For immediate release
Washington, DC August 6, 2012. The International Wine Review (IWR) announces the release of its 32nd Report “The New Wines of Israel. The report is based on extensive research and travel in Israel by a team consisting of Publisher Michael Potashnik and Editor Donald Winkler in collaboration with Joel Butler, MW, a member of the IWR’s Tasting Panel. The report provides a comprehensive look at Israel’s growing and dynamic wine industry and reviews more than 250 wines.
Israeli wines are relatively unknown to wine enthusiasts. Yet this tiny Mediterranean country of 7 million inhabitants has a fast growing and dynamic wine industry that is gaining recognition in international markets for producing high quality wines. Since the 1980s, when there were very few wineries in operation in Israel, the industry has grown rapidly. Today there are over 240 wineries, both large and small, throughout the country from the Lebanese border to the Negev producing 3 million cases from 4,400 hectares (ha) (12,000 acres) of wine grapes. Although the industry is dominated by a handful of large producers, there are many new and outstanding boutique wineries and “garagistes” who are handcrafting wines comparable to some of the best in the world.
Adam Montefiore of Carmel Winery and an advocate for Israeli wines says of the report:
“It is a great contribution to Israel. It provides a comprehensive in-depth look at our young wine industry recording its many achievements, challenges and future promise. I wholeheartedly congratulate the IWR on their professionalism and perseverance in completing the report. “
You can read the full report here: International Wine Review – The New Wines of Israel.
The International Wine Review was launched in 2005 to provide the wine trade (importers, distributors, retailers, sommeliers) and wine enthusiasts, with current, accurate information regarding important wines and regions of the world. Although it draws on a distinguished panel for tasting and evaluating wines, the reports go far beyond ratings; they provide insight and understanding of viticulture and winemaking, appellations, wine styles, pairing food and wine, and market issues. IWR is also distinctive because it focuses on emerging regions and wines, currently gaining market prominence.
For more information, contact the Publisher, Mike Potashnik, at [email protected]
I often refer to wine as “consumable organic art.” A good winemaker needs to be part viticulturist and biochemist to make sure nothing goes wrong with a wine, first with the grapes in the vineyard then with the juice fermenting into wine at the winery. As well, a winemaker needs to be part artist to use their sense of aesthetics and their craftsmanship to deliver something special from the grapes they have available the same way a sculptor might bring forward a piece of art from a slab of stone. 
So, I mention this now because wineries can change wine makers from time to time especially wineries which are not family-owned. The better the wines have been traditionally the more noticeable the differences can be. Such was the case in 2008 when Gil Shatsberg became the winemaker at the Recanati Winery replacing founding winemaker Lewis Pasco. Lewis made wines that most might consider bolder “New World” wines and Gil’s wines quickly appeared to be more nuanced “Old World” wines. It’s debatable if the wines got better or not because they were award-winning wines before the change and they remain so afterwards but it’s not debatable that the style changed. Yet this isn’t a story about the Recanati Winery although I enjoy writing about them and you can find previous articles, film and radio shows I’ve written about them on the internet and I plan to write more in the future. I mention the Recanati Winery leading to talking about recent changes at the smaller yet quite reputable Ella Valley Winery. Ella Valley could be considered one of the most successful wineries in Israel. Their wines are well-respected and they seem adept at selling their bottles in Israel and overseas. In fact they have one of the highest ratios of exporting wine with about 40% of their wine leaving Israel which is about twice the national average and less typical of a winery making about 200,000 bottles of wine a year than larger wineries making millions of bottles. Last year, Ella Valley changed wine makers. Israeli-born yet French trained Doron Rav Hon left the winery to pursue his own boutique project in Israel and I look forward to tasting those wines when he thinks his wines are ready. He didn’t leave without first welcoming and handing over the reins to Lynn Gold, a Russian-born immigrant to Israel who trained in Australia. Although this is her first time in charge of a winery, she takes the helm of Ella Valley with more experience than many other wine makers in Israel who went on to do great things at other wineries. She worked three vintages in Australia, which has more climatically in common with Israeli vineyards than most French wine regions. In Israel, she worked at the commercial Tabor Winery in the Galilee and the revered boutique Chateau Golan in the Golan Heights. So by now landing at Ella Valley in the Judean Hills, Lynn will be one of the blessed wine makers who’s been given the opportunity to grasp the potential of Israel’s three best wine regions. Time will tell how Lynn’s experience and innate talent translates into what kind of wines she makes at Ella Valley but even though Ella Valley may be too big to be considered a “boutique” winery anymore they do make what many might consider “boutique” wines. That is to say in Israel the term boutique tends to refer to wineries that make less than 10,000 cases a year but in California it has been used to refer to wineries that make less than 5,000 cases but regardless the wines Ella Valley makes tend to be only several thousand or even a few thousand of bottles of each wine instead of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of each label which are more common of the top 12 producers in Israel who account for 94% of the country’s production. So this early in her tenure with only one harvest under her belt, we don’t know too much what Ella Valley under Lynn Gold has to offer but the first taste is available in their 2011 Ella Valley Sauvignon Blanc, her first wine to be released. I got to taste it recently and it was distinctly different from that the previous vintage made by Doron. Doron’s 2010 was a lot lighter and more nuanced “Old World” Bordeaux style of Sauvignon Blanc while Lynn’s was more fruit forward and reminiscent of “New World” examples we might taste from Chile, New Zealand or California. I look forward to seeing how the reds differ over time. When asked how she might be approaching winemaking differently than Doron, Lynn responded that she wasn’t consciously doing anything differently. She volunteered that she respected Doron’s winemaking and wasn’t planning on making any radical changes even though the owners have given her free rein on a lot of decisions yet that as two different people (and as a matter of aesthetics) they were bound to make different wines. Lynn’s 2011 Chardonnay and 2011 Rosé should be her next two releases but it will take a year or two where any reds that she’s crafted from crush to release are available. In the meantime, she has barrels of wine that Doron made that she will decide how to blend into final wines of the same varietal and as a support to other single varietal wines and their Ever Red blend. Part of Ella Valley’s success is due to their choice of interesting varietals from proven to be enviable vineyards. They’ve been a leader at delivering good Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc to supplement their Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah and of note they’re one of the most prominent wineries to offer Merlot as their flagship red in contrast to Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon or a red “Bordeaux” blend. With Malbec vineyards coming on-line soon and a new winemaker, fans of Ella Valley and Israeli wines can be cautiously optimistic as much as I am eager to see how their new wines will differ for better or worse or most likely they’ll be just as good but distinctly different.
The Jerusalem Wine Festival is the largest and most widely attended wine festival in Israel with tens of thousands attending over four nights. Traditionally, and now it’s in its 9th year, the festival is held at Jerusalem’s revered Israel Museum during the week of Tu Ba’av , which is both Jewish “Valentine’s Day” and a celebration of the beginning of wine grapes being harvested in Israel. Wine festivals can be a great time but a challenging forum for wine writers to critically taste wine and collect meaningful notes. There’s a lot of extraneous stimuli that distract from tasting and appreciating each wine which ideally should be tasted in a brightly lit and quiet room. That being said the opportunity to try over 100 wines without having to travel the country and make over 30 appointments is too tempting to ignore. Also I like to share my favorite wines from festivals, in no particular order, for those who couldn’t attend or those who were too busy having fun to take notes. There were several wines I tasted that could have easily made these lists but for the sake of brevity they didn’t and I but I have either touted them in the past or look forward to featuring them in the future.
There are three wineries on this list that are not certified as being kosher: Amphorae, Chillag & Pelter. Far fewer non-kosher wineries typically attend the festival in Jerusalem than would in Tel Aviv but its important to note that the top 12 wine producers in Israel (out of about 300) produce about 94% of Israeli wine and they’re all kosher although many if not most boutique wineries (under 10,000 cases/year) often are not kosher though may become kosher as they approach 100,000 bottles a year they might seek to market their wines to a wider audience without any discernible difference to the quality of the wine.
Whites
- 2011 Tzuba Chardonnay
- 2011 Dalton Alama (Chardonnay/Viognier)
- 2011 Tishbi Gewurztraminer
- 2008 Yarden Viognier
- 2011 Gush Etzion Sauvignon Blanc
- 2011 Chillag Sauvignon Blanc
- 2011 Amphorae Blanc de Noir
- 2011 Odem Mountain Chardonnay
- 2010 Yarden Chardonnay
- 2011 Pelter Unoaked Chardonnay
Reds
1) 2010 Yaffo Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve
2) 2010 Tulip “Mostly” Cabernet Franc
3) 2010 Galil Mountain Alon (Cab/Syrah/ Petit Verdot/Cab Franc)
- 2007 Ella Valley Syrah
- 2007 Shiloh “Shor” Cabernet Sauvignon
- 2007 Amphorae Makura Caberent Sauvignon
- 2009 Recanati Special Reserve (Cab, Merlot, Syrah & Peite Sirah)
- 2009 Tishbi “Single Vineyard” Malbec
- 2009 Katlav Wadi Katlav (Cab/Merlot/Petit Verdot)
- 2010 Psagot Edom (Cab/ Petit Verdot/Cab Franc/ Merlot)
I do wish there had been more Israeli Carignans and Cabernet Francs at the Festival ( I tasted only one Cab Franc at 1848 (that helped secure them on the Honorable Mentions list) as they are becoming interesting signature grapes for Israel.
As regarding to rosés and dessert wines, there’s a recent proliferation of both in the last few years in Israel. Just going back ten years, there was an international and even local perception of Israeli wines often being sweet and syrupy “kiddush” sacramental wines or bland white zinfandel like rosés. While trying to work on a reputation of making more serious and respectable dry or semi-dry table wines, rosés and dessert wines were mostly avoided by winemakers. However, as more and more Israeli wineries have had their dry wines winning international awards and have received great scores by international critics, more and more Israeli winemakers have developed the confidence to make more impressive rosés and dessert wines.
Rosés
- 2011 Domaine Ventura Rosé
- 2011 Ella Valley Rosé
- 2011 Binyamina “Yogev” Malbec/Carignan
- 2011 Dalton Rosé
- 2011 Recanati Rosé
I only wish there had been more rosés to choose from since its a perfect summer time wine for a Mediterranean evening.
Dessert Wines
1) NV Psagot Prat ( a Port-style red)
2) NV Odem Mountain Cherry Wine
3) NV Dalton Muscat
4) NV Tzuba Late Harvest Chardonnay
5) 2006 Tishbi Barbera/Zinfandel
6) 2011 Golan Moscato
- 2010 Binyamina Gewurztraminer Late Harvest
NV = Non Vintage (a blend of two or more years lending to consistency and often complexity & common in dessert as well as sparkling wines)
Honorable Mentions
These are wineries who either just missed this list with one or more of their wines or wineries I’m looking forward to great things from in the future and for various reasons I hope to write an article about.
1848 (one of Israel’s oldest family wineries that had focused on sacramental wines is making better and better traditional wines), Kadesh Barnea (a young boutique winery located in the Negev desert),Tanya (there’s no doubt their wines will appear on future lists)
Mount Blessing ( a source of great grapes for other wineries that are making better wines year after year), Ruth & Lueria (two boutiques I’m warming up to and I look forward to tasting under less hectic circumstances)
