Israel makes more wine than it can reasonably drink, in more styles than any single guide can carry. This almanac is our reading of it. 17 regions, ranked the way we'd visit them; the houses our critics keep returning to; and a short list of restaurants where we'd spend the evening.
Israel
Israel
17
426
23
The country, in numbers and adjectives.
The terroirs, by hand.
9 regions worth the trip first — chosen by the Femente desk for the houses we’d open with, the variety of styles within each, and the cooking that grew up around them.
Galilee
Galilee's winemakers chase coolness in a warm land, pulling restraint from volcanic soils where ripe fruit arrives early—the region's red…
Judean Hills
The Judean Hills squeeze Cabernet and Merlot into wines of iron minerality and measured extraction, where cool nights at elevation temper…
Upper Galilee
Upper Galilee's reds run lean and mineral—high altitude and cool nights pull tannin tight, leaving room for earth and stone. Producers…
Samaria
The reds here pull toward iron and dark cherry, built on tannins that demand food and patience—a style that resists easy drinking but…
Jerusalem
The limestone hills around Jerusalem produce wines of surprising restraint—reds that prioritize earth and tannin structure over fruit,…
Negev
The Negev trades restraint for ripeness, where desert heat shapes wines of dark intensity and mineral spine. Producers here chase…
Wine of Israel
The Levantine sun ripens Cabernet and Syrah into wines of dark fruit intensity and mineral grip—producers here chase coolness in hillside…
Golan Heights
The Golan's cool volcanic soils and high elevation coax restraint from Cabernet and Syrah—wines built on mineral tension rather than…
Samson
Samson's reds barrel through with the dark-fruit intensity and structured tannins of a region that refuses softness, while its whites cut…
The country’s house grammar.
The 8 styles Israel makes most of, ranked by bottle count on Femente. The bar beneath each cell shows that style’s share of israel’s production.
1,007
Israeli Red Blend — the country’s most numerous bottle.
802
759
655
314
301
209
141
The houses that keep showing up.
9 Israel estates the prestige critics have agreed on — ordered by the count of 95+ scores across Vinous, Decanter, Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator.
Where to spend the evening.
12 rooms across Israel our editors keep coming back to — chosen for the cooking and the wine list, in that order.
Restaurant Tri
Grill · Modern · Middle Eastern — Vestervig
92
Kabbalah Restaurant
Middle Eastern — Falset, Cataluna, Spain
49
hodan | istanbul | yalıkavak
Seafood · Salad · Middle Eastern — בת ים
47
MESHI Restaurant
Middle Eastern — Oldenburg, Germany
42
Bar Sinizki
Street Food · Modern · Fusion — Los Angeles, California
41
Magma
Modern · Middle Eastern — San Benedetto Po
41
Liz
Traditional · Mediterranean — Porto, Portugal
40
Breada Bakery
Bakery · Rotisserie · Middle Eastern — Haifa, Israel
40
BOAZH Restaurant
Grill · Traditional · Middle Eastern — Geneva, Switzerland
40
Blue Fox
Grill · Traditional · Middle Eastern — Tbilisi, Georgia
40
Taizu Restaurant
Asian Fusion — Tel Aviv, Israel
40
Bartali Pizza & Co.
Pizza · Italian Style — Girona, Spain
40
Add Israel to your cellar journal — or pick a region and start walking.
A short note in your inbox when we add a new region, find a winery worth crossing town for, or open a tasting we’d send you to. No noise. Just the ones we’d book ourselves.