Israeli Wine Direct

The Blog about Wine from Israel

Guest Blogger Avi Hein Reports on The Weather in Israel

		Monday, 05 May 08 - 03:03 AM (GMT -06:00) By Richard Shaffer in Wineries in Israel

I invited fellow Israeli wine blogger Avi Hein to write a guest post from Israel where he lives answering the question... SO, WHAT'S THE WEATHER LIKE THERE THESE DAYS, AND HOW'S ALL OF THAT IMPACTING THE GRAPES, BRO?

Here is his response - follow this link to check out his blog HaKerem: The Israeli Wine Blog (I especially admire the great winery photos you will find there):

The wine world has been experiencing some environmental shakeups, most recently with the California frost that has destroyed many fine wines in northern California. Israel, too, has experienced a bit of temperature fluctuation over the past few weeks, but nothing to the extent – or damage – of California. More proof perhaps that Israel’s climate and terroir is natural for wine growing?

During the week of the Passover holiday, the entire country was in the middle of a sharav – a heatwave. Even in Jerusalem, not far away from the great wineries in the Judean Hills, temperatures were hitting the 90s and 100s, while Tel Aviv was even hotter. In the ‘old world’ of Zichron Ya’akov (home of Carmel and Tishbi wineries, among others), temperatures were soaring.

Yet, immediately after the holiday ended the temperatures dropped dramatically – not into the 30s or 40s of California, but rather twenty to thirty degrees lower into the sixties and seventies – prime weather for the vineyards.

In addition, Passover signifies the end of the rainy season in Israel. At the beginning of the holiday, the Jewish liturgy switches from praying for rainfall in the land of Israel to simply praying that the land will be blessed – but we don’t pray for rain again until the holiday of Sukkot, in the fall, when the rainy season will begin again. Yet, these past few months have been pretty dry.

While Israel’s current water crisis is bad for a lot of agriculture and environmental reasons, it actually spells good prospects for grapevines. Prime viticulture and high quality wine comes from little water. While it reduces yields and so, from what I understand dryer weather (as long as it’s not a total drought) could result in a smaller harvest, the harvest that occurs will be of a higher quality as it forces the vines to struggle and pushes them deeper.

All the more reason that Israel is a natural and great environment for making wine!

What do YOU think about Israeli wine competitions?

		Monday, 14 April 08 - 02:52 AM (GMT -06:00) By Richard Shaffer in Wineries in Israel

Rogov recently posted notes and scores for Eshkol HaZahav ("the golden cluster") -- the national Israeli wine competition.

First - CONGRATS to Golan Flam and Flam winery for taking the prize for BEST Cab Sauv from a boutique winery. I think everyone would agree that prize was well-deserved. I mean that's wine for grown-ups, no doubt about it.

But what I want to know from you is.....what do YOU think about such wine competitions?

More than a quarter of all wines entered won a prize, according to Rogov. Maybe I'm just too American-ly competitive, but I'm thinking that's a pretty high percent of "winners"...almost like they didn't want to hurt anyones feelings!

Let's fill up the comments section on this one with your thoughts, ok?

Yaffo Breaks Ground on New Winery!

		Tuesday, 08 April 08 - 09:28 PM (GMT -06:00) By Richard Shaffer in Wineries in Israel

Moshe, the winemaker at Yaffo, wrote to tell me they have begun construction on their winery outside of Jerusalem. Take a look!

It's great to see Moshe and his wife making a space where the public can come to enjoy their fine wines!

I'll ask him to send more photos so we can watch things develop.

Meanwhile, feel free to pre-order Yaffo wines from us. We have their 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon and their red blend 2005 Rouge available for you.

Their wines are  kosher!

Golan Flam and Flam Winery

		Wednesday, 02 April 08 - 10:21 PM (GMT -06:00) By Richard Shaffer in Wineries in Israel

More than a year ago, I posted an interview with winemaker Golan Flam. At the time, I remember being impressed with his personal passion and commitment to state-of-the-art winemaking equipment and consistent quality wines. He trained in Italy and brought back with him an attention to detail and commitment to help transform the Israeli wine scene.

Since that time, I have met him, spent time with him in his winery, and...........we now import his wines for you! You can actually order them now from us while they ship to the US.

To skip the photos and story and just pre-order some of Golan's great wines, click here.

Here are some photos (the first from my visit with him in August '07) and excerpts from the March 2007 interview.

If you email me questions, I will get answers from Golan for you and share them with our readers.

When did you know you wanted to be a winemaker?

I was born in Stellenbosch South Africa while my father (Israel Flam) studied wine making in South Africa and then at UC Davis California..... so probably since I was born…

 How did you learn to make wine?

I am a graduate of the Hebrew University faculty of agriculture and studied for Master of Wine in Piacenza Italy, then practiced in Tuscany at Carpineto winery and in Australia working for Hardys Maclaren vale-south Australia.

What do you like best in your work?

To feel the land and vineyards, to follow the whole  process from vineyards to vats to barrels and final blending to the bottle.

How did you pick the land for the vineyards where you grow your grapes? Describe where you are located and the geography.

I have done some pilots from the Negev(south) to Upper Galilee(north) to gain better understanding where can we grow premium vineyards for premium wines, the main goal is to reach the best result in the bottle, today we focus in two main areas Judean hills and upper Galilee, these 2 areas are elevated areas from 400m above sea level -780m above sea level with varied soils from terra rossa in Kadesh valley/upper Galilee, volcanic soil in B en Zimra/upper Galilee through rocky/clay soils in Judean hills.

 How does climate affect the wine?

Climate effects a lot the wine, I prefer to work in cooler areas in Israel to achieve long ripening  period which will keep the right level of acidity/ph and at the same time we will reach full maturity, if we choose the right site for vineyards we are very lucky in Israel, the harvest period is always dry and we can achieve great results in the vineyards/winery.

What does "terroir" mean to you? How does it come through in Flam wines?

Type of soil, climate, rainfall, yearly average temperatures, we try to understand the benefit of every teroir in the two main areas we work (Judean hills and upper Galilee)and to maximize final results while enjoying these two areas.

What's the major role of the winemaker in affecting the taste of the wine?

Major role of the winemaker is to work very hard in the vineyards the whole year to achieve good results for good start in the winery during harvest time, than in the winery the first period of fermentations is very very important,it depends on the style of wines I want to have  while receiving the grapes I can have first idea on the type of wine I would like to have,Than great importance is the blending process which is very personal ,it depends on the filings and soul of the winemaker (one likes Rock music, funk or jazz). usually after tasting the wines from barrels

What do you want people to experience when you drink Flam wines?

Consistency in high quality, elegance, balance between fruit and oak in the red, freshness and crispiness in the white.

 How much wine do you produce in a year?

 7000 cases

Describe a week in the life of a winemaker. How about the seasons and activities over a year for you?

Harvest time starts at late July and lasts till the third week of October in this period we devote our selves to the winery activities whole week long almost 20 hour a day in order to make sure that everything is done on the best way ( perfect maturation in the vineyards,arrival of the grapes in their best condition at the winery/crushing desteming, fermentation  regime, keeping track of analysis, finishing racking the wine of its sediment and moving it to barrels).

November-racking the wines for several times

December-moving the wine for aging in oak barrels. 

January-April- controlling pruning in the vineyards , taking care of previous vintage wines by means tastings, analyzing and preparing the blend for bottling. Filing the wine in bottles and putting them in lying position for bottle aging in our temperature controlled warehouse.

May-July-working in the vineyards and maintenance   preparations in  the winery for coming harvest.

Second week of July summer vacation… and to action…      

What are a winemaker's biggest worries?

I am worried in the vineyard during the maturation period that all will go right to achieve perfect maturation, than fermentations not to get stuck, eliminate oxidation,keeping all the varietal characters fruitiness aromas ,avoid bacteria spoilage,in order to make sure the product we are nursing so much will reach the bottle in best condition.

Why aren't more great Israeli wines available in the USA? How can we help?

Some of the greatest wines  made in Israel even though are made under kosher manners are not under rabbincal supervision, and have a limited access to the traditional Jewish market in the US. In order to reach the general market we need to expose the wines to major critics in the wine world to evaluate and to recognize the quality of our wines.

Once we have such recognition will arrive at demand and interest will arrive in wines like ours.

The two wines we have available in our first shipment from Flam Winery are:

Flam, Classico, 2006

and

Flam, Sauvignon Blanc + Chardonnay Blend, 2007

I will personally be pouring Flam wines at the Umami Food & Art Festival on April 18th in SoHo.

Enjoy!

2008 Israeli Wine Bible Released

		Monday, 10 December 07 - 04:52 AM (GMT -06:00) By Richard Shaffer in Wineries in Israel

If you have not yet picked up a copy of Rogov's Guide to Israeli Wines 2008, do so immediately!

I have yet to see it in many of the Chicago bookstores, but grab yourself a copy off of Amazon.

I'll save fuller comments and observations for a bit later.

But meanwhile, if you have any interest at all in the Israeli wine scene, you absolutely must read this AND you must read it every single year to keep up with the constant changes on the ground there.

If you are planning a trip to Israel anytime soon, this is the real Wine Route of Israel book for you.

Part 2: Poizner on Small Winery Marketing

		Thursday, 29 November 07 - 04:38 AM (GMT -06:00) By Richard Shaffer in Wineries in Israel

Here's the second Poizner posting - his thoughts on effective small winery marketing:

 

Marketing Small Boutique Wines

Since each bottle has been handled carefully by the winemaker, who touches, feels, and actually accompanies the wine along the making and maturing period, with his knowledge and by using the best equipment (such as oak barrels of the best kind, sensitive equipment and of course, the most important item - the best yield), the costs of making such wines, in small quantities by small wineries is much more expensive than the same production for the "mass production" wineries, making millions of bottles yearly.
This problem forces the winemaker to be creative in order to sell the wine.

The challenge of marketing small wineries is on two levels:
1. The exposure of the winery
2. The price of the bottle.

Exposing the small winery to potential clients cannot be held with big expensive advertising channels. The exposing takes time and patience, as each client who likes the wine, becomes a channel of the winery as he talks about it with his friends and family.

Since the costs of production is high, the winemaker may need to cut his profit and other costs in order to sell his wine at a fair price. I believe that the  best way to reduce costs for such matter is by cutting the middlemen  between the winery and the customer. Meaning - the wine should be sold directly to the client by the winery, and by that, deducting costs of marketer, wine store or a restaurant. Of course, this could happen only if you only  make the quantity that you can sell.

In our winery, we sell the wines in this way. Our wines cannot be found in stores, and we sell to restaurants and bars, who are obligated to sell the wine at a fair price. This way our client gets a quality wine at a price that does not make him think twice if the wines of the evening are worth opening, Poizner Winery or not. We want the client to feel free to open as many bottles as he pleases without thinking that this is a serious expense.

This solves also the second problem of exposure. A happy customer, who gets a wine at a good value for the price is a great marketing channel - free of charge for the winery!

Both sides win. A customer gets a great deal on good wine, the winemaker gets a good price for a good wine, which is not eaten into by other sources, such as marketers. And the customer exposes the winery by  recommending wines to friends, so that the winery actually markets itself in time.

Yoav Poizner
Poizner Winery
Zichron Ya'acov
Israel

A couple points I want to draw out from Yoav's post:

1. DIRECT sales can be best for wineries! Better margins, and better access to end-customers to tell your story.
2. Recommendations from friends are a major driver of wine purchasiong behavior
3. There is a need to find inexpesnive, alternative marketing channels for the small wineryh.
4. Word-of-Mouth sells!
   

Part 1: Introducing Poizner Winery

		Wednesday, 07 November 07 - 06:03 AM (GMT -06:00) By Richard Shaffer in Wineries in Israel

I have had the recent pleasure of interacting with Yoav Poizner, wine maker of Poizner Winery, based in Zichron Ya'akov.

(ANY Israeli winemaker who wants to write guest posts - one or many - on this blog - is more than welcome and should simply email me.)

What follows is Part One of a series of guest posts from Yoav, as he introduces himself, his winery and his thoughts about winemaking and wine marketing in his own words. We've asked for photos and wine samples to share even more wtih you!

And here's a link to Rogov's tasting note of Yoav's Merlot.

My name is Yoav Poizner, and I'm 27. I'm a 5th generation of an agricultural familly that mostly dealt with vines. The familly is a member in Agudat Hacormim which is the owner of Carmel Winery - the largest winery in Israel.

In 2002 after I was discharged from the army, me and my father decided to take one step further. We thought that as grape growers we should at least try to make wine.

 

The first year we did 200 botlles in the basment of our house, with no appropriate conditions such as air-condiotion, barrels, and so.

 

The next year I went traveling through South America. During my travels I discovered the amazing wine industry of Chile and Mendoza Argentina. When I came back, I decided to go and study Winemaking.

 

In 2004 I was a student of the 1st course of the Tel-Chai College of Winemaking.

 

Since 2004 the winery has expanded a litlle bit, and now we are making aprox. 3000 botlles per year. All our wine ages for at least 12 months in French Oak, and is botlled under the name Poizner Winery.

 

Up to 2005 we made only Merlot and Cabernet. Since 2006 we are making also Carignan from old vines, and a blend of Syrah, Shiraz and Carignan.

 

In 2007 we will have also Malbec, and we hope to have by 2010 Morvedre and Petit Verdot.

Take a Kosher Wine Tour in Israel

		Wednesday, 01 August 07 - 03:33 AM (GMT -06:00) By Richard Shaffer in Wineries in Israel

I heard from one of our readers - Chaim Katz - from the Jerusalem College of Technology.

This fall they are hosting a Kosher Wine Tour in Israel to increase awareness and excitement around the Israeli wine phenomenon - the rebirth of what I like to think of as FIRST WORLD wines!!

The event includes exclusive visits to some of the best kosher wineries; an in-depth overview of the history of the Israel wine industry; jeep rides in the north, etc.

Sounds like a great time!

Go to their site where you can learn more and download applications.

ADOPT A WINEMAKER: Maimonides on Israeli Wine

		Thursday, 14 June 07 - 04:25 AM (GMT -06:00) By Richard Shaffer in Wineries in Israel

No doubt we will need creative thinking to help the great men and women of Israeli winemaking lift their wines and wineries above the sea of wine options we are all now inundated with and jump-start the introduction of great Israeli winemakers into the US market. (Did you know there are more than 4,000 US wineries now across all 50 states?!)

In that spirit, Israeli Wine Direct, LLC, as part of its expected launch of our first-tier brands, is announcing an "adoption" program for each of our wineries in each of our target cities. 

Your sponsorship literally LAUNCHES a winemaker's first shipment of wine to the US by helping to cover label approvals and registrations, then pickup, shipping, and customs from their house to warehouse. Without your support, this may never happen for some of them. Period. We're talking about handcrafted family-owned wine you CANNOT find anywhere. This is stuff you will only be able to get through Israeli Wine Direct.

You get:

1. The experience and pride of personally lending a hand to a small Israeli winemaker and his/her family
2. a case of the winery's best wine (sent to you directly where allowed by law)
3. private VIP tours when you visit the winery in Israel
4. your name listed in a roster of sponsors 
5. access to conference calls with the winemaker
6. Other things you recommend?

You give:

1. a minimum of $1,875 year one (we encourage people to get together as needed to co-sponsor a winery)
2. support and encouragement - phone calls, emails, letters
3. access to your contacts and network to enable wine placements and direct-to-consumer and direct-to-trade sales where allowed by law (we need you on our team!)
4. a pledge to purchase and influence people you know to purchase wine from your sponsored winemaker

The idea is to do what all great communities do.....share in the responsibility for each others success.

Maimonides, the great Rabbi and physician, taught us that the highest act of kindness we can do for someone is to help them establish their business.

Many of us support Israel in a variety of ways - this is an opportunity to provide support and encouragement to some of the world's greatest wine artists in a direct and personal manner, connecting your family to theirs.

I know this is unorthodox. I know this is not how the wine world generally works. But the way the wine world generally works is not working for small Israeli wineries. So it's time to try something different.

You have the opportunity to help bring to America wines people in this country have never tried before, wines available nowhere else, wines that are literally the land of Israel, wines that quite likely may never see these shores without your support.

Anyone interested should email me directly.

Israeli Wines Win Medals in London

		Monday, 28 May 07 - 12:39 PM (GMT -06:00) By Richard Shaffer in Wineries in Israel

Source: IsraelWines

Israeli wines won a number of medals at the prestigious International Wine and Spirits Competition in London. Thirty eight Israeli wines received medals. Unfortunately there were no gold medals awarded, but the following wines won silver medals:

 

Carmel Appellation Carignan, Old Vines 2004

Carmel Appellation White Riesling 2005

Carmel Sha’al Gewurztraminer, Late Harvest, Single Vineyard 2005

Tishbi Shiraz 2005

Bazelet Ha Golan Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2004

Barkan Superieur Merlot 2004

Barkan Superieur Cabernet Sauvignon 2003

Yarden Chardonnay 2004

Yarden Heights Wine 2004

Golan Moscato 2006

Lili Winery Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2004

 

The IWSC is one of the more respected and well established of the major wine tasting competitions.

May 2007

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