A prestigious group of Canada’s finest wine journalists recently visited Israel to be introduced to the Israel wine scene. They were hosted by The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and shepherded by Eldad Levy, the wine editor of Al Hashulchan, Israel’s leading food and wine monthly magazine.

The journalists included Tony Aspler, Jugen Gothe, Sheila Swerling-Spuritt, Sean Wood, Irvin Wolkoff, Alex Eberspaecher, Debbie Trenholm and Master Sommelier John Szabo.

They went through a punishing program visiting or tasting wines from the following wineries:

Amphorae, Agur, Barkan-Segal, Bazelet ha Golan, Binyamina, Carmel – Zichron Ya’acov, Castel, Ch. Golan, Dalton, Ella, Flam, Galil Mountain, Golan Heights Winery, Karmei Yosef-Bravdo, Margalit, Pelter, Recanati, Saslove, Sea Horse, Tulip, Tzora, Vitkin and Yatir.

They visited old and new wineries and large and small and ate in some of the country’s finest restaurants. The overall result is that they were astonished by both the quality and depth of Israeli wines and the Mediterranean character of the food and wine scene.

The Foreign Ministry and Al Ha’shulchan should be thanked for this initiative, which is a really effective way of spreading the word. It is hoped they will continue with similar initiatives in other countries.

8.12.2007