The Jerusalem Wine Festival at the Israel Museum is one of my favorite events of the year. I always try to go on the first night as it is normally the quieter and some wineries will open their more interesting wines.
Overall there were fewer stands this year but that actually gave more room for people to move around. As usual, there was a great atmosphere and an even better Jerusalem night breeze!
I am not a wine specialist but I do appreciate good wine so here is a quick summary of some of the wines I tried. I didn’t manage to take a photo of them so I have only added the vintage for those I remember.
- Meron Winery (Kosher)
I have not tried anything from this winery and I was very impressed, particularly by the Cabernet Sauvignon, 2010 which has won a Terravino Gold Medal. It was full-bodied and went well with my cheese platter.
- Five Stones Winery (Kosher)
Although it is not a new winery, Five Stones is still less known but seems to have gained in popularity over the last year. To begin with they were only serving the DvsG White (NIS 75) & Red 2017 (NIS 95) Blends and the Nobility 215a White 2018 (NIS 140) which were all very nice but I was told to come back later when they would open the Nobility 215a Red (NIS 140) – it was well worth the wait and definitely my favorite of the wines I tried. The winery is opening a visitors center soon and I will be sure to visit.
- Recanati Winery (Kosher)
I like most of the Recanati wines and they do a good range of lower end supermarket wines that are very drinkable. It was my first time trying the Méd Blend 2017 red wine which is a level above the supermarket wine and it was light and fruity.
- Jerusalem Vineyard Winery (Kosher)
I normally avoid this stand as it is full of low-quality wine and lots of people pushing for tastings. Luckily for me, they were serving some of their premium wines at the Gros Family stand which had no queue. The Montefiore Windmill limited edition Malbec 2017 was delicious and it is hard to find a good kosher Malbec in Israel.
- Tulip Winery (Kosher)
One of my favorite wineries in Israel, I know and love all their wine but I still like to see what they bring to taste. From their premium wines, they were serving the Espero Red 2016 (NIS 98) which is always good and the Syrah Reserve 2016 (NIS 129), which was great.
- Ortal Winery (Not Supervised)
I generally like red wines from Golan vineyards and the Ortal Syrah 2014 was no exception.
- Chateau Golan (Not Supervised)
They have a few wines on the stand but I chose to sample the Eliad 2016 red blend which was a medium bodied wine and very good.
I also had a refreshing wine spritzer made with Beringer White Zinfandel with Franklin & Sons Tonic Water, from the Akkerman stand.
Other wineries to check out:
- Drimia
- Bravdo
- Tishbi – try the Caramel chocolate as well!
- Jacques Capsouto
- Odem Mountain – it is always impossible to get close enough to taste much and they only ever bring the basic wines.
- Matar Winery
- Green & Co Fruit Wine – the blackberry wine is good
- Ramat Hanegev
Liqueur and other stands:
Food stands this year include Jacob’s Dairy Cheese, Pizza Hut, Baked Potato, Mexican, Fresh Fruit, and Gela Ice-Cream.
Let me know in the comments if you discovered any interesting wines that I should look out for next time.
L’chaim!
Great post 🙂
Thanks!
Great review! I had a question regarding the tasting of wine – do the stands offer free wine samples or do you have to pay per glass you taste?
You pay 95 shekels to get in and then all the tastings are free.