For the first time in ten years, the Wine Spectator has written a feature about Israeli wines. This one was headed: “Israel’s Moment In The Sun” and there was a complimentary sub heading: “Red wine quality surges as a new generation takes charge.”

It is fascinating to compare this latest article with the one written ten years ago. Both were written by Wine Spectator Managing Editor, Kim Marcus, following a visit to Israel. Many of the people and wineries are new since then, giving Marcus the feeling that the new generation was helping to push Israeli wine forward.

In the past, The Wine Spectator has only rated one Israeli wine at 90 or more and that was ‘C’ Blanc du Castel. After a recent private visit to Israel, James Suckling, one of their main wine critics, gave a Margalit & Yarden wine more than 90 in his blog, but this was never published in the magazine. So surprisingly until this article, not one Israeli wine ‘officially’ scored more than 90 points.

However this time Israel came up trumps with no less than 13 wines scoring 90 or more. The three best wines with 92 points were Yatir Forest 2005, Tulip Syrah Reserve 2005 and Clos de Gat Sycra 2004.

Yatir Forest was therefore the equal first wine in both in the Wine Spectator feature and in Robert Parker’s recent Wine Advocate tasting, where a different vintage of the same label scored 93 points. Also the Tulip Reserve and Clos de Gat Sycra, both scored 90 in the Wine Advocate. This suggests a certain consistency between the tasters.

 Interestingly two of the three top wines were Syrahs. Many people think this may be the quality variety for Israel in future. Up to now Israel’s award winning wines are usually Cabernet Sauvignons or Bordeaux style blends.  Futhermore , only one of the top five wines came  from vineyards in the Upper Galilee or Golan Heights.

Marcus wrote: “I came away impressed by the leaps in quality, especially of the red wines.......Israel is on track to make wines with a distinctive style and taste. It’s an amazing turnaround for a nation that has been mostly overlooked in the worldwide wine sweepstakes.”

The wines scored by Kim Marcus were as follows:

2005 Yatir Forest - 92
2005 Tulip, Syrah Reserve - 92
2004 Clos du Gat Sycra – 92
2006 Clos du Gat Chardonnay - 91
2004 Clos du Gat Cabernet Sauvignon Ayalon Valley – 91