 On September 11th through October 2nd, Jonathan and I enjoyed our honeymoon in Croatia. We rented a small car and drove around the country enjoying the views, hiking, wine, eating, islands, people watching and being cut off from the World for a little bit.
Croatia is in the midst of starting to become a major wine country. It was an ancient wine country and there are wine presses from over 3000 years ago. Croatia went through a civil war from 1991 to 1995 and since then they have revitalized their tourist and wine industry.
 We started our jouney up north in the region of Zagorje which borders Slovenia. There were signs for local wineries everywhere! We did not hire a guide but went around by ourselves tasting the mostly white wines of the region. All the local people were very nice, although English was hard to come by. We enjoyed seeing the harvest which was done by local people.
Wine tasting was very easy in this region and we could fill a liter of wine for $3! Wine is a part of the daily culture in Croatia and they are proud of their local varieties and ideal wine climate.
The views from our apartment and when we drove was vineyards for as far as the eye could reach. It was really spectacular.
 Our second destination was Istria, which used to be ruled by the Italians so there is a definite influence of Italian food and culture. We stayed in a little town called Bale and drove all over Istria. We went in search for their truffles, olive oil and wine. There was more red wine options in Isrtia and their local variety is Zinfandel, but it is called Plavac, which is said to be native to Croatia.
If you are traveling to Istria, I highly recommend visiting the interior and the coastal town of Rovinj.
 We traveled down the Coast of Croatia to the island of RAB, then the old port town of Zadar and the hub of Split. We tasted delicious local wine and food throughout our trip.
We went to the markets and cooked even!
I highly recommend a trip to Croatia...my recommendation is to see it via car and stay at local places, not hotels.
If you would like to see pictures please click here.
If you are traveling to Croatia, please feel free to contact me at MyIsraelWineTours@gmail.com.
 On June 22nd, Harry and Susan, enjoyed a wine tour in the Upper Galilee. The day started at Galilee Mountain Winery where we took a tour of the facility and then par took in a tasting of the Viognier 2010, Avivim 2008, Cabernet Sauvignon-Shiraz 2009, Meron 2007 and Yiron 2007. They really enjoyed the Meron 2007 and thought the winery was very pleasant.
 The second winery we visited was Naaman Winery, which was their favorite, because Harry and Susan like small boutique wineries where you can talk to the winemaker and see how they are growing literally from the ground up. We tasted the whole series of Rami’s wines. We started with the Pink Floyd which is his rose, then we tasted the young Merlot which he called the Babi Marley (tribute to Bob Marley). We then continued to drink Rami’s Deep Purple, King Crimson, Black Velvet, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Harry and Susan loved all of Rami’s wines and can’t wait until they are exported!
 We then visited Adir Winery where we tasted 6 different goat’s cheese with a pairing of the Kerem Ben Zimra Cabernet Sauvignon 2009, Shiraz 2009, Plato Cabernet Sauvignon 2008, dessert wine and Port. The Plato was the most enjoyed wine with more complexity and roundness. The forth winery was Rimon Winery where the wines were not as enjoyed as much as the jams and pomegranate juice. Susan also received a great deal on the Pomegranate oil! The fifth and final winery we visited was Dalton Winery. At Dalton Winery we received a tasting of a wide range of wines from multiple series, olive oil and liqueurs. The wines that were enjoyed at Dalton were the Wild Yeast Viognier, Reserve Shiraz and Reserve Zinfandel.
Harry and Susan learned a lot about the modern Israeli wine industry during the day and are looking forward to visiting other wine regions in Israel on their next trip.
 On October 10, 2011, Eric and Vanessa celebrated their one year anniversary with a wine tour in the Carmel Region. We started the day at Amphorae Winery, which was going through a very special process of sorting the grapes that day. They only do this process twice a year during the harvest and only for their premium wines. Eric and Vanessa enjoyed a private tour and tasting of 5 wines. They really loved the Chardonnay and Med Red.
 After a nice walk through the botanical gardens of Ramat HaNadiv, we went to Tishbi Estate Winery and enjoyed lunch with a wine tasting. After a delicious lunch we went into the Wine and Chocolate tasting room and tasting the delicious wine jams, chocolates and wine.
 To digest all the food we strolled along the walking promenade in Zichron Yaakov before visiting Barak Dahan at Somek Winery. I showed them the unique and individualized way that Barak makes his wine and then we tasted the Chardonnay, Adom, Carignan, and Birkat HaNadiv.
Thet day was very special for Eric and Vanessa, who could not imagine spending their one year wedding anniversary any other way!
 The week of September 6th I took 18 Slovakians on a week wine tour. We started when they got off the plane at Tishbi Estate Winery. They enjoyed a tasting of some newly released red wines with a pairing of Valharona chocolates.
The second day we traveled up to the Galilee and enjoyed a stroll through Tsfat to wake up. We enjoyed a lunch at Adir Winery of kirshe, salad, bread, cheese and of course wine. We then traveled to Naaman Winery where they all tasted the full range of Rami's boutique wines.
We finished the day at the Golan Heights Winery where we enjoyed a tasting in the private room downstairs with 7 wines, including the Yarden Cabernet Sauvignon 2001 which was simply delciious.
 The third day we traveled to the Carmel Region and visited Ramat HaNadiv, Rothschild's Botanical Gardens to wake up in the morning. This day we only visited two wineries; Amphorae and Somek Winery.
The group enjoyed the intimate feeling of Somek Winery.
 The forth day of the wine tour we visited the Jerusalem Hills Wineries. I took them to the ancient wine press at Tzuba Winery. They enjoyed a tasting at Tzuba Winery, Agur Winery and Tzora Winery. We ended the day with lunch at Margot Cafe.
The fifth day, was a day of relaxation so on the way down to the Dead Sea they visited Yatir Winery. When they drove down to Eilat they also stopped at Sde Bokar winery.
 Sybil loves food, writing and showing people the secrets of the Jerusalem shuk, Mahane Yahuda. Sybil takes tourists and locals on tours of the shuk for an hour, in which she explains the history of the shuk and the secrets of the shuk.
She explained to me where she buys her fish, meat, poultry, certain fruits and veggies and all the restaurants in the shuk. We went to the nitty gritty back alleys of the shuk. I lived in Jerusalem for 8 months and shopped at the shuk every week but Sybil showed me a whole different side of the shuk that I leff in love with.
I highly recommend going on a shuk tour with Sybil. During the tour she doesn't want you to buy any food so she can go around in an hour. You have to shop at the end of tour, which was very nice for me.
You can contact Sybil at syb1023@aol.com
 For the small but budding wine community of Israel (and many local revelers), The Israel Wine Festival at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem is the pinnacle event of the year. Friends and celebrities — close to 10,000 of them — mingle outside between the museum’s buildings and trees. Wines from around the country were poured, as guests munch on locally made cheeses from places like Jacob’s Dairy.
The festival, which started on Monday and ends tonight, is in its eighth year and was started by owners of two Jerusalem wine shops, by Avi Ben and Smulik Shahar. The winery lineup consists of 40 Israeli wineries. This year’s newcomers included: Bazelet ha’Golan, Kitron, Ella Valley, Katlav, Gva’ot, Har Bracha, Chillag and others. More established wineries like Carmel and Golan Heights were there as well, as was Tishbi Winery and Binyamina Winery. And some of the boutique Israeli wineries like Tzuba Winery, Odem Mountain Winery and Yatir Winery also made appearances.
When asked which wines Ben he was most excited to taste he commented, “the excitement comes after the tasting — I’m a blank page each year.” As a wine professional, I enjoyed the festival Monday evening with my husband and friends and came away with some delicious discoveries. My forth Israeli wine festival, I cannot say it was better than last year, but it was as enjoyable. I tasted a few surprising wines and wines that have improved from last year. There was also a better food selection this year with, pasta, focaccia, sandwiches, cheese platters and chocolates as well.
Sampling all the varieties served is virtually impossible, as most wineries serve multiple wines. However, six wines sparked an interest in my pallet. Some are exported to the United States, while others are not. But they are more than worth seeking out on your next trip to Israel.
 Zion Winery: was founded in 1848 by the Shor Family in the Old City of Jerusalem. Today they produce four million bottles of wine and grape juice a year. While all of their wines are palatable, I was struck by their dry Emerald Riesling, a rare find in Israel. It was crisp and had a nice green apple finish. This wine would be great alone or paired with some fruit and nuts while sitting on the porch on a hot summer’s afternoon. Zion Winery is kosher and exported to the U.S..
Chillag Winery: was established in 1998 by Orna Chillag, one of the four female winemakers in Israel, and the only female owner of a winery in Israel. (She came dressed festively as a Greek goddess to the festival). The winery produces 20,000 bottles annually with grapes from the Upper Galilee that are made into wine in a facility located in the center of Israel. I was impressed with the Solo Cabernet Sauvignon 2007, which has a very attractive smell of black fruits and cassis with a leather and smoky taste. It would pair nicely with lamb or steak. Chillag is not kosher and is not exported.
Kadesh Barnea Winery: is located in the Negev desert and was founded by Alon Tzadok in 2000 and produces 50,000 bottles annually. I was pleasantly surprised with the improvements in the wines from last year to this year. I especially enjoyed their White Desert 2010 which is a blend of Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Mourvèdre which was oaked in American barrels for 6 months. It had a great almond, nutty flavor with a butterscotch texture. This wine would pair well with meat or fish, and especially with some camembert cheese. Kadesh Barnea is kosher and exported.
Gat Shamron Winery: shocked me with its quality. This winery was established in 2003 by Avigdor Sharon and Lior Nachum near Kfar Saba. They produce only 7,000 bottles annually. Their Cabernet Franc, Gatot semi-sweet red blend, a variety which is often looked down upon in the wine community, was surprisingly delightfully smooth and would be enjoyable with any meal or dessert. The wine I enjoyed most was their ice wine, which is made with frozen grapes. This is a winery to watch. Gat Shamron Winery is kosher, not exported and only sold at the winery.
Tzuba Winery: is located in the Jerusalem Hills and was established in 2005. Tzuba Winery is a boutique winery, producing 40,000 bottles annually but they are expanding and plan to triple their production in the coming years. Metsuda 2007 is a Bordeaux style blend with an elegant, smooth and well balanced wine that has great aging potential. This is a perfect steak wine without a question. Kosher and exported to the USA.
Meisher Winery: was established in 1991 by Ze’ev and Chaya Smilansky and currently produces 10,000 bottles annually. Meisher has been on my radar for a couple of years but it wasn’t until this festival that I really enjoyed their wines. Their Merlot 2007 was divine, well structured, easy to drink now but could age for a couple of more years. It was very fruity and had a hint of strawberry. Meisher is not kosher and is exported.
Esther Cohen, a Boston native who made aliyah, is the CEO of My Israel Wine Tours, a company that has taken over 500 people on 115 wine tours around Israel.
http://blogs.forward.com/the-jew-and-the-carrot/141545/#idc-container
My Israel Wine Tours: Drinking and driving - the acceptable way U.S. immigrant Esther Cohen's wine tours serve up vino for oenophiles and uninitiated alike. By Raphael Ahren
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/anglo-file/my-israel-wine-tours-drinking-and-driving-the-acceptable-way-1.379466Esther Cohen and her clients have made their way to an ancient winepress in the Judean mountains. Overlooking the breathtaking scenery on a recent Thursday, she explains that the three holes cut in the stones in front of them are 2,100 years old and in ancient times served as fermentation tanks, as the searing sun would shine on the grapes.
"They believe wine made here was brought to the Temple," says Cohen, 28, who immigrated to Israel three years ago and recently opened My Israel Wine Tours, a business focusing on English speakers living in or visiting Israel.
Just minutes before, Cohen's clients, Dani and Arielle Klein, were standing in a vineyard near Kibbutz Tzuba - keenly listening as Cohen talked about the wine making process, shared tidbits about the Israeli and international kosher wine industry and explained what actually makes wines kosher. "Israelis on average drink 4.6 liters per head per year," Cohen said, adding that the French consume 10 times that amount. The Kleins ask questions and take photos, but are secretly waiting for the true highlight of every wine tour: the tasting.
Since launching "My Israel Wine Tours" in January of 2010, Cohen has taken some 800 clients - both wine greenhorns like the Kleins and die hard aficionados and experts - to some of Israel's 300 wineries. Clients either choose which kind of wineries they want to visit or let Cohen create the itinerary for them, based on their preferences regarding size of the business, location and other factors such as whether the wines need to be kosher or not.
The Kleins, Orthodox Jews from New York, are not big wine connoisseurs. "What kind of wine do you usually drink?" Cohen had asked them in the car on the way from Jerusalem to the Judean mountains. They usually do not drink wine at all, besides Shabbat, when he makes Kiddush on sweet sparkling wine, said Dani, a marketing professional who in his free time runs YeahThatsKosher.com, a blog about food-related issues for observant travelers. "Everyone loves that," his wife added. "In this regard, we're typical American Jews."
Cohen sighed in disappointment. "I'm going to expand your palate today," she then said, and started the first part of her routine talking about the history of wine making in Israel. Because of Muslim dominion no alcohol was produced here for about 1,000 years, she says, until the dawn of Zionism in the 1880s. After a short survey of the main wine companies, she introduces her clients to the basics of wine making, such as the difference between a Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon.
About half an hour later, sitting on the balcony of the Tzuba estate winery, which is part of the kibbutz, the Kleins are being served their first tastings. Earton Green, the business's New York-born manager, and winemaker Paul Dubb, who moved to Israel from Cape Town, pour three or four cups of their best vino, as Cohen explains the different kinds of wine barrels, which feature hints of almonds, red grapefruit and green apples.
"I really like this one," Arielle finally says, after taking a sip of sweet dessert wine. "You see, we're not really wine people."
At the wine tour's second stop, however, at Kibbutz Tzora, near Beit Shemesh, Arielle gets more sophisticated. "I don't like dry, but this one has something sweet in it," she said about Tzora's Shoresh White, which consists of 85 percent Gewurztraminer and 15 percent Chardonnay.
Cohen herself says she grew up with Manishewitz and only fell in love with more distinguished vintages after taking a wine appreciation course while studying in New Zealand for a semester. "During that period I also dated this guy in Boston for two years who owned a liquor store," she recalled. "So we were going to wine exclusives and beer fests and I was learning very informally through him."
A few months after moving from Boston to Jerusalem in 2008, Cohen decided to travel up north, handing her resume to every winemaker she could find. She was soon hired by Tishbi in Zichron Yaakov, waiting tables at the company's visitors center and helping management with all aspects that require fluent English, including attending wine fairs across the country and abroad.
After working at Tisbhi for eight months, Cohen, who today lives in Tel Aviv, identified a market for organized wine tours. Not having any credentials in the field beyond the college course she took, she started learning more about Israeli wine and started offering her expertise while keeping her day job at Tishbi. Today, she is a full time wine guide and also has her own company, which plans to export Israeli bottles to the United States.
Producing wine in Israel has its challenges - corks, barrels and glass bottles are imported, the extra costs of kosher certification, the high price of water, and so on - but Cohen believes the success story of local wines is just getting starting.
"The wine industry is increasing by 10 percent every year," she said, adding that she expects the current number of wineries in Israel to grow from 300 to 400 within a decade. While leading Israeli industry experts agree that the business has impressively grown, some are unsure whether the trend is going to continue or plateau in the near future.
Either way, with the launch of "My Israel Wine Tours" Cohen did her new home country and herself a huge favor, according to Yoel Mansfeld, the director of Haifa University's Center for Tourism, Pilgrimage and Recreation Research.
"Wine tours geared at English speakers is a nice market, but a very good one, one that reaches people all over the world," said Mansfeld, who together with his student Noa Shor has studied wine tourism in Israel. "A lot of people are specifically interested in wine tourism and they will go across the globe in order to experience good wine, and especially the narratives and the stories and the culture behind it. Wine tourism is not only about tasting wine, it's about the landscapes, the territories, the culture, the people, history - it's about a lot of different subjects and things which are of interest and relate somehow to wine production and consumption."
Contact MyIsraelWineTours@gmail.com to set up a tour
 It has been a while since I last wrote about a wine tour. They are happening, I just have not had as much time to write about them since I just got married and had 40 guests in from abroad.
The wedding was amazing and the best day of my life thus far! At the wedding, we served Tzora Neve Ilan 2010, Tzora Givat Hachaluchim 2008, Agur Kessem 2009, Agur Rosa 2010, Agur Blanca 2010.
 During the wedding festivities, my in-laws, Jonathan's parents, Susan and Erik Amerikaner, hosted a wine tour for the out of town guests. We started the day with a tour and lunch and tasting at Tishbi Estate Winery. Everyone enjoyed my wine shpeel and seeing what my business consists of in Israel. The second winery we visited was Somek Winery, where Jonathan and I had our first kiss!
Thank you Susan and Erik for a fantastic day and the amazing My Israel Wine Tours shirts.
We love you!
 Deborah and Tal are no strangers to visiting Israel but this was their first time doing the "touristy" thing and visiting a brewery, dairy and 2 wineries. We started the day at Alexander Brewery with a private tour and tasting with Ori, the owner. We tasted the Blond and Ambre, which were enjoyed very much.
 We then visited Jacob's Dairy which to all of our surprise was having a festival for Shavuot and President Shimon Peres was speeking at the festival. We tasted honey, cheese, fresh bread and delicious olive oil.
We then visited Tishbi Estate Winery for a tour and tasting during lunch. We tasted the French Reisling 2010, Sauvignon Blanc 2010, Shiraz 2007 and Port-style wine. Tal learned a bit more on how to taste wine and some tips on how to buy wine at a shop.
 We ended the day with a tour at Carmel Winery exploring the barrel room that Rothschild built in 1893. Afterwards Deborah and Tal enjoyed a tasting of the Gewerstriminer 2010, Carignan 2009 and Muscat dessert wine.
Deborah, Tal and Ayalet had a great day learning about the Israeli wine industry and all the delicious wines we have to offer!
 Steve is an avid wine collector and is a frequent writer on the Robert Parker board. He brought his family to Israel to explore the history but also to enjoy the wine. We started the day with a drive to Yatir Winery in Tel Arad. We had a tour of the winery and then a tasting with the winemaker, Eran Goldwasser. We tasted the Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Yatir Blend and Yatir Forest. The tasting also included fantastic cheeses and bread. Steve’s favorite was the Yatir Forest.
 The second winery we visited was Clos de Gat where William, the export manager, toured us around the winery and to the ancient wine press. Everyone loved Clos de Gat, not so much all the dogs around the vineyards, but the vineyards and view was spectacular. We tasted the whole Harel series, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and the Ayalon Valley blend.
 We ended the day at Tzora Winery where the winemaker, Eran Pick, gave us a tasting with cheese, olive oil and bread. We were some of the first people to taste the Tzora Neve Ilan 2010 and Shoresh 2009 which was released only 6 hours beforehand! We compared a tasting with the Shoresh 2008 and 2009 which was very different blend and flavors. The Shoresh 2009 has great potential!
The day was enjoyed by everyone and was finished with dinner in Abu Gosh.
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