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Lifestyle Food Jules Polonetsky Are Israeli wines world-class? Those like me with a strong affinity for our homeland have no doubt, and we can point to Israeli wineries that regularly are awarded top scores. Wineries such as Castel, Flam and the Golan Heights Winery rack up medals at competitions worldwide. Jezreel Winery’s Carignan recently became the first kosher and Israeli wine on the menu at a 3-star Michelin restaurant in France.

But it’s clear that the broader wine world has not taken much note of Israeli wines. Walk into any general wine store and there are always sections devoted to France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria and sometimes Greece. Argentina and Chile are represented, as are Australia and South Africa.



Several states in the U.S. are a mainstay with California, Oregon and Washington usually receiving top billing.

There is never an Israeli wine section, outside of kosher wine stores. There may be a kosher wine section — with Israeli wines represented for the convenience of the kosher consumer — but general customers have no exposure to Israel as a wine region. The WSET 3 course I took recently is the standard in the wine trade and requires extensive knowledge about winemaking in dozens of areas of the world.

Israel is not included. Why is this? It’s true that creating a reputation for a region in the world of wine can take many decades, given the long history of winemaking in the top areas. Although there is a historic record of winemaking in Israe.

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