Monthly Archives: May 2008
This past week’s wine….
2000 Four Gates Chardonnay - Score: A
I have blogged about this one – but it has improved. I think I gave it a score of A-. That is old news. This wine is still a beautiful golden straw color. The nose is getting stronger. It is replete with peach, citrus, apricot, creme, and vanilla. The mouth of medium to full bodied wine is almost velvety smooth but still kicking. The fruit forward nose flows through to the mouth. The fresh fruit flavors, peach and citrus are very evident and they are joined with tight wood to make a melodic conversation that is complex with layers – but not annoyingly such that it would get in the way of enjoying it. The wine is great by itself – but even better with some nice hard cheeses (because of its acidic nature), fish and roasted chicken. The clean yet complex lines make this a real winner.
2004 Four Gates Chardonnay – Score: A-
The nose on this straw colored wine has lychee, citrus, apple, and wood aromas. The mouth of this medium bodied wine is filled with citrus, peaches, and lychee. The wine is complex with sweet wood and spice that play in tandem with each other and make the long finish quite enjoyable. This wine has filled out since my last tasting. It continues to get fatter and a bit more buttery. Nice with heavier foods.
This past week’s wine…
Not too crazy this week. We stayed home for a quiet shabbos, so we made some yummy chicken along with a very cool Asian chicken soup recipe. The cool thing about the soup is the crunchy texture of water chestnuts that melds well with the torn chicken and pineapples. Very cool stuff. I also like the simplicity of the recipe.
Anyway, chose a Chardonnay from the cellar that I thought would work nicely with the chicken flavor and the pineapple flavors of the soup and the spicy accents in our chicken recipe for the main course. I chose the 2005 Golan Heights Winery Chardonnay Yarden Odem Organic Vineyard. as described below, it was great for a bit and then it morphed into something I did not like as much – a shame. Still the food was nice!
2005 Golan Heights Winery Chardonnay Yarden Odem Organic Vineyard – Score: A-
This was a nice wine. It has almost no nose. It started with a strong and aggressive fruit nose – but it blew off very quickly, and all that was left was the wood and butter aromas. The nose initially had aromas of peaches, citrus, asparagus, and strong notes of sweet wood and crazy butter – almost overpoweringly so. As stated the fruit in the nose disappeared quickly. The mouth on this medium – full bodied wine also lost its fruit quickly. It had lovely flavors of citrus and sweet apples that somehow broke through the fog of dense wood and butter flavors. The finish lingered long on the palate with strong flavors of asparagus wrapped in a butter and wood blanket. Even after the fruit blew off, it still was a nice and complex wine that was constantly plays off its butter, wood, and vegetal qualities. It is a thick and almost velvety wine. Would be a smashing success if the fruits would have stayed around longer.
This past week’s wines…
Well we went out Friday night and I brought two bottles with me:
2002 Carmel Mizrachi Cabernet Sauvignon Kerem Ben Zimra – Score: A-
This wine is currently at its peak (or just missed it). The color is a beautiful deep red – purple wine. The nose is filled with dark fruits, strong oak flavors, mint, and hints of vanilla. The mouth on this full bodied wine was super smooth. Wonderfully balanced. The slight amount of tannins were absolutely in perfect harmony with the strong cassis, blackberries, and eucalyptus flavors. It is heavy and velvety in the mouth yet smooth with just the right touch of vanilla. The finish is filled with toasty wood in a light chocolate backdrop
2003 Carmel Mizrachi Syrah Single Vineyard Kosher Kerem Ramat Arad – Score: B+
This bottle was opened some 3 hours in advance and it was still not there when we finally got to drink it later in the evening. It was just throwing off its evening shawl and getting ready to hit the dance floor when we had its last drops. A shame, but I cannot talk to what there were hints of, I can only talk to what we had.
The wine has a deep and brooding purple color. The nose is filled with strong aromas of sweet oak and green grass. The mouth of the medium bodied wine was light on the tannins – though not fully integrated. The fruit was not so prominent but the sweet oak and green flavors almost dominated the mouth. The finish was long with hints of red fruits that were almost too scared to come out.
For lunch – we opened this for ourselves:
2004 Borgo Reale Primitivo di Manduria – Score: B++
For lunch we opened this bottle. At first it showed strong Zinfandel characteristics (of course because it is a Zinfandel wine). There were STRONG notes of mint and rose characteristics. They turned me off so much, that I wanted to toss the wine. Good news – I relented and drank more! The wine opened in the glass and balanced itself out quite nicely. Being used to a California Zin, I expected the pepper or the spice (of which there is none), but in its place is this wonderful smoky flavor. It permeates the wine and gives it a special Aura and uplift. The nose is filled with red fruit, tobacco, and mint. The mouth of the lively and balanced medium – full bodied wine starts with flavors of dates, cherries, raspberries, and finishes with a medium long finish that is wrapped in smoky flavors and has a fat stogie tucked between its teeth.
I know the wine has a lower score then the Carmel Cab 02 and that it has a very funny score of B++ – but I could not shake the fact that it was really good. It did not have the stature of the Carmel Cab, but the Primitivo was so lively, playful, a wine almost daring you to ignore it – without beating you over the head, that I had to denote it in some way. If you can find one – I would recommend it – though drink up – they are meant to be drunk young.
At night we also had the chance to drink a bottle of Baron Herzog Zinfandel Old Vines 2006, that had been open for quite a while. I am not scoring it because I did not drink it in a controlled manner. However, it had many of the characteristics of the Primitivo before it opened up and became playful. I must admit, that I am not a fan of the Baron Herzog Zin since 2003. It has become FAR TOO floral and green. There is less ripe fruit and there is a ton of pepper that throws the whole wine off. I prefer the Zins of old, that were lively, oaky, with just enough pepper to round the wine out, but not take it over. We hope that the next incarnation will return to those Zins of old.
This past week’s wine
After having meat often on Passover, it was time to shift into a lighter mode for this Shabbos. We went with sushi which was a ball to make and consume (of course). There is a ton of discussions out in the rags about what wine best compliments or pairs with sushi. Many punt and say Sake ( a rice wine) which pairs nicely – if you like it. Others say beer goes quite nicely, and I agree. But being Shabbos and all I usually go with wine. In the past we have tried clean lined whites and Pinot. Pinot of course is a nice choice because of its clean line (unless over oaked) and because it has enough herbal qualities to match up with the rice vinegar and the sushi’s meaty flavors. Other good options are a nicely chilled Gewürztraminer whose fruit and slight sweetness matches the sushi rice vinegar acidity. Finally, there is the crazy clean lines of a Sauvignon Blanc that match well against the sushi’s clean lines. The acidities do clash, but that tends to be acceptable. Not having a Gewürztraminer on hand – we went with the Sauvignon Blanc. I tell this to better appreciate why I did not love the Yarden Sauvignon Blanc. I thought it was too fat and overoaked. The crisp lines had been crushed under the weight of the French oak. From what was left – it was clear that the crisp lines were there, but the choice was to go for the fat flavors, over the clean fruit in steel. Again, my opinion, and your palate may feel differently.
Yarden Sauvignon Blanc 2006: B+
The nose on this straw colored wine goes from heady to almost non existent pretty quickly – which is a shame. The nose out of the bottle has notes of pear, apples, citrus, and lychee. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is too plump for my taste buds. I like my Sauvignon Blanc to be clean lined and such. That said. The fruit still shows, and is tempered by toasty wood and green flavors – which tend to muddle the wine. The finish is medium long and there is still enough acidity in the wine to help it cut through fish and soft cheese.
Wines that we had at the end of Passover…
So Passover came and went. Before it did, we had a few more wines, so I thought I would muse them up. Overall the wines on Passover did not totally blow me away. There were a few nice ones – a couple of Four Gates and a Meshcha, but no blow me away wine. This is something we need to work on 
So we had a few folks over at the end and these are the wines we popped (the french wine was a gift)
Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Special Reserve 2003: B+
We opened this one and it was the winner of the night. A thick and heady wine. It has strong dark fruit characteristics – but not very complex. It really is just a fruity and over oaked Cabernet. We had hope that it would carry the night. It was still better than its older sibling – which was a dud.
Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Special Reserve 2002: B-
We opened this one and it was the loser of the night. A thick and boring wine. It has nice charred wood notes. A bit of fruit and that was it. No real life or complexity. It did get a bit better as the night progressed – but it was dead.
Chateau Labegorce Lede Margaux 2001: A-
When we opened this wine at night, it was the loser for sure. Thin, no life, and almost scary. Well what a resurrection it made the next day! It had opened. The wine was still a bit mature looking, but the mouth had opened and the nose was alive. It screamed of red fruits; cherry, raspberry, red plums. The mouth was nice and long. Lean and balanced, yet enough bite left. A real nice wine and the actual winner of the day.
Ruth Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2002: A-
Same can be said for this wine. At night it was dead – we all thought that I had kept it too long. The next morning we had a real wine. The nose screamed black currents and red plums. The mouth was alive with mellow tannins and sweet wood. The finish was long and laden with tobacco, mint, and nice wood characteristics.
