#364 – November 2, 2018 In addition to the basic concept of being enjoyable, there are often other criteria we look for when determining which wines will receive an allocation of our hard-earned lirot. These could be awesome labels (e.g. Shirah), a great story (e.g. Four Gates), a desire to support Israeli wineries, or wanting […]
#347 – October, 11, 2017 Over the years of writing this newsletter there have been a few instances where my use of a certain word, turn of phrase or even one of my protologisms or neologisms have come back to haunt me. Attaching the adjective gregarious to Asaf Paz in my Binyamina newsletter back […]
May 4, 2017 As you know, Covenant’s wines have been continuously showcased on these pages for nearly ten years; however, the last time a full blown newsletter was dedicated to this magnificent winery was in 2011! Back then, the winery only produced four wines, three under the Covenant label (the eponymous Cabernet Sauvignon along with […]
#327 – March 9, 2017 This week I wanted to discuss a winery whose wines have graced my annual “Best of” lists for quite some time but never received its own real estate on these pages. However I recently finally had the opportunity to visit the winery in question, spend some time with its über-talented […]
This week’s newsletter discusses Yaacov Oryah, a winemaker of incredible depth and talent who, after years of personal and professional trials and tribulations, is currently making wine at three different wineries. While I didn’t actually meet Yaacov in person until January 2014 during the Sommelier Expo in Tel Aviv, I first encountered Yaacov’s wines in […]
#311 – February 16, 2016 With this newsletter I am finally dealing with a serious lacuna in my wine coverage. After nearly a decade of tasting and enjoying the lovely wines made by Dr. Moises Cohen under the various Elvi labels (and enjoying his delightful company on many occasions), I finally made it to the […]
#286 – February 26, 2015 Tabor winery is located in Kfar Tavor, a village founded by Baron Rothschild in the shadows of the famed Tabor Mountain (from which the winery derives its name) which featured prominently in the biblical story of Debora the prophetess and Sisra and later on in Napoleon’s famed battle (and was one of […]
After a short[er] newsletter last week, this week’s missive details the wonders of another boutique California winery – Shirah and as a result, is once again [ever-so-slightly] longer than usual. Hopefully you will persevere as the story behind Weiss Brothers and their wines are well worthy of your attention. My first encounter with the libations […]
#299 – July 19, 2015 After first seeing the wines at someone’s house I reached out to Elena Zimbalista in order to coordinate tasting her wines at the Sommelier Expo two years ago (given that she wasn’t an exhibitor, we met outside of the Expo at a nearby coffee shop were we tasted through her […]
#299 – July 19, 2015 With the amazing things happening at Recanati (stay tuned for an updated newsletter soon), it shouldn’t surprise anyone to know that the winery is blessed with one of the deepest “benches” of winemaking talent among Israeli wineries. Assisting über-talented chief-winemaker Gil Shatsberg are two folks, both talented winemakers in their […]