Daily Archives: October 18, 2009

A week ago saw us enjoying meals with friends and on our own.  The Jewish Holiday called Shemini Atzeret is the last part of Sukkot and the one that sometimes gets out of hand, when some mistaken souls confuse Shemini Atzeret with Purim (and think getting drunk is part of the deal).  However, since we did not put up a sukkah and most folks believe that one should eat in the sukkah (without a blessing) on Shemini Atzeret, we ate out for the first two meals.  On Saturday day we went to a friend’s home and were served a wonderful bounty of flavors and textures and some really fun wines.  We brought a bottle of 2003 Galil Winery Yiron, while another guest brought a bottle of 2007 Lambouri Ya’in Kafrisin.  later in the meal the host opened a bottle of 2006 Shiloh Cabernet Sauvignon.

Later that evening we laid low after a long Simchat Torah celebration, with a wonderful meal of meatballs, rice, and fresh green salad.  The recipe for the meatballs were the same we have had before, but this time we substituted a pound of ground turkey for one of the two pounds of ground meat.  The mixture was way off, as the ground turkey meat is soft and sticky, instead of firm like ground meat.  To make the mixture work we added in ground almonds bit by bit until it was he correct consistency.  The tomato sauce was the same and the meatballs came out soft yet firm to the fork.

The wine notes follow below:

2003 Galil Yiron – Score: B+
The nose on this garnet colored wine was hopping and screaming out of the bottle with chocolate, figs, ripe and plump blackberry, plum, and mounds of oak. The mouth on this full bodied, extra ripe, and mouth coating wine is filled with ripe plum and blackberry, rich chocolate, and sweet oak. The mid palate is balanced with acidity and soft tannins. The finish is super long with more rich fruit, chocolate, figs, and a hint of tobacco. Quite a nice wine, but would have been better a few months earlier. Clearly over the hill and on its way down – DRINK UP!!!  This is a change from the previous wine note we had on this wine.  This wine has become fatter and plumper and not as tight and concentrated.

2006 Tishbi Estate Pinot Noir – Score: B+
The nose on this ruby colored wine is hopping with strawberry, cherry, raspberry, and a bit of oak. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is almost mouth coating, but needs a few hours of air to show its best. The mouth is soft and lush with nice cherry and raspberry notes. The mid palate is balanced with nice acidity, soft tannins, and a hint of coffee. The finish is long with more bright fruit, light oak, and vanilla. Quite a nice balanced Pinot.  On an aside, Daniel Rogov did not give this a great score, but I wonder if it was a bad bottle, or if the wine has moved past that deficiency.  As usual Daniel tastes the wine a few times, so I can only guess that either the wines here in the US have gone through to another stage in their life, or we had a “good” bottle.  He noted that there was too much volatile acidity, but I did not see anything like that in the bottle I tasted.