Israelis are buying NIS 800 million worth of wine a year, no more than they did three years ago. The head of the Israel Wine & Grapes Board, Tzachi Dotan, said he had no clear explanation, but it seems many consumers have switched to alternative alcoholic beverages in recent years. Despite the stagnation in wine sales, growers planted an additional 5,000 dunams (1,250 acres ) of vines this year, for a total of 45,000 dunams. The wine grape harvest started this week, and about 50,000 tons of grapes are expected.