Impressions after Day 1 of Israwinexpo

Daniel Rogov

Israelwinexpo 2010 opened officially at 10:00. this morning, today being open entirely to the trade. Your faithful curmudgeon, as is his wont, arrived at 08:00. Between then and 17:00 I tasted some 70 wines, talked with quite a few people, was cussed out by one person, and consumed about eight cups of double espresso.

No tasting notes for now (I have yet to finish formalizing my notes from my visit to the Golan Heights Winery on Sunday) but a few impressions.

First, the exhibition is well organized, the larger wineries having stands that are attractive (even eye-catching) and well staffed and the small wineries present being represented largely by their winemakers who were quite willing to enter into discussions with visitors. The stands themselves are done professionally, with water available for rinsing glasses and with appropriate spittoons easily available.

My own tastings today were limited largely to those wineries that I have not yet visited or will not be visiting this year. I also managed to attend a tasting of imported wines. Truth be told, many of the wines that I tasted show great promise and it was rewarding to see already good wineries making yet another step up in quality.

The only disappointment that I can report is that the invited guests from abroad (journalists and buyers) did not make a large showing today. Those people do have one-on-one meetings with the wineries tomorrow so that may (one hopes) show more positively.

As to piquant notes – only two to report. The first, I had wanted to taste the full line of the wines of the Hevron Heights Winery and Noach but one of the owners refused to let me taste his wines feeling that my "political and religious bias" would spoil his existing good mood. Fair enough. Nowhere is it written that everyone has to like a critic. As to my "biases" most who observed or heard about our encounter found his comments as did I, rather sad.

The second piquancy is, happily, more amusing. Several months ago I wrote about Rich Prosecco, a wine that comes in a tin and is meant to be consumed through a plastic straw. That original review, with an illustration well worth opening can be found at <!-- l -->viewtopic.php?f=29&t=20907<!-- l --> . What's new? Simple enough Rich, is now offered in a kosher (and yes, even mevushal form). Coming in tins labeled as Secco, Royal and Passion, the first is made from Chardonay and has a 10.5% alcohol content; the second, in the flavor of cassis is made from Malvasia grapes with the addition of berries has a 5.6% alcohol content; and the third with of Malvasia grapes and a 5.6% alcohol content is flavored with orange and passion fruit juice.

As to comments – the Chardonnay, whether served icy cold or only moderately chilled tasted to me something akin to like the aromas I usually associate with dead skunk (the kind one encounters sometimes on a road in the middle of the night). The others reminded me more of lightly alcoholic fruit juice and I can easily see how the below 16 year old crowd might take illegal pleasure in consuming them. But then again, that's only one man's opinion….

It is now almost 22:30 in the evening. Back to formalizing my already overdue tasting notes from the Golan and then, tomorrow with luck, on to tasting notes from Israwinexpo.

As to the fair which is open tomorrow and the next day (Weds and Thurs, 10 and 11 February) to the general public from 16:00-22:00, well worth attending to sample a good many newly introduced wines, both kosher and not kosher. Expect a fairly crowded scene. Despite that, highly recommended. Some might even want to taste the Prosecco Rich.

Best
Rogov

I have posted a sampling of my tasting notes from Israwinexpo at

http://www.mykerem.com/articles/sampling-tastings-israwinexpo-mostly-kosher

Best

Rogov