there are more and more Israeli wines going from what you might call “sweet/fat” and others might call New World or ripe/higher alcoholic fruity to more subtle/nuanced lower alcohol Old World wines

Recanati is one fine example and we’re seeing more movement here on the boutique front than the larger wineries (as the boutiques need to show uniqueness to justify typically higher prices)

Recanati’s winemaking team changed in 2008 with California trained US born Lewis Pasco being replaced with Israeli born although California trained Gil Shatsberg (note his name is in print in several incarnations including Shatzberg)

Recanati wine were award winners before the change so it was a big risk for Gil an Ido Lewinsohn (the other winemaker at Recanati) to change styles (not Gil had worked at Carmel as part of the team and senior winemaker at the Israeli boutique Amphorae (where he won several awards) before moving to Recanati) Ido had worked on Lewis Pasco too but was more of an assistant to Lewis than to Gil we he’s more influential as part of the winemaking team with Gil taking the lead

why that is important is Ido has a lot more European & international training that has helped with Recanati’s evolution post 2008…

Ido studied at Italy’s University of Milan as well as interning in France and Tasmania before working at Recanati (and has a non-certified garage winery in Israel called Lewinsohn Winery…Garage du Papa label)

Gil is the decision maker but Ido has helped in choosing new Burgundy coopers, implementing the use of sur lees (for reds and whites) and non-malolactic Chardonnays (which is becoming more common in Israel…i.e Odem Mountain and Tzuba’s Chardonnay)

BTW… I’m getting pushed towards writing scores since Daniel Rogov passed last year… the industry has a vacuum of someone giving 100 point scores (wine shops and importers and even consumers seem dependent on them… I’ve resisted because I have reservations of scoring any art form ( and I like to think of wine as “organic consumable art”) but if the industry has a need I might step into the role…what I would probably do is only publish scores of wines I recommend because I think wine scores capture a moment in time and to publish a bad score can hurt well motivated people who’ve invested years and small fortunes into a wine… we’ll see how it plays out but this is my first announcement that scores might be forthcoming…I’m not sure how I’ll approach tasting notes even if I give scores because I think tasting notes are so personal that it makes newcomers feel awkward when they don’t taste and smell the same attributes…I’d rather tell technical information such as malolactic non-malo…sur lees non sur lees…type of oak (French or American) ratio new to old and a few key flavors/ vineyard information…winery flavor notes (if I find them to hold true and educate on what they might expect by telling varietal notes on whats in the wine

from my time attending wine school and my experience since I came to believe you can have several good palettes in the same room write completely different notes so to publish them as gospel can be interesting as far as far as comparing notes but unfair or confusing to consumers as too what they should expect from their experience

BTW I’ve been recruited by a new site Wines from Israel which should launch soon…we’ll see how that plays out as well

best of luck in your endeavors and once again it was nice meeting you at Sommelier in Tel Aviv

The cool thing about some of Netofa’s wines is that they remind me of nice acidic and balanced French wines. Also, please try ALL of Elvi’s wines, they are unique and do not carry that same sweetness, though they are in a Mediterranean climate, of coarse.

Also the Capcanes Peeraj Habib, and the winning French wines are worth a look as well.

David

Generally speaking, I think Israel by far is the best region in the world for kosher wines (partly because so much of non-Israeli wine is mostly mevushal which can show in wines more so as they age) I’m eager to taste some of these wines that I’ve so far heard of but ignored as I’ve indulged in honing an Israeli specialization