While the competition itself is a closed event, in the following week the organizers are putting together a three day event coined Tasting the Gold where visitors will have the opportunity to taste the winning vinos
There are many discussions within the Israeli wine industry about the influx in wine festivals, competitions and wine events over the past 2-3 years. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for any event that promotes wine culture and exposes wine aficionados to new wines and wineries. However, it is important to bear in mind that Israeli wineries, even the larger ones, have limited resources and as such often select to exhibit and pour their wines at events that provide the best exposure to existing and hopefully new customers. With wine competitions the situation is a bit different. There are a handful of competitions and the criticism here is more on the fact the some of the local competitions aren’t representative as many wineries don’t participate. The second aspect is the fact that in some wine competitions it seems that every participating receives some sort of award or recognition, making the awards less relevant in the mind of consumers. Last but not least is the issue of transparency and uniformity: the division into sub and niche categories within the competition also creates what might seem as “artificial winners” and giving out medals like gold, double gold, triple gold etc. is also not very helpful. This goes to say that medals and awards are nice to have and can help with exposure and marketing, but, at the end of the day, Bronze or Gold medal your personal taste is the one that counts.
This week, an international wine competition is taking place in Jerusalem – TerraVino 2013. This initiative by Mr. Haim Gan of the Grape Man in Jaffa is organized annually under the auspices of the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV) – one of the world’s most important wine related organizations.
While the competition itself is a closed event, in the following week the organizers are putting together a three day event coined Tasting the Gold where visitors will have the opportunity to taste the winning vinos. The event will take place at the newly renovated First Station compound in Jerusalem and in collaboration with the "Hamshushalaim" culinary festival.
The event will take place on the following dates:
Thursday |19/12/13| 18:00-1:00
Friday |20/12/13| 14:00-1:00 Saturday |21/12/13| 18:00-1:00
Saturday |21/12/13| 18:00-1:00
L’Chaim!
