Wow. A year has passed and you can pretty much read last year’s description of this festival and know exactly what you are in for. I’m not going to re-write that post in full but I will summarize, rant and give the highlights – all in short order.

Excellent weather? Check. Nice venue? Check. Kosher food options? Check (nothing great there – but at least you can soak up the alcohol if you wanted). Good music and overall vibe? Check. Sounds great, right? Well not really. What was missing? WINERIES! It seemed like there were even less than last year and many of them were pouring only the absolute lowest end stuff (I’ll get to the exceptions later) – or worse, pulling that “under the table” crap. (End summary – begin rant) Honestly – I don’t get it. Either you want the public to taste your wines – or you don’t. I don’t beg for wine – I drink plenty. I do not need anyone to to do me a favor by giving me the supreme honor of tasting another overpriced, over-oaked, over-hyped masterpiece. Oh – you say your wine actually lives up to it’s hype and price tag? Then why aren’t you sharing that wine…. If there is no significant ROI from a marketing perspective, then don’t come. I would rather that then this crap. Perhaps then with the dwindling wineries, the organizers will realize that something has to change. This year, the price of a ticket rose to NIS 95 – which puts it in line with Sommelier – but Sommlier is MASSIVE in comparison. I mean, this is a joke. I got there at 7:15 – by 8:10 I had tasted through all of the whites. By 9:30 I was done (and my ride out wasn’t scheduled until 11pm!!!!!) Compare that to Sommelier where it could take 2 days to thoroughly get through ALL of the booths and wines. On the plus side (for me at least) I guess perhaps people realized this is NOT a value. The place was relatively empty. Maybe people got finally wised up and realized that there are other better cheaper alternatives to what is being presented here – from a wine perspective. That is this festival’s only hope. Because in Israel, the only way vendors change is when they feel it in their wallets. (End rant.)