Hugh Johnson is one of the world’s pre-eminent writers on wine. First published in 1977, his Pocket Wine Book remains the world’s bestselling annual wine guide, with more than 12 million copies sold. In recent years, the writing duties were taken over by famed wine writer Margaret Rand, with Adam Montefiore and Gal Zohar advising on the Israel section. Montefiore, known as the “English voice of Israeli wine,” is a long-time industry veteran currently writing for the Jerusalem Post. Zohar owns the W Wine and Spirits Wine School, the WSET-approved school in Israel.

Unlike other guides, the Pocket Wine Book doesn’t rate individual wines but awards one to four stars based on the caliber of the winery. The concept is a general scoring of a winery according to the quality and consistency of the wines produced. The winery’s overall grade is a weighting of all its wine ratings. The book reviews nearly every wine region in the world.

So, can we please have a drum roll for Israel’s four-star-awarded wineries in the recently released 2025 edition: Castel, Flam, Sphera, Tzora, and Yarden? Agur, Clos de Gat, Dalton, Feldstein, Chateau Golan, Margalit, Raziel, Recanati, Shiloh, Vitkin, and Yatir each received three stars.

As you can imagine, the rankings sparked some controversy in Israel and the broader kosher wine market. Gvaot, known for making the best Pinot Noir in Israel and leading research into native Israeli grapes, only received two stars, which was a real shocker. Gvaot winemaker Shivi Drori is an icon of the Israeli winemaking scene. Ido Lewinson of Barkan, one of Israel’s only “Masters of Wine,” was awarded three stars for the wines he makes under his own name, and Mia Luce, the project of Recanati winemaker Kobi Arviv, also achieved this recognition. Itay Lahat also received three stars.

But I was shocked that Yaakov Oryah, perhaps the most creative winemaker in Israel, an innovator who pioneered orange wines, was only awarded two stars. Oryah seems to have been penalized by the Hugh Johnson system, which takes into account a broad selection of wineries’ productions. Oryah produces dozens of different wines, some elegant and widely popular and others that are creative and interesting experiments, wonderful to taste and thrilling to his fans, but not all crowd-pleasers. Not everyone is a fan of his orange wines, which are wines made from white grapes that are macerated with the grape’s skins in the style of red wines, despite being fascinating to taste.

Another major shocker is the award of only three stars to Yatir, which is widely considered one of the top-tier wineries in Israel. Jezreel Valley, popular for wines made from Argaman and Carignan grapes, was awarded only two stars. And winemaker Lewis Pasco was omitted altogether despite making it onto my best winemakers list.

How will these rankings impact actual sales for these wineries? Probably not at all. However, the guide is considered an invaluable resource for the general non-kosher market, and it’s not uncommon to see shoppers with the guide in hand when visiting local wine merchants or traveling abroad. Although the Pocket Guide has covered Israeli wines for years, it doesn’t otherwise cover kosher wineries. Kosher wine leaders Covenant and Hagafen are given a very brief mention in the California section, but kosher wine giant Herzog isn’t included at all.

The stars awarded do, however, convey some prestige and glamour, so kudos to those who were well-recognized. But as the Hebrew Proverb goes: Al Taam Ve’Reach, Ein LeHitvakeach – on taste and smell, there is no arguing!