Lower Galilee Archives - Israel Wine Tour

Visiting Lower Galilee Wineries

Barak Yitzhaki — Sun, 18 Apr 2021 18:38:43 +0000

2020 has been everything except ordinary. Alon and I found ourselves
helping wineries with pruning the vineyards in February only to return to those same vineyards come August for harvest. We both enjoy time in the vineyards and were certainly happy to help our friends, but as he and I are tour guides, this is how we make a living. For the time being, our work has been affected.

Come April 2021, we are widening our portfolio and learning about new boutique producers that are outstanding in their craft. Our day started in Kibbutz Hanita at Jullius craft Distillery where Yuval “Joob” Hargil is using local herbs, botanicals and fruit to distill his award winning spirits. Gin made with 12 wild botanicals picked nearby for example. The view from the distillery is intoxicating as is the 90 proof liquid that we were allowed to stick a finger through which proved to be much fruitier than anticipated.

Jullius Distillery

Steps away from Joob’s production is a unique coffee shop called “Tzintzenet” Hebrew for Mason Jar which specializes in preserving olives and assorted fruit. Our first winery for the day was Kishor which we have previously written about. We tasted several reds and Metzudat Tefen 2017 stood out. An excellent wine.

Stern Winery was next on the agenda. The winery has a beautiful tasting room and is now producing Kosher wines as well as a beautiful port style wine. From Stern we continued to Lotem Organic Winery. The view from their tasting porch is breathtaking. Alon and I especially enjoyed tasting the beautifully aromatic Sauv Blanc and a stainless steel only Semillon. Both were superb.

Tasting Porch at Lotem Organic Winery

Across the street from Lotem, is a Goat and Sheep cheese Dairy called Shirat Roim which is an award winning micro dairy. Producing over a dozen different cheeses. The major surprise for the day was the winery we visited last. Sadot Winery is a small Kosher Estate winery, founded only 11 years ago in the Jezreel Valley . The grapes are coming from a vineyard overlooking the winery. We knew the wine was good because we tasted it previously and even offered it on our wine shipments. We had no idea the view from their tasting porch was breathtaking. Winemaker Eyal Drory of Seahorse Winery and the boutique line of Vermouth Vedetta 52 is the winemaker for this winery. Despite of the warm climate for the Sadot vineyards, the wines we tasted were beautifully acidic and Fresh. We loved the TPS blend . Carignan Marselan, and in the whites the White Grenache and Marsanne was beautiful as well. This winery is a hidden jem, not to be missed.

Sadot Vineyard

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Lower Galilee and Carmel Regions Boutique Wineries Tour

Barak Yitzhaki — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 07:19:33 +0000

Dr. Harold Caballeros is the Rector of Universidad San Pablo Guatemala and his daughter Andrea studies at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Hertzelia. After spending few days on a business conference in Tel-Aviv, Harold decided to stay in Israel two more days and spend some time with his daughter. A fantastic way to do that is by touring the country and tasting some of the great wines it has to offer.

We left Tel Aviv in the morning and drove north about an hour toward Kiryat-Tiv’on. While driving we talked about Israeli boutique wineries – a recent phenomenon that has grown immensely in recent years. The two admired the changing view as we left the Coastal Region and entered the region of Lower Galilee. Our first stop was at the Tulip Winery one of the most interesting and award winning wineries in Israel.

Tulip is located in Kfar-Tikva (the “village of hope”) a beautiful Kibbutz – like community that serves as a home for two hundred developmentally and emotionally disabled adults. Tulip winery, which was established in 2003 by the Itzhaki family employs three of the residents of Kfar-Tilkva and the visitors have a chance to get to know the employees during their visit. As we pulled in to the small parking lot of the winery, Harold immediately pointed out the bountiful little vineyard at the entrance to the winery.

We were greeted by Itzhak Itzhaki (owner) and Natan (“The King”) a 65 years old employee at the winery. Following Itzhak we crossed the visitor center and entered the little production area (Tulip produces one hundred thousand bottles a year) where we could see the spotless clean machinery ready for the grape picking that starts this week. Next we entered the cellar, where an amazing smell of oak wood and wine along with cool temperatures makes everyone wish they could stay there for long time.

Getting back to the Winery’s visitor center, the time for the first wine tasting of the day has arrived. Out of the twelve bottles we could have tasted from we picked six (leaving some room of the other winery) Starting with the new 2009 Tulip White (30% Sauvignon blanc 70% Gewürztraminer), Tulip Just Cabernet Sauvignon (100% CS, Gold medal at “2009 best Value” competition), Tulip Mostly Cabernet Franc (85% CF, 15% CS. 3 Gold medals and one silver), Tulip Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve (90 Points from “Wine Spectator Magazine”), Tulip Syrah Reserve (90 Points from Robert Parker and one of my favorite Israeli wines). The last wine tasted was the Tulip Port Esperansa a special dessert made in Remy Martin barrels! Such a good wine Andrea had to take a bottle home.

Understanding we needed a break from wine tasting, we left Tulip and drove to Zichron Ya’akov (30 min) to visit Barak Dahan at Somek Winery. Barak is a fifth generation of grape wine growers who along with his wife, Hila decided to open their own winery. Somek’s vineyards are all located nearby in Bik’at Hanadiv (Baron Rothschild’s valley) which makes this winery an Estate Winery. Barak and Hila pick all their grapes by hand and all the winemaking process is done manually with no machinery intervention [a rare occurrence nowadays] . Since it was a hot day, the Caballeros who usually opt for red wine were happy to taste Somek 2007 Chardonnay (100% Chardonnay, 1 year barrel) next on the tasting list were the 2005 Carignan, & the 2005 Bik’at Hanadiv (60% CS, 35% Merlot, 5 % Petit Syrah).

After a short lunch in one of Zichron’s memorable restaurants, the Caballeros were ready for their third winery of the day. We left Zichron Yaakov and drove north to the Moshave Kerem-Maharl where the Makura organic farm and Amphora Winery are located. The Amphora Winery is one of the most beautiful Wineries in Israel. Designed by and Italian architect and built in 2005 from local stone, the winery has a distinct European look. Amphora Winery was bought last year by a prominent Russian business man who decided to invest heavily in the winery with a goal of producing the best possible wine. One of the changes was to sign the world’s famous winemaker Michel Rolland as an advisor to the winery.

Harold and Andrea chose to start the visit by tasting some of the winery’s wines. They started with the Viognier (excellent and crisp) which was followed by the semidry Rose 08’ and the dry Rose 09 which was unlabeled due to the fact that it was bottled two days before. The Caballeros also tasted basic Med-Red, Rhyton and Amphora which used to be the premium line of wines. The surprise of the visit was the tasting of the fairly new ultra premium wines called Unica that were released early this year and that even the writer of these lines did not have the chance to taste. All the Unica wines were aged 28 month in three and five hundreds liter barrels and then aged in Bottle for another ten months. The first Unica tasted was a blend of Shiraz Merlot Cabernet (45% S, 35% M, and 20% C) such a good wine, Harold insisted on taking one home with him! The Second bottle we tasted was “Unica Merlot Barbera” (83% M, 17%B) this one was opened especially for us! [A big treat considering the price of such bottle (275NIS or 70U$)] The Caballeros did not miss out on the tour of the winery which ended at the very impressive cellar.

After tasting some sixteen wines or more (we stopped counting) the Caballeros were ready to go home.
One hour later we pulled into the hotel driveway. The Caballeros had an amazing day as did I.

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Amphora Winery Tour

Barak Yitzhaki — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:57:50 +0000

It started as a regular day tour to the Southern Carmel region. A friend and I drove to the Old Bat-Shlomo village where a short walk took us to different shops and art galleries. The first house on the left hosts a very interesting art gallery combined with a small coffee shop. We stopped again at the third house where we taste different homemade cheeses and different kind of olives.

Another ten minuet stroll in the village and we are back in the car on the way to the Druze village Dalyat el Carmel. Claiming the mountain on the curved road we stopped again at one of the many family owned food stand on the side of the road for an original Druze pita with Labane (soft goat cheese) and herb tea. Dalyat-El Carmel is always colorful and interesting. The Druze people are great hosts, especially on Saturdays, when many Israelis and tourists chose to make their shopping and dining at the village. After walking for some time around the bountiful shops we had back to the car and drive out of Dalyat- El Carmel towered Haifa.

At this time I know where I want to go! I have not been to Amphora winery yet but heard great things about it . I turned left to rout 721 (“BEIT OREN”) which is considered one of the most beautiful routes in Israel. This is a curvy down hill road from Carmel Mountain toward the coastline. When reached the bottom (rt. 4) we made left towered CAREM-MAHARAL where Amphora winery is located. The winery is located at this current location since 2005. The building was designed by Diego Grasso, Italian architect who has also designed several wineries in northern Italy. Grasso used the local stone and created a unique building with a European look. Entering through the double wooden door we found ourselves in a big tasting room with a long bar. A lovely woman with a Russian accent (the only bartender at the winery at that time) greeted us and offered a wine tasting for 30 Shekels. As an Israeli I replied and asked “How many wines we get to taste for this price?” When we heard that we taste 5 different wines we could not resist the offer.

We started with a chilled Viognier that left such a good impression on me that I bought some to take home! Fruity and Silky like a Viognier should be! Next we tested the Organic Rosé and the regular Rosé which was better than the organic. A bottle of the Rosé was also accompanied me home . Amphora has 3 lines of red wine: the basic Med-Red, Rhyton and Amphora which is the premium line of wines. We tasted the basic line which contains the Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah all were ready to drink but after tasting 70 other wines that particular week I decided to wait and report after tasting the higher quality wines Amphora has to offer (I hope this opportunity will present itself soon!)

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