Yatir Winery was the most successful winery in a formal tasting of Israeli wines, attended by personalities and wine connoisseurs, which was recently held in Berlin. The results were published in the German newspaper, Die Welt. There were 29 wines in the tasting from ten of Israel’s finest boutique and medium sized wineries. The top three wines were:
1st Yatir Forest 2003 91/92 + points.
2nd Margalit Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 90/91+
3rd Yatir 2003 (Cabernet-Merlot-Shiraz) 90
Earlier in the year Yatir excelled in two high profile tastings held in America. In The Wine News tasting of some of the finest Israeli wines, Yatir was the top scoring red wine. In Howard Goldberg’s tasting of the best kosher wines in the world in ‘Wine Review Online’, Yatir was again rated as the best red wine, ahead of some of the very best kosher wineries from France, California, Spain and Israel. (Howard Goldberg, one of America’s leading wine critics, writes for The New York Times and Decanter.)
It is extremely rare for an Israeli red wine to receive a score of 90 + in a blind tasting in America. Yatir Winery has succeeded to do this four times in the last two years, and three of the scores of over 90 were achieved by Yatir’s second label wine – Yatir 2001 (Cabernet Merlot) and Yatir 2002 (Cabernet Merlot Shiraz).
Yatir wines have also received excellent ratings in Israel. Daniel Rogov, (Israel’s no. 1 wine critic), has recently published the following scores for Yatir’s current releases:
Yatir Forest 2003 93 points
Yatir 2003 (Cabernet Merlot Shiraz) 90
Yatir Sauvignon Blanc 92
In this year’s wine tasting competitions Yatir again struck gold. At Eshkol Ha’Zahav 2006, Israel’s more established wine tasting competition, Yatir won the gold medal for the ‘Best Cabernet Merlot Blend.’ The previous year Yatir had won the gold medal for ‘Best Cabernet Sauvignon’ and ‘Best Merlot’ - and therefore has won first prize in each of the three most important red wine categories. At Terravino 2006, Israel’s first international competition, Yatir Winery continued the gold medal habit by winning two gold medals. This continued the success of the previous year when Yatir became one of the select few Israeli wineries to win a gold medal at the Challenge International du Vin in Bordeaux.
Yatir came out well in the main Israeli and international wine guides. In ‘Rogov’s Guide to Israeli Wines 2007’, Yatir was ranked as Israel’s 5th best winery. In Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Guide 2007, Yatir Winery was awarded two stars and was ranked along with Flam & Margalit, as Israel’s 3rd = best winery. (The Pocket Wine Book is the world’s biggest selling wine book and Hugh Johnson is the world’s most famous wine writer.)
Yatir Winery was built in 2000 and the first wines were released in 2004. The winery is situated at Tel Arad in the north east Negev. (Tel Arad is an archeological site with a 3,000 year history.) The winery is owned by Carmel Winery, who have a partnership with the growers of Yatir Forest (Israel’s largest planted forest.) The vineyards are at an altitude of up to 900 meters above sea level. Yatir wines are distributed by Carmel in both the local and export markets, but the winery continues to retain its individuality, being independently managed by Ya’acov Ben Dor. Eran Goldwasser, a graduate of Adelaide University who also has work experience in Australia, is the winemaker.
October 2006
