The 2008 Shiraz “Kayoumi Vineyard,” from the foothills of Mt. Meron, also has 2% Viognier added in. It was aged for 15 months in French oak. It is back on track this year, showing quite beautifully with an underlying tinge of oak cut with fairly high acidity. I suspect the oak will finish integrating in a year or two. There is an underlying earthiness that is quite appropriate and charming. The mid-palate is beautiful, elegant but not thin. This is still a bit tight and closed, but at the moment, I’d say it is the best of its type I’ve had from Carmel, crisp, focused, complex and ageworthy. It is austere at this moment, more than a little tight. Make no mistake, despite the “Shiraz” name, this is much more French than Barossa. Drink now-2018. As with many of the wines in this report, note again that 2008 is a shmitta year. The wines are available in Israel. However, Carmel’s USA importer is a Kosher specialist and will not be importing them. Prices given are approximates as a result, just to give the reader an idea of what they generally sell for. Perhaps the sample size is too small to merit the opinion, but it seems to me that as time goes on Carmel is becoming more and more French-styled (yes, yes, I know the history of its French origins). The wines this year are often ringers for French wines and the style seems to give increasing attention to structure, acidity, complexity and elegance. They are nicely done.Importer: Royal Wine Corp, Bayonne, N.J.; tel: (718) 534-0118.

The 2007 SHIRAZ “KAYOUMI VINEYARD” was aged for 15 months in French oak. It certainly seems very different than, say, the 2005. Quite funky, this nicely structured and otherwise elegant wine left me thinking that it was a long, long way from Barossa. It was hard to get past this wine’s aromatics, perhaps some reduction as well as other sources. If this was an attempt to mimic some Northern Rhone character for syrah, it seems to have gone a bit far. A second bottle was substantially identical. I liked the structure here, but it was hard to get past the nose. Carmel’s wholly owned boutique, Yatir, produced something not far off this, but perhaps a little more controlled. There were 13,000 bottles produced. Drink now-2016. Although these wines are imported by Royal, probably the best known Kosher Wine importer in the USA, I am advised by the winery that not all of them may be immediately placed in our marketplace. With both the Carmels and to a lesser extent the Yatirs (a boutique owned by Carmel), I seemed to smell a lot of funky notes this year, perhaps attributable to different issues, perhaps including some reductive issues, which might improve with time. It will be interesting to see where these wines go.Importer: Royal Wine Corp, Bayonne, N.J.; tel: (718) 534-0118.

An assertive cured game and sweet smoke streak permeates the bouquet of this single site Shiraz. It’s round but structured in the mouth, with fine yet firm tannins and lifting acidity. Fresh black-fruit flavors of plum and cherry abound in the mouth, while a fudgy flavor stays after swallow. ——L.B.(4/1/2012)—— 89

The 2004 Shiraz Kayoumi Vineyard is a single vineyard wine, and a nice step up on the Petite Sirah. It has those same, lush, oak-driven notes, but the wine has better balance and more of a finish. There are some modest tannins that pop out after an hour or so of aeration. There is nothing terribly complex here, but it has juicy, sweet fruit that is hard to resist. It is not likely to develop much in the cellar, but should hold well over the short term. Drink now-2013. For those interested, this wine is Kosher. Importer: Royal Wine Corp, Bayonne, N.J.; tel. (718) 534-0118This familiar and old (with roots back to 1882) winery is Israel's largest, once having controlled almost the entire Israeli wine market. Carmel got modern winemaking started in Israel and helped stake out the path to serious wine as well, although it has a bit of a checkered past. One spokesperson described it as the Gallo of Israel. It sells a wide range of products, including sweet kiddush wines. For a long while, Carmel and Israeli wine were more or less synonymous. Carmel still today has a huge market share (harvesting about 35% of Israel’s grapes), although it has declined over the decades with the founding of many competitors, from Golan Heights to the boutiques. Not surprisingly, Carmel has been reshaping itself, establishing a joint venture called Yatir (listed separately here) to turn out high quality wines, and making small production wines under its own label as well. Its single vineyard and Limited Edition wines are only about 1,083 case production runs each. Carmel is making some fine wines at the high end, and its attention to small production wines seems to be paying off.