Sommelier Israel has announced the winners of its “Best Value” awards for 2013, and for the fifth year running, the Golan Heights Winery features heavily. The “Best Value” awards have run in Israel for the past five years and celebrate the best of Israel’s ‘affordable’ wine (generally below $20).
Almost 200 wines were sampled from across the range of Israel’s wineries and the judging panel included wine writers, sommeliers, wine makers, and professional wine tasters.
Prizes were awarded for the best value wines in a range of categories covering popular varietals and also general categories. The Mount Hermon White (2012) was a big winner, collecting first place for the best value blended white wine and second place in the overall best value white wine.
The Golan Cabernet Sauvignon (2012) picked up the best value red wine award and the Golan Moscato (2012) came in first in the category for best value sweet wine. In total the Golan Heights Winery was honored with nine awards and more gold awards than any other winery, a testament to its enduring high quality year after year.
These awards are timed to precede the Pesach wine buying spree which engulfs Israel each year with wineries competing to offer high quality wines at affordable prices.
In recent years wineries such as the Golan Heights Winery have been winning international prizes in Europe and the U.S. for their highest caliber wines. For the Golan Heights Winery, winning prizes at the “Best Value” awards demonstrates a commitment to quality regardless of pricing. The Israeli wine industry is now producing excellent wines across all levels of the wine market and awards like these suggest that the amount of high quality, affordable Israeli wines on the market continues to rise. v
