Fabulous clothing and shoes, wine stains and crushed toes. So the game goes.
Talking to wine writers at the Golan Heights Winery stand at Sommelier 2011
Israel and wine, newsworthy topics both, best when paired.
The Sommelier Exhibition 2011 has come and gone, and it was fast, busy, exciting, exhausting, and over as soon as it began. We at the Golan Heights Winery featured the 2008 Vintage – including 3 new single vineyard wines that were released this week, timed with the event: the Merlot from the Kela vineyard; the Syrah from the Tel Phares vineyard; and the Cabernet Sauvignon from the famed El Rom vineyard. We also introduced the Gamla Syrah 2009 (English), the newest addition to the Gamla series, a long time in the works – brilliant magenta color, vibrant fruity aroma bordering on the confectionary (and I mean in the best possible way), and such a fun wine it is. The jazzy new 2008 Yarden 2T, a blend of two Portuguese varietals Turiga Nacional and Tinta Cao, was also a huge hit – lighter bodied yet complex, something we Israelis are not used to… and should be a great pleasure to get to know.
In other fascinating wine news, I read this interesting piece on 8 Budget-Friendly Destination for Wine Lovers. Ever thought of going to Thailand for a tour of wine country? Umm… never. But for $50 a tour, $5 a bottle, and a hotel for $15, your plane ticket is your largest expenditure (which frankly, is not small potatoes, but we’ll ignore that). Apparently it’s brilliant fun to see Thailand’s 3 wine-growing regions that are able to harvest twice annually because of the wet and hot climate. All the others I’d heard of and have actually considered. Hungary (Tokaj – now why in the world wouldn’t I?) and Cyprus (fascinated by Greek-Turkish wines – millenia-old traditions) especially.
OK – on the bizarre, awesome, I-never-would-have-thunk-it, front, a Japanese comic book (the genre is known as Manga), all about wine – “Drops of God.” First published in 2004, it’s been translated into English, and it’s brilliant and fascinating. Wine Manga. Wow. It was a smash hit in France, a sensation in South Korea, and it introduced wine culture to large parts of Asia. Check out the article and the Wikipedia page. I’m buying this.
Otherwise – I’ve been working and kayaking and that’s about it. Mostly working. And consuming junk food, cucumbers, and tuna fish sandwiches. Ah life. And wine, don’t forget the wine. My teeth turned an absurd shade of nasty smeared blackish purple over the past two days at the exhibition (not because I drank, god forbid while I work, at least not much) but because I was designated taster for most of the time – testing for oxidized and corked wines. Thank goodness for baking soda.
And to close, a beautiful Ernest Hemingway quotation I stumbled upon today:
Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been brought to the greatest perfection, and it offers a greater range for enjoyment and appreciation than, possibly, any other purely sensory thing.
Irène Sharon Hodes 