Wine GPCi and Vintages Wines hosting Tulip winery at Crush wine bar in Toronto, Canada.

By Gaby Israel

On February 28^th, 2007, Paul Lokash (Vintages Wines’ President) and I (Wine GPCi) have hosted a special wine evening dedicated exclusively to the Israeli winery Tulip.

The event took place in one of the renowned wine bars in downtown Toronto called Crush (http://www.crushwinebar.com/ ).

We launched the tasting event with four professional wine writers: Sheila Swerling-Puritt, Dean Tudor, Frank Baldock and Dick Singer .

The Tulip wines that were offered to the “judges” for evaluation were (in order of tasting):

o       Just Merlot 2005

o       Just Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

o       Mostly Cabernet Franc 2005

o       Syrah Reserve 2005

o       Cabernet Sauvignon Grand Reserve 2003

o       Port Esperanza 2003

All of the wine writers expressed their high appreciation of Tulip wines.

There was a consensus among the wine writers that the Just Cabernet Sauvignon is the best value wine (C$18.75) and they were all very excited to hear that it would be available at the LCBO (the Vintages section) on June this year.

Dick Singer remarked: “of the five wines presented, all red, the Cabernet Sauvignon Just and the Grand Reserve were the most interesting. Each had well integrated oak riding on a varietal, fruit (red berries and currant) forward, mouth filling style. The wines were not in a typical New World nor an Old World style. Rather, each wine was fresh, well crafted and of medium to full body. Both could use more cellar time. From a price point the Just was an exceptional value.”

Frank Baldock was extremely fond of the Port Esperanza and since he found the Port positively unusual and unique he decided that he will order a case to share with his friends from a serious Port Society (who collect and drink rare Ports).

Dean Tudor loved the “Mostly” (a blend) and “Just” (single vineyard) series’ branding. He found the Just Merlot very interesting – he said it seemed “much like a Carmenere, the grassy-leafy side of merlot.” His favorite was the Mostly Cabernet Frank – “developed slowly, juicy leafiness, needs additional time for cellaring”.

Sheila Swerling-Puritt, in addition to being very enthusiastic about all of the wines, related to the special story of Kfar Tikva and the way Tulip winery embraced its people to be part of the working family.

As the evening progressed, restaurant owners, sommeliers and wine lovers joined us and tasted the Tulip wines. Among our distinguished guests, we were honored with the presence of Mr. Efraim Shoham, the Israeli Consul, Trade Commissioner in Canada, who enjoyed the Tulip wines and promised to continue and support these important events. (thanks Efraim!)

Efraim Shoham, Gemini Waghmare (Vice President at Casero Inc.) and Gaby Israel.

The feedback was overwhelming – Many of the guests were not expecting the wines from Israel to taste as good! A few people were thrilled from the high quality and the variety that Tulip has to offer. Other talked about world standard wines mentioning the Syrah Reserve and the Cabernet Sauvignon Grand Reserve.

The Just series (both the Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon) seemed to be everyone’s favorite – very approachable, food friendly and affordable in price.

In summary, as Dick captured in his detailed review “Israeli wines will carve a niche for themselves and that is not too far in the future as the Tulip wines display”…

Although it was very cold outside that night, Tulip wines made it very warm within… Lechaim Tulip!!!