Thousands of professionals, winemakers, restaurateurs, experts and just wine lovers, filled the Tel Aviv cultural hall yesterday (Tuesday), and will probably fill today as well.
The hall wore a holiday, replaced the theater productions for two days with thousands of wines from all over the world and hosted the "Sommelier 2023" exhibition - the professional, comprehensive and largest wine exhibition in Israel, marking its twenty-year anniversary.
Sommelier 2023 exhibition, photo: Moshe Ben Simhon
The Corona years caused the Israeli public to mature and become professional in everything related to wine culture.
Consumption increased in quantity and especially in the quality of the wines, the interest in the ancient grape nectar expanded to young and new audiences.
As a result of this,
the exhibition also grew and this year hosts dozens of exhibitors and thousands of wines - more than any previous exhibition.
The large participating wineries hardly need to be introduced - "Barken Wineries" came to it with the almost underground "Beta" series that was released in a limited edition;
"Golan Heights Winery", which after a few years of slumber was revived with a professional and energetic CEO - Assaf Ben Dov (ex-Maccabi Haifa), who came to tidy up the winery and restore the shine that had faded a little; "Dalton" Winery arrived with almost its entire range of wines; "Winery Jerusalem" are at the exhibition with great wines from the new vintage (don't miss the Sauvignon Blanc!); and "Carmel Wineries" poured into the visitors' glasses some of the premium wines of the winemaker Yiftach Peretz.
A variety of wines at the Culture Hall in Tel Aviv, photo: Moshe Ben Simhon
Alongside them, we met with the "La Fouret Blanche" winery, which, despite its French name, is actually located in the Yatir settlement, the "Tashbi" winery, which returned to exhibit after a few years of absence, the "Five Stones" winery, whose grapes grow in the Givat Yeshayahu area and for which this is the first participation in the exhibition, the "1848" winery "With Petit Syrah from Pei, "Jaffa Winery" which impressed us a lot, and more, and more - along with quite a few wine importers from all over Europe, South America
and even a new Moroccan wine that he made just these days with the kind help of the Shaked brothers.
Avi Ben Ami, producer of the exhibition and owner of Studio Ben Ami, says: "This year, quite a few alcohol importers - "AGTD", "Kaspirits", "Eurostandart" and more - are participating in the exhibition, which in previous years refrained from exhibiting, and this year,
after who discovered the importance of wine and strengthened their portfolio with wines, they present even in large complexes.
Moroccan wines for the first time in Israel, photo: Moshe Ben Simhon
Another and welcome trend in my view is the Israeli wine region complexes, in which groups of wineries with a common geographical denominator are presented together, for example, the Negev Wine Complex, the Habel Yehuda Wine Complex and the Jezreel Valley Winery Complex.
This year there is also an entire complex for distillers and liquor producers at the exhibition, among them, "Lavi Winery" and the "Hollander" distillery from the Jerusalem mountains, and of course, the cheeses of "Yakobs" and "Man Ha'Adama".
The Sommelier Exhibition is the annual opportunity to meet with everyone in the Israeli wine industry, to keep up to date with the new wine trends and series, to have a direct conversation with the winemakers and winery managers - and above all to taste and sip all these wonderful innovations.
Drink responsibly!
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