In a recent post on the wine forum he moderates, Israel’s leading food & wine critic Daniel Rogov noted that several of the leading Israeli boutiques will begin producing kosher wine starting with the 2010 vintage (that’s now!). The wineries include Flam and Tulip and Saslove. I am the US importer for both Flam and Tulip. [...]
Late last week, 420 cases of the new wines I bought from the top 5 wineries in Israel cleared US Customs and settled into our warehouse in Benicia, just south of Napa. And so I got to thinking about how I came to select these particular wines and what it means to be a wine [...]
We’re knee-deep now in all the details of readying our next shipment of several hundred cases of wine from Israel…label approvals and bottle-stickering, agreeing on payment terms and pricing with wineries, scheduling US visits from winemakers to support selling, negotiating pick-ups and all the freight forwarder details that need confirming. The wines will ship in [...]
Over the past 2 years, I’ve discovered how taking people into the Israeli wine scene broadens their understanding of what Israel is all about. 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 [...]
There are foods that can translate PLACE. Like wine. And olive oil, honey, cheese. There may be others. Wine is alchemy in action. Wine turns dirt into gold. Israeli wine has a unique PLACE to translate. You can begin answering interesting questions when you drink Israeli wine. Like…what did Jesus drink? And…what does merlot taste [...]
Some of you have heard me talking about a new LLC I formed with my pal Leah Jones here in Chicago. Leah dropped the idea that grew into the company over supper with me late one night at Matilda, her fave haunt, as easy as if she had said “please pass the salt” (this happens [...]
Here is an email exchange (minus the personal details) I have just had with a retailer in Illinois. Too bad she SO misses the point…but I will update you with her response… IF I get one. This is sort of a long post (sorry) but I want you to see the self-inflicted Mental Hurdles retailers [...]
Maybe this has happened somewhere else before with Israeli wine but I don’t think so. Israeli Wine Direct is beginning now to sell Futures (or Pre-Arrivals) of the best premium wines coming out of Israel. “Futures” is just a fancy wine-world way of saying we can let you buy limited exclusive premium wines now for [...]
As you know (thanks to my friend Ezra Butler who streamed the event on our blog), I spoke at Flam winery on August 20 to more than 30 reporters during a new wine release party about Israeli Wine Direct, our mission, what we offer that’s unique. I told the audience I founded IWD for 2 [...]
A great way to jumpstart your biz is to look for people you have things in common with and PLAY with them. So, here we go… Doron Rand, former CEO of Israel’s Recanati Winery (he’s on the right in the photo), who lives now in the San Franciso Bay Area, is joining Israeli Wine Direct [...]
