Kosher Wines from Israel, click on titles for full descriptions. 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Kosher. Israel, 750ml Golan Heights Winery, Kosher, Galilee, Israel Golan Wine, Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, Kosher, Galilee, Israel, 750ml Golan Wine, Moscato 2005, Kosher, Galilee, Israel, 750ml Gush Etzion Winery, Kosher, Israel Gush Etzion Cabernet Sauvignon 2002, Kosher, Israel, 750ml Kinneret Winery, Kosher, Israel Kinneret Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, Kosher, Israel, 750ml Kinneret Cabernet-Merlot-Cabernet Franc 2004, Kosher, Israel, 750ml Kinneret Merlot 2005, Kosher, Israel, 750ml Kinneret Riesling 2004, Kosher, Israel, 750ml Recanati Winery, Kosher, Israel Recanati Barbera 2004, Kosher, Israel, 750ml Recanati Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, Kosher, Israel, 750ml Recanati Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2000, Kosher, Israel, 750ml Recanati Chardonnay 2005, Kosher, Israel, 750ml Recanati Merlot 2004, Kosher, Israel, 750ml Recanati Merlot Reserve 2002, Kosher, Israel, 750ml Recanati Petite Syrah/Zinfandel Blend 2004, Kosher, Israel, 750ml Recanati Special Reserve Cabernet/Merlot 2003, Kosher, Israel, 750ml Segal's Kosher Wines, Israel Segal's Cabernet Sauvignon Special Reserve 2004, Kosher, Israel, 750ml Segal's Chardonnay Special Reserve 2004, Kosher, Israel, 750ml Segal's Merlot Special Reserve 2002, Kosher, Israel, 750ml Segal's Fusion Red 2005, Kosher, Israel, 750ml Segal's Fusion White 2005, Kosher, Israel, 750ml Segal's Dishon Cabernet Sauvignon 2002, Kosher, Israel, 750ml Segal's Unfiltered Cabernet Sauvignon 2002, Kosher wine, Israel, 750ml Yarden Wine Vineyards, Kosher, Israel Yarden Wine, Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, Kosher, Golan Heights, Israel, 750ml Yarden Wine, Cabernet Sauvignon "El Rom" 2001, Kosher, Golan Heights, Israel, 750ml Yarden Wine, Katzrin Chardonnay 2004, Kosher, Golan Heights, Israel, 750ml Yarden Wines, Odem Chardonnay 2003, Kosher, Golan Heights, Israel, 750ml Yarden Wine, Gewurztraminer 2006, Kosher, Golan Heights, Israel, 750ml Yarden Heights Dessert Wine 2005, Kosher, Golan Heights, Israel, 375ml Yarden Wine, Merlot 2003, Kosher, Golan Heights, Israel, 750ml Yarden Wine, Mount Hermon Red 2006, Kosher, Golan Heights, Israel, 750ml Yarden Wine, Mount Hermon White 2006, Kosher, Golan Heights, Israel, 750ml Yarden Wine, Pinot Noir 2003, Golan Heights, Israel, 750ml Yarden Wine, Riesling 2003, Kosher, Golan Heights, Israel, 750ml Yarden Blanc de Blancs Sparkling Wine, Kosher, Golan Heights, Israel, 750ml Yatir Winery, Kosher, Israel Yatir Forest Cabernet Sauvignon 2002, Kosher, Israel, 750ml Yatir Blend, Cabernet, Merlot, Shiraz, 2004, Kosher, Israel, 750ml Yatir Sauvignon Blanc 2006, Kosher, Israel, 750ml Ramim Winery, Kosher Wine, Israel Psagot Winery, Judean Hills, Kosher Wine, Israel Israel Wine FactsMain areas of production: Golan Heights, Upper Galilee, Samson, Shomron, Ramatarad, Negev Most important grape varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc. New varieties include Pinot Noir, Syrah, Sangiovese, Cabernet Franc, Gewürztraminer, White Riesling Area under vine in 2000: 4,000ha In 1995, there were 2,000ha. This doubling of the vineyard in five years has come about through a new interest in wine, coupled with the endemic shortage of water that has encouraged fruit farmers to turn to wine grapes as these require less water. The key growth regions have been Upper Galilee and Golan Heights. Wine production (excluding wine for distillation) from 2000 harvest: 300,000hl (approx) Split 60% red, 40% white Production in previous years: 1995 - 195,000hl with annual increases of more than 15% Number of commercial wineries: 8 The main three in both domestic and export markets are, in order of size: Carmel, Barkan Wine Cellars and Yarden. New to the UK market are Galil Mountain (a joint venture between a kibbutz and the Golan Heights Winery), and Domain Castel (a small, quality, family estate winery). Other notable wineries include Efrat Winery, Binyamina Wine Cellars, Tishbi Estate, and Dalton Winery. Number of exporting wineries: Carmel (50%), Golan Heights (40%), Barkan (5%), all others (5%) Recent key developments: There has been a strong move towards quality with the planting of quality varieties, finding new high-altitude (cooler) vineyards, and new wineries with new equipment - each of the Big Three is building new wineries. Winemakers with international experience are being employed, particularly those who have studied in California, but also from Australia and France. Israel is part of the mini wine revolution taking place in the Eastern Mediterranean (Greece, Lebanon and Israel) and North Africa (Morocco and Tunisia). The changes in Israel are New World inspired, compared with the other Meditteranean and North African countries, where the emphasis is more French/Old World. 2001 vintage report: A short winter followed by an early flowering resulted in an earlier than usual harvest. However, an even summer and autumn – without the hamsins (hot winds), a hazard in this part of the world – and lower yields have ensured a high quality vintage. The Markets Main export markets in terms of volume: 1 USA 2 UK 3 Germany While there has not been an actual increase in the volume of exports in recent years, there has been a big increase in the quality of the wine that is being shipped. With a current boom in interest in Israel, the country is now beginning to be regarded as the quality representative of the Eastern Mediterranean – ‘a new, slightly exotic, quality alternative’ – rather than just a supplier of Kosher wine for a Kosher market. This phenomenon can best be seen in restaurants with international wine lists, where Israeli wines are listed. UK market share: < 0.1% Main targets for exports in 2001: The Far East - Japan is selling a lot of Israeli wine. History of Israel WineAfter they had left Egypt and approached Canaan, Moses sent twelve spies across the river to explore the Promised Land. When they returned to their encampment to advise Moses, only Joshua and Caleb were in favor of entering the new land. The other spies, however, had not been particularly impressed by what they found and because they advised against entering the new land, the Israelites began their 40 year trek through Sinai. Fortunately, however, two of the spies had returned with a cluster of grapes and, according to folklore, those grapes yielded enough wine to last the people for their forty years in the wilderness. Nobody today is sure just how that wine tasted. There is a good chance, however, that it was terrible. Wine has been made in Israel since pre-Biblical times but, if the truth be known, until recently, there was no reason to be proud of those wines. The wines shipped to ancient Egypt were so bad that they had to be seasoned with honey, pepper and juniper berries to make them palatable, and those sent to Rome and England during the height of ancient Roman civilization were so thick and sweet that no modern connoisseur could possibly approve of them. So bad were most of these wines that it was probably a good thing that the Moslem conquest in AD 636 imposed a 1,200 year halt to the local wine industry. Even in 1870, when wine production started again, thanks to the aid of Baron Edmond de Rothschild, not all went smoothly, and most of the wine that was produced was red, sweet, unsophisticated and unappealing. In 1875, for example, British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli was given a bottle of kosher red wine from Palestine. After taking a few sips, Disraeli observed that it tasted "not so much like wine but more like what I expect to receive from my doctor as a remedy for a bad winter cough". Well into the 1960s, Israel justifiably suffered from a reputation of producing wines too sweet and too coarse to appeal to knowledgeable drinkers. Sophisticated wine lovers know that the local wineries have risen out of the morass of cheap, cloyingly sweet wines that burn the throat and bring tears to the cheeks. As wine writer Oz Clarke has said, "Israel is now on the world winemap", and many local dry red and white wines are now as good as some of the fine wines of California, Australia and others of the so-called "new-world" wine producing countries. In fact, some Israeli wines are so good that they are compared favorably to the wines of the respected chateaux of France. Sometimes fruity and on other occasions crisply dry, and often with excellent balance, body and bouquet, Israeli wines are now perceived as an integral and important part of dining out. Some speculate that the demand for more sophisticated wines within Israel came about because as more and more Israelis traveled abroad, especially to Europe, they came to realize that wine had more than mere ceremonial value. It is probably equally accurate, however, to state that Israelis began to demand better wines when they were exposed to the wines of the Golan Heights Winery which opened in 1983. Unbound by either outdated winemaking traditions or a large, sometimes hard-to-move corporate structure, the young winery imported good vine stock from California, built a state-of-the-art winery, and added to this the enthusiasm and knowledge of young American winemakers who had been trained at the University of California at Davis. Equally important, the Golan winery began to encourage vineyard owners to improve the quality of their grapes and, in the American tradition, paid bonuses for grapes with high sugar and acid content and rejected those grapes they perceived as substandard. The winery was also the first to realize that wines made from Grenache, Semillon, Petit Sirah and Carignan grapes would not put them on the world wine map and focused on planting and making wines from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, white Riesling and Gewurztraminer. The Golan wines were a success from the beginning, their second wine, a Cabernet Sauvignon from the 1984 vintage, winning a gold medal at the International Wine and Spirit Competition. In fact, at this writing, the winery is the only one in the world to have been awarded the Chairman's Award for Excellence at Vinexpo on three separate occasions. The winery, which is owned by the kibbutim and other cooperative farms that supply them with grapes, now produces over 4.5 million bottles annually, and is currently increasing their output by about 20% annually. Many other wineries have made major steps forward in improving the quality of their wines. There are now six major wineries and a rapidly growing host of boutique wineries in the country, many of which are producing wines that are of high quality and a few producing wines good enough to interest connoisseurs and wine lovers wherever they happen to find themselves in the world.