Tag Archives: Israel

A Real “Killer” Wine

Assaf Winery’s Shiraz Caesarea Reserve 2008

To be perfectly honest, I am not objective when it comes to Israeli Syrah/Shiraz wines. I believe that being at the southern fringe of the Northern hemisphere’s wine growing region gives the various Israeli terroirs a tremendous adventage with this Southern Rhone variety. This is a lovely Shiraz with a deep purple/garnet color, red berries and spices with a nice balance and long finish.

The late Daniel Rogov, who is sorely missed as Isreal’s leading wine critic, writing and scoring thousands of Israeli wines wrote tasting notes for this wine before it was released. His review appears in the Israel Wines website: Assaf, Shiraz, Caesaria, 2008 (Advance Tasting): Oak-aged for 20 months but showing a gentle influence of the wood, a full-bodied, round and soft wine, with a generous array of plum, wild berry and raspberry fruits, those supported nicely by notes of saddle leather and earthy minerals. Generous and elegant. Best from 2012-2017. Score 90. (Tasted 8 Nov 2010)

We tasted this wine at the new visitors’ center opened by Assaf Winery as the beginning of the Kedem family’s “Wine Village” to include the winery, a visitors’ center with tasting rooms, a gourmet restaurant and a Bed & Breakfast. The “Wine Village” is located next to Moshav Kidmat Tzvi on the Golan Heights, home to the Kedem family.

The New Visitors’ Center

The New Winery

Assaf Winery was founded by Assaf Kedem in 1997 after raising grapes for other vineyards since 1990. Assaf Kedem has served as the winemaker at other vineyards and currently provides laboratory services and consults other wineries. Recently Assaf’s son Oren has joined the winery as winemaker and manager.

Assaf and Oren Kedem

So What Makes the Shiraz Caesarea a “Killer Wine”?

Assaf Kedem named the wine “Caesarea” to honor his father who served for many years as a warrior for the Mossad‘s Casarea’s unit which is tasked with “planning and carrying out special operations beyond Israel’s borders”.

The Caesarea unit purchases Shiraz Casarea wine and reportedly gives everyone who finishes their training course a bottle. Bottles are also given as gifts from the unit as appreciation for help and services. And bottles are opened and members of the unit toast “Le’haim” , “To Life” following successful missions.

Casarea’s Appreciation to Assaf for His Father’s Service and the Wine

A big thanks to Assaf and Oren Kedem for a great wine. And a special great thanks to the unsung warriors of Caesarea who allow us to sleep better at night and make the world a better place by helping evil people meet their maker earlier than they planned.

www.assafwinery.com

Behind the Green Door-Negev Brewery

Negev Brewery

Hidden away in the sleepy industrial zone of the Southern city of  Kiryat Gat I encountered this Green Door at the end of a dead end street that is otherwise deserted. 

Entrance to Negev Brewery

I came here to see Inga at work. Inga is a forty-year old German, big and noisy as well as hard to please if everything isn’t just right.

 Inga

Inga is a mechanical wonder, a fully mechanical beer-bottling machine that needs to be greased more than a battle tank in order to work. Inga needs hours of set-up before going to work and is a real pleasure to see when everything is right.

 

Gilad Dror

And once Inga is ready, bottling is beauty in motion!

Negev Brewery bottling line

Negev Brewery, one of Israel’s leading microbreweries, bought Inga used in Germany mostly because of the low cost, but also due to her allure.  Negev Brewery opened it’s current facility in 2010, but its history begins in far away Alaska. In the early 2000’s Yochai Kudler was on his almost obligatory post-army trip in Alaska where when not working he was introduced to home-brewing beer. Yocahi’s next stop was Colorado where he worked for a while in a local brewery to see if this is really what he wanted to do.

 

Yochai Kudler

Yocahi returned home to Kibbutz Orim in the Negev Desert and continued brewing beer, at first on a rather small scale for friends before expanding and founding Negev Brewery in 2009. Wanting to expand and build a modern facility, Yochai found an empty building in the industrial zone of Kiryat Gat where he opened in 2010. In the summer of 2011 Norman Premium, an Israeli importer and distributor of premium beers purchased Negev Brewery.

Today Negev Brewery is run by CEO Sagiv Karlboim, Gilad Dror and Tomer Ronen. Gilad is responsible for brewing the beer, but all three pitch in with the physical work involved in making and packaging the beer.



Sagiv Karlboim

Sagiv Karlboim

Negev Brewery is environmentally conscious with the waste water collected to irrigate the garden which is being developed to host tastings of their wonderful beers.

Negev Brewery produces three beers: Amber Ale, Porter Alon and Passion Fruit. Like most microbreweries Negev does not filter their beers or add preservatives. This means that the beer is best when fresh and don’t think that sediment in the bottom of your glass is anything but a positive indication of unfiltered beer.

 

Negev Amber Ale is a nice traditional amber ale with an amber to brown hue. The flavor is fruity with malt, overall nicely balanced and a great beer for a hot Israeli summer. 5% alcohol.

Negev Porter Alon is a classic English Porter beer aged with oak chips to give it a creamy texture and rich flavor, with hints of chocolate, coffee and vanilla. The Porter Alon has a nice dark color and is my favorite. The international web site ratebeer.com rates the Negev Porter Alon as the number one beer in Israel. 5% alcohol.

Negev Passion Fruit beer is brewed with a generous amount of fresh passion fruit from a nearby farm to produce a beer rich in tropical fruit flavors. This is a special beer and quite often a favorite. 4.9% alcohol.


Negev Brewery http://www.negevbrewery.co.il/

Somek Winery

(entrance to Somek Winery)

Barak Dahan is the fifth generation of farmers growing wine grapes in the area of Zichron Yaakov. His great-great-grandfather came from Romania in 1882 with 51 other families to settle the farming village of Zamirin. The first pioneers were a failure at farming when Baron Edmond de Rothschild decided to support their efforts to settle the Land of Israel.

 Barak Dahan

Rothschild decided to build a winery for the settlers to help them support themselves. As the owner of the Premier Crux Chateau Lafite, he fully intended the new winery to produce world-class wines, especially for Jews throughout the world. In fact, Rothschild invested more in building the wine cellars in Zichron Yaakov than he did in purchasing Chateau Lafite. Ever since, Barak’s forefathers have been growing grapes for the Carmel Winery.

While Baron’s Rothschild’s quest for quality wine was unsuccessful, 120 years later the winery he started – Carmel Winery – has achieved international recognition for its world-class wines. Israel today has over 250 wineries, although 90% of our wine is produced by the five largest wineries. Somek Winery is one of the smaller boutique wineries that are producing first-class wines.

Barak and his wife Hila decided to establish their own winery in 2003. Hila has a masters degree in oenology from University of Adelaide. Somek Winery’s vineyards are located in the valley Beqat Hanadiv, a valley named after Baron Rothschild. While most of the grapes are sold to other wineries, mainly Carmel, Barak and Hila chose their finest grapes for their own wines.

Our Visit


Entrance to Somek Winery Courtyard

Barak welcomed us in the farmyard that his family has lived in since the late 1800’s. Barak and Hila have converted the old farm buildings into their estate winery. On our way in, we noticed some renovations at the entrance. Barak told us that he is building a small visitors’ center and tasting room that will be inside, air-conditioned and heated and comfortable no matter what the weather.

Somek Winery Courtyard

Barak by the Crusher

Wine Press

(Barak Explaining Pressing the Must)

Since we’re in the middle of the harvest, we were able to see the chardonnay fermenting. Barak explained the wine is moved from the crusher to the fermentation vats by bucket and not pumped. This is gentler on the wine and Barak and Hila believe that this gives them better quality wine.

Fermentation Room

(Fermentation Room)

Chardonay Fermenting

(Chardonay Fermenting)

Barak Demonstrationg Pressing Down Yeast

(Barak demonstrating how to press down the yeast)

Next we saw the barrel room. Hila ages Somek’s wines in a mixture of new and used French Oak barrels. While Hila’s education is very New World in Adelaide, she uses an Old World approach to her wines. Barak and Hila harvest their low-yield vines by hand in the early morning hours and bring the grapes to the nearby winery to be crushed before the heat of the day.


 

The Wines




During our visit we tasted three of Somek’s wines: 2009 Adom, 2006 Bikat HaNadiv and at my request 2006 Carignan.  Carignan is thought to be an inferior grape, used mainly for bulk wines. This is primarily because of its large yield of up to four times that of Cabernet Sauvignon. But under the right conditions, with low-yield old vine vineyards Carignan can produce excellent wines.

 מק

2009 Adom: A Southern Wine made up of 40% Syrah, 40% Carignan, 10% Malbec and 10% Mourvèdre.  This is a Southern Wine in the sense that these are varieties used in the Rhone Valley in the South of France. I strongly believe that the climate in Israel is well suited to Rhone varieties and that we produce fantastic wines with them. Aged for ten months in French barrels. This wine is deep red, quite fruity with black fruits and balanced tannins.

 

2006 Bikat HaNadiv: A Bordeaux style blend made from 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot. This is the winery’s flagship wine. The wine is blended and then aged in French oak for 24 months. The wine is then aged for another two years in bottles before being released to the market. As expected from a Bordeaux blend, we find aromas of purple plums, blueberries, tobacco, and chocolate. This is an elegant wine that will age well for a few years.

 

2006 Carignan: Carignan is the second most planted variety in Israel with 7,763 tons harvested in 2011 making up almost 17% of grapes harvested. Oz Clarke describes Carignan as “generally give very little pleasure”. This is of course true for the majority of wine made with the Carignan grape, bulk wines that use high-yield Carignan for its deep dark color. This wine is made from 100% Carignan grapes from an old-vine vineyard 45-50 years old that are not irrigated. Somek is one of the few wineries producing quality Carignan along with Carmel, Vitkin and Recanati. Recently noted Israel Chef Alon Gonen called Somek’s 2006 Carignan “the best Carignan in Israel”. While I haven’t tasted the Somek Carignan alongside the other 2 quality Carignan’s, Vitkin and Recanati, I was truly pleased with this wine. This wine has a very regal deep purple color and rich in black fruit and spices. This is an excellent accompaniment to an Israeli barbeque with kabobs and spiced grilled chicken.


 www.somek-winery.co.il

Ella Valley’s New Sauvignon Blanc

If you’re not familiar with the winery then you should get to know Ella Valley Vineyards. The winery was established in 1998 with vineyards located in three areas: Nes Harim with an elevation of 700 meters, Ella Valley with an elevation of 320 meters and Aderet with an elevation of 350-400 meters.

 Aderet Vineyard

This year the winery has undergone some far-reaching changes. Udi Kaplan, who was the winery’s manager, took the place of Danny Valero as CEO, Lin Gold replaced Doron Rav Hon as winemaker and the wine bottles now have new labels.

Udi Kaplan, CEO of Ella Valley Vineyards

(Udi Kaplan, CEO of Ella Valley Vineyards)

Lin Gold recently returned to Israel after completing her masters in oenology at the University of Adelaide in Australia. Lin joined the Ella Valley Vineyards in the summer of 2011, just in time for the 2011 harvest.


Lin Goldrds, winemaker at Ella Valley Vineya 

(Lin Gold, winemaker at Ella Valley Vineyards)

Today Ella Valley Vineyards hosted an event at the winery to launch three new wines to members of their loyalty program. The wines released are the Merlot 2007, Cabernet Franc 2009 and the Sauvignon Blanc 2011 all from the Ella Valley Series.

Ella Valley Release Event 

The Sauvignon Blanc 2011 is special. First of all, this wine is all Lin’s. This is the first wine that Lin Gold has had responsibility for from the harvest to the bottle.

 Ella Valley Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc 2011

The Ella Valley Sauvignon Blanc is a great summertime wine for Israel. The grapes were harvested ripe with full fruitiness and high acidity. Some of the grapes had a pH of less than 3, which allowed Lin to forgo adding acids to the wine during fermentation.

The wine has a very pleasant crisp acidity, with nice fruity flavors of grapefruit, asparagus and lime. This wine is very refreshing and if I didn’t have to drive home I surely wouldn’t have spit out any wine!

While the 2011 harvest allowed her to rely on the natural acidity and not use additives to make the wine into something else, Lin still had many tools in her bag to influence the wine. Temperature regulation, timing, blending and more were all part of Lin’s crafting this wine. Unlike an artist painting on canvas, winemakers can’t erase and start over again if they err.

I look forward to seeing Lin’s next wines even though it will be another few years before Ella Valley will release red wines that Lin has produced from harvest to bottle.

A Crushing Experience at Zafririm Winery

This morning I took a short ride to Zafririm Winery in the Adulam Region of Judea. Ten years ago, following a growing appreciation of wine and completing the Soreq Winery’s winemaking course, Lori and Shaike Lender opened the Zafririm Winery located on Moshav Zafririm.

 

Whenever I speak about Israeli wines, I like to emphasize that even though we are considered “New World” winemakers, we go beyond the definition of “Old World/New World”. Israel is an “Ancient World” winemaker. The Land of Israel was an important producer and exporter of wine in the ancient world. For a period of over 2,500 years wines produced here were highly desired throughout the surrounding empires. This very important and thriving wine industry disappeared following the Muslim conquest in the Seventh Century due to the prohibition of consuming wine in the Quran.

 

Although wine production almost disappeared, remains of the ancient wine production abound. There are many thousands of ancient wine presses scattered around the country that attest to the importance of wine in both Israel’s wine culture as well wine’s importance in the diet of ancient Israel. Archaeological sites reveal large quantities of amphorae that aged and stored wine. If today, the Vatican leads world per capita wine consumption with over 70 liters per person, and the consumption in Israel at around 6 liters per person, in ancient Israel wine consumption for the adult population was between 250-350 liters per person.

 

Zafririm Winery is very much rooted in this ancient wine culture. Shaike is an archaeologist at the Israeli Antiquities Authority and Lori edits the IAA’s English publications. Feeling a very deep connection to the ancient wine culture of Israel, Shaike and Lori decided to limit their sourcing of grapes to the a very small area near the moshav, at the same altitude so that their wines would reflect a very limited and defined terroir.

 

I arrived at Zafririm Winery together with half a ton of Merlot grapes harvested from a vineyard in the Elah Valley near Roglit, a mere 6 kilometers away and at an elevation slightly more than 300 meters above sea level.

 

This was my first experience of receiving grapes in a small boutique winery. Zafririm Winery produces only about 4,000 bottles of wine annually, all of them red. Lori, the winemaker, would like to make a white wine, but the Lender’s loyalty to their terroir makes this difficult. Good white grape varietals in this area need more altitude.

 

It didn’t take long to crush the grapes. As you can see in the photographs, the destemmer/crusher separates the stems and then crushes the grapes.

 

Shaike oversees the must and the skins flowing into buckets.

 

The buckets are then brought to Lori perched on a ladder above the stainless steel fermentation tanks. When the Lender’s four sons were younger, they used to provide all of the manpower needed in the winery, making this a true family venture. Now that they’re older, they are serving in the army and are not able to help out during the harvest.

 

After crushing the grapes, the next task is cleaning up. Cleanliness is very important in wine production and Lori ensures that the winery is quickly returned to its pristine state.

 

This year’s harvest has some surprises. We were blessed with an unusually cold and wet winter and our usual hot summer. The must measured out with a high sugar content of 26 Brix, which is expected in our hot climate.

 

What surprised Lori this year is the high acidity with a measured pH of under 3.4. The high acidity should allow Lori to manipulate the wine less.

 

The high acidity was noticeable not only in the sweet and sour taste of the must, but the acid left white spots on the floor where the must dripped on its way to the fermentation vats.

 

I plan to return to Zafririm Winery within a few days to sit and chat with Lori and Shaike when they’re not so busy working. Look forward to my next post about Zafririm Winery where I’ll write a bit more about the winery as well as talk about the wine!

Tonight’s the Night!

There’s something very special about Israel’s wineries in the Negev. First of all, to see a lush vineyard thriving in the desert soil is a bit unexpected. Secondly, to arrive at these vineyards you first encounter one of my favorite Israeli roadsigns…

Erez Rota established his farm in the Negev desert in the summer of 2004. Erez is an artist, known for his landscape paintings and sculptures as well as a farmer.

Rota Farm is located on a picturesque valley on the ancient Nabatean Incense Route. The farm is surrounded by low hills on all sides.

Tonight at midnight Erez, his Bedouin workers and volunteers will begin the 2012 harvest. Because of the early ripening of the grapes in the Southern desert, Erez may be the first vintner to harvest noble red varieties in Israel this year.

The Merlot grapes are so sweet! It appears that 2012 will be a successful vintage for Rota Winery.

Erez has installed his sculptures all over the farm. This adds additional beauty to the farm and vineyards.

Erez is more than happy to host visitors for a winery visit and tasting. Just don’t come early in the morning following an all-night harvest.

i

Erez just bottled a new wine-Neta, a blend of equal parts CS, Merlot and Syrah with about 5% Malbec. Neta will be released in about three months following aging in the bottles.

For more information on Rota Winery and Rota Wines see the web site at www.rotawinery.com.

Jerusalem Wine Festival September 1-4 2014

Tomorrow the 11th annual Jerusalem Wine Festival opens in the Sculpture Garden of the Israel Museum. The Jerusalem Wine Festival is the largest of the public wine events in Israel and will host thousands of visitors during the four nights of the event.

Over 30 wineries are represented from all over the country, including not only large commercial wineries but also boutique wineries.

This year the festival has an official sommelier, Jessy Bodek. Jessy  is well-known on the Israeli wine scene. In 2005 Jessy won the Yarden Prize as the best sommelier in Israel in the competition organized by the Golan Heights Winery. He has worked as sommelier in leading restaurants in Tel Aviv and Jessy founded the WineSpace school to educate Israelis on wine.

Jerusalem Wine Festival

Click here to purchase tickets to the Jerusalem Wine Festival online.