Posted at 10:23h in Wine industry by David Rhodes 0 Comments
As far as I know, I was the only wine writer to attend all three days of the Israwinexpo 2012 in Tel Aviv. I’m not bragging (OK maybe I am a little). It was a delight but also a test of endurance. There was about thirty wineries and over 100 and closer to 200 wines to taste and I got that handled fairly well by day number two. Yet, if you’ve been reading me over the years, my wine writing hasn’t yet been about providing tasting notes as much as finding trends and ways to educate consumers and future consumers of Israeli wines.
So, it took me three days to not only decide what I thought were the best, my favorite or even the most interesting wines to talk about but also to engage with the winemakers from as many of those same wineries. There were several trends evident at the Expo that I found worth mentioning.
Before we get too far it should be noted that this list is red heavy based on most Israeli wines being red to begin with and at this time of year when wines from the previous white vintage (in this case 2010) are generally sold out and many of the best oak aged whites from the most recent vintage 2011 haven’t yet been released.
Newest Stars: Since attending Israwinexpo 2010, a few red grapes have been gaining traction that were hardly mentioned as the primary grape in blends or single varietal wines.
Bueno Vino: Although more widely known as the signature red grape of Argentina, Malbec could also be called the “Lost red grape of Bordeaux.”As one of the five Bordeaux red grapes, it’s now rarely planted in Bordeaux as well in Israel. Yet this year in the expo, three wineries presented good single varietal Malbecs:
2009 Tishbi Single Vineyard Malbec
2009 Ramot Naftaly Malbec
2008 Teperberg “Terra” Malbec
Also find Malbec more in more used in Israel’s “Bordeaux red blends” such as2008 Yatir Forest, 2008 Carmel Limited Edition and 2008 Castel Gran Vin (sadly none of which were on exhibit at the Expo).
A “Little Green” Grape delivers a Big Purple Punch: What might be even more surprising to new visitors to the Expo would be the emergence of another red Bordeaux grape, Petit Verdot, which literally means little green which refers more to the taste than the color of the grape in its native Bordeaux. In Israel’s warmer climate, compared to Bordeaux, the grapes ripen more and deliver deep rich black fruit flavors and aromas. Three good examples of Petit Verdot’s potential in Israel were showcased:
2008 Yatir Petit Verdot
2009 Ramot Naftaly Petit Verdot
2010 Barkan Petit Verdot (barrel sample)
Also look for Petite Sirah, another Powerful Purple Pleaser, which like Petit Verdot was used in Israel mostly for blending but has emerged more and more in high quality single varietal wines.
This year “a Work Horse Shines”: Carignan up until recently could have been called “the Rodney Dangerfield of Israeli red grapes” ; it got no respect. And honestly, up until recently it didn’t deserve any. It was used to make high yield cheap bulk wines, sacramental “kiddush” wines and even grapes juice. Recent finding of neglected vineyards have been delivering some surprisingly good concentrated low yield “Old Vine” Carignans. Three good examples at the Expo:
2008 Vitkin Carignan
2007 Carmel Appellation Carignan
2010 Recanati Carignan
Another Red Bordeaux grape with a more illustrious track record in Israel than Petit Verdot and Malbec is Cabernet Franc. A more elegant grape, it is typically a better food pairing wine and many wineries are delivering great examples why I think it could become Israel’s best bet as a single varietal signature red grape. Several desirable examples were available at the Expo:
2008 Vitkin Cabernet Franc
2009 Domaine Ventura Cabernet Franc
2009 Tanya “Hilel” Cabernet Franc
2009 Tulip Cabernet Franc
2011 Tulip White Franc
So three lesser known red Bordeaux grapes emerged at this Expo, lets not get too far ahead of what’s been going on for decades, Cabernet Sauvignon is still king and “Long Live the King”!!! Several good defenders of the thrown were on display including:
2008 Barkan Cabernet Sauvignon Altitude 624
2006 Villa Wilhelma Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve
2007 Segal Unfiltered Cabernet Sauvignon
2007 Tishbi Cabernet Sauvignon Estate
Last but not least of “the Bordeaux Five” (would be a great name for a Rock band) is “the queen of Israeli reds”, Merlot. Generally presented as a softer more subtle red wine overseas, in Israel it can be power packing (like our women). There were far fewer good examples of Merlot on exhibit this year than at past exhibits or festivals yet a few good examples were worth mentioning
2008 Shiloh Merlot Reserve
2010 Gvaot “Herodim” Merlot
2008 Binyamina Merlot Reserve
Another “Noble” red grape thats winning more and more fans in Israel is the increasingly popular Rhone derived Syrah (also called Shiraz) wines. Many Israeli winemakers and visiting wine VIPS to the Expo, have given their voices to Syrah being a better match for Israel’s overall climate than Cabernet Sauvignon.
The Golan Heights Winery was making that case all by themselves at the Expo by having several good examples from several series, all good values at their price points including:2009 Gamla Syrah
2009 Yarden Syrah
2005 Yarden Syrah (Magnum bottle)
and three single vineyard Syrahs from Avital Slopes, Yonatan, and Tel Phares
The Golan Heights Winery also presented a great selection of its Chardonnays to demonstrate that Chardonnay is still the mostly highly demanded Israeli white varietal (just like in the rest of the world) and they have the standard bearers for Israeli white wines for decades. As stated earlier, there wasn’t a huge selection of other whites to choose from or talk about because of the time of the year so their several Chardonnays were a beacon of white light for white fans including:
2010 Gamla Chardonnay
2009 Yarden Chardonnay
2008 Yarden Chardonnay
2010 Yarden Odem Organic Chardonnay
2007 Yarden Katzrin Chardonnay
Expect a lot more white wines to be on display at the next big wine festival in Israel in July or August at Jerusalem’s Israel Museum, typically Israel’s most well attended annual wine festival.
With the shortage of whites on display, there were other “summer wines” still emerging for visitors to taste. Pretty in Pink, quality rose wines are becoming more prevalent in Israel and good examples at the Expo proved why including:
2011 Vitkin Pink Israeli Journey
2011 Binyamina Yogev Malbec/Carignan Rose
2011 Galil Mountain Rose
2011 Recanati Rose
While tasting hundreds of wines in three days, to preserve my palette, I did my best to taste dessert wines at the end of each of the three evenings. Israel’s quality wine makers deserted dessert wines for decades as they tried to distinguish their quality dry wines from sweet syrupy sacramental wines from the past. In the last ten years, as Israel’s dry wines have been winning a treasure trove of awards and third party recognition, Israeli winemakers have regained the confidence to offer up typically limited edition smaller batches of treats for their loyal fans including:
2009 Binyamina Late Harvest Gewurztraminer
2006 Tishbi Barbera/Zinfandel Dessert Wine
2010 Teperberg Late Harvest Riesling
NV Villa Wilhelma Sauvignon Blanc “White Port”
My apologies for not mentioning many more wines and wineries in order to keep this article relatively succinct (and all the culinary treats such as multiple cheese dairies, chocolate and olive oil vendors and the best Arak I ever tasted). There are dozens of more wines I would have included in a far longer article but I’d like to extend Honorable Mentions to three wineries as either being new and interesting or increasingly improving as well as being more than hospitable or all of the above and worthy of visiting their wineries and tasting their wines: Or Haganuz, Har Bracha (Mt. Blessing Winery) and Shoshana wineries.
