Just in time for war, sommelier ranks list of affordable Israeli wines

According to sommelier Avi Ben Ami, it’s always the right time to drink wine. Even the less expensive vintages.

“It’s especially necessary during a war,” said Ben Ami, who began putting together wine industry events 23 years ago.

Six days before the US-Israel war with Iran, a panel of wine experts chose 18 affordable wines in Best Value, a Ben Ami wine event currently marking its 18th year.

This year, 128 wines were submitted and evaluated in a blind tasting by the panel of judges that included sommeliers, winemakers and wine industry professionals to evaluate wines with a price of under NIS 79 ($25)

Few Israeli boutique wineries are included, as most of the smaller, artisanal vineyards don’t offer wines in that price range, said Ben Ami, making it primarily a competition for wines from the larger Israeli wineries.

“There are fewer players in this, but these are wines that are fun to drink, they’re daily wines, and the real story here is that it’s a blind tasting,” said Ben Ami. “I used to write about wine, and the thing is, you’re always influenced by things, by who you know and the story behind the wine. In this challenge,  you don’t know what you’re tasting, and that’s the only way you make your choices.”

When Ben Ami first created Best Value 18 years ago, he set the NIS 79 price cap and it hasn’t changed since.

This year’s Best Value winners included several sauvignon blancs under NIS 79, three Chardonnays priced below NIS 50, and several other rosés and whites that cost less than NIS 79, all from Jerusalem, Zion, Teperberg, Tavor, Barkan, Mony and Carmel wineries.

The red wines included cabernet sauvignons, some under NIS 50, chosen from the Jerusalem, Barkan, Zion, Carmel Signature, Carmel and Tavor wineries.

There was also a selection of merlots, shiraz and other red blends from the abovementioned wineries, as well as several from the Recanati and Binyamina wineries.

The wines selected offer excellent value within an affordable price category, said Ben Ami, and they are well-crafted and enjoyable, and available year-round in restaurants and on retail shelves.

The competition is a sister event to Sommelier, Ben Ami’s annual two-day wine fair that’s also held in February and brings together some 10,000 wine drinkers, professionals and wine lovers, introducing them to Israeli and imported wines.

The event was initially only open to professionals for the first 15 years, and then expanded to include wine lovers who wanted to spend an evening or two tasting wines.

“It’s grown even more since the coronavirus,” said Ben Ami. “The young crowd now likes wine; they used to think wine was for the older folk.”

He launched Sommelier in 2008, after the stock market crash, and it has since become an event held before the Passover holiday, a major wine season for Israelis hosting seders and festive meals.

“It was such a dark time; everyone was asking what good wines you could find that were more affordable,” said Ben Ami. “It’s grown with the whole wine industry in Israel.”

About 70% of the wines served at Sommelier are Israeli, while the rest are imports. Ben Ami invites everyone, he said. “When it’s calmer, more of the imports show up.”

Ben Ami’s wine-tasting events began with Eshkol Hazahav, his now-annual wine competition that he established in 2002, after Chef Yonatan Roshfeld closed the restaurant where Ben Ami was sommelier.

“The restaurant closed, and it was the Second Intifada, and I said, ‘What’s next?'” said Ben Ami. “We had this new generation of great new wines and we wanted to offer some feedback.”

The upcoming Eshkol Hazahav awards will be presented on May 26, with the ceremony preceded by Hamsa Hamsa, a series of 5:55-minute wine lectures and tastings in Tel Aviv’s Heichal Hatarbut.

For tickets, go to this Eventbuzz link.