Prices for a bottle of Israeli drinkable (and that does not necessarily means good) red or white dry wine start from NIS 30 (about 7 Euro). If you want a bottle of an averagely decent Israeli wine that will cost you about NIS 70-100. For comparison, anywhere in continental Europe you will find a huge selection of pretty decent wines within price range 2-3 Euro. I understand that the lobby of large Israeli wine makers and the Israeli Wine Institute (a branch of Standards Institute of Israel, a part of the Ministry of Trade & Industry) protect the local market by maintaining artificially high prices. But who will protect the Israeli consumers? Should “buy local” patriotism be punishable by high prices?
