From israelplug:

In 1988, Eli-Gilbert Ben-Zaken decided to prove that Israeli wines could be up to European standard. He borrowed millions of dollars and started the Domaine du Castel Winery on a hillside near Jerusalem.

The entrepreneur learned mostly from going to wine shows, tasting wines, reading books and looking at the technical equipment.

The winery received three stars in the 2006 edition of Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book and some of his vintages have been chosen three times as Decanter Wine of the Month.

For decades Israel’s wines were known to be too sweet. But in the 1980s, wine making became more serious in the Golan Heights. Today there are a dozen large commercial wineries in Israel and hundreds of small wineries, some with bottles that are sold for $70 and up.

Israeli wines are being exported to many countries around the world, including to “serious” wine-drinking countries. And people are writing about them, too.

Read the rest here.