Ashkar Winery – Ras Al-Ahmar Galilee Highlands 2020
Ras Al-Ahmar Galilee Highlands 2020 — Ashkar Winery
The third and final vintage of this wine. Once it is gone, it is gone.
Ras El Ahmar — الرأس الأحمر — is a village in the Upper Galilee long celebrated for its fertile soils and the exceptional quality of its vineyards. Ancient winepresses and gats discovered in the area date back to the Canaanite and Roman periods, a timeless testimony to a winemaking tradition that stretches back thousands of years. This wine is the living continuation of that lineage.
Made from the last remaining Hermitage clones in the region, grown on old vines, the Ras Al-Ahmar is a singular and unrepeatable expression. As Ashkar Winery describes it: a wine that reflects the inner subjective experience of time itself — where the past, present, and future of Palestine blend within a bottle.
Three years of ageing in French oak has woven extraordinary layers of complexity into a wine already bursting with personality. This is not just a bottle of wine. It is a piece of Palestinian history.
Tasting Notes
- Ripe wild blackberries, blueberry, and ripe cherry on the nose
- Violet blossoms adding floral lift and elegance
- Soft spice and dried laurel leaves with deep earthy minerality
- Incense and toasted wood from three years in French oak
- Chewy, marked tannins with a long, full, and harmonious finish
Winemaking
100% Syrah (Hermitage clones) • Old vines • Aged 3 years in French oak • Ras El Ahmar, Upper Galilee, Palestine • 2020 • Final vintage