Wine drinkers in Israel are incredibly poorly served by the restaurants. It seems that restaurateurs’ only interest is to maximize profits from their wine list rather than giving the customer real choice. I realise that that is a fairly bold statement but the next time you are in a good restaurant take a look at the wine list and see how thick it is. Even worse take a look at their offerings of wines by the glass. I often drive to a restaurant and want to stay sober so I limit myself to a single glass, but why should I have to suffer the indignity of an ugly chardonnay or a mediocre semi-dry riesling? The selection is usually so pathetic that it would be better to drink a beer instead and unfortunately, I often do. Such a shame when there is such a prolific choice of both local and imported wines that with a little imagination any wine-list could be a pleasure to navigate.

So, how has the situation arisen and what can we do about it?

In Israel today there are five or six major importers and distributors of wines and spirits. The restaurants wishing to maximize their profits generally tie themselves up with one or sometimes even two of them exclusively. This guarantees that the restaurant gets the lowest prices and probably a signing bonus and regular fringe benefits, and in return the restaurant only sells the products of the distributor. Of course the only people to lose out are you the customer as you will be severely limited in the selection of both wines and spirits that you can enjoy with your meal. 

The system is further made worse by the dearth of any true wine professionals working in the restaurant trade. Very few of the people who are involved in buying the wines for their restaurants really know much about them and those selling it to you are probably more interested in winning the monthly bonus that the winery is offering, than suggesting a wine which will perfectly compliment your meal.

From additional talks with colleagues in the industry, it would seem that some wine buyers truly believe that the poor wines on the menus are the wines the you, the customer, really wants to drink. I am sure that part of the reason that they have this idea is because customers rarely speak up about the quality of the wines, which is strange really as I have seen many people in Israel return a meal that is not to their satisfaction.

So what can you do about the situation, well for one you can  be more assertive when it comes to choosing wines, complain about the list and tell them that you would have expected a better choice from such an establishment, if the wine you are poured isn’t tasty then tell the server or bar tender and ask to replace it. If there is a wine you like ask for it by name and if it is not on the list ask why not. As a final resort call ahead or check on-line, many restaurants have a their menus and wine lists on the internet and if they don’t have a wine you like then bring your own bottle. Expect to pay corkage but that is usually quite reasonable and you will get to enjoy the wine of your choice.