Showing posts with label wine tours. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wine tours. Show all posts

Wine Tours in Israel

Israel is the land of Wine and Cheese! And today, you can experience that with an Israel Wine Tour.

Since biblical times Israel was known as a region that made quality wine. From excavations archeologists have uncovered over 20 ancient wine presses from over 2100 years ago in the Jerusalem Hills. Historians know that Israel exported millions of jugs of wine throughout the Mediterranean and Asian trading routes because archeologists have found wine jugs with the symbol of Israeli ports.

Israel has gone through her ups and downs within the wine industry but in 2011 the Israeli Wine Industry is thriving and on a huge up-swing. Boutique wineries are opening on a frequent basis and Israel is producing approximately 35 million bottles annually.


Now that Israelis, tourists and wine lovers from around the world can enjoy quality wine from Israel, they want to visit these vineyards just like they do in Napa, StellenboIsch, Bordeaux or Adelaide, but unfortunately Israel is not at the caliber of these countries, however it is getting there quickly.


Israel has over 300 wineries (35 industrial and the remaining medium and boutique size). Of these 300 wineries only a small percent are known by the majority of the Israeli wine lovers. Most of these wineries have a website, but not all websites are in English. The tourism around the wine industry is slowly growing but there is much needed work from the Ministry of Tourism, wineries and tour operators.


It is easy to set up a tour at the big wineries in Israel (Golan Heights, Tishbi Winery, Carmel Winery), but not all wineries have visitors centers, the directions are sometimes difficult, you need the cell phone of the winemaker who is not home (his winery is in his home), there are a lack of signs and no one wants to drink and drive. However, there are wine tour companies that coordinate wine tours in all five Wine Regions of Israel. They coordinate all logistics (transportation, wine expert, wine entrance fees, VIP services) and give the tourist the knowledge of winemaking, history of Israeli wine, and the trends in modern day Israeli wine industry.