TOP 10 ISRAELI WINES

The preview edition of the ?New Israel Wine Guide? has been released.

It lists ?The Top Ten Red and White Israeli Wines.?

Three red wines lead the red wine list. They are Lewinsohn Garage de Papa 2010, Flam Noble 2008 and Carmel Kayoumi Shiraz 2008. The Lewinsohn Red is a blend of Syrah, Petite Sirah and Carignan, The Flam Noble is a Bordeaux blend and the Carmel Shiraz is a single vineyard wine from the award winning Kayoumi vineyard, in the Upper Galilee.

Other wines in the Top 10 included Yatir Forest 2009, Castel Grand Vin 2010 and Carmel Limited Edition 2008. Unsurprisingly Margalit (Cabernet Franc) and Yarden (Syrah) also have a representative.

The two surprises were the inclusion of Adir a and Montefiore Red. Adir is a young winery but with success in consecutive years in the Decanter Fine Wine Awards, maybe it was not such a surprise after all. Their wine was a Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc blend.

The biggest surprise was the inclusion of Montefiore Red 2012 (Malbec, Petite Sirah, Shiraz) in the ?Top 10?. This is a start-up winery. The wine is unoaked and a great deal more inexpensive than the others on the list.

With regard to the whites, the big winner was Tzora Winery with the two leading wines. These were the Shoresh 2012, a Sauvignon Blanc, and the Neve Ilan 2011, a Chardonnay. Others in the ?Top 10? included Lewinsohn, Dalton, Clos de Gat, Flam and Pelter.

Of most interest here was the inclusion of two wines from Semillon, a grape variety very much associated with Israeli wine?s undistinguished past. The Dalton Elkosh Semillon 2012 and Midbar Semillon Sauvignon 2010 were welcome additions to highlight the Semillon revival.

The ?New Israel Wine Guide? is a new initiative to rate Israel?s finest wines. Tastings are conducted blind and in totally professional conditions. The two partners in this project are Yair Gath and Gal Zohar. Yair Gath is the wine critic of the Israeli newspaper, Israel Hayom, who has arguably the most regular wine column amongst the leading ?Dailys? in Hebrew. Gal Zohar is an international sommelier and wine consultant. He was a judge in the IWC in London, the world?s largest wine tasting competition. Both are quiet, modest, thorough and professional.

Daniel Rogov, z?l, used to publish his annual guide, but since his death in 2011, there has been a void in Israeli wine. Scores need to be published which have credibility, from tastings conducted professionally. So this initiative is warmly welcomed by the Israel wine industry.

For more details:

https://www.facebook.com/NewIsraeliWineGuide

To receive the preview edition of the New Israel Wine Guide, featuring Israel?s top ten wines, please send a request to: [email protected]

It is available in Hebrew or English.

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Hello,

Welcome to the preview edition of the New Israeli Wine Guide.

We?re happy to have reached this moment, which concludesmonths of tastings, discussions, re-tastings, some more talking,writing, scoring and editing. We started this project after realisingthat Israel, as a wine producing and exporting country, is in need ofa guide that organizes the hundreds of wineries and thousands of

labels for wine lovers around the world, given that a similar guidehasn?t been published in the past two years.

Since no one else was about to do it, we decided to do it?ourselves: Yair Gath, wine journalist and critic, with over 10?years of experience in reviewing the Israeli wine industry and?Gal Zohar, IWC judge, a graduate of advanced wine studies in?London, sommelier and wine consultant for some of Israel?s

top restaurants. It is important to mention that this guide wascreated independently without any commercial support.

We decided to focus on the best wineries, predominantly on?the kosher wines that are also available outside Israel, withoutneglecting some of our favourite ones which we thought couldn?tbe left out. All tastings were strictly blind, so what you get is ourunbiased, independent recommendations. Clear and simple.In this preview edition we decided to give you a first peek at our?choice of the 20 best red and white wines which will enable you?to get acquainted with us and our tasting style and will also give

us a chance to hear from you ? where we nailed it, where we went?wrong and what we can do to improve.

We would like to thank all the wineries that collaborated with us,all the couriers that climbed to the third floor, the truck drivers that?got stuck in down-town traffic, to all our friends that helped and

supported us and our families that had to put up with the mess.

We hope it?s worth it.

Yair Gath and Gal Zohar

15/09/2013

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