Cigar Magazine recently took a group of their most important VIP customers to ‘Carmel Wine & Culture’. This is the new Center for Wine Culture at Carmel’s Zichron Ya’acov Wine Cellars. Cigar Magazine is one of the main lifestyle magazines in Israel, which has an influential, high profile readership. They organize a number of quality events for their readers during a calendar year. They were hosted by Israel Ivzan, Chairman of SCV des Grandes Caves and CEO of Carmel Winery.

The group started their Friday morning with breakfast at Bistro de Carmel, the winery restaurant. Sitting on the deck, outside, overlooking the activities of the winery, they were able to enjoy a good, healthy Israeli breakfast, accompanied by Young Selected Moscato 2009.

After this they were taken on a tour of the winery. This included seeing the largest winery in Israel, a small state of the art boutique winery and a pilot/ micro-winery, all on the same premises. They then visited the cellars built by the Rothschilds over a hundred years ago. It was explained that the story of Carmel was also the story of Israel and that Carmel also represented the history of Israeli wine from the beginnings of a modern industry to the recent quality revolution.

The subject of the tutored tasting that followed was ‘ABC’, which translates to ‘Anything But Chardonnay or Cabernet.’ The wines tasted were: Appellation Johannisberg Riesling 2008, Appellation Viognier 2008, Appellation Cabernet Franc 2007, Appellation Carignan 2006, Appellation Petite Sirah 2006 and Kayoumi Shiraz 2006.

After the tasting the group congregated in the garden in front of the Center of Wine Culture to enjoy a quality cigar, generously provided by Cigar Magazine, accompanied by a tasting of Carmel 100 Brandy, Grand Sabra Liqueur, and Carmel Vintage 2004, a port style wine. After taking time to talk, meet new friends and enjoy each other’s company, the group then dispersed to arrive home in time for Shabbat.