Their Cups Runneth Over

Israel and this region of the world has been making wine for thousands of years. But in modern times, it’s only been recently that the wine world in general has started to sit up and take notice of the growing quality of Israeli wines.

There are currently five wine regions in Israel: The Galilee, north of Nazareth; Shomron, south of Haifa; Samson, south of Tel Aviv; Negev, south of Gaza; and the Judean Hills, south of Jerusalem. Most experts, however, seem to agree the best wine comes from The Galilee region, especially from the Golan Heights. The Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc do especially well, but wineries also create Merlot and other well-known wines.

The number one producer of wine in Israel with 50 percent of the market is the Carmel Winery group, which is now producing somewhere between 25 and 30 million bottles of wine per year. It’s one of the largest wine producers in the Mediterranean, the largest producer of kosher wines in the world and is Israel’s largest exporter of wines, brandy and grape juice. Not surprisingly, it’s also the country’s first and oldest exporter with two of the largest wineries in Israel and recently started up three new boutique wineries.

At a blind tasting, wine critic Daniel Rogov gave the Carmel Limited Edition 2003 a best ever score of 93 points. In addition to this, he also rated Carmel’s Single Vineyard wines excellent scores of over 90 including the Kayoumi Cabernet Sauvignon 2003, which received 92 points. Rogov also awarded the Carmel Winery the title of “The Fastest Improving Winery in Israel” for two consecutive years.

The emergence of Israel on the world wine scene has also prompted the development of a number of boutique wine companies in the country that are producing excellent wines. The Dalton Winery, for example, near Kerem Ben Zimra, is set in the beautiful mountainous country of the Upper Galilee, three miles from the Lebanese border, overlooking Mount Hermon.