(This article appeared in wines-israel.co.il and is reprinted with permission)
Mark Squires has written reviews of Israeli wines in the latest edition of Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate. This is the second major tasting Squires has undertaken on Israeli wines this year. He tasted 76 wines this time. Some wineries sent a large number of wines in the hope a least one would strike lucky. Twenty of the wines were from the Golan Heights Winery. They sent no less than 11 Yarden wines and 9 from Galil Mountain. Eight were from Binyamina and Tabor. However apart from them, there were another 12 Israeli wineries represented. To receive the full list of scores, one has to subscribe to the website, but those that scored over 90 points were as follows:
Castel Grand Vin, Domaine du Castel 2008 93 points Sycra Muscat, Clos de Gat 2006 93 Carmel Limited Edition, Carmel Winery 2007 91 Yatir Forest, Yatir Winery 2007 91 Fringe Full Wine, Avidan Winery 2008 90 Tagkatom Blend des Noirs, Avidan Winery 2008 90 Petit Castel, Domaine du Castel 2008 90
Yarden Heights Wine, Golan Heights Winery 2008 90
Mark Squires has tasted Israeli wine for three years now, doing at least two large tastings a year. He ensured Israel received no less than nine pages in Robert Parker’s Wine Buyer’s Guide No 7, unprecedented coverage for Israel. He has visited Israel, visited a number of wineries and visited IsraelWine Expo in Tel Aviv. All this is to say, despite criticism he receives, he must by now be the number one specialist of Israeli wines outside Israel. It is hard to know what more an individual needs to do, in order to be regarded as being a specialist in a particular country. He should receive credit for the magnificent coverage he is providing Israel and his views should be taken as seriously as anyone, because on Israel he has done his homework and is up to date as anyone can be who is not resident in Israel.
Robert Parker’s nomination of Mark Squires to be his representative is his personal statement of approval for what is the most influential tasting team on the planet.
The most consistent wines in the Wine Advocate tastings in the last three years have been made by Domaine du Castel from Ramat Raziel and Yatir Winery from Tel Arad. Their best wines are Castel Grand Vin and Yatir Forest, which have each scored 90 or more points five times. This shows consistency not achieved by other Israeli wines. These two wines also share the best score for an Israeli red wine of 93 points. The scores of these particular wines are as follows:
Castel Grand Vin, Judean Hills, Dom. Du Castel
2003 90 points 2004 92 2006 90 2007 91
2008 93
Yatir Forest, Judean Hills, Yatir Winery
2003 93 points 2004 91 2005 90 2006 91
2007 91
Since December 2007, the select few Israeli wines to have received over 90 points from the Wine Advocate and Mark Squires, are as follows:
Yatir Forest 2003 93 points Castel Grand Vin 2008 93
Clos du Gat Sycra Muscat 2007 93
Castel Grand Vin 2004 92 Clos du Gat Sycra Syrah 2007 92
Tzora Or 2006 92
Carmel Limited Edition 2007 91 C Blanc du Castel 2005 91 Castel Grand Vin 2007 91 Yatir Forest 2004 91 Yatir Forest 2006 91 Yatir Forest 2007 91 Yarden HeightsWine 2005 91
Yarden Katzrin 2003 91
A further 29 wines have received a 90 point score from Mark Squires. They are shared between the following wineries: Avidan, Carmel, Castel, Clos de Gat, Flam, Galil Mountain, Golan Heights, Margalit, Mem (Alexander), Pelter, Recanati, Tulip and Yatir.
