Before your tour, ask your private driver-guide to provide a suggested itinerary, and tell them if you want to tailor your tour to suit your interests. As this is a private tour, you can customize your itinerary and arrange a visit to one or perhaps more wineries of your own choice. If you wish, you can also stop at other food and drink hotspots, such as dairies, chocolate-makers or breweries.
On the day, hop inside your private, air-conditioned vehicle and travel into southern Israel. Made up of the Negev Desert, this arid, mountainous and scenic region is surprisingly good for wine production, and has undergone a wine revival, with several boutique wineries springing up during the 1990s.
Soak up the desert views as your guide sheds light on Israel’s wine industry and the origins of local winemaking. Viniculture in this part of the Middle East dates back over 3,000 years and today, Israel’s wine production is vibrant and fast-growing.
As you drive, learn, too, about the Negev’s early winemaking roots. The Nabateans planted grape-growing terraces here more than 2,000 years ago, and the region’s hot days and freezing cold nights lend the grapes a unique, rich taste.
If you’ve selected the standard itinerary, visit three different boutique wineries, each with its own production process and style of wines. Tour the production facilities with the knowledgeable winery host, and hear about the winery’s history, people and ethos.
Then, at each winery, enjoy a relaxed and illuminating wine tasting led by your host. Sample a number of the wines, swap notes on their flavors and aromas, and perhaps purchase some of your favorites (own expense).
After your visits, relax on your ride back to Tel Aviv, where your tour finishes with a hotel drop-off.
