Reporting from the Israwinexpo
So I returned Wednesday night from the first public night of the Israwinexpo 2008, Israel’s 2nd international wine trade show. While the two public days were mostly wine tastings attended by Israel’s growing oenophiles (and a few tourists, including my parents), the first day was only for professionals. Journalists from Wine Spectator, Decanter (one of Europe’s top wine magazines), several Asian wine journalists, and top wine critics (including Mark Squires, from the Wine Advocate, who recently wrote a piece on Israeli wine), and officials from several major supermarkets in the US and Europe.
I have to admit that, for me, this was very similar – but a tad more professional – than the Jerusalem wine festival, with a lot of people aiming to taste some top wines (although this event had a larger presence by the large producers and, given its location in Tel Aviv and attempt to garner shelf space abroad, a larger percentage of the non-certified kosher (such as Saslove, Sea Horse, and Vitkin) producers were in attendance. And, of course, admission included a very high quality glass to wrap around one’s neck during the tasting. Of course the crowds did make it hard to taste and only a small number (hundreds, instead of thousands) of wines were being poured.
But, more importantly, this was a chance to enjoy Israeli (and a few non-Israeli producers, including from Italy and Washington State – although the Israeli yayin tasted far better!) wines together. Personally, I discovered a new producer (Gvaot, made in the West Bank settlement of Kedumim) and changed my mind (positively) about another producer. More importantly, I was thrilled to see native Israelis enjoying high quality wines and was delighted that the Israeli wines were far tastier and enjoyable than the wines from North America and Europe.
From Yatir to Avidan to Gvaot, Vitkin, Sea Horse, Alexander, Saslove, Galil Mountain, Dalton, Golan Heights Winery and Carmel, Israeli wine is of high quality, diverse, and sophisticated.
I admit that this wasn’t always the case but it’s important to understand that Israeli wine of today is not the Carmel dreck of 30 years ago and there is no reason to do – as my father did – drink Carmel’s Rose (not a sophisticated wine) “for nostalgia’s sake” as that doesn’t represent Israeli wine in 2008. But, for those who were open to listening and learning and, above all, tasting, the event was a tremendous introduction to the growing wine culture in Israel – a land that has been producing wine for thousands of years.
(Crossposted on HaKerem: The Israeli Wine Blog)
A drink of culture
Last week, I had the immense pleasure of traveling to Tel Aviv (I admit, a rare occurrence!) to attend the book launch of Daniel Rogov’s 2008 Guide to Israeli Wines, the premier rating book of Israel’s top (and not-so-top) wineries. Only in the past 20-or-so years, with the beginning of Golan Heights Winery, has Israel begun producing world-class wines, and only in the past few years with older wineries that used to just make sweet, sickly “Kiddush” wines undergoing tremendous changes and renovations and hundreds of smaller wineries now on the scene and making wines equal to the very best and so Daniel Rogov, Israel’s most important wine critic, has only produced his guide since 2005.
While open only to winery officials and wine journalists, a few members of the Rogov wine forum were also invited to this event. While I won’t bore you with the details (the head of the Golan Heights Winery spoke, Rogov announced that there were over 600 new reviews and 15 new wineries) Of course, much wine was drunk (Yarden Brut at the entrance, and Yarden Odem Organic Chardonnay and Syrah at the event itself) and excellent hor’dourves were had. Best of all, the event, at Tel Aviv’s Wine Route’s fantastic cellar, allowed for a chance to pick up a special bottle of Recanati (a top Italian-style wine produced right here in Israel!) that was made specially for the wine store. It’s always good to experience culture in Israel.
If you haven’t opened up a bottle of good Israeli wine, now’s the time! L’chaim!
(crossposted on: HaKerem: The Israeli Wine Blog)
Next time take a taxi
I know ISRAELITY is supposed to talk about good news from Israel, but sometimes the reality of Israel isn’t always positive. Israel is sometimes accused of being an apartheid state … a libelous, false, accusation when referred to Israel’s relationship between Israelis and Palestinians. However, part of Israel’s bus systems do remind me of the old Jim Crow laws in the US … not between Arabs and Jews but rather men and women.
From Wikipedia:
The Jim Crow Laws were state and local laws enacted in the Southern and border states of the United States and enforced between 1876 and 1965. They mandated “separate but equal” status for black Americans. In reality, this led to treatment and accommodations that were almost always inferior to those provided to white Americans.
Replace black with women and white with men and you have buses in Israel that go through haredi (ultra-Orthodox) neighborhoods. It is customary (not the law, of course, but you try to do otherwise!) for the women to sit in the back of the bus while the men sit in the front (presumably so that they don’t have to look at the women or sit next to them). There have even been instances … including one instance today … in which a handful of haredi men beat up a woman sitting in the front of a bus next to an IDF soldier (who clearly didn’t have a problem sitting next to a woman) and then attacked the police officers who responded to the scene and punctured their tires. They have even beaten up religious women who dare to sit in the front of the bus. Religious non-haredi people like author Naomi Ragen have spoken out about this many times. Of course, how this doesn’t violate their practice to not touch members of the opposite sex (negiah), I do not know. These, of course, are on “segregated” (separate but equal?) buses, but even on the regular busses, some people try to keep the genders from mixing. Personally, though, I wonder what would happen if I sat in the woman’s section (I have never — and would never — take such a bus).
In fact, just last week on the regular city bus, come home from the grocery store, I sat down next to a woman and another woman asked me to get up and sit down next to a religious (not haredi!) man, who wouldn’t sit next to women. Reluctantly, I complied. However, I got into an interesting discussion. I hope I enlightened a few people. He, with his kippah on his head, told me that it was forbidden by Jewish law for men and women to sit together. Me, with my kippah on my head, told him he was wrong – the Jewish legal texts do not forbid men and women from engaging in non-sexual social interactions, certainly not from sitting next to each other on a public bus! Well, I don’t think I convinced him, but I hope that the secular people nearby overhead me and realized that not all religious people believe in such archaic behavior and I hope that the religious people nearby also learned that Judaism does not demand rigid segregation in everyday non-sexual activities.
Next time someone doesn’t want to sit next to the opposite sex, I have a suggestion ….
Take a taxi!
How to know when a holiday is coming up
Filed under: Food, General, Holidays, Immigrant Moments, Life
Well, it’s the holiday season in Israel. Nope, not Christmas but rather the tidal wave of Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot … right after everyone just returned from school or work. Some people can tell the holidays are coming because of the special prayers recited before the morning prayers for the week or month before or the shofar blown every morning for the month before Rosh Hashana. Not me! I suddenly started to feel the holiday’s approach by the wine sales and the mad rush to the supermarket.
Around the world, the one thing that has united the Jewish people is a love of food and gathering around the table for holiday meals. Well, this requires tons of food and preparation. So, imagine how much of a balagan it is when the entire country all has to go to the grocery store at once to go holiday shopping. I discovered that on Monday, when I went to one of the large supermarkets in Jerusalem’s Talpiot industrial zone. I’ve gone there many times when it was crowded, and packed, and loud. But this was my first time there where they didn’t have shopping carts. As everyone needed them to buy cases and cases of drinks, fruits, vegetables, and other edible stuff, they were a rare commodity. However, surprisingly, this must have been a high class crowd as there seemed to be no mad rush, pushing and shoving all too common in Israel. A few people even left because they couldn’t grab a cart but a few of us just stood, mumbling and complaining, until a cart became available. As inconvenient as it was, we all took comfort in the fact that the entire country was all about to celebrate the same holiday. Not something I ever experienced in the U.S. except for maybe Thanksgiving.
But, oh, the universal wine sales before the holidays. This is why I love the holidays – the great wine sales. 25 shekels (6 dollars), instead of 40 ($10) for a decent bottle of some yayin. 35 shekels instead of 50. All over, good wine could be had at prices much less than the rest of the year (besides Passover, the supreme wine holiday). In fact, I heard that over 20% of all wine sales in Israel take place during this time.
Ahhh… crowds and wine … who knew this could give so much pleasure.
Shanah Tovah everyone!
Shhh… Be quiet…. or you might get fined
If you plan on doing any yardwork or hiring a gardener in Jerusalem, make sure no one is working between 2 and 4 PM. Apparently, that is mandatory nap time, according to this Ha’aretz video. (Now, I don’t know about you, but between 2 and 4, I’m at work. Think I can negotiate nap time into my work contract?) Apparently, a team of Jerusalem police officers are tasked to patrol Jerusalem and fine anyone making a bit of noise during these “enforced quiet hours.” Now, I don’t know about you but it seems like an extraordinary waste of my tax dollars (which I would like back … so I can pay …. wait … my TV tax….). According to this report, Israelis are paying more and more taxes and work for the government longer than for themselves. Probably because we’re paying for ridiculous things like quiet patrols (and TV taxes, but that’s a story for another time)! What is this? 1984?
Memo to cops: How about fighting crime instead? Several of my friends have recently been burglarized in the past few weeks … during quiet hours when they (like most people should be) are at work. But, really, if you are going to enforce quiet hours, how about tell the construction workers outside my windows to start working at a more reasonable hour – like, at least, 7AM!
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