Roni Saslove
Wine Maker, Writer, ISRAEL
The first time I pressed wine grapes was with my feet in our garage at home in 1992. My father, Barry Saslove decided he wanted to make wine. Wine has always been an important part of my life. One special event, I particularly remember, was the joy of smelling Canadian Ice-Wine and sipping it slowly so that it never ends. Such joy.
In 1998 I studied animal science at the Hebrew University in Rehovot. I thought I would be a veterinary doctor, but decided instead, to enter the world of wine and be part of its community. At that year my father established Saslove Winery and the whole family planted our first vineyard in Kadita.
After completing the degree, I joined the Winery as an assistant winemaker.
In 2004 Barry asked me "why don't you make some of your own wine?", so I did. My first wine was a Kadita Dessert wine. After that, my thirst grew and in the following years I made many different wines, white, rose, reds, dessert and even a Canadian inspired Gewurztraminer Iced-Wine.
In 2008 I went to study Enology and Viticulture at Brock University in Ontario and worked at Tawse Winery.
In 2013 we sold Saslove Winery and I established, together with Avshalom Cohen, “The Tasting Room”, a wine bar and showroom for Israeli wineries. The Tasting Room offers 400 great Israeli wines, 40 of them available for tasting with our temperature controlled automatic pouring system, and of course, great food.
2016 Promotional wine touring in north America on behalf of the Israeli MInistry of Tourism to promote Israeli wines and the local culture.
I have developed a sensory enhancement workshops with wine where I illuminate the experience of wine tasting in all its depth.
I conduct regular courses, professional and private events.
For the past five years I do freelance consulting projects with wineries, wine shops and colleagues on concept building, marketing, branding, financial and other aspect of the wine industry.
For a the past 2 years I was a regular guest on 102fm radio and am on the news whenever I wine expert is needed.
These days I, and 3 colleagues, are working on a guide book which compiles all the wineries you may visit in Israel, fun facts, local producers and other information about the wine industry. Our crowd funding was successful and we are going to print in the beginning of 2021. The book will be in Hebrew and English and will be distributed internationally.
Soon to be in English (at the moment in Hebrew) I co-host a podcast with Guy Haran where we invite interesting wine people for an illuminating conversations.
I believe whoever invites wine in their lives allows love and light to enter as well. It is such a fascinating and optimistic prism to look at life through.
After learning about all the medicinal attributes wine has on our body I decided to expand my knowledge to general clinical herbalism. In the past two years I have been studying medicinal foraging and eastern-western herbology.