Israel’s Upper Galilee is one of the best areas to make wine. Dalton Winery was founded in 1993 by Mat Haruni and is consistently making high quality wines at reasonable prices. In fact, Daniel Rogov writes that “Dalton has earned a consistently good name for high quality wines, providing excellent value for money.” It is also unique in Israel for having a female winemaker, Na’ama Mualem, who trained in Australia and California.

Last Sunday, I traveled up north from Jerusalem to visit the Dalton Winery. Situated in a small cabin, surrounded by its vineyards (the absolutely fascinating book The Wine Route of Israel states that it is one of the few wineries in Israel surrounded by its own vineyards.) This reduces time between harvesting and storage, preserving the quality of its grape harvest.

Among other wines, I had the Dalton Cabernet Sauvignon, Alma blend, and several other excellent wines (I didn’t take formal tasting notes, as I was too busy enjoying their wine!). For export, they also make a mevushal Canaan Red (the Israeli version is not mevushal), which is an excellent wine for kosher weddings and B’nai Mitzvot, or just everyday drinking. They also make an excellent single vineyard, Reserve, and regular line. Dalton is an excellent New World producer in Israel. If you haven’t opened up a bottle, now is the time.