Carmel is Wine Enthusiast’s Editors’ Choice
No less than three Carmel Appellation wines have scored 90 points in the Wine Enthusiast, and in addition, each wine was also awarded the prestigious ‘Editor’s Choice’.
The wines were as follows:
Appellation Cabernet Sauvignon, Upper Galilee, Carmel Winery 2009 90 points & Editors’ Choice
Appellation Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz, Upper Galilee, Carmel Winery 2009 90 points & Editors’ Choice
Appellation Cabernet Franc, Upper Galilee, Carmel Winery 2009 90 points & Editors’ Choice
The Editors’ Choice are described by the Wine Enthusiast as being for ‘Wines that offer excellent quality at a price above our Best Buy range, or a wine at any price with unique qualities that merit special attention.’ The Wine Enthusiast is America’s second most famous wine magazine, after the Wine Spectator. A score of 90 or above is eagerly sought after by wineries. That Carmel should receive these scores for their second label wines, reflects well on the strides made by the winery in recent years.
The Appellation series is made up of regional wines produced from various sub regions. The wines include classic varieties and also more unusual ones such as Carignan, Petite Sirah and Viognier. The labels may be recognized by the hand drawn carton style animals, all of which feature in the Bible. Carmel Winery has four main labels: Carmel (including flagship blends and Carmel Single Vineyard), Appellation, Private Collection and Selected.
Carmel Winery is the historic winery of Israel founded in 1882, by Baron Edmond de Rothschild of Chateau Lafite fame. The main winery operations are situated at the totally refurbished winery at Zichron Ya’acov, situated on the southern slopes of Mount Carmel, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Carmel has vineyards all over Israel, but it is particularly strongly represented in the Upper Galilee, where there was a concentrated planting program in the 2000’s. Today most of Carmel’s finest wines including Carmel Limited Edition and the Carmel Single Vineyard wines come from the Upper Galilee. These three Appellation wines also come from the Upper Galilee, where Carmel’s small, state of the art Kayoumi Winery is also situated.
The winemaker is Lior Lacser who graduated in Beaune, and worked in Burgundy, Bordeaux & Australia before joining Carmel in 2003. He became chief winemaker in 2005. Lacser’s objective is to make elegant wines in an old world style, where the oak is not too dominant.
