A wine tasting evening organized by the Rehovot chapter of ESRA, and held recently at the home of Annice and Ira Grinberg, was judged by many of the enthusiastic wine-bibbers present to have been the chapter’s most successful event of the year. The evening was highlighted by a fascinating talk by Prof. Mike Fainzilber, which was deemed to have been "interesting, informative, humorous and down to earth". Prof. Fainzilber wears one hat as a neurochemist noted for his studies of the transmission of complex information along nerve fibers, and a second hat as an oenophile (or wine connoisseur). Perhaps this is not surprising, as what more charming piece of information could travel along a nerve than the taste of a good wine?

Mike’s presentation involved both experiment and theory, as befits a lecture by a scientist. The audience sat at tables laden with dishes of finely sliced fresh apple and with sliced baguette and little blocks of hard cheese. On the experimental side we began by eating a slice of apple, and then tasting a small sample of wine from a bottle rendered unidentifiable by enclosure in a cloth bag. Mike personally poured the wine into the 25 wine glasses held up. Then we consumed a little bread and cheese, and were regaled with a second sample of wine from an unidentifiable bottle. To most of us the second sample clearly tasted smoother and less astringent than the first. It turned out that both samples came from the identical bottle! This illustrated what Mike said was an old adage in the wine industry: “Buy on apple, sell on cheese”.

The next experiment was to grade three successive unidentified samples of wine in order of excellence or, what generally amounts to the same thing, in order of expense. We were then asked to vote on the matter with a show of hands. Most people preferred the first or the third, although yours truly actually preferred the second. It turned out that again a trick had been played on us, and that the first and the third came from the same bottle, which was indeed the more expensive. This illustrated that there is no accounting for taste.

On the theoretical side, Mike gave us a learned and colorful discourse on the mysteries of wine making, and the particular problems encountered in wine making in Israel. Remarkably, it seems that we have excellent conditions for growing grapes over much of the country, particularly in the north, providing the correct “varietals” are chosen. We were treated to a detailed comparison of the various labels, both well known and little known, that are available here for our delectation, and the number is astonishingly large. So if you wish to take a wine tasting trip, forget about the Napa Valley, Alsace-Lorraine or Stellenbosch. You have it all right here!

Finally, a bottle of what Mike claimed to be a first rate wine was raffled, a bargain at 10 shekels a ticket. So ended an intoxicating evening.

L’chaim!