After a delayed arrival on Wednesday, a rush hour trip from the airport and nice home cooked meal and a shower. We hit the ground running on Thursday (we is Abby, Yossi and me).
Our first planned visit to a vineyard within walking distance got cancelled on arrival; the vintner was delayed by an equipment problem and couldn’t meet us; it ended up not being a problem; another local vintner, Hadar Dor-On, who has partnerships with 3 wineries (and no label of his own) directed us to his fields where he was picking fresh figs, and we joined him.
We walked into the vineyard and he described his theory, that the variety of grapes thriving in Israel maybe a sign that Israel, as an ancient wine culture (over 3000 years) may actually be the original home of many of the varieties that are considered French or otherwise European. There is a legend that I had heard before that Chardonnay was originally a grape cultivated around Jerusalem that came back to France during the crusades as “Shaar Adonai” (God’s Gate).
In any event, Hadar grows his vines in two vertical tiers, cutting back leaves on the top vines to allow sun to reach the lower vines. In increases his yield and he gets amazing results. I’ve posted some photos on facebook. After leaving the fields, we went to his home and tasted 3 of the wines for which he provides grapes, the Chillag Gewirtztraminer, a white blend from Wilhelmena Called Floreal Blanc(containing Sauvignon blanc, Reisling and Semillion) and a Malbec from a winery called Dadah.
The Floreal is a semi-dry and was too sweet for my taste, but i can see why it would be popular, particularly for people used to sweeter wines, in the same was Moscato is so popular now. The Gewirtz was fine - Yossi liked it more than I did - it just didn’t appeal to me . The Malbec was light, smooth and fruity - I really liked it a lot and hope to be able to find it again.
After a nice lunch at a butcher shop that has a few tables and kind of a cafeteria-style lunch special for NIS30 (about $8.50) with a main course, 2 sides and a salad, we went to visit Eli Azoulay at the Alona Winery. We tasted 3 2012 wines from the barrel and walked around part of Eli’s vineyard. We tasted a Merlot that will be outstanding if it continues as it is, a very smooth Cabernet Sauvignon and a very nice Shirza. Eli sells his wines mostly from the winery and to several restaurants in Tel Aviv, Herzliya and Netanya. His first year making wine was 2004, after 20 years and the Director of his Moshav (Givat Nili). His wines are price very reasonable for a boutique winery, 65-75 shekels (under $20) and he seems to love what he does (as many winemakers do)
We were on a short timetable, but we were able to squeeze in a brief visit across the road from Alona to the Eyal Winery. Eyal has a very hospitable set up in his backyard with a nice visitors center and a large yard for holding events. We started with a semi dry white, 70% Chardonnay, 30% Emerald Riesling. It was very pleasant and I told him it reminded me of Gush Etzion’s semi-dry Chardonnay. We moved on to a Carignan (with 10% shiraz added) which is grown on 50 year old vines his grandfather planted. It is a delicious, smooth wine - very mellow and would go great with food, almost anything I can think of.
For me one of the best wines of the day (out of 10 in all) was his 2009 Shiraz. My notes written at the time said amazing, full bodied with flavors of of plum and Black Cherry. We also tasted an excellent Cabernet, but since we were in a rush I don’t have any notes. Eyal’s wines are Kosher.
Thursday was poker night - an enjoyable game and i was up most of the night, until the last couple of hands and i ended up being down NIS 3.6 (a bit more than a dollar). As I was rusty and hadn’t played in over a year, not too bad.
Friday Abby and I headed to Jerusalem - we both had people to see, but it was a very quick trip. The drive was about an hour and 15 minutes and we went to the USY office to deliver packages to USYers from the Regional office in Rockville. We spent some time with David Keren before heading to the German Colony. There we had breakfast with our colleague from NYC, Sara Shapiro Plevan and it was just a great time. Sara and I are on the JEA board together and she is so bright and insightful. We also discovered that we are both second generation in the profession.
Abby got together with her friends Avi adn Miriam and their baby, I ran into Rabbi Ari Sunshine and schmoozed for a bit and then headed to Har Homa to see Arnie Draiman. It was great catching up with him with a quick hello to Rena, and then I picked Abby up and we headed to one of my favorite Friday hangouts, the Yehuda Winery at shoresh. Avi greeted us like family, we tasted 2 merlots from 2012 (from the barrel) a lovely Nitzan blend of Merlot, Cab and Shiraz and Avi gave us a Shiraz 2010 to drink for Shabbat to see if it is ready for market (I can’t tell you before I tell him, but suffice it to say his 2006 and 2008 Shiraz are among my favorites, and this will likely join it one day).
We stopped on the way back to Binyamina for gas and ice cream (gas here is around NIS 7.45 a liter which is about $8 a gallon) and then got ready for Shabbat. Abby and I went to the local main shul in the center of town (Tifereth Binyamin) for kabbalat shabbat and maariv and had a lovely roast beef dinner with Yossi and Dina. Shabbat morning I got up early and went back to shul by myself (started at 8:15) and I was home by 10:45 including a bar mitzvah. We had a quiet shabbat (nap before lunch) went for a 45 min walk as the sun was setting. Abby met a USY friend who was nearby after shabbat, and I got to hang out with Reuven Genn, an old friend of mine and Yossi’s and we had some Arak and coffee and caught up. A nice 3 days of vacation. Tomorrow Abby and I are heading north for a day of exploring the coast from Haifa North (mostly foreign to me so I’m excited just to see it. I have lines on a couple of places for us to eat up there as well.
It’s midnight motzai Shabbat so laila tov!
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