Mamilla Hotel Winery and kosher Wine Bar

The next time you are in Jerusalem, Israel, check out the Mamilla Winery (wine bar) in the gorgeous Mamilla Hotel! The hotel is gorgeous, as is the wine bar and the roof top views! The wine options are solid, though no shocks, still, reasonable prices to taste wines that do not cost an entire bottle.

Sadly, this is the only kosher wine bar in Israel, that I know of. There are MANY wine bars that pour kosher wines, but this is the only one I know of that is 100% kosher, with a bit of supervision to boot.

http://kosherwinemusings.com/2012/07/20 ... jerusalem/

David

I just returned from Israel and had a most disappointing experience at the Mamilla Rooftop. I called in advance to make a reservation for a celebration dinner. So far so good. i then inquired if I may bring a special wine along. The answer I received was yes, but a corking fee of 50 NIS would be applied. Acceptable. When we arrived we were seated and asked for one wine to be chilled(Champagne style for dessert) and that the other be opened for our meal. We were then told that since the Wine Bar sells those wines we could not use them! When I called to make the reservation no one mentioned that contingency or inquired which wine wine we were planning to bring, only that it had to be Kosher. When i brought it up to the manager that we were misinformed by their staff she only said she was sorry and there was nothing she can do. Very disappointing way of doing business.

Hey Stacey - I am so sorry to hear about your experience! The view was gorgeous - no? I hope it made up for the poor service! What was the wine by the way, if I may ask?

David

The wines were Blancs D' Blancs 2005 and Recanati Carignan 2010. The view is magnificent, but it does not make up for the rudeness we encountered. I will keep my hotel dining experiences for Scala in the Citadel, there may be no view, but there is no end to the willingness to please.

Indeed - sorry again!

Going back to Israel after Rosh Hashana again and will be in need of more venues to try so keep the suggestions coming! No need to be sorry it happens.

David:
1. Did my eyes deceive me, or did you refer to the Mt. Hermon as a fine wine???
2. Your note for the Mt. Hevron Syrah left me confused. Your tasting note sounds terrible, yet you rate it a B+. What gives?

Stacey - try Angelica. Agreed on the rudeness being unacceptable and they should have told you (and let you drink the wines you brought since they didn't) but it's pretty common to not bring wines that are sold on premises.

Angelica is a good choice and we do enjoy it there as well. However the Scala restaurant in the Citadel had no problem with us bringing wines that happened to be on their list.They did not inquire either which wines we sought to bring and had no problem letting us bring our own as long as we were willing to pay corkage.This has been my experience for all but the Mamilla Hotel.

In the wider non-kosher universe, wine bars or restaurants typically do not allow a client to bring his/her own wine and pay corkage if that same wine is on their list of offerings. For example see Rogov's comments on this old thread - viewtopic.php?f=29&t=25305&p=216968

The mistake made in this case was not to point out in the initial phone call the that corkage fee is possible only for bottles not on their wine list. This might seem obvious to the restaurant staff, but clearly they need to better inform their clientele. Seems the manager should also have made an effort to resolve the unfortunate situation in a better way...

Elie - I have tasted it twice since then and it is an OK wine (B+). Not worth the price, but ok enough. I agree with Mike, they should have made more of an effort. I continue to love Gabriel and Noya.

I loved Gabriel until they took the Foie Gras off the menu. I also think their quality has gone down a bit with their new Hasgacha.On the table as dip they served carrots covered in Sweet Chilli sauce. For a restaurant of that caliber to use that ingredient is a let down.

Independent of this issue re. BYO, I stayed at this hotel for a night last week and thought it was awesome: design, view, service. One of the very best hotels in Israel and at par with the world's best.

Service is the big downside at the Rooftop and I have to deal with it almost every time. Stacey, as I told you, it is safer to stick to the rule of bringing only wines that are not featured on the wine list and the Yarden BdB is almost on every restaurant's menu in Israel. I brought there last time a bottle of Alexander Gaston '08 knowing that there would be very little chance for them to feature it as not so many kosher restaurants in Jerusalem carry Alexander on their wine list and it's also a shmitta-heter mechira wine so that lowers the chance even more at the Mamilla or David Citadel hotels. I too was told about the 50 NIS corkage fee but they forgot to add it to our bill but when I pointed that out to the manager, she said that since they forgot it we then didn't have an obligation to pay it! Then she asked me if I wanted to pay for the corkage regardless... Folks, having waited over 30 minutes until we were seated, I politely declined that 'offer'!

I'd appreciate if anyone with a recent experience here could share a few details. I will be in Jerusalem thanksgiving week and would love to stop by -- if it's warranted. Also, I'm unsure of this forum's policy about stating prices, but any info would be appreciated as well. Thx all.

Bump

I just re-read the thread, and would note that MIke F's comment on non-kosher restaurants applies to kosher ones as well. I have brought bottles to HaChatzer (Jerusalem), called in advance, and was told both times that the wine has to be kosher and not be on their list. Corkage fee? Yes.

So it might be a general rule to assume, I would guess, for any restaurant, anywhere.

was told both times that the wine has to be kosher and not be on their list. Corkage fee? Yes.

So it might be a general rule to assume, I would guess, for any restaurant, anywhere.

Isaac is correct.

Isaac is correct.

Cool. I don't get to hear that too often.

I just returned from Israel and had a most disappointing experience at the Mamilla Rooftop. I called in advance to make a reservation for a celebration dinner. So far so good. i then inquired if I may bring a special wine along. The answer I received was yes, but a corking fee of 50 NIS would be applied. Acceptable. When we arrived we were seated and asked for one wine to be chilled(Champagne style for dessert) and that the other be opened for our meal. We were then told that since the Wine Bar sells those wines we could not use them! When I called to make the reservation no one mentioned that contingency or inquired which wine wine we were planning to bring, only that it had to be Kosher. When i brought it up to the manager that we were misinformed by their staff she only said she was sorry and there was nothing she can do. Very disappointing way of doing business.

Stacey - I'm not gonna say it excuses any rude behaviour by Mamilla's staff but your inquiry - " i then inquired if I may bring a special wine along. " suggests very strongly that the wine(s) you intended to bring would not be on the restaurant's wine list.

"Special" in your use of the word in that context would likely mean "unusual" or even "rare." It was an oversight by the Mamilla employee you initially contacted not to mention their corkage fee policy more concisely, but your own reference to the wine you intended to bring as "special" might have led them not to read you the whole detailed policy IMO. In other words, frankly it was your mistake as much as theirs!

I have called restaurants (posh ones in Manhattan) about corkage fees for special bottles, and then was denied the right to open the bottle for said corkage fee, even though in fact the bottle was NOT on the resto's winelist, so go figure. I raised hell with the night manager at the time, who apparently had no idea what the day manager's policy was...

And -oh yez as Rogov used to write - you can definitely assume that any restaurant will not allow you to bring in, for a corkage fee, a wine that they already have on their list. It is a general common rule.

Isaac hits nothing but net there. But I was hoping he'd provide a review of Mamilla!

Isaac hits nothing but net there. But I was hoping he'd provide a review of Mamilla!

With my wallet? You gotta be kidding.