making Aliyah, I worked for the Golan Heights Winery in the 1990’s and then for Carmel Winery and Yatir Winery in the 2000’s. At different times I was involved with other, smaller wineries. During all this time, I have found myself not just representing the winery I worked for, but also representing corporate Israel to the wine world.
Over the years I have represented Israel to international wine writers and critics. Now I myself am a wine writer, and find I am still representing the industry. I write mainly about Israeli wine and am a partner of The Israel Wine Experience, which educates about Israeli wine. It really has been an honor and privilege to have a part in advancing Israeli wine during this particular golden era, because the developments of the last 30 years have been greater than those of the previous 3,000.

It was Shabbat morning. Most people were taking the opportunity to lie in bed an extra hour. I saw Assaf Kedem, wine grower and tourism pioneer, sitting silently, on his haunches, with a cherished, well-earned cigarette held between thumb and forefinger, like an inscrutable, zen figure, contemplating the future. He is never one to sit on his laurels. Assaf is worker, not a man of words. He does not have dreams, but a vision. He does not reach outside of the family circle for help, he has achieved everything with his own hands.

Making kosher wine in California is not new. Occasionally wineries started up, but they did not last or pass any test of quality. The first was Anaheim Winery, owned by a German immigrant Bernard Dreyfus, in the 1860’s. Later on, in the 20th century, Rabbis looking to supplant their meagre income would visit California to make a wine there, for them to sell to the Jewish community back home on the East Coast. It was more common for winemakers from the New York region to make a pilgrimage there to buy grape juice concentrate, for use as a natural sweetener for the wines instead of adding sugar.

Don’t shout it from the rooftops, but the majority of people are not that interested in wine. Most people don’t go to tastings, don’t check wine scores or read wine articles. They don’t know the difference between Merlot and Cabernet, or even Merlot or Pinot Noir. They just don’t care. However, some of them buy wine and enjoy drinking it. Their criteria for choosing is refreshingly simple. To choose what is tasty and drink what they like.
Those of us in the wine business have a passion that extends beyond the drink itself. We like to talk about wine and read about wine, almost as much as drinking it. Yet, all of us in the wine trade are guilty of building an ivory tower, which is only accessible to those who speak the language. We are rightly accused of only speaking about wine in terms of baskets of fruits or critic scores. We rave about winemakers like famous chefs, and discuss different vintages, terroir, soils and elevation, which are part of the fascination that makes wine so much more than just a drink. I admit the talk is pretentious, elitist and I suppose it is a self-perpetuating club. The disease is fairly widespread amongst winos.

They experienced the Holocaust, survived communism and became the epitome of the American dream. They revolutionized the whole concept of kosher wine worldwide and have become the leading ambassadors of Israeli wine. I am referring to the Herzog family and their Royal Wine – Kedem empire. Now, the American chapter has just celebrated its 70th year anniversary, but the story began long before.
They started as winemakers in Slovakia, a country most well-known for white wines. Until today the Herzog family use only white wines for Seder Night. This is because red wine reminded them of the Blood Libel, which they experienced firsthand, but the customs of their homeland may also have influenced this choice.

It is clear that the indigenous drink of our country and wider region is wine. Vineyards grow everywhere today and this echoes the situation described in the Bible. The reverence surrounding wine in the Judeo-Christian world and in the west, is partly due to the importance of wine here in ancient times.
As far as spirits are concerned, the largest selling spirit by far is vodka. The first generations to come here came from Eastern Europe, and they brought with them a love for vodka, but drinking was modest and in moderation. Now with the country in the fifth generation since the First Aliyah, vodka consumption has grown, especially with the young. However, vodka is not today a pick me up shot from a bottle kept in the freezer, primarily drunk for a Lehaim or to accompany smoked or pickled fish. It is now drunk by the youth of the country with a mixer, usually an energy drink to get a kick as quickly is possible. Sales rock, and producers are sometimes shocked at how much vodka is sold in our small, supposedly abstemious country.

Don’t assume that everything you read about a winery is historically correct. Closer examination shows how wineries are prepared to have a very flexible interpretation of the facts, to suit the imagination of a particular marketing department of the time. It is rather like rewriting history in reverse. However, rather than being outright lies, most of these are based on some form of factual information. Of course, if repeated long and often enough, the story becomes the new reality.
Check yourself on the following simple statements that relate to the history of certain wineries.

Imagine a family journey lasting 170 years, which leads from Haggai Street in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, travels via Rappaport Street, Beit Israel in Western Jerusalem and arrives in Haruvim Street in Mishor Adumim, east of Jerusalem. I am referring to the Shor family, which opened their winery way back in 1848 and is today still making wine. This is Israel’s oldest existing wine making family.
Initially it was called Shor Winery, then it became AM Shor Bros and over time as the family grew, it split into four different wineries: Arza, Hacormim, Shimshon and Zion wineries, each with exactly the same roots. Shimshon Winery was eventually sold and is today known as Jerusalem Vineyard Winery. The surviving Shor wineries continue to be owned and managed by the family. What is unique to Zion Winery though, is that it is not only owned by the Shor family, and managed by the Shor family, but also after all these years, the winemaker is still a member of the family!

Chateau Lascombes is a grand, ivy colored, turreted building in the village of Margaux in the Haut Medoc. It looks grand and imposing, just like a Bordeaux French Château should. The first known owner was Chevalier Antoine de Lascombes, born in 1625. In the famous 1855 classification, Bordeaux wines from the Medoc were ranked in an order still respected today. Fifty eight wineries were classified into five levels of Classed Growths, (Grand Cru Classe in French.) Chateau Lascombes earned the honorable description of Deuxieme Cru Classé, that is a Second Classed Growth. The First Growths include the likes of Chateau Lafite Rothschild and Chateau Haut Brion, so to be second was not bad positioning.

Succot, the festival for celebrating the grape harvest, is a time for touring Israel’s wine country. Many wine lovers will be planning visits to the Golan Heights, Galilee, Mount Carmel, Judean Hills or Central Mountains regions, but my mind is elsewhere. I recently discovered a fascinating tour of the ‘Jerusalem Wine Route’ by Dani Biran, under covering the hidden roots of Israeli wine in the mid-19th century. There is a misconception that from the time the Marmelukes ruled, wine was outlawed and there was no wine made in Israel or the Holy Land until Baron Edmond de Rothschild founded a modern Israel wine industry starting in 1882. In fact, the first call to plant vines and the first recorded winery were a long time before that.

My personal infatuation has always been with the wines of the Eastern Mediterranean. I believe the Eastern Mediterranean is one of the most interesting and fast developing wine regions. The wines of Lebanon and Israel are so different, yet complimentary. The wines of Cyprus, Greece & Turkey are more exotic because of the prevalence of all their indigenous varieties. There is something intoxicating about the high-altitude vineyards, poor stony soils and Mediterranean climate that make this region a wine haven. Certainly, it is a winemaking paradise and the wines have improved no end.

Menahem Israelievitch is the flying winemaker of the kosher world. A Michel Rolland (the world’s most famous consultant winemaker) with a kippa if you like. He makes wine in three countries, mainly France but also Spain and Portugal, with a smile, a great nature, but also with a passionate desire to make the best kosher wine possible. I have noticed he has a special quality; He is never satisfied with doing the minimum when he can do the maximum. Not a bad attribute for a winemaker. He runs his empire, producing roughly 500,000 bottles a year for Royal Wine Europe, which is the French wine making arm of the Royal Wine Corp. / Kedem, which revolutionized kosher wine over the last 35 years. Much of Menahem’s work is from the car and his cell phone is the dashboard through which he communicates, organizes, and makes wine at some of the most famous wineries there are. He has five regular workers and employs up to forty during harvest.

A special wine is not just a drink and a dry tasting note. It is also a memory and an emotion. I have memories that have accompanied me throughout my career, with one wine above others: Yarden Cabernet Sauvignon. As a buyer, representative, competitor and wine writer, I have experienced this wine in different seminal moments of my wine life.
Earlier this year, the Yarden Cabernet Sauvignon 2014, won a Gold Medal at the International Wines and Spirits Competition (IWSC) in London. It was a praiseworthy result not only because Gold Medals are exceedingly rare for Israel at the IWSC, but it also proved a reminder of an event thirty one years ago that signaled the rise of Israeli wine for the first time. Then an unknown Israeli wine called Yarden Cabernet Sauvignon 1984, made by an equally unknown Golan Heights Winery, won not only the Gold Medal but also the Winiarski Trophy. This was the first major award for an Israeli wine and the first outward sign of a wine revolution in Israel.

The image of a food product with the word ‘Kosher’ used to describe it, is enhanced. However, with regard to wine, the connotation is usually negative. People think this must mean the wines are sweet, oxidized, cooked and undrinkable. This mistaken perception could not be further from the truth.
Kosher food and wine are necessary for Jews who observe the Jewish Dietary Laws. The word ‘Kosher’ means pure and is used in slang to describe something that is considered all right, okay or authentic.
You will know a product is Kosher from a small abbreviation or stamp on the tin or package. Many of the most famous food and beverage brands are kosher. The regular consumer will not be aware of this or even care, as it does not affect the quality of the end product.

This article appeared first time in the Jerusalem Post.
The Negev Desert in ancient times was a wine center of some repute. In the days of the First Temple, there was sparse Jewish populations there. As Jews have done throughout history, they also made wine. A pottery shard recently found at the military garrison of Tel Arad conveyed the important message “If there is wine, send quantity.” This was dated 2.600 years ago! Wine was needed for refreshment. It was in demand for the thirsty, as it was safer to drink than the water, which carried diseases. Wine had status, it was used for medicinal purposes, for dyeing, and it was a useful source of nutrients and calories. It was also a valuable currency. However, the peak of winemaking in the Negev was not at the hands of Jewish winemakers. It was the Nabateans who tamed the desert.

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.

In 1986, in a giant step for quality kosher wine production, Baron Edmond de Rothschild, the grandson of the Hanadiv – ‘the Known Benefactor’, insisted on producing the first quality Bordeaux wine for Jews observing kashrut. This was a milestone in kosher wine production, because the Rothschilds were always regarded like the royal family of the Jewish community. The original Baron Edmond de Rothschild had founded a modern wine industry in Israel. Furthermore, the Rothschilds were not only famous in the world of finance, but were also arguably the most famous wine family in the world.

For Israelis embarrassed that all we have is international grape varieties like every other wine producing country, we now have some new local varieties that are creating a noise amongst the wine intelligentsia.
First there was a tasting of Israeli wines by Jancis Robinson MW. Surprisingly, the best scoring white wine was a Hamdani Jandali blend from Cremisan Monastery. Then Recanati Winery came out with a white wine called Marawi. It gained worldwide attention. Now wineries like Feldstein, Jezreel Valley, Gvaot have also come with wines from varieties like Dabouki and Jandali. It is a new world…or rather an old world.

Greek wine is now showing itself in Israel for the first time. A few Greek restaurants have opened and good relations between the countries means that Greece has become a must go to country for Israeli tourists. Even Maia Winery, a small boutique winery in Israel, has employed one of Greece’s most famous sons, Yannis Paraskevopoulos of Gaia Winery as their wine consultant. In other words, Greek Israeli wine relations are warming up!
The main Greek white wine varieties are the Assyrtico, Malagousia, Moschofilero and Roditis. The dominant reds are Agiorgitiko and Xinomavro. It is a whole new world for those tired of Cabernet, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay!

Sometimes in Israel we are very insular and only see our own. Occasionally it is good to look in the corners and not always look in the mirror. Christian winemaking is alive and kicking and in the Arab sector, not often associated with fine wines, there are some individuals and families making some very good wines with individuality and passion.
Nemi Ashkar seems like a typical Israeli, even part of the crème de la crème. He is a hi-tech veteran who has worked for major companies like IBM, HP and Unilever in senior management roles. He loves wine and comes from a place where making wine was part of the routine of home life. A period in Silicon Valley introduced him to the culture of Californian wine and the quality of Napa Valley. He thought I can do that and returned to found his own winery. He built a winery in the cellar of his three floor house.

Yiannis Boutaris is a giant of Greek wine and one of its most enduring icons. He was arguably the most prominent figure of the Greek wine revolution and a pioneering figure, whose search for quality and authenticity was followed by many others. The move to regionalization, the idea of becoming wine growers instead of solely producers, the focus on indigenous varieties and the pursuit of quality were all moves he initiated. He believed in the importance of wine tourism and the concept of advancing the Greek wine brand and his efforts were echoed by the Greek wine industry as a whole.

New Year’s Eve is party time. It is the time to celebrate the end of the year and the optimism and hopes for the New Year. There is one wine that symbolizes happiness, success and celebration above all others and that is, sparkling wine. However the word sparkling wine means different things to different people. The range of wines and the variation in prices is enormous. They range from the prestige cuvees in Champagne , made by the ‘traditional method’ to the cheapest sparkling wine, made by what I call the Coca Cola Method.
In Israel it appears we like sparkling wines. They have become very popular here. The number of imported sparklers, mainly Cava from Spain or Prosecco from Italy, has increased dramatically. In fact anything with bubbles is ‘in’. In restaurants and bars throughout Israel, people are ordering Cava, which has become the Israeli slang for any sparkling wine.

The first French Revolution in Israeli wine came at the end of the 19th century when Baron Edmond de Rothschild founded a modern wine industry. He was a Paris banker and winery owner and he invested millions in planting vineyards in the 1880’s and building wineries with deep underground cellars in the 1890’s. He used French administrators, the most experienced French agronomists and French winemakers. The accounts were kept in French and the wine growers cooperative he set up was even registered in French: Société Cooperative des Grandes Caves. So undoubtedly the Israeli wine industry was revived after 2,000 years owing to French finance and French expertise. Israeli wine was built on French roots.

The Festival of Shavuot is a good opportunity to drink wine with cheese and it has become known in Israel as the white wine festival. When I came to Israel in 1989 most of the wine drunk was white wine. Since the early 1990s, we then became a red wine drinking country because of a number of reasons. Firstly, there was the influential 60 Minutes television program claiming that drinking red wine was healthy. Secondly improved winemaking techniques enabled wineries to make entry level red wines like white wines. Fruity, without astringency, with a good refreshing acidity. Thirdly a more sophisticated wine loving public simply began to choose red.

In all the fluff surrounding wine, it will surprise many to know that the label is actually quite modern. The use of a glass bottle, wooden barrel or cork are far older. This is not to say that information about wine was not in demand. The Ancient Greeks and Romans were not beyond giving details of what the wine was, who owned it and where it was grown, but this was on amphorae not bottles.

Seventy years of the State of Israel and seventy years of Israeli wine. This has included thirty-five years of wine mediocrity and thirty-five years of exciting development. We went from a time when Alicante was the most planted grape variety in the 1950’s, to four decades of dominance by Carignan until today, when Cabernet Sauvignon is the most planted variety. When the State of Israel was founded over ninety percent of our vineyards were planted in the coastal regions including the valleys surrounding the southern Mount Carmel and the central plain, the Judean Plain and Judean Foothills. Now the vineyard concentration has moved northwards to the Galilee and Golan Heights and eastwards to the Judean Hills rising towards Jerusalem. I will attempt to divide our wine story into decades and select a wine and the person who contributed most.

How time flies. Difficult to appreciate that Domaine du Castel has already passed its 25 year anniversary. The winery has been the pin up of Israeli wine, showing Israeli wine at its best. Yet it started more or less as a hobby, only developed into a business almost by accident, and then went on to act as a figurehead for the whole Israeli wine industry. It is now not an exaggeration to say Castel has become a national treasure.

It may be the quality red wines which receive all the plaudits. These are arguably the wines that Israel makes best and the critics love to write about them. Thankfully white wines are making something of a comeback. Wine lovers are realizing they are more versatile with food and are more rewarding in our climate. We are making some very good white wines these days.  However, people often forget that Israel is also getting a name for producing wonderful dessert wines.
Unfortunately most Israelis are damaged by a lifelong association with Kiddush wine for Friday Nights, Festivals and Seders. So they associate sweet wine with simply the worst wine, often tasting like sugared water and with religious ritual. Therefore the very word ‘sweet’ has connotations of a cheap and nasty. It is something which is to be avoided, at all costs.

Passover is here again. I have for a long time associated Passover with wine. For me it is the Festival of Wine, not the Festival of Unleavened Bread or Festival of Freedom. To taste four glasses, potentially four wines, and be a good Jew at the same time is very tempting. It is like having the best of two worlds.

At some wineries, managing directors seem to change all the time. At others, they make an impact over decades. At Carmel & Binyamina for example, the managers seem to change with the seasons. At others, like Teperberg and Barkan, the same managers were in control for many years. Moti Teperberg has been CEO of Teperberg Winery for over 30 years and Shmuel Boxer was CEO of Barkan Winery for 26 years. At the turn of the century a number of new wineries sprung up with large investments and great potential. Wineries like Clos de Gat, Flam and Recanati flourished, whilst others like Amphorae and Ella Valley struggled with regular changes of ownership and managers respectively. The reason is the quality of management which is as important to a winery’s success as a viticulturist and winemaker.

There are very few truly specialist positions in the wine trade. Firstly, there is the viticulturist, an agronomist specializing in wine grapes. Then there is the winemaker, ‘the chef’, turning the precious grapes into even more precious wine. We should not forget the educators, buyers, writers and critics, each of whom has a measure of expertise. Finally, last but not least, there is the sommelier, a professional wine waiter and so much more, who is the front man when wine is opened and enjoyed.

The first varietal Sauvignon Blanc in Israel, was produced by Carmel Winery in the 1960’s and the first Israeli Sauvignon Blanc exported was Carmel’s in the early 1970’s. The first wine from the Golan Heights Winery to gain notice in America, with headlines such as: “Israel’s first world class wine” was not their award winning Yarden reds, but their Yarden Sauvignon Blanc 1983!

Eating out with family, friends, food & wine is my favorite pastime. If there is a family celebration or just a need to break the routine, I do not hesitate and would rather book a restaurant than almost anything else. Many people are more likely to drink wine at a restaurant than at home.
Wine is made to be enjoyed with food and good company. It is not made to be tasted in formal tastings, at winery visitors’ centers, at festivals or exhibitions. It is simply at its best in the restaurant situation with the ambiance and service thrown in. Wine, food & friends is a Holy Trinity, like a three legged stool. If one leg is missing, it all collapses.

When I arrived in Israel, there were just ten wineries. The winery boom was ahead of us, and the boutique winery explosion that was to take place was still to begin. However the first person to set this off was an unassuming, quiet farmer wine grower called Yonatan (Jonathan) Tishbi. He founded his winery against the odds, withdrawing from the cooperative of the largest winery in the country. That he succeeded was admirable and he came to be the forerunner of the revolution that was to follow. However the Tishbi family story lasts over 130 years, so we have to go right back to the beginning and then bring the story up to date until today.

I began my career in the wine, beer and spirits trade long ago in 1976, before moving exclusively to wine in the 1980’s. During nearly all this time I have worked for Bass Charrington and Bass Hotels in England, and for the Golan Heights Winery and Carmel Winery in Israel. I left Carmel in 2016 after fourteen years with them and also resigned as chairman of Montefiore Winery in 2017. Suddenly for the first time I find myself truly independent. Having just reached my 60th birthday and with the dawn of a New Year, it seems appropriate to look back at the people, the wines and the memories that have been inspirational for me. Allow me to indulge myself.

This article first appeared in the Jerusalem Post Magazine.
Sparkling wine is the wine of fashion, partying and celebration. Whether on New Year’s Eve, at a wedding or at a birthday, it remains the classic wine to make a toast with. It is also symbol of success and happiness. Though it is a style of wine that has taken Israelis time to learn to appreciate, sparkling wines have become very popular here. The number of imported sparklers, mainly Cava from Spain or Prosecco from Italy, has increased dramatically. In fact anything with bubbles is ‘in’. In restaurants and bars throughout t Israel, people are ordering Cava, which has become the Israeli slang for any sparkling wine.

The boutique winery revolution began quietly enough in 1988 with the formation of Meron Winery. It took a more substantial step when Margalit Winery came on the scene in 1989. These are often referred to as the first boutique wineries. However what was new was the term boutique. There have been small domestic wineries in Jewish communities forever and in the mid 19th century, before Carmel, there were many, particularly in Jerusalem. The reason only two are remembered, (Shor & Teperberg), is because they were the only ones to survive. However undoubtedly in the 1990’s a boutique winery boom began led either by growers, who decided to reserve some of their fruit for their own use or hobby winemakers, who decided to take it all a little more seriously. This boom shows no sign of abating even now.

Only a few weeks ago, the Israeli wine was proud to host Jancis Robinson MW, one of the world’s leading wine critics, writers and communicators. She tasted Israeli wines as she would the wines of any other countries and referred to Israel as an Eastern Mediterranean California. She tasted kosher and non-kosher wines and it was not important for her to know which was which. For her, the kosher certification was irrelevant. She was tasting wine.

Mention the price of Israeli wines and there will surely be an argument between consumers who are tired that consumer goods always seem so expensive in Israel, compared to elsewhere, and wineries that do the best they can.  Anyone visiting the world’s largest wine producing countries, will be struck at how inexpensive the wines are in the local tavern or bar. The argument that “Israeli wines are so expensive” is regularly made.  The question is whether it is true.

Jancis Robinson MW, the English wine critic and wine writer, visited Israel for a private visit but also found time to taste Israeli wines.  She came here in great secrecy. Only a few were in the know. Her husband is Nick Lander, the famous food critic and author of The Art of the Restaurateur, one of the best books on the subject I have read. When he wrote an article about the paradox of finding so much Burgundy in Tel Aviv restaurants, there was a facebook backlash against the sommeliers who hosted her. How dare they show her anything else other than Israeli wines! Little did the talk back critics know that an impressive tasting had been prepared by the same sommeliers, offering what they considered the finest of Israel.
The tasting was put together by the Aviram Katz, the sommelier of Basta Restaurant, who is also the wine critic for Time Out & Al Hashulchan, with the help of fellow sommeliers Uri Caftory, owner of Garrigue Restaurant, Shira Tsiddon, sommelier of the Norman Hotel and international sommelier, WSET educator, wine consultant and author of the New Israeli Wine Guide, Gal Zohar. They selected 55 wines from no less than 40 different wineries covering nearly every possible category, (excluding sparkling wines & dessert wines) and they were divided into flights of four to six wines. This was a great feat of organization. The tasting was held at the Norman Hotel in Tel Aviv, whose wine list, won the award as Israel’s finest and I was pleased to have the opportunity to participate.

At Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, we eat sweet foods along with apple and honey, and hope for a ‘sweet year’. So I usually recommend sweet wines to go with the festive meal. As the focus is on sweet, I can’t help but pay attention to the startling rejuvenation of a famous brand in Israel. I also consider afresh the large market for sweet wines, which appears to be hidden from view from many so called experts in the wine business.