Wine & Gourmet, the wine magazine of Israel, recently organised a tasting of Israel’s finest future wines, which will be released during 2005. The larger wineries were asked to submit two wines and the smaller wineries, just one. Forty of Israel’s finest wineries sent wines for the tasting.

The winners were announced during a special evening at ‘Ish Anavim’, the wine bar & wine education center in Jaffa. The results are below:

The winning wine, Carmel Shiraz, was made by winemaker Sam Soroka in Carmel’s boutique winery in Zichron. The wine was made from grapes from the Kayume vineyard in the Upper Galilee. It is as yet unnamed & not yet labeled.

The second wines were the Barkan Pinotage produced by Barkan winemakers Ed Salzberg & Yotam Sharon & the Vitkin Cabernet Franc, made by Asaf Paz, who from the 2004 vintage began to work for Carmel at Zichron Ya’acov.

Three of Israel’s newer quality wineries Flam, Yatir & Emek Ella,  took the next three places. The scores, as published in Wine & Gourmet Magazine, were as follows:

91 points Carmel Shiraz 2003

90 Barkan Pinotage 2003

90 Vitkin Cabernet Franc 2003

89 Flam Cabernet Sauvignon 2003

89 Yatir Forest 2002

89 Emek Ella Cabernet Sauvignon VC 2002

88 Tabor Bazelet Merlot 2003

88 Tishbi Special Reserve Gush Etzion Cabernet Sauvignon 2002

88 Alexander Cabernet Sauvignon 2001

88 Barkan Superior 2002

88 Savion Cabernet Sauvignon 2003

87 Nachshon Syrah 2002

87 Yaffo Rouge 2003

87 Carmel Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Cabernet Franc 2003

87 Segal Cabernet Sauvignon Estate 2002

87 Maor Cabernet Sauvignon 2003

86 Yarden Syrah 2002

85 Efrat Teperberg Cabernet Sauvignon 2004

85 Ben Shushan Avdat Merlot

85 Gustavo & Jo  Cabernet Sauvignon 2002

84 Miles Cabernet Sauvignon 2003

83 Yarden Pinot Noir 2002

83 Zamora Cabernet Sauvignon 2002

Israel is a country where Cabernet Sauvignon & Merlot are so dominant amongst the quality wines, it was encouraging to see a Shiraz, Pinotage & Cabernet Franc as the top three wines.

December 2004