Monthly Archives: November 2009
Tzuba Winery Visit and Wine Tasting
On Friday in early August, my friend and I, drove around the winding roads of Route 3965 (Sderot Hahotsvim) up from Highway 1, past the Sataf junction, and on and up Route 395 to Kibbutz Tzuba. At the entrance of the kibbutz, drive past the gate and take the second left and follow the sign to Yekev Tzuba. The winery’s rectangular and unassuming building lies to the back of the kibbutz overlooking a bluff and an ancient wine press from the first millennium. As you drive up to the building you can see the vineyards to the right and Tzora Winery’s vineyard to the north.
We met Paul Dobb – the head winemaker, at around 8AM in the morning, and we moved upstairs to the understated but quite lovely tasting room that overlooks the ancient wine press. Paul said, he has plans to spruce up the winery with a deck and a tasting bar, which sounds nice, but I found the current setup quite enjoyable. The winery is growing since we last visited them, and they are releasing new single varietals. The first new varietal is the 2007 Pinot Noir. A lovely French Burgundy look-alike with Israeli attitude. Besides the new Pinot Noir, Tzuba is shipping some of their wines to the USA through Royal Wines (the largest importer of kosher wines). Tzuba has sold all of last year’s wines except for their top of the line Metzuda series, which they are in no real rush to sell to distributors, because it is a wine that is just coming into its own, and has more life left in it. So, the 2005 vintage of the Metzuda blend can be found both locally in the US and in Israel, while the rest of the lineup, which is long and impressive are only available locally in Israel. Read the rest of this entry
A few mevushal wines, a wedding, a sheva brachot, and a down shabbos
Wow what a few weeks. First we attended a lovely wedding our dear friends of ours. The wedding was stunning as was the couple and family. The next week we had a sheva brachot in their honor at our synagogue. It was a kick cooking for it. I must say that such things do not occur without crazy amounts of preparation and team work. Thank goodness I had four families helping me cook for the 40 plus people who attended the Friday evening affair. The meal was the classical couscous meal we have made tons of time in our home. It was not only a lovely presentation, with great flavor and texture, but it is also a very economical meal for so many people. The meal and Sheva Brachot went great (if I say so myself), and this week was nothing less than a complete and total shutdown. The bug got me (no swine need apply), so it was left over grape juice and a touch of left over wine.
I was lucky to have tasted a few wines these past few weeks and they were all of the mevushal variety. In the past I have highlighted Mevushal wines that exceeded my expectations, but most are just not so great. That said, this batch was not so bad, but I could not write down notes, being at a wedding and shabbos and all. So, you will all have to live with my overall thoughts and overall score, but unfortunately without the usual info I pass along.
Best wishes to all and a germ/bug free winter for everyone 
The wine “notes” follow below:
2007 Baron Herzog Sauvignon Blanc – Score: B
This is a wine that I would avoid unless otherwise required. It is far too astringent, though it does have a nice bit of peach, green apple, and such. An OK wine, but the deficiencies are too much.
2005 Teal Lake Shiraz/Cabernet (65% Shiraz, 35% Cabernet) – Score: B – B+
This is a nice ruby colored wine that is oaky, rich plum, pepper, and lovely raspberry flavors. The wine could use some air and time. Nice with no obvious deficiencies.
2004 Hagafen Merlot – Score: A-
This wine is popping with oak, pepper, chocolate, tobacco, and raspberry. This is a really nice wine that needs about a four hours of air. After that, the wine becomes crazy good, rich and full in the mouth with chocolate and tobacco, rich oak, and soft tannins.
2004 Weinstock Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon - Score A-
What a nice wine as well. Deep flavors of blackberry, cassis, pepper, oak, and tobacco. The wine needs air as well, and smooths out into an almost silky smooth presentation that most will find quite enjoyable.
2007 Barkan Cabernet Sauvignon – Score: B
This was an OK wine that could find itself but not one that I have huge hopes for. The wine is black in nature, but so heavily fined down that I cannot see how it can move up. The wine is simple and accessible and works for certain affairs.
2005 Teal Lake Shiraz - Score: B+
This wine is fun and plays with you. It starts a bit tart and closed with pepper, raspberry, plum, and oak. The wine opens with time and becomes silky smooth while playful with its lightly biting tannins and acidity. The pepper and fruit come through as well. Not a bad Mevushal wine.
2006 Borgo Reale Chianti Riserva, a lovely parve Spaghetti Bolognese (san fromage), and the Brunello di Montalcino story
Two weeks ago saw us laying low and the weather was turning cold and wet. It was also the night before Halloween (Hallows Eve’s). We love when the kids come around the house and we get the chance to hand out candy. This week after shabbos was over, we handed out Halloween pencils and it was a ton of fun. It was even more enjoyable because last year was a train wreck. You see Halloween fell on Friday Night last year, and since we cannot hand out food or anything else on shabbos, we were not able to share stuff with the families that came by. So given the situation, we went with Spaghetti Bolognese (san fromage), which we have had a few times in the past. A quick aside, we almost exactly copied the past attempt, without even trying – which is cool! Anyway, to pair with this dinner, I chose a bottle of wine that I have been looking forward to trying, because I love Chianti and it is Mevushal, and further, it is a Chianti Riserva. You see Italy defines its regions and regulations through an older and somewhat maligned group called the Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) and the more reputable Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG). The DOCG was created after many in Italy’s food industry started to raise serious concerns over the DOC’s “loosey-goosey” denomination that it seemed to give to anything that was not moving.
In many ways this is all quite ironic and sad, because the very accusations that were levied on the DOC are now bearing down on the DOCG, like a freight train down the Chattanooga, Tennessee’s Incline Railway (sorry I got caught up with Tennessee – watching the CMAs). For the better part of three years the DOCG’s reputation has been under fire because of an allegation against some of the top red wine producers in all of Italy, the famed wines of Brunello di Montalcino. These wines were given the coveted DOCG recognition in 1980, and quickly became one of the best red wines in all of Italy. But in September 2007, the wine world was shell shocked by acquisitions that one or more percent of the Brunello wineries and some major ones as well, were substituting grape varietals for the requisite Brunello Sangiovese grape! The very same accusations that were leveled on the DOC were being brought down on the DOCG in late 2007. But the story only gets better! A month or so after the accusations were leveled, the consortium of Brunello producers voted to keep Brunello 100% Sangiovese. To put perspective on this, say U.S. orange juice producers (who placed a label of 100% orange juice on their containers) were to be accused of not using oranges for their juice, and so the USDA started pulling the orange juice containers from the store shelves. So what contrived answer would they come up with? Why that is obvious of course, we will just change what 100% orange juice means! AHH!!! Are you kidding me! What a joke! Well, thankfully, they all voted to keep things status quo, but to me, just the vote alone shows the corruption and ineptitude that riddles the DOCG and the DOC. Well, if you thought that is where it ended, just you wait! Man we need to make a movie out of this stuff! If there were not enough bureaucracies (DOC, DOCG, Siena public prosecutor, etc.), involved in this mess, the USA had to way in! Yep – we always need to stick our noses where it does not belong. Under the guise of consumer protection the TTB has demanded that all Brunello bottles have a label reassuring consumers that the Brunello bottles sold here in the USA are 100% Sangiovese. Well, after two plus years of investigating, the Italian authorities have come back, and have stated that they have magically closed the case. So, you would think it would be riddled with accusations, charges, fines, etc. – NOPE! No real data at all. So in a game of chicken, the TTB has come out saying that they will not play these games, and require a real answer and continued labeling until they have more answers, and as of this pointing it is still the case. Even if the consumer is not the real story, we have to be happy to see the TTB strut their stuff, and try to get to the bottom of this mess.
So where does all this leave us? I saw a wonderful posting by Tom Maresca, and it does have its points. Still, I have serious issues with what lies below the surface. We as a nation and a country are slowly becoming more and more desensitized to wrong doers. We are also willing to let things go when they are actually not such a light subject. You see, the real issue here my friends is that if the DOCG and the Brunello producers were serious about their jobs, and prideful about their history and artistry, they should either fess up to what they really are (or are not) or just admit that they are not doing their job. The DOCG should maybe rethink their name FDOCG (Forse Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) or DOCG? Come on, The DOCG cannot guarantee anything it is not scientifically or conceptually enforceable. It is the classic story of trying to sell yourself as more than you are. The DOCG should not be selling themselves as more than what they are – an organization that defines the rules, but not one that can or should be attempting to enforce them. If there is a closing line to this whole thing – I would go with a small Brunello producer, who under a veil of anonymity, spoke with Jeremy Parzen, and came up with an awesome line and story.
As a small producer, we have been treated like we had nothing to say. We felt absolutely NOT represented by the Consortium, neither protected. DOCG means that our Appellation of Origin is Controlled and Guaranteed. This was the only supposed role of the Consortium. None of these things was provided by them: obviously NOT the controls, NOT the guarantee and, sometimes, NOT even the origin. So I am asking myself what is the reason of the Consortium to be. Right now, the Consortium is just a cost for a small producer, and it’s giving no advantages at all. Many people will soon leave, I am sure.
I could not have said it better myself! I hope I have brought a different angle to this madness and I hope you have enjoyed it. The wine notes for the Chianti follows below:
2006 Borgo Reale Chianti Riserva – Score: B – B+
The nose on this dark ruby to garnet colored wine is initially hot but blows off soon, rich cherry, raspberry, roasted herbs, and heavy vanilla. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is soft and mouth filling without it being mouth coating, the tannins are integrated nicely, and give the wine a slight lift, along with cherry, raspberry, and plum. The mid palate is brightly acidic, along with coffee and vanilla. The finish is medium long with bright red fruit that lingers long on the palate after the wine is gone. The wine need to be drunk ASAP, it is throwing sediment, and does not last long after the bottle is opened. I opened the bottle Friday night and by Saturday day it was astringent and most of the fruit is gone.
Three great wines from Spain, Israel, and the U.S.A. (and a dud) along with some great food
Three weeks ago saw us hosting a meal with a bride and groom to be, family, the bride’s parents, and Benyamin Cantz as usual. To us they are all family and we were so honored to have them over a week before the wedding day. In honor of this wonderful occasion, we cracked open some wonderful wines and Benyamin brought a pair of wonderful wines, one that we have had before, and one that is still under wraps. We did have one dud that shocked me greatly given Daniel’s rating of it, but so it goes. For this dinner we started with lovely roasted squash bisque. Yeah, I said bisque – simply because most of the famous roasted squash soups calls for a ton of cream or soup stock and they render the soup into essentially a thin and boring presentation of such a lovely vegetable. So we decided that this was not going to work. Instead we went with a hybrid. We roasted two sliced squash for 1 and a half hour. While that was going on, we browned quite nicely a pair of diced/sliced onions while the roasting was going on. Once that was done, we threw the lightly blackened squash into our large soup pot, and threw in a bottle of white wine. We then puréed the pot until it was a bit mushy, but not creamy or thinner. Instead it was thick bisque. On top of that we threw in, what we thought was, a bit too much orange zest (which worked out in the end), thyme, and nutmeg. Yes, this soup does match well with the season, but that was not the inclination for making the soup. Rather, there was a cold spell coming through the area, and we wanted to have a thick and warm soup to start off the meal.
Roasted Squash Soup
2 butternut squash, peeled and cubed into large chunks
Olive Oil Spray
Garlic, Nutmeg
3 onions
Bottle of white wine
Vegetable Stock – if more liquid is needed
Grated Ginger
Orange Zest
Nutmeg
Cinnamon
Cooked chickpeas
Cayenne pepper (if you can handle it)
Peel and cube the squash and lay them in an oiled baking sheet. Spray them with olive oil and sprinkle garlic powder and nutmeg over them. Bake them at 400 degrees until slightly blackened. While roasting the squash, we browned the pair of diced/sliced onions quite well. Once that was done, we threw the lightly blackened squash into our large soup pot, and threw in a bottle of white wine. We then puréed the pot until it was a bit mushy, but not creamy or thin. Once the soup consistency starts to change, grate the ginger and orange zest, drop in cinnamon and nutmeg to taste. Honestly, I rarely follow amounts. I add till it tastes right. Once the bisque is in motion and mixing well, we throw in the cooked chickpeas to add a cool twist of texture. I personally love to add in cayenne pepper, but many do not.
After the soup we served meat lasagna, along with roasted green beans, spinach quiche, and fresh green salad. The dinner worked well, and the wines paired wonderfully. We had six bottles in total. Benyamin brought three and we opened three as well. Benyamin brought two experimental bottles that will remain undefined for now and one bottle of a 1999 Bustan Merlot. I opened a 2001 Yarden Ortal Merlot, a 2001 Capcanes Peraj Ha’Abib, and a 2002 Capcanes Peraj Ha’Abib. The Bustan was a massive dud, while the three that we opened up were fantastic – thank you .
I do not have an official tasting note for the 1999 Bustan Merlot, but to say the least it was DOA (Dead On Arrival). The wine, to be fair, was full in the mouth, but it had almost no fruit and no real complexity at all. What it did have was a nice mouth and that was about it. Really a shame. The other three wine notes can be found below in the order they were drunk:
2002 Cellar de Capçanes Montsant Peraj Ha’abib Flor de Primavera – Score: A
This was either the clear winner or it came in tied with the 2001 Yarden Ortal Merlot. The nose on this crazy black colored wine was screaming with rich tobacco, sweet oak, super ripe plum, blackberry, cassis, and raspberry. The mouth on this full bodied wine has now soft tannins, sweet oak, blackberry, plum, and tobacco. The mid palate is smooth with balanced acidity, and soft mouth coating tannins. The finish is super long and extracted in a polished manner, with more acid, tobacco, black fruit, and licorice. What a wonderful wine, I have no more, but again very happy that I drank it at a nice point in its life curve.
2001 Cellar de Capçanes Montsant Peraj Ha’abib Flor de Primavera – Score: A-
The nose on this deep black colored wine is popping with blackberry, plum, cassis, sweet oak, licorice, and tobacco. The mouth on this full bodied wine is still clearly tannic in nature and far from integrated. The mouth is layered with sweet oak, blackberry and cassis. The mid palate is packed with not yet integrated tannins, bright acidity, and concentrated black fruit that comes at you in layers. Where the 2002 vintage has integrated tannins, this vintage has mouth puckering tannins. The finish is super long and concentrated with dark chocolate, tobacco, more black fruit, and acidity. Quite a nice wine as well, but still not quite there yet. I have scored this bottle a bit lower than our previous tasting, because of the tannins, but the rest is holding well, though I missed the mint this time around.
2001 Yarden Ortal Vineyard Merlot – Score: A
Thank God this wine is back! The last time we tasted this wine it was as close to a dud as this wine can be . Now it is back, it is sleek and beautiful. The nose on this dark purple colored win is alive and talkative, with blackberry, ripe plum, licorice, and rich oak. The mouth on this full bodied wine is mouth coating and plush with layers upon layers of ripe plums, blackberry, and integrating mouth coating tannins. The mid palate is popping with balancing acid, chocolate, and roasted herbs. The finish is luxurious and long with more black fruit, chocolate, tobacco, and sweet oak. Thank goodness this wine is back. It was either a close second place finish to the 2002 Capcanes or it was tied. By score alone it was in second place, but thanks goodness man does not live upon score alone, but by the word, expression, and feelings that a wine leaves you with after it is long gone.
