#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 […]
#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 […]
#288 – March 12, 2015 Public Service Announcement: You can skip the verbiage and scroll straight down to the bottom of this newsletter for the actual list (which this year includes all my recommendations in this week’s edition, instead of being split over two weeks), but the material below contains a number of tips that […]
#278 – September 23, 2014 Despite the fact that the Pelter Winery has been non-kosher since its first vintage in 2002, anyone even slightly involved with Israel’s wine industry has not only heard of this boutique winery, but is also aware of its ranking near the upper echelon of Israeli wineries. While the fact that […]
#276 – July 31, 2014 Despite my attempt to make my recent newsletters on Rose (#270) and White Wines (#271) as comprehensive as possible, the abundance of quality kosher wines (I am currently tasting over 1,000 different kosher wines every year) wreaks havoc with my desire to ensure that all the worthy wines are brought […]
#273 – June 27, 2014 Despite my best intentions and with over 75 kosher wineries in Israel alone, a significant amount of time may go by before I provide an updated newsletter on many well-deserving wineries (which is one of the reasons for my more frequent “quickies”). Psagot is one of those wineries whose wines […]
Market Price: Parts I & II As you already know, the weeks leading up to Pesach are the US kosher wine industry’s busiest, with more kosher wine purchased during this period than the rest of the year combined (the wine buying in Israel is slightly more evenly distributed throughout the year, with Rosh Hashana also […]
When I first started writing my newsletter over eight years ago, the opening of a new winery was a special and relatively rare event that usually generated much excitement (at least among the geeky wine-loving community), even if the wines themselves were often disappointing and didn’t live up to the hype or expectations. These day […]
#254 – August 9, 2013 (Latest Visit Report) As promised a few weeks ago in my “Wine Country” newsletter, this week’s newsletter is all about Recanati Winery, who has not received primo attention in nearly three years (despite occupying a substantial amount of my drinking and tasting during that time). Established in 2000 and located […]
#253 – July 26, 2013 While unfortunately not the topic to which the press regarding Israel is dedicated these days, Israeli winemaking is easily one of the best things about the country (if not THE best) and an integral (and growing) part of its fabric. In fact, Israeli winemaking has a tradition that goes back […]