Archive for the 'Questions' Category

Tel Aviv Wine Meet-up Monday July 19 at 8pm @ Par Derriere Wine Bar

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

Hey friends! In less than 24 hours from now my flight leaves O’Hare bound for Tel Aviv! I’m excited to get back to Israel to see friends and colleagues, take a deep(er) dive into the wine scene there, and drink some great wine. PLEASE JOIN ME FOR A WINE MEETUP MONDAY JULY 19 at 8pm [...]

The Wine is Here! The Wine is Here!

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

israeli wine, israeli wine direct, richard shaffer

Pics from the Margalit Tasting at The Tasting Room in Houston!

Saturday, June 12th, 2010

This past Tuesday we held a highly exclusive (12 people only!) Margalit vertical tasting at The Tasting Room in Houston This hip spot is one of the top wine bars in the US and I’m proud to have a handful of wines I import on their menu, including Pelter Trio. Enjoy the pics! We tasted [...]

The Israeli Wine Scene is all about FAMILY

Sunday, May 30th, 2010

Here’s the 2nd in a series of posts from my pal Esther Cohen, leading Israeli Wine Guide and owner of start-up My Israel Wine Tours. ********** It is well known that there is no sense of personal space in Israel because everyone is a part of a bigger family.  What I’ve learned about the Israeli [...]

Another Amazing Margalit Vertical Tasting…this one’s in Houston !!

Saturday, May 22nd, 2010

I tell people all the time how much I love people from Texas. I think Texas people and Israeli people have a lot in common and, in fact, if you pull out your maps, you will discover Texas and Israel share the same hot latitude…. and the same hot attitude, too! I’m in NYC this [...]

Introducing My Israel Wine Tours and Esther Cohen

Saturday, May 8th, 2010

The world’s best wine regions seem to all have active wine tourism along established wine routes. There’s a kind of reinforcement that happens for serious wine lovers when they step foot inside the spots whose wines they love. While Israel has been producing wine off and on for thousands of years, and today is home [...]

Taste Israel’s Best with Me in NYC on May 23rd!

Saturday, May 1st, 2010

I’m very excited about what I’m doing in NYC on Sunday May 23rd ! Margalit winery, led by father-son team Yair and Assaf, remains the leading Israeli “cult” winery, and one of the top wineries in the eastern Mediterranean today. Yair kindly sent me a set of “verticals” (a bunch of different vintages of the [...]

We Really Have No Idea

Monday, April 26th, 2010

I was struck today (again) by the fact that none of us fully understands all that goes into creating a bottle of wine and then getting it from (in my case ) Israel onto your kitchen counter or into a restaurant. This morning, I learned the details of the actual vessel that will be transporting [...]

Shipping Update: Where in the world is the Israeli Wine?!

Sunday, April 25th, 2010

Where in the world is Israeli Wine Direct’s next wine order? Well that’s a really good question! I had hoped the 500 or so cases of premium boutique Israeli juice I have just ordered would be in my US warehouse south of Napa by now. But the TTB wine label approval process and a few [...]

Israeli Wine as Effective Counter-Narrative

Sunday, April 4th, 2010

Most of the story or “narrative” we hear about Israel is highly-charged, political (left-leaning), filled with violent images. Often the narrative is of the supposed Big Bad Israeli Soldier mistreating the defenseless Palestinian. Or the whacked-out unshaven settler ruining the lives of otherwise perfectly happy moms in burkhas. Or ungrateful Israeli leaders who won’t get [...]