Enjoying Israeli Wine for Seders and Year round: What we’re drinking for Passover 2024
Steve Kerbel
I’ve lost track of how many years I’ve promoted the idea of pouring Israeli wine for your 4 Passover Seder cups and beyond, but I think my first articles on the subject appeared late in the last century. I’ve facilitated more than two dozen Israeli wine tastings in the eleven months since last Passover, and since I noticed over Purim how many people are trying to support Israel by buying Israeli products during these trying times, I thought I would get an early start on my article this year.
Between the Shmitah (Sabbatical year) in 2022 and the shipping interruptions caused by the current situation, Israeli white wines have been in short supply. I expect that is quickly being remedied in time for Passover and stores are in the process of being restocked. I can tell you what we’ve been finding and what we’re planning to drink. A few long time favorites have been hard to find, and I’m trying to learn if they’re still being made and just not making it to my preferred retailers or if winemakers have changed which wines they’re making.
While Israel makes a lot of great wines at a variety of price points, and wine prices like all other beverage prices have been increasing over the last 3 or so years, we still maintain that there are a lot of excellent wines in the range of $18-$32 (US) and all of the wines we mention below will fall in that range unless otherwise noted
Whites and Roses
A few white wines from excellent wineries have been regularly available. We’ve been drinking the Domaine Netofa Blanc (Chenin Blanc) and the Yarden Pinot Gris (Golan Heights Winery) at several of our recent tastings. If your tastes run a bit sweeter to semi dry wines, you might try the Emerald Rieslings from Jerusalem Vineyards Winery or Tishbi; both are easy on the budget and are regular crowd pleasers. A family favorite, the Dalton Unoaked Chardonnay is still being made but has been difficult to find, either in DC area stores or online. The Dalton Fume Blanc is another terrific choice. The Tabor Chardonnay and the Special Reserve or Wild Fermentation Chardonnays from Segal are also excellent choices, particular when serving roasted poultry,
We’re longtime fans of the Galil Mountain Rose, usually made wholly or from a large percentage of Sangiovese grapes, though many Israeli wineries are producing very pleasant drinkable roses from Merlot, Grenache and other red wine grapes. We’ve recently tasted Roses from Tabor, Dalton, Netofa, to name a few. A recent entry from the outstanding Yatir winery in the northern Negev, Darom Rose by Yatir is another excellent choice at the higher end of our price range.
Red Wines
There are a lot of great red wines being produced in Israel. We stand by a lot of our long time favorites: the blends from Galil Mountain, particularly the Ela and Alon, the Dalton Estate Grenache and Shiraz, the Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon and Reserve Syrah (a splurge purchase for sure) from Tulip. The Gilgal Cab-Merlot and Pinot Noir have been very available and can usually be found for less than $25 (often online for less than $20). There are no bad choices among these wines.
Here are a few lesser known wines from smaller wineries that we’ve been tasting and plan to have on our table this year.
Mt. Odem, Odem Forest Red - from the northernmost Moshav Odem in the Golan Heights comes this delightful blend of Cabernet, Nebbiolo and Syrah, this deep red wine is terrific with roasts and braised beef. We’ve inexplicably found this wine on sale at about half its $30 list price.
Jezreel Valley - I can’t imagine you would be disappointed by any wines in the Jezreel Valley catalog. Their Alfa, Adumin and Nahalal blends are all delicious and are composed of less well known grape varieties: Carignan, Syrah, Argaman. The Alfa (sometimes with some Cabernet Sauvignon included) is the most budget friendly of this trio, but the Adumim and Nahalal can be found on sale for around $32.
Vitkin - The Vitkin Israeli Journey Red (2021), a robust blend of Carignan, Grenache, Cabernet Franc and Syrah, is also drinking well and will cellar well into the end of the decade. The blend changes from vintage to vintage, but I’ve found this to be of consistent quality. Winemaker Asaf Paz is creative and attentive to these wines (while also supervising the winemaking at the much larger Binyamina Winery). We also recommend the slightly more expensive (closer to $36) Vitkin Pinot Noir, a beautiful, lighter red that pairs well with roasted poultry or beef dishes.
If you should want to order online from Kosherwine.com, you can use our coupon code
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Whatever you're drinking, we’re hoping for our captives to be home to celebrate freedom with their families, for you and those you love to have a meaningful and enjoyable Passover, and hope that our focus on Israeli wines will help Israel’s stressed economy recover to its full strength.
