Jules Polonetsky
Decanter magazine is the oldest wine publication in the United Kingdom. Founded in London in 1975, today it is a global brand hosting competitions and events and publications in 90 countries.
The various Decanter awards and competitions are highly respected, with expert and impartial judges assessing wines in their areas of expertise. The Decanter World Wine Awards is the world’s largest wine competition. As such, fans of Israeli wines take note when Decanter judges rank Israeli wines. Israeli wineries receiving top scores in recent years have included Gvaot, Shiloh, Barkan, Carmel, Psagot and Yarden, with wineries in the Judea appellation doing well in the rankings.
But this year, the surprise was the score of 97 awarded to the Exodus Grand Reserve, the premium wine produced by the Ramat Negev Winery. This petit verdot-dominated wine received the only Platinum Award presented to an Israeli wine in 2024, ahead of several Gold Award winners from better-known wineries Psagot, Teperberg, Yarden and the 1848 Winery.
Although not as well known in the United States, Ramat Negev Winery has built a leading reputation for its unique terroir in the Negev desert. The winery was founded by Nira and Alon Zadok, a pioneering couple who planted vines in Israel’s deep south, despite the views of experts who believed it was impossible to grow quality grapes in the harsh desert environment.
Advances in the use of desalinated water have been critical to the winery’s ability to irrigate vines in the intensely dry environment and, as a “green winery,” it takes pride in environmentally friendly practices. Winemaker Yogav Zadok, the eldest son, studied for several years in Florence and one can taste the Italian influence in many of his wines which have less alcohol, less fruit-forward influence and a perception of the taste of the grapevines.
The 2018 Exodus Grand Reserve is a petit verdot-malbec blend tasting of plush black plums and tinges of tobacco and balsamic, along with oak influence. The wine is dense and chewy with a long and spicy finish.
Is this the “best” wine in Israel? I was eager to taste the wine on a recent trip to Israel and organized a group of local wine experts to taste the wine with me, along with some lovely wines from Agur and Covenant and a few of the top Herzog Generation VIII and IX wines.
The Exodus certainly held its own with our group, and no one was surprised that it was awarded a top score, but few thought that it was head and shoulders above other top Israeli wines. The Exodus is selling at retail in the U.S. for more than $200, which puts it beyond the reach of most consumers and at the elite level of the wines from the most prestigious French Bordeaux estates.
I was lucky enough to buy a few through a friend who bought directly from the winery with a club membership discount, but even at the local Israeli price, the tab was more than $100, which is quite stiff. The broader impact on the market may be an enhanced appreciation of the Negev desert area as a unique Israeli region for quality wines.
Another Israel winery in the Negev, Nana Estates, near the Ramon crater in the Negev, has won accolades for its wines, particularly some high-acid whites that demonstrate the effect of hot days and cool desert evenings.
The first formal Israeli appellation designated in Israel only recently was the Judean region, but the Negev is rumored to be the next area to be recognized. This move could help Israel gain international attention for its winemakers who are leveraging unique Israeli agricultural prowess in making the desert bloom with high-quality wines.
Jules Polonetsky is a Wine and Spirits Education Trust Level 3 Certified wine expert who writes for the Wine and Whiskey Globe when not occupied with his day job as CEO of a tech policy think tank. He is a former consumer affairs commissioner of the City of New York.