Carmel Winery has in the last month launched both their latest Single Vineyard wines (Kerem in Hebrew) and the new label of Appellation Wines (Yayinot Eizory).

The Single Vineyard wines are chosen from individual vineyards, when the resulting wine is judged to be of high enough quality and is thought to represent the terroir of the particular vineyard.  The Appellation Wines represent a sub region or combinations of sub regions. These are now Carmel’s leading two labels, mainly for restaurants & fine wine shops. Both are 100% kosher but are not mevushal.

The third label is Private Collection, whose wines come from a designated wine region. The mass market label remains Selected (known as Vineyards Selected in export markets) - still the biggest selling brand in Israel.

Carmel is Israel’s largest winery with 1,500 hectares of vineyards from the northern Golan Heights and Upper Galilee to the Negev in the south. This new way of categorizing the top three labels is a self imposed appellation system, which Carmel is introducing to grade its vineyards & resulting wines. It is able to do this having vineyards that cover all of Israel’s growing regions and also having some of the country’s finest vineyards to choose from, including in the Upper Galilee, the Golan Heights, Judean Hills & Ramat Arad. This is a further example of the pioneering lead taken by Carmel Winery to improve the quality of Israeli wine.

New Appellation Wines

The new label of regional wines produced by Carmel Winery, will be referred to as Appellation Wines in export markets. The wines represent sub regions or blends of different sub regions. The wines each have fun, innovative labels featuring cartoon  animals, including a camel, ostrich, deer, ibex and a wolf. The wines are as follows:

Sauvignon Blanc – Chardonnay 2003, Upper Galilee & Ramat Arad

80% Sauvignon Blanc from Ramat Arad (Negev), 20% Chardonnay from the Upper Galilee; The Chardonnay was fermented & aged in French oak for 6 months.

Chardonnay 2003 , Upper Galilee & Lower Galilee

100% Chardonnay; A blend from vineyards in the Upper & Lower Galilee. Fermented and aged in French oak for 8 months.

Cabernet Franc 2002, Judean Hills

100% Cabernet Franc grown in the hills on the way to Jerusalem (Judean Hills Region).  Aged in French oak for 14 months.

Merlot 2001, Upper Galilee & Ramat Arad.

100% Merlot from both the Upper Galilee in the Galilee Region and Ramat Arad in the Negev.  Aged in French oak for14 months.

Cabernet Sauvignon 2001, Upper Galilee & Ramat Arad.

100% Cabernet Sauvignon from both the Upper Galilee (Galilee Region) and Ramat Arad (Negev Region). Aged 14 months in French oak.

The winemakers of the red wines were Lior Laxer & Haim Wachtenhaim and the white wines were made by Lior Laxer & Zvi Skaist. All are based at Carmel’s Rishon Le Zion Winery.

Oct. 2004