WA's 2012 scores for Israeli wines including a big surprise!

[Gabriel Geller]

Hello,

The Wine Advocate have published their 2012 scores of the Israeli wines tasted and scored as always by Mark Squires with quite a big surprise this year... wait for it... 2 GHW wines with 90 and more! Surprisingly, despite the fact that the Golan Heights Winery is in some sort of consensus being considered as Israel's best winery with recent prestigious awards from all over the world, the WA and Squires have never shown much appreciation for those wines.

So this year Mr Squires scored 90 points the Yarden Merlot 2008 and the Yarden Cabernet Sauvignon El Rom Vineyard - 92 points.

Following is the list of all the Israeli wines that were scored 90 points or more (source: wines-israel.co.il):

Carmel Mediterranean 2009: 90 points

Clos de Gat Ayalon Valley 2004: 90

Domaine du Castel Grand Vin 2009: 90

Ella Valley Vineyards 32 N 35 E 2008: 90 (I assume this is the Personal Blend).

Ella Valley Vineyards Chardonnay 2010: 90

Flam Sauvignon Blanc Chardonnay 2011: 90

Golan Heights Yarden Cabernet Sauvignon EL Rom 2008: 92

Golan Heights Yarden Merlot 2008: 90

Shilo Merlot Secret Reserve Sod 2009: 90

Tzora Vineyards Misty Hills 2010: 90

Tzora Vineyards Neve Ilan 2011: 90

Tzora Vineyards Or 2011: 91

Yatir Cabernet Sauvignon 2009: 90

Yatir Petit Verdot 2009: 90

Yatir Forest 2009: 91


Best,

GG

[David Raccah]

Great scores, though I think the Yatir wines are underscored, especially the PV and Cab, but great scores indeed!

http://www.wines-israel.co.il/len/apage/114454.php

David

[Andrew Breskin]

He has consistently been a fan of Yatir Forest over 90 points

[Adam M]

It is indeed surprising that the el rom was scored so high as WS seems to have always underscored this wine in the past. I'll bet that this is an all time high score for this particular wine. Well deserved, indeed, at last!

[David Raccah]

Indeed - over twitter I asked Squires a few times why he disliked the Yarden wines and his words - not mine - never found anything interesting.

IT is interesting indeed that he likes these wines. They are very new world in nature - both of them. They are nice and maybe worthy of the scores, but I have NO idea why he changed his tune on them, given their exact style and nature to past vintages.

David