Galilee the Wine County

During this trip I have been reminded again and again that Israel is truly a beautiful and a magnificent country. It has it all. Beautiful nature, people, food, art, attraction of all sorts and mostly brain. Everybody here loves to say, that Israeli brain works all the time and will manage everywhere. So, it manages very well in the upper Galilee, creating one of the best wines in the world. Not many of you know, but Israel has a very substantial wine making market and Galilee is the heart and soul of it. Situated 1000 meters above the sea level, Galilee has a rich history of cultivating grapes and making wine as long as 2000 years ago. It has the climate, the soils, the slopes, the elevations and everything necessary to create the unique tastes and qualities that can easily compete with Napa or France. Dalton, Yarden, Gamla, Barkan etc., are the famous commercial  brands, that export millions of bottles every year world wide. Among them there are also medium size wineries and the boutique ones. You will need at least a month to visit all of them, we had only one day.
I was lucky to find a map of all Israeli wineries in the blog of somebody called Yossi. Comes out Yossi is a wine lover, who made an outstanding job of mapping all the wineries of Israel with their websites, addresses and phone numbers, on one simple Google map. "What a great man this Yossi"- I thought thanking him from the bottom of my heart for doing this. From now on I'm faithful Yossi's blog subscriber. Consequently, based on the map we started to head North to the Upper Galilee.

As expected the panorama was absolutely stunning. We couldn't help, but to stop every 20 minute to photograph again and again. Just breathing the air and enjoying this nature alone was already worth the trip. All I wanted was to pull out a blanket ,to lay down on the hill, to watch the sky and to get lost in it.

Finally we were approaching the big winery of Dalton for Shavuot wine event.

Dalton wine processors. Really liked the white and blue colors of this frame- matching the flag of Israel.

The wine was disappearing in the people's glasses.

The music was encouraging that.

Local cheese produce was delicious.

Wine recommendation:

We tasted about 8 different kinds, but our favorites were Petite Sirah and Merlot. Surprisingly for me, Merlot proved to be very impressive with some cherry and plum tones combined with my favorite vanilla flavor of a an oak. Petite Sirah was very rich and velvety with lavender, black olives and vanila tones. Low tannins and a long after taste. 

We filled our glasses again and sat in the garden to enjoy.

Then skipping Ben-Zimra, Rimon and Miles wineries, we continued to Harei Galil Winery at Moshav Yiron.

We even saved a turtle on the way.

Harei Galil is relatively a new winery which has been operating since 2000. It is owned by kibutz Yiron and Ramat haGolan winery. Besides the location and the wine that drew us to this place, the architectural value of the building couldn't be unnoticed. 

The view from the porch.

Here the harvested grapes start their way to the primary fermentation.

Secondary fermentation happens in the separte aluminum barrels.

Higher end aged wine.

The tasting room. 

Wine Recommendations:

After tasiting another 8 or so wines we picked our very favorites: Yiron, Meron and Ela.

Yiron- A well balanced, full bodied wine with long pleasant aftertaste. Something that you will happily put on a table with a meat dinner or pasta. Tones of wild berry, cherry and oak. 

Meron- Very rich, full bodied wine with a silky texture and very soft after taste. Some hints of nutmeg and chocolate with wild berry and blueberry.

Ela- Medium to full bodied wine with pleasant after taste. Plum, sour cherry, pitanga, violet blossom and herbs, along with notes of oak and a hint of butter. 

On the porch with a glass of Meron.

Very soon it became clear that we cannot drink any more and we need to eat. It was a pity cause there were more wineries ahead, but comes out two or three a day is enough and when the wine is good even two is enough. The food was calling and after a quick deliberation we decided to head to the direction of Rosh Pina, and dine either in Muscat or Pina ba Rosh restaurants. I ate in both of them long time ago, and while Muscat is more of a  high end place, both were excellent. However, in the end of the 20 min drive, we were so hungry that the choice naturally went to Pina ba Rosh since it was the whole 5 minutes closer.

The restaurant is situated on top of the hill in the Old Rosh Pina with magnificent views opening from its dining room terrace.It was very refreshing to sit in a shade, up there, enjoying the light breeze and just watching the horizon.

the menu seemed very interesting at first, however when the food has arrived I though that the best thing on the table was the lemonade..yes, the food was a total defeat, including the service..ups..It has totally downgraded from what it was in the past.. would never recommend, unless you want to order a simple salad and enjoy the views and the atmosphere only. 

'slightly' disappointed with food, but happy with wine we have paid the bill and started to drive back home...