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The Tishbi family came to Israel in the late 19th century from Europe and established their home and winery in the beautiful Mediterranean town of Zichron Yaacov.

They had been chosen by Baron Rothschild of Chateau Lafite in France to plant and develop vineyards on the land in 1882 and now have vineyards all across Israel.

Today, they are one of Israel’s most well-known wine producers now with an eye to export their line of olive oil, honey, and wine jellies + preserves.

Oshra Tishbi sent me her fine food line-up line-up to taste (I’m still waiting for the olive oil and honey…which is what I am most interested in!).

All of their fine foods, like their wines, happen to also be kosher.

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I love finding ways to shrink the time between the Urge to Acquire something we value and the actual Ability to Acquire that something down to, well, nothing.

This starts to do that.

And you know Amazon is launching an online wine retail shop, right?

Hhhhmmmmm…

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Our next shipment of wine from Israel left the port of Haifa last week bound for California in a refrigerated container! A refrigerated container costs me A LOT more but it’s the only way to ensure the quality of the wine we bring to you. You should be asking other people you buy imported wine from if their wines are shipped in a “reefer”.

The shipper tells us the wine should arrive on or around July 26 into Oakland and then take a couple of days to clear Customs and get into the warehouse in Benecia, just south of Napa.

We intend to hold a series of New Wine Arrival Parties in cities across the US as soon as the juice arrives and settles. If you care to host one, please let me know.

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I have had for some time now the great pleasure of knowing one of the front-line heroes pushing forward the re-emergence of the Israeli wine world in the US.

His name is Jim Veal and he is the Director of Trade and Investment Promotion for the Government of Israel’s Economic Office in Houston.

He works tirelessly to re-brand Israeli wines in the minds of everyone he meets. He understands the power of wine to bring people together from different backgrounds and countries.

I recently sat with him for an interview so you could get to know him a bit like I have. Here’s how our chat went:

Tell us about yourself… and the Israeli govt agency you work for… and your role there?

I came into my position with Israel after thirty years in the software business, the last few of which, I was fortunate enough to represent cutting edge Israeli niche software companies. I learned to love the spirit and drive of the Israeli people, and the determination to be the best at every endeavor, but it is their creativity and innovation that fascinated me the most, and as I worked in that environment, I learned many things most Americans are not aware of. For example, over 80% of the medical devices in use in American hospitals have an Israeli thumbprint on them somewhere. Most of us have a friend or loved one that was treated, perhaps even saved, by innovative Israeli technology. We need to all know that. We need to know that Israel is an integral part of our lives, on a day to day basis, in an extremely positive way, across many industries. In my role today as Director of Trade with the Israeli Government Economic Office, I am charged with the responsibility of developing cooperation and collaboration between American and Israeli businesses, where it makes sense, and where it is a win for all concerned. This is literally the most fun and most meaningful thing I have ever done in my life.

Israel make great wines, world class wines, but who knows this? Not many today, but that is changing. That creative and innovative spirit of the Israeli people has merged with the old world art of fine winemaking, and in a short period of time, the Israeli winemaking community has grown and improved dramatically, and they now pour wonderful wines, of many varieties, comparable in quality to the finest wines available. For me it is a very personal thing. I love wine. It starts there, but the importance of wine goes far beyond my personal enjoyment of its consumption! Wine is the only beverage that is alive in the bottle, that grows and changes over time, that truly has a spiritual significance. Wine originated from the area that is now Israel, thousands of years ago. In my Christian faith, it was wine that Christ said was his own blood. This was said at the last Supper which was actually a Jewish Seder. While skill and technology and love go into making fine wine, at the end of the day, the ultimate result of the winemaking process is controlled by the Earth and the Sky, not man. Wine links us all through history, Faith, friendship and fun, and in simple terms, “Wine brings people together.” Nothing is more important than that. Israelis, Americans and all people can benefit from coming together.

Who do you think is the audience for Israeli wines?

In the past, Israeli wine was linked to Religious services and the concept of Kosher, and this had given wines from Israel a negative connotation as far as the actual quality of the wine was concerned. Today there are many wonderful Israeli wines, some just happen to be Kosher, some aren’t. And to the serious wine drinker who is not Jewish, or does not keep Kosher, it makes no difference to the quality of the wine. If it is good, people will drink it. We have already proven this to be true, that these wines will have a broad and deep audience, from both the casual wine drinker, and serious oenophile. Monday, we filled the Reserve Room, at The tasting Room Wine Bar in Houston with 150 people to taste six Israeli wines, in what became one of the largest wine tastings in the history of what is the largest Wine bar in the world. The following night, almost 100 people attended a gourmet dinner at Carmelo’s, a fine dining restaurant, where the food was paired with four Israeli wines. The crowd universally praised all four wines. This has never happened here before, and both events were huge successes. This wine is outstanding. The market is there, we just have to get the wines in front of them.

How can we get more Americans excited about wine from Israel?

By doing what Richard is doing. Take the wine to the people. “It starts in the glass.” This my mantra. Tastings, dinners, everywhere, ten people, a hundred people. Whatever we can do to put Israeli wines in those glasses. The promotion of wine is viral. Word of mouth is vital. Then as demand is created, the distribution channel responds, and the wines find their way onto the shelves and wine lists. Then, it develops a life of its own. In my role with the Government, I want to use Israeli Wines to cross-promote other Israeli Initiatives. At “Bio-Atlanta” in May, the world’s largest trade conference for the Life Sciences, every country in the world with a Life Science industry presence had a pavilion. Every one of these countries with a wine producing region, was serving their wines at their pavilions, all week long! As I said, wine brings people together.

What are some of your favorite Israeli wines?

There are so many I have yet to try, but a few come to mind immediately. For a light crisp white wine, full of flavor and great for the summer heat, the Pelter sauvignon blanc is a delicious white wine. The Pelter Trio, a red blend, has a wonderful nose, and a complexity that is both delicious and friendly. Part of the reason I like it is not only because it tastes so good to me, but I watched a number of very casual wine drinkers enjoying it tremendously! The Tulip “Mostly” Shiraz, which was one of the wines at our dinner, was a big surprise for me, a great mouthful of smooth fruit and bold flavor that pairs well with food, but I’d like to take a bottle out on the deck in the evening and savor it alone! The Flam and Margalit cabernets are extraordinary by any measure, and beat two expensive, highly rated California cabernets, in a brown bagged, blind taste test, by very significant margins. In this blind competition, the sommelier who selected the California wines, picked an Israeli wine as his number one choice. That is powerful, and as he said later, “it was far and away the best.” These are wines I am happy to drink and proud to serve. You will be too.

Pic Credit: Ed Schipul - (Jim Veal is on the left beside me)

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I am proud to have Israeli wines from our growing premium portfolio on the wine menus of 2 of the Top 50 Best New Restaurants in the US, according to the folks at Travel + Leisure.

Zahav in Philadelphia and Terroir in Manhattan

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This new site lets you search for BYO places in your favorite large city and bring your favorite bottle with you.

Here’s some basic BYO etiquette though:

1) it’s extremely rude to bring a bottle BYO that’s on the restaurant’s wine menu

2) it’s extremely rude to bring a cheap bottle in – No 2 Buck Chuck, No Yellow Tail

3) it’s proper to bring a decent bottle, something special and then share a taste with your server

It’s a good idea to order something unique directly from a special winery or your favorite importer and bring it in along with a good story to share.

Enjoy!

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I brought to the party two wines we import that made it onto Israeli food & wine critic Daniel Rogov’s Top 10 Israeli Wines List last year:

Margalit Special Reserve Cabernet 2006

and

Flam Cabernet Reserve 2005

When I arrived to the event in Houston, I asked The Tasting Room’s top sommelier, Tony, to select what he believed to be the best comparable Cabs in his cellar and have someone bag all of the wines so that at the end of the evening he and I and everyone in the audience could taste and rank them blind.

Here are the 2 Cabs The Tasting Room picked for the friendly blind-tasting competition:

Stags Leap Napa Valley Cabernet 2005 and Rubicon Estate Cask Cab 2005

People: these are serious wines representative of the good quality Cabs Napa is producing. I did not pick these wines; The Tasting Room did.

Tony and I each selected blind the Flam Cabernet Reserve 2005 as our favorite wine of the four.

The audience overwhelmingly picked the Margalit as their favorite and the Flam wine as their very close second.

It wasn’t close. The Israeli wines were overwhelmingly preferred by all of us that night.

Was this a scientific experiment? Ummm no, of course not.

Was it fun? YES

Was it meaningful and surprising? YES

What’s the message? The Original Wine World has re-emerged as a powerhouse wine producer and only a few people have noticed yet but that’s all about to change.

We’re going to keep doing more and more of these friendly blind tastings everywhere I go.

And they’re going to become more formalized and receive more attention.

I just bet the news of this one makes into the Houston Chronicle…..stay tuned….

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This pic was taken by a cell phone camera so pardon the lack of clarity on some of the bottle shots.

This is a picture of 5 of the wines we import placed predominantly in a major retailer.

Anyone want to take a guess in the Comment section as to Where In The World this might be?

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I love the big-hearted people of Texas.

I love their energy.

I love the way Texans approach the world in a BIG postive way and love to make BIG cool stuff happen, especially pals of mine from Houston like Maggie and Monica.

Recently, the Houston ABC News affiliate produced a great news piece on the re-emergence of the Israeli wine world.

It’s a testimony to the coolness of Houstonians that Houston will be a major part of the launch of Israeli wine in the US.

PLEASE join me for an Israeli wine tasting at The Tasting Room’s Uptown Park location in Houston for a tasting of a half-dozen hand-crafted Israeli wines from small mostly family-owned boutique wineries there I am very Proud to Pour.

Date: Monday June 15

Place: The Tasting Room, Uptown Park location, Houston

Time: 5-9pm — come anytime during that time you are able!

Cost: $15 includes wine and appetizers

You can order the wines we are pouring for home delivery and sign up for our Proud to Pour Wine Club on the spot.

I hope to see you in Houston next week!

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This Membership is a $300 value!

Your dad will receive 6 shipments of handcrafted wine from boutique wineries in Israel and invitations to attend live winemaker interviews and chats.

Your dad has gotta live in one of these states, ok? CA, DC, IL, NY, FL, GA, NC, OR, WA, OH, TX

Here’s all you have to do….

1) Tell us why your Dad deserves this Israeli wine club membership more than everybody else’s Dad in a text or video entry in the Comments section below

2) Tweet this post (just use the Tweet This Post button below) and/or link to it on your Facebook profile as follows : My dad deserves wine from @israeliwine a helluva lot more than your dad does

That’s it!

Good luck!

P.S. Contestants get added to our Israeli Wine Direct Newsletter which contains news and special offers.

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The wines will ship in a refrigerated container (this is VERY important!!! and something I am committed to) out of the port of Haifa in Israel, exit the Mediterranean, cross the Atlantic Ocean, come through the Panama Canal and up along the California coast to settle in Oakland. There the wines will clear US Customs and be trucked to our warehouse in Benecia, south of Napa. It’s a 30-40 day trek from start to finish.

Here are the wines we expect to be on this next shipment, most of them new vintages of great wines we have had success with here in the US already:

Flam Sauvignon Blanc / Chardonnay 2008

Flam Classico 2007

Flam Cabernet Reserve 2005

Margalit Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

Margalit Special Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

Margalit Enigma 2006

Pelter Trio 2007

Pelter Unoaked Chardonnay 2008

Pelter Sauvignon Blanc 2008

Pelter T-Selection Cabernet Franc 2007

Pelter T-Selection Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

Tulip Mostly Shiraz 2007

Tulip White Tulip 2008

Tulip Mostly Cabernet Franc 2007

Tulip Syrah Reserve 2007

Tzora Neve Ilan 2006

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The wine takes them well behind what I have come to call the CNN Curtain.

If you haven’t heard, we just launched our Proud to Pour Wine Tour  and we’re excited to get the word out!

The Tour is a revved up Members Only Wine Club that takes you on a tasting tour of the Upper  Galilee and the Judean Hills through regular shipments to your door of handcrafted Israeli wines and other goodies, and includes wine discounts and invites to live interactions with winemakers.

I’d like to ask for your help spreading the word about the Proud to Pour Tour.

As a Thank You for helping us change the (mis)perception of Israel and Israeli wine one bottle at a time, we have created a formal Thank You program!

Here’s how it works….

You earn points when you refer people to us who actually then sign-up for either Tour #1 or Tour #2 Membership in the Proud to Pour Tour.

The only way we know you referred them is if they (from their email address) write to tell me you’re the reason they signed up.

You then earn points for the different sign-ups, as follows:

• every sign-up in a Tour #1 Tour earns you 20 points
• every sign-up in a Tour #2 Tour earns you 10 points

At any point after they have purchased at least 2 Member shipments you can turn your points into prizes, as follows:

• 60 points = we set you up with a wine credit (wine + shipping) of $180
• 100 points = we enroll you or someone you gift it to in Tour #2
• 200 points = we enroll you or someone you gift it to in Tour #1
• 400 points = we get you a round-trip ticket to Israel (limited to $1200 value)

So…what do you think?

Will you help me tell people we finally have wines from Israel we can all be Proud to Pour and Proud to Share?

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Does it mean anything at all beyond being a vehicle for catching a “buzz”? (I hope so, since wine is the most metaphysical food in the Universe)

Is the wine you drink and who you buy it from a reflection of what/who/where you care about?

Think about what (and how) you drink? What does it say about you?

What’s the message, the energy, the announcements you make (consciously or not) by what and how you drink?

Or do you simply buy wine on auto-pilot, completely unconscious…the way you might buy Cheerios or toilet paper?

I realize people buy wine (or anything for that matter!) for various reasons and that sometimes wine is just wine and not a social or personal “object”.

My experience though is that Americans, now more than ever, are searching for foods (wine is food) that connects them to People and Place and Process (i.e., organic). Food that means something, that somehow represents what the eater finds of value.

Do you drink wine whose label you’d wear on your t-shirt? 

Does the wine you drink mean anything?

How can Israeli wine – drinking it and sharing it with others – mean something to you and about you?

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The Houston ABC news team got us started with some great coverage.

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Watch this 8 minute video to learn what the Proud to Pour Tour is, how we came to call it that, and the benefits of Membership in the Tour.

Then Join Us on the Tour. Then gift a friend or family member a Tour Membership, as well.

And get ready to take a tasting tour of Israel’s great wine regions and get packed for a REAL LIVE Israeli wine tour with us later this year.

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It’s great when your kids turn out better than you – kinder, smarter, bigger in every way.

Here’s a pic we took of him Thursday night before his bar mitzvah during a final run-through of his chanting of his Torah portion – Kedoshim from the book of Leviticus.

And here, in its entirety, are the comments he shared with 400 people (mostly adults we did not know) after he read. He wrote this… not me and not the Rabbi. Noah gave his permission for me to share. Enjoy.

Bar Mitzvah

 Shabbat Shalom. I would like to thank my friends and family for traveling from faraway places like North Carolina, Tennessee, and New York. I would also like to thank my friends and family from around here for being here with me to celebrate this important day in my life.

Today I am a Bar Mitzvah. Literally, Bar Mitzvah means Son of the Mitzvah. A Mitzvah is a commandment in the Torah given directly by God. Even the name is a hint about what this milestone truly means. When I became a Bar Mitzvah, I took the responsibility for, myself, really. My parents are no longer responsible for my actions in the eyes of God. I am sure that my parents are pretty happy about this, even though they can’t kick me out of the house yet. I am also hopeful that I can receive this responsibility and make good of it. Every week we as Jews read a different segment of the Torah. This weeks portion happens to be called Kedoshim and it contains the Mitzvah: Kedoshim Ti’hiyu, to be holy.

 I used to think that being holy simply meant the following of exact halachic rules, praying three times a day, eating kosher…etc. Now, after studying my parasha, Kedoshim, I have learned that that is not the whole truth. One of the most prominent commentators of the Torah is the Ramban, or Nachmanides. He lived in Spain in the 13th century. He says that people who treat Judaism like a checklist, ‘today I… didn’t eat pork, prayed three times a day, and washed my hands when I woke up.’ But are not very kind, are not very holy either. He calls these people “Scoundrels within the bounds of Torah”. Or, in Hebrew Naval Birshut Hatorah. The Ramban also says that holiness is discipline. He says that when a free man has complete control over all of the different aspects of his life, actions, desires, and temptations and places them down at Gods will, he is holy. We are supposed to elevate ourselves above the bare minimum. For example, in a race, you have to run at at least a certain speed to even qualify for that particular race.The philosopher Martin Buber says that we shouldn’t be trying to elevate ourselves above our peers but we should be more focused on our relationships with them and this will bring us to be more holy. This shows that the law of holiness, or the holiness code, as Kedoshim is sometimes referred to as, cuts across every single aspect of life and also that anyone can become holy, God does not demand and expect the impossible from us. He is not reserving this spot of ‘holiness’ for the elite. God says to be holy and expects us to try to bring ourselves closer to him and try to emulate him. We can make anything in the world ‘holy’, be it an object, person, or even time, to bring if we use it to bring us closer to God. If we use the time to try and bring ourselves closer to Him then it is holy. 

 I’d like to share a familiar story in an unfamiliar way about the two great Rabbis Shamai and Hillel. This story comes from the Oral Tradition of the Jewish people, called the Talmud. It is from Tractate Shabbat. ‘One day a man came to Shamai and asked him to convert him, but on his own conditions which were that Shamai do it while the man stood on one foot. He wanted Judaism on his own terms. The text then goes on to say Shamai then proceeded to throw him out with the pillars in his hand. But, what does this mean? Was Shamai holding the entire building in his hand? No, we learn that when the story says this it is referring to the STRUCTURE of the Jewish community. The story is saying that Shamai was open to letting the man into the community but not on the man’s terms. This man could not just walk into their “club” and tell them how to run things. Then, the man headed to Hillel to ask him the very same question. Hillel took this issue and sort of spun it upside down. First, he converted the man, then he told the man, what you find hateful, do not do unto others. In the text of My Torah portion, this is a positive commandment “Vei-ahavta l’rei-acha kamocha” “Love your neighbor as yourself.” And Hillel turned it around. Because sometimes doing the right thing, can mean doing nothing at all. After he told the man this, he told him, the rest is commentary to this, go and learn it. This is one of the things that most people don’t know. Most people think that the story ends with Hillel converting the man and telling him that one sentence. This shows that Hillel was not one to overly condense things and turn something complex into something that wouldn’t need much thought. He fulfilled the man’s wish and then AFTER he was converted he told him to learn the rest.

  The Ramban says that amidst all of many strange Mitzvot, in a strange Torah Portion, which happens to be the precise center and goal of the entire Torah, there is a heart. This heart, or core is to Love your neighbor as yourself. Hillel and Shamai have two different takes of this. Shamai took the STRUCTURE of Judaism and put it in front of the man. He said here is what you’ve got to do, the heart will come later, the emotion will come later. Hillel knew a great deal about human nature and decides to turn it around. He says that most people need that emotional feel good, that heart, that core, and then, you can build around it. If somebody came up to you and just started telling you what to do, what would you do? You would most likely look at the man like he is crazy “what?!” But, if you get a hold on that heart, you can begin to build a structure around it, and this is what Hillel does. People who only have the structure but no heart are in the words of the Ramban a scoundrel, hiding behind the Torah.Here are three things I learned that I learned that I didn’t know before about holiness and maybe, you will be able to take it with you also. Firstly, the doing of exact Mitzvot is NOT holiness in its whole, you must be a good person to other people also. Number two, Hillel took “Love your neighbor as yourself” and spun it on its head, turning it into a negative mitzvah, or a prohibition. Hillel wanted the man to see that being holy isn’t just about going around and DOING things. Being holy also encompasses having a sense of control over yourself and NOT doing something. “What you find hateful don’t do to others.” And this is the core and heart of holiness. Last, The combination of heart and structure. One cannot  go on without the other. With only the structure you are a “Scoundrel within the bounds of Torah” and with only the heart, your emotions can get the better of you, you need some sort of benchmark or measuring stick of right and wrong.

 I would like to give out a few thank yous to people who have really helped me prepare for my Bar Mitzvah, helped me with all the details, or just sat with me as I thought over the different aspects of becoming a Bar Mitzvah. Firstly, my parents. They are unbelievable, they helped me to polish my speech and also told me to practice my Torah portion whenever I didn’t want to. My siblings, Micah, Hannah, and Zeke. Micah for the times she would sit with me while I learned, Hannah, for making me laugh when I was stressed out those hard, few weeks before my Bar Mitzvah, and Zeke who is my first baby brother and the makings of a great person I am sure. Next, My good friend, Rabbi Gifter who couldn’t be here with us today. Rabbi Engel, who was a great person to learn with and give me pointers on how to speak to a crowd and on the content of my speech. Rafi Lowenstien, who was a great help when learning Kabbalat Shabbat. The Lowenstiens, for hosting my family for a delicious Shabbat dinner last night. And lastly, all of my teachers at Solomon Schechter Day School, who, are probably the reason why I am here in this particular position in the Jewish community today.

Shabbat Shalom 

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See the wildflowers that blossomed nearby them this year!

His wonderful wife Chaya is standing amidst them.

Zeev annd Chaya stayed with our family in Chicago for a long weekend earlier this year.

The Meishar wine that has been a hit of our portfolio is the Meishar 730 Cab. If you want to taste what Cabernet tastes like when it grows in Israeli heat and sand, get this wine. I can pick it out of a line-up easily – it tastes like a particular place, which is how I like my wines.

And here’s the packaging on a new dessert wine they have produced. Maybe we will bring you some later this year; I have never tasted anything quite like it, made from the muscat grape.

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