The following is from wines-israel.com and reprinted with permission.
The Wine Advocate has published its annual December tasting of Israeli wines.
The three most successful wines were Yatir Forest, Castel Grand Vin and Carmel Limited Edition.
The target of any winery is to receive 90 points or more in the Wine Advocate.
The wines which succeeded in this objective were:
Castel Grand Vin 2009 92 points
Yatir Forest 2008 92
Carmel Limited Edition 2008 91
Carmel Mediterranean 2008 90
Carmel Shiraz, Kayoumi 2008 90
Castel Blanc du Castel 2010 90
Yatir Merlot Shiraz Cabernet 2008 90
Barkan Assemblage Mount Eitan 2008 90
Barkan Cabernet Sauvignon Superieur 2007 90
Barkan Cabernet Sauvignon Superieur 2008 90
Alexander Amarolo 2007 90
Alexander Cabernet sauvignon The Great 2007 90
Margalit Cabernet Sauvignon Special Reserve 2008 90
The Wine Advocate is the newsletter of the world’s most powerful wine critic, Robert Parker. Mark Squires tastes the Israeli wines on Parker’s behalf.
Now Daniel Rogov is deceased, the scores of Mark Squires, arguably the main expert on Israeli wines, become even more significant.
The surprise was the success of Israel’s two largest wineries. Both Barkan and Carmel had three wines on the list.
Of the smaller wineries, Alexander, Castel and Yatir each had two wines which reached the coveted 90 points.
The Wine Advocate has now been regularly tasting Israeli wines for five years.
By far the most successful Israeli wines during this period are Castel Grand Vin and Yatir Forest.
No other Israeli wine comes close to the record of these two Bordeaux style blends.
Castel Grand Vin is produced by Domaine du Castel at Ramat Raziel. Yatir Forest is produced by Yatir Winery at Tel Arad.
The Castel Grand Vin has six times received 90 points or more:
2003 90
2004 92
2006 90
2007 91
2008 93
2009 92
The Yatir Forest has on six consecutive vintages scored 90 points or more:
2003 93
2004 91
2005 90
2006 91
2007 91
2008 92
As of now, forty six Israeli wines have scored 90 points in the Wine Advocate. So it is no longer as rare as it used to be. However,
only 19 Israeli wines have succeeded to score 91 points or more in the Wine Advocate. This makes a far more select list.
The wines with 91 points or more, are as follows:
Yatir Forest 2003 93 points
Castel Grand Vin 2008 93
Margalit Cabernet Sauvignon Sp. Res. 2007 93
Clos du Gat Sycra Muscat 2007 93
Castel Grand Vin 2004 92
Yatir Forest 2008 92
Castel Grand Vin 2008 92
Clos du Gat Sycra Syrah 2007 92
Tzora Or 2006 92
Carmel Limited Edition 2007 91
Carmel Limited Edition 2008 91
‘C’ Blanc du Castel 2005 91
Castel Grand Vin 2007 91
Yatir Forest 2004 91
Yatir Forest 2006 91
Yatir Forest 2007 91
Margalit Kadita Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 91
Yarden HeightsWine 2005 91
Yarden Katzrin 2003 91
Both Castel and Yatir again lead the way having scored 91 points or more on five occasions.
Carmel, Clos du Gat, Margalit, and Yarden have each achieved this twice.
