http://www.dalton-winery.comDalton Winery home page.© 2009 Dalton Winery. All rights reservedOver the next few month we will be unveiling new designs for many of our wines. We have begun with the Safsufa Series, beginning with the 2009 Cabernet and Merlot, the white will change labels with the impending 2010 vintage.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=11028. 45. 2010I paid a quick visit to the vineyards yesterday and things are progressing very well. We have new plantings which we will only see in 2014, new vines coming on line this year and, of course, some of our old favourites. We are anticipating high yields this year so we have had to thin a vast amount of fruit from the vines. Here are some photos from the visit. http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=10927. 27. 2010As export manager of the winery, the past couple of years have been trying times for me. The 2008 vintage was Shmitta in Israel. It was one of our finest vintages but despite that, we were unable to send any of the wines from that vintage to our primary markets abroad. http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=10829. 33. 2010Yesterday we were blessed with our annual visit from Daniel Rogov, noted journalist for Haaretz, and author of several esteemed tomes, notably, Rogov’s Guide to Israeli wines and Rogov’s Guide to Kosher Wines.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=10520. 24. 2010Welcome to the Dalton website. Over the past few years the Internet has developed from a one-way informative tool to more of a communal and collaborative tool and I wanted to build a site that incorporated the old and the new.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=2820. 23. 2010I realize that some of the issues brought up in this article are going to be a little contentious and some may even say that they are sour grapes (no pun intended), however, I am writing here from the perspective of a consumer and not as a producer. Living in Tel Aviv we are blessed with some of the finest places in the world for dining out. The restaurants here offer world class dining with exciting tastes and flavours that can rival any top restaurant abroad. I am sure that the Israeli chefs go out of their way to source raw materials from the best suppliers possible and invest much though and effort in building the most perfect menu. If only the same could be said about their wine selections. http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=10720. 22. 2010Recently released, the 2008 Alma is drinking wonderfully. This year the wine is a blend of 47% Cabernet, 47% Merlot and 6% Cabernet Franc. The grapes for this wine came from 8 different plots and were all picked and fermented separately.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=10306. 51. 2010I have just returned from a quick visit to London, luckily avoiding the ash-cloud that is vexing so many travelers lately. The reason for the visit was to participate in a portfolio tasting of Israeli wines for the benefit of the UK press and wine buyers. Basically this is code for “lets get Israeli wines out of the Jewish Ghetto and into the mainstream markets”, this is the ultimate dream of the Israeli wine industry. http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=10614. 25. 2010I’m sitting in Frankfurt Airport on my final homeward leg of a three-week sales tour that has taken me to New York, Boston, Toronto and finally Dusseldorf for the Prowein exhibition. Well, actually I began this at Dusseldorf airport but actually I finished this off in Israel once I got home… In general I have to say that the mood seems much improved since last year. In the US there seems to be a general consensus that where as last year there was a general feeling of unease and panic, now people have got used the to situation and learned to live with it.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=10429. 08. 2010Last week saw the Israwinexpo wine fair take place in Tel Aviv. This is a biennial trade show that is supposed to showcase Israeli wines on the world stage. Well, when I say world stage I mean to the Israeli public and a contingent of about 30 guests who were invited but the Israel government to come and taste Israeli wines. And when I say to come and taste Israeli wines I mean to taste the wines of the wineries that are showing at the fair and in addition to taste the wines of a few randomly selected wineries who were lucky enough to earn a visit from the foreign delegation.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=10215. 31. 2010Here are the first pictures of the new Matatia wine in all its glory. The Jewel in the Crown of the Dalton portfolio it is a blend of Cabernet, Merlot and Cab Franc restricted yields in the vineyards, scrupulous selection in the winery and aged for two years in 200% new French oak, we are really proud of this wine.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=10001. 11. 2010a short list of wines that we can recommend for the Passover holiday.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=9929. 33. 2010The cold is all around us and there is nothing nicer than a warm night in with a good meal good company and a glass of fine wine. Most of you will think that the ideal wine would be a hearty red, but I don’t think that is necessarily the case. Last night I opened a bottle of our 2008 Chardonnay Reserve.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=9015. 40. 2010It has been a while since my last posting, no excuses really I just seem to have lost the blogging mojo for a bit. That is not to say that nothing has been happening in the winery. There has been plenty of action. http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=9812. 45. 2010It’s that time of year again; a month after vintage and most of the wines have finished primary and secondary fermentation. Time to sit down and piece together the giant jigsaw puzzle of blends. We tasted about 100 different wines from different vineyard sites that need to be blended into 6 different series and 21 different wines. We added some new wines and deleted others. I’ve written about it in the past so this time I’m going to put up the pictures… http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=9620. 07. 2009This weekend I decided to rummage in my Dad’s wine fridge to see what was lurking in there and I came across a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 1999 which I decided to open and drink with Friday night dinner. Well the wine is holding up quite well, the nose is still vibrant and the palate smooth and complex. By the way, it goes quite well with roast chicken.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=9519. 05. 2009Once again the Who’s Who of the Israeli Wine industry came together under one roof to show off their wares. The exhibitors were all the major wineries in Israel and the major importers and distributors of wine. A large section of the exhibition was devoted to small and boutique wineries. Entrance was free to people directly involved in the food and drink industry, storeowners, restaurateurs, hoteliers, sales people, servers etc.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=7717. 55. 2009This is an article I wrote a few years ago about the history of Israeli wines and its current state of play. Of course I give Dalton and our wines quite alot of credit.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=6829. 17. 2009The last day of vintage finally arrived with the first clouds of winter finally rolling in. This year was a little weird, we started about two weeks later than usual and had 3.5 cm of rain suddenly in the middle of the harvest, but in the end the weather warmed up and we finally finished on schedule. http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=7528. 45. 2009If you look at the back of any bottle of Dalton wine you will see a cluster of little medallions at the bottom of the label, they are the stamps of the various rabbinical authorities that supervise the Kashrut of our wines. This is a brief article to explain what it is all about.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=1720. 25. 2009Over the Sukkot holiday, the winery will be open for visitors as usual. This holiday we will be able to fully celebrate the new harvest, as the winery will be working most days bringing in grapes. As usual for the adults we will offer a guided tour of the winery and abroad tasting of our portfolio. We will also have a full range of activities for children including an arts and crafts corner, a bouncy castle and a freshly squeezed grape juice whenever possible.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=7301. 59. 2009The solar panels were finally completed and approved at beginning of September, since then we have been generating electricity at the rate of about 600kWh per day and generating about 1000 shekels per day of income.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=7401. 30. 2009I just wanted to take the opportunity to wish all our readers a Happy and Healthy New Year, שנה טובה! I haven’t been posting much lately, sorry, I have been travelling on the road doing my pre-holiday sales thing. But that doesn’t mean that the winery has been quite. http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=7217. 38. 2009We are into our second week of vintage; Naama is busy scurrying around the north of Israel checking that all the vineyards are healthy and that the grapes are ripening nicely. In addition, every morning she makes her morning rounds, visiting and tasting of all the wines we have fermenting, yesterday I joined her.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=7127. 22. 2009Well it’s finally here; the 2009 vintage has finally begun. This weeks vintage was Sauvignon Blanc from our Safsufa vineyard at the foothills of Mount Meron. The yields were good and the fruit was excellent. Here is a little photomontage showing the first steps of the journey from grapes to wine.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=7021. 06. 2009John was with us again last week, the pre-harvest visit included a tasting of all the wines we currently have in barrels, the formulation of a pre-vintage game plan and a visit to all the new vineyards those recently planted and those about to yield their first fruit. http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=6706. 44. 2009All the panels have been finally installed and they look very pretty. http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=6906. 03. 2009The mealybug is a huge pest in the vineyard; it causes untold damage to the vines and is responsible for spreading a virus that has decimated many of our vineyards. Here are a couple of natural and ecological ways we have tried to combat the situation.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=6506. 50. 2009It is a site that no winery owner wants to see, bunches of fruit lying on the ground. But for a vineyard which is yielding for the first year it is a worthy investment.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=6602. 19. 2009As part of the winery’s efforts to contribute to a greener future, we have committed ourselves to installing two photovoltaic solar arrays capable of generating 50kWp each as part of the Israel’s new feed-in tariff scheme. With all that sun we are getting it seemed a shame not to use it.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=6427. 02. 2009The Elkosh vineyard in the western galilee is the largest vineyard project that the winery has ever undertaken. It is a 230 dunam site (23 hectares). We began preparing the property in January 2009. Now the time has finally come to plant the vines. Yesterday I visited the site to witness the exceptional progress and even planted a few vines myself.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=6321. 25. 2009With so much happening in the new vineyards at the moment it is easy to forget about the progress of our existing vineyards. This week sees the beginning of veraison. This is the time when the red varietals transition from growing to ripening. Until now the bunches have been green and very sour, now they are transitioning to their final red color and start developing sweetness and phenolic ripeness. To us in the winery is signifies that vintage is just around the corner.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=6221. 31. 2009The day has finally arrived, after many months of planning and preparation we have begun planting our new vineyards. Within two weeks we will have planted some 300 dunam (30 hectares) of new vines.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=6116. 15. 2009This morning we paid a visit to the nursery which is preparing the vines for our new vineyards. It was really interesting seeing how little plants are made from long sticks of dry cane. http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=6009. 00. 2009The topic of corks and closures in the wine industry is a fairly contentious issue. After having attended a symosium on the subject, I felt the need to put my thoughts down from the point of view of a producer, marketer and consumer of wines. http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=5802. 04. 2009Our long-term plan is to grow the winery to a production of about 1500 tonnes, which roughly translates to 1.5 million bottles. In order to make the numbers we are planting new vineyards at quite a rapid rate. Yesterday I visited some of our new plots to see how we are progressing. I was really impressed with what we have accomplished. http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=5719. 32. 2009I would just like to officially welcome some new members of staff. http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=5504. 35. 2009A couple of weeks ago someone decided to plant some hostile software (malware) into our website. Surfers using Explorer who had a decent anti-virus were sent away and Google blocked access to the site to users of Safari, Firefox and Chrome browsers. Firstly, I’d like to apologise about the disruption to the service. Sod’s Law (Murphy’s English cousin), of course, dictated that the problems surfaced on a Friday night. Once we discovered that we had a problem we moved as quickly as possible to fix it. This entailed a lot of messing about with the site, including rebuilding it. The malware has been removed and the site is clean. But all the recent work has meant that the site has been quite buggy lately. It also meant that we couldn’t put up new postings over the past two weeks. http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=5402. 01. 2009Next Friday is Shavuot, a festival that celebrates both the harvesting of the first fruit and the giving of the Torah to the Jewish People. Traditionally on Shavuot we eat dairy products, which is too bad for any one with high cholesterol. In celebration of Shavuot the winery will host its visitors to a broad tasting of cheeses made from sheep and goats milk and we will be offering wines to taste to pair with the chesses and dairy dishes in general, particularly all our new white wines, the Fumé Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc Reserve, Chardonnay Reserve and the Rosé. The tasting will be held at the winery visitors’ center on Thursday from 10:00am – 4:00pm. There is no need to book in advance. http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=5120. 51. 2009We had the pleasure of the self-professed curmudgeon and wine writer Daniel Rogov at the winery on Monday. It was a long day, I picked Rogov up from his home in Tel Aviv and we made our way up to the winery. On the trip up we chatted about all sorts of topics ranging from his new book on kosher wines to the future of the middle-east.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=4806. 43. 2009Planes, trains and automobiles just about sums up the nature of my trip so far. If it hasn't been one form of transportation it has been the other. I have been away for just over a week now. In case you are wondering what exactly I do when I travel, I have compiled a short diary of my exploits in North America.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=4230. 32. 2009I start my pre-Passover travels this week, to the US, Canada and the UK, basically my three largest export markets. For those of you who envy the life of the business traveler, my schedule looks something like this, those are the parts I know about.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=4130. 31. 2009I have just returned from London after having spent the week judging at the International Wine Challenge together with Naama and several hundred other judges. We were incredibly lucky to have been invited to judge here as it is one of the most prestigious wine competitions in the UK if not the world. About 10,000 wines were submitted to the competition which had to be judged and scored in the space of two weeks. If you do the maths this means that about 1000 wines have to be tasted a day. http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=4526. 26. 2009Just a quick note to wish everyone a happy and healthy Passover. It has become the family tradition that I prepare the wines for the Pessach table and the rest of the holiday. So what will the Haruni family be drinking over Pessach?http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=4416. 04. 2009I am in New York for a gala Israeli wine tasting, my impressions of the event were very mixed.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=2516. 03. 2009We work really hard to do things properly and get things right. But sometimes, despite our best efforts, the odd gremlin sneaks into the system.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=3907. 19. 2009I left New York on Tuesday evening for a couple of days in London before going home. I managed to give a short presentation to a group from the UJIA on Wednedsay night and made an appearance at a wine tasting in Hendon on Thursdayhttp://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=4327. 42. 2009In a previous article about blending I mentioned that we were going to add some new wines to our portfolio. During the January blending session we had noticed that there were a few wines that were not good enough to go into the D series wines and would have to be blended into the Canaan series. In addition there was a batch of 2008 Cab that came from our Meron Vineyard, the wine was particularly interesting as it reminded us of the Single Vineyard Cab that we produced in 2005, it had a very obvious black currant and eucalyptus character, it was young and ready for drinking with no further barrel aging.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=3203. 57. 2009We couldn’t have asked for better if we had tried. On Monday evening, 23 Feb, Channel 2 television’s Tochnit Hisachon aired a piece about the best places to buy wines. Their roving reporter Menachem Horowitz wandered around the streets and supermarkets asking people where they buy their wines. Many people felt that the best place was their local supermarket until Horowitz proved that prices can differ as much as 30% between supermarkets. Anyway for Dalton the star of the piece was the young man (Eyal Hazan) who said that while he usually shops for wine at his supermarket, if he is in the north he buys Dalton directly from the winery. Thank you Eyal for those kind words. By the way, Dalton wines are not available in the big supermarket chains in Israel. http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=3125. 27. 2009Its that time of year again, the red wines have finished primary and secondary fermentation and they need to be sorted, classified and blended. We have already eliminated most of the wines that will go into the canaan, we did that in November along with the white blends. http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=624. 57. 2009After an absence of a year from the shelves our Moscato is back. This low alcohol wine is sweet, fruity and slightly sparkling, it's an absolute crowd pleaser.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=222. 13. 2009So, John arrived on Sunday evening for a couple of days of tasting and blending. Our objective on this visit was to see how the white blends we made in November were fairing and to judge and classify all the red wines that hadn’t gone into the Canaan blend in November.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=2720. 40. 2009http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=1915. 20. 2009I stoped off in London to participate in a portfolio tasting for my UK importer Kedem Europe.http://www.dalton-winery.com/content/dynamic-web-content.aspx?contid=2613. 13. 2009