Vacation Days - Skip if you don't want to read about wineries

An introductory note: I am getting less feedback from this blog, which I thought would be easier for people, than my former lengthy e-mails. It's a bit disappointing, and I can't tell if you are reading this. I haven't found a place on blogspot that provides statistics for who visits the blogs (I'm still new to this), so please write comments, or if you don't want to post something, send me an e-mail (steve@mhfund.org). I'm curious whether anyone besides my wife and daughter and one or two fans are reading this.

Note number 2: I am a fervent wine enthusiast (I am no expert). I love Israeli wines and by and large, have become friendly with many of the people involved in the wine industry. Enjoying wine is a great hobby, can be enjoyed by many different kinds of people with very varied budgets. I do charge a small amount to conduct wine tastings in Washington area. My credibility, relies in large part, on the people I get to meet during these summer trips. If you only care about mitzvahs and not wine, that's fine - you can still be my friend (Judy falls into this categort and I still like her a lot). Anyway, this entry is about wines and winemakers.

On Wednesday, Yossi, his son Daniel and I took off in a new direction, at least for us and we heading northeast into the Shomron. There we visited two wineries, both exceptional with exceptional people and wines. The first stop was near the village of Psagot to go to the beautiful new winery of the same name. The winemaker, Yaakov Berg, showed us around and because a large tasting and education program was going on in the main tasting room, we were in a smaller more intimate space, overlooking the barrel storage room. Yaakov is making over 40,000 bottles a year. We tasted a true Bordeaux style blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cab Franc and Petit Verdot called Edom (more for mountains you can see from the winery than the color of the wine). We also tasted a wonderful light, barely oaked viognier (becoming one of my favorite white varietals). Psagot is kosher and I highly recommend going there for a visit. Its not more than a 40 minute drive from Jerusalem on Hwy 60.

Next we made a new friend, Yoram Cohen at the Tanya winery. His production facility is in industrial area of the town of Ofra, so we met him there, tasted his cabernet from the tank and some other wines from the barrel. Then we went to his home, which is a combination community center, visitors center and home of at least 10 (he has 8 children). There is a pool, billiard table, place to have events, a tasting room that feels like a cave, and a small place where he serves meals. He grilled us some steaks. We spent hours with him, tasted some blends, his cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, merlot of several vintages. He is my age, warm, friendly, intuitive and apparently successful. There was no trace of politics, despite his chosen place of residence and business in the west bank. We had a delightful time. This is getting a bit long, and the poker game will be beginning soon, so I'll continue with Thursday later.