I have long enjoyed Vitkin wines, and I think that winemaker Assaf Paz is one of the most creative winemakers on the Israeli scene today. But I had never visited the winery in Kfar Vitkin, north of Netanya. That, combined with a request from my friends Ruth and David Kahan, who live in Ra’anana, to meet them at the winery, encouraged me to make the trek from Jerusalem.
I brought along my wine mentor, Yonatan Livni, who first introduced me to Vitkin’s wines.
The winery offers a series of wine tastings, ranging from a white or a red wine tasting of four wines (NIS 75); a mixed tasting of two reds, two whites, and a rosé (NIS 95); a premium tasting of eight to 10 wines (NIS 150); and a tasting of old vintages alongside new ones (NIS 250).
You will definitely need some food to soak up all that wine. The winery has a lovely menu of dairy dishes to go along with the wines. As we were four people, we were able to taste almost everything offered, and there was not one bad dish. The dishes cost NIS 45 to NIS 50 each, with a platter of vegetables and cheeses for two at NIS 100. Very reasonable prices for good-sized portions.
It was a warm, sunny day between rainstorms, and we sat outside the winery, looking at some of the vines. Chef Elihai Kruger, who came up with the menu, obviously enjoys making creative dairy food.
'Extraordinary' and 'unusual' dishes
Perhaps the most unusual dish was the one we tasted first, a roasted fennel salad with goat cheese, green onions, and roasted almonds. It inspired Ruth to try to make something similar at home for Shabbat. Stay tuned.
Another special dish was the “water burekas,” made using the Turkish method of cooking the dough before baking it, and filled with spinach and cheese. The layers of phyllo dough were delicious. The eggplant and tahini, a fairly common dish in both dairy and meat restaurants, had me going back for more, and the homemade focaccia, served hot from the oven, came with homemade olives, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.
Another extraordinary offering was homemade teff flour and grain crackers – teff being the gluten-free grain used to make the Ethiopian injera flatbread.
We didn’t have dessert, but there is a Basque cheesecake with a vegan berry sauce (NIS 50), brownies with a salted caramel sauce (NIS 45), and apple crumble with either a berry sauce or vanilla ice cream (NIS 45).
I definitely plan to go back.
Vitkin Winery
Kfar Vitkin
Hours: Sun.-Thur. 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
Friday 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
Phone: (09) 866-3505
Kashrut: Rabbanut Emek Hefer (The wine is mehadrin).
The writer was a guest of the restaurant.