The usual reaction when I tell people that I make wines in Israel is “wines from Israel? - huh, who knew?” So with the help of the Israel Export Institute and the various Economic Attaches around the world the Israeli wine industry puts on roadshows showcasing our wines, and this time the venue was London.
The UK market is quite interesting, historically it had no significant local industry it has always been open to consuming wines from around the world, in fact the wine industries of France and Portugal owe a debt to the British who were quick to recognize their potential and captialised on their production. As a result the UK has probably one of the most diverse and competitive wine markets in the world (despite huge levels of taxation on wine and spirits) and they are always open to looking for new producers. Countries such as Australia, Chile, Argentina and New Zealand all made it big in the UK after fairly aggressive marketing campaigns. So why not Israel?
Well apart from the fact that whilst the Governments of other countries invested millions into promoting their wine industries the Israeli wines are promoted on a shoestring budget and mainly financed from within the industry. But we do the best that we can under the given circumstances.
Anyway back to the event. The venue was the Landmark Hotel a recently refurbished and imposing gothic hotel in central London. 15 wineries participated in the event, and some 250 people had sent replies that they were coming. Top UK wine journalist Tim Atkin MW gave two seminars on the state of the Israeli wine industry. Tim actually visited Israel a couple of years ago so he has a pretty good knowledge of the players in the industry.
The visitors, many of whom I recognized from previously judging at the International Wine Challenge, were interested and knowledgeable, about wine and many seemed genuinely surprised about the quality of the wines that they were tasting.
We were limited six wines for the tasting. I showed the Unoaked Chardonnay 09, Sauvignon Blanc Reserve 08, Viognier Reserve 08, Alma 07, Cabernet Reserve 06 and the Shiraz Reserve 07. I also had a laboratory-blend of a new wine that we had developed a couple of days earlier that will be an exciting addition to our Alma range. The wines went down very well with particular praise going to our Rhone varieties, the Viognier, Shiraz and our new blend, details of which I’ll discuss some other time.
After the day event there was an early-evening cocktail party where we showed our wines to guests from the London business community. A numbers of speeches were given including one by yours truly, the message being that the wines of Israel today are not those of the past. The people exhibiting at the event were responsible for bringing the Israeli wine industry back into the 21st century and we now have wines that stand comfortably shoulder-to-shoulder with other wine producing countries. You no longer have to buy Israeli wines out of a sense of duty but because they are good. Really, they are…
Finally special thanks to all involved in arranging the event. Michal Neeman from the Israel Export Institute, Gill Erez and all his staff at the Israeli Embassy in London, Yishay Malkov (restaurant director at Claridges) who volunteered his time to give pointers to the industry and Harry Hyman and his Nexus Group who sponsored the evening event.