While I love white wines and specifically the whites from Recanati in northern Israel, this season we at the Jewish Link Wine Guide tried many of Recanati’s portfolio of red wines to consider pairing them with meat-and-potato-based winter dishes and to provide concrete recommendations for Israeli wines to give as gifts during this holiday season.
Located in Israel’s Merom Ha’Galil in the Upper Galil, just a few kilometers from Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, the newly built modern mountaintop winery is a showcase winemaking facility, equipped with the most innovative technology available today. However, for much of the last 14 months, Recanati’s property has suffered greatly from the lack of tourism due to closed roads and dangerous conditions in the north, not to mention daily sirens and missiles launched from Lebanon.
Recanati obtains its grapes from some of the area’s most high-altitude vineyards, a climate similar to that of California’s Napa Valley. Warm days and contrastingly cool nights create ideal diurnal temperatures. That, together with the terroir—chalky-gravel soil conditions and limited rainfall—create an ideal environment in which to nurture classic varieties. Particular highlights for me are Recanti’s wild carignan and merlot, as well as their flagship blend, a special reserve made from five grape varieties, including my favorite all-time red wine grape, marselan.
The winery is owned by Lenny Recanati, an Israeli native with family roots in Italy, and benefits from chief winemaker Kobi Arviv, who is known for his creative work and authentic winemaking philosophy. “Arviv’s use of ancient and unique techniques, alongside the technological advances of today, raises the quality bar for Israeli wines,” according to the company. What is particularly impressive to me is Recanati’s combination of skill in managing all aspects of a wine’s balance, including a restrained alcohol level for the reds of between 13% and 14%, and making sure to respect and bring out each variety’s particular aromas, flavors and attributes.
Imported by Palm Bay International, Recanati’s price points are interestingly more reflective of the larger wine industry prices rather than kosher wine companies, which create a strong advantage for the kosher consumer.
Recanati Yasmin Red 2023
This affordable, entry-level wine is an amazing gift to bring to friends and family for Shabbat, particularly for those who enjoy red wine and drink it often. At approximately $16, this wine punches way, way above its price point, with smooth and delicate red and black fruit aromas, a nice level of intensity of flavor and an effortless finish. This wine is a blend of 80% petite sirah and 20% cabernet sauvignon, and has an alcohol level of 13%, so it’s not as high in alcohol as other red wines on average. Give this wine a bit of air on opening; it is a crowd-pleaser and will not break the bank.
Recanati Galilee Merlot 2023
On the nose, baked cherry, bing cherry, fresh red berry, earthy minerality and on the palate, beautiful acidity and tannins (dryness), and a sense of green herbs and even more cherry. A lingering and pleasant fruity finish, again like a cherry pie tinged with vanilla and cinnamon. The wine is made from hand-picked fruit and aged eight months in French oak. This is an exceedingly nice wine that will go well with cheese platters, or even latkes and brisket. This is a go-to wine for merlot lovers and one of Israel’s finest at one of the lowest prices ($18.99).
Recanati Galilee Syrah 2023
One of Israel’s most acclaimed syrah wines for one of the lowest prices ($18.99). Spicy, warm and delicate all at the same time, this wine has an aroma of fresh raspberry and red plum, smooth tannins and a lengthy finish. It is made from hand-picked grapes and aged for six months in French oak barrels. This wine is special, and with its extreme affordability, is sure to sell out. Recanati also makes the Recanati Galilee Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 as part of the same series (also $18.99), which is also excellent.
Recanati Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon David Vineyard 2021
A very pleasing and varietally correct aged cabernet for $29.99. More complex, tertiary aromas are present, showing a slightly older, elegant and restrained wine that has been aged 18 months in French oak barrels. Cigar box, cedar and vanilla on the nose and tannic acidity on the palate followed by a lingering sense of earthy red and black fruit on the finish. This is not a fruit bomb wine like many Israeli cabs, but rather resembled an aged California cab, similar to the Herzog Special Reserve cab from Lake County.
Recanati Reserve Wild Carignan 2021
At $50, this wine is one of the best—if not the best—examples of Israel carignan wines made from one of the country’s most traditional and interesting grapes. These particular grapes, from the Judean Hills, are grown on dry-farmed vines which are head-trained in the goblet style. It has restrained notes of blackberry and other dark fruit and an essence of dark chocolate and spice. While this is a dry wine, it has lower tannins than a cabernet, for example, and a nice herby finish keeps you heading back for more. This wine is minimally filtered and is “rugged, unadorned and deeply rooted in the land of Israel.” It’s not a heavy wine nor is it a fruit bomb. Almost a love letter to the land of Israel. This wine makes a wonderful gift and would pair well with roasted or grilled meats.
Recanati Special Reserve 2020
Warm, bright and fruity, this aged red wine, for only $59.99, is a wonderful expression of the Galil and represents the best of all that is possible from Israeli wines. This is a blend of 33% cabernet sauvignon, 23% petite sirah, 17% marselan, 15% carignan and 10% syrah. It spent 18 months in French oak, and the aromas of black and blue fruit show through with warm, velvety viscosity and gentle tannins. This is a ridiculously easy-to-drink flagship wine. It is one of the most interesting and complex wines I’ve tried with little to no decanting required, though after a bit of air it shows more and more aromas.
I hope you enjoy all of the Recanati wines this Chanukah season, and if your travels bring you to Israel this yeshiva break or in the spring, I encourage you to take a drive up to the newly opened beautiful north and visit this beautiful winery. Plan your visit here: https://
www.recanati-winery.com/en/.
Elizabeth Kratz is editor of the Jewish Link Wine Guide.
