Author Archives: winemusings
White Bean and Kalamata Olive Soup, Pizza, and La Fin Du Monde
This past weekend saw my wife and I making pizza and some lovely White Bean and Kalamta Olive Soup. The link to the recipe was the best I could find on the web. The one I use is from Mollie Katzen’s cookbook, which I have no right to place on my blog, please buy her book she is a genius!
The soup is simple to make, and I follow her recipe to the tee, short of adding in a wee bit more wine than her recipe calls for. Personally, that is the ultimate compliment, using someone’s exact recipe, with little or no change, because it is perfect as it is.
Besides the soup, we made some pizza as well. I must say that making kosher pizza now days is really quite simple. We buy ready made whole wheat pizza crusts that are very tasty, reasonably priced, and a cinch to complete.
All we do is take the ready made crust out of the package, or freezer, throw on some tomato sauce, pre-shredded pizza cheese, sliced onions, and olives. On top of that we throw on some herbs and we are good to go!
Benyamin from Four Gates Winery was by, and we tasted through the new wines that will soon be available on the website, stay tuned for those notes! Though some of the wines could have held up against the pizza, I went a different route for the meal, we bought a bottle of La Fin Du Monde. This is a Belgian Tripel style Ale, which has lovely bits of yeast lees that the beer can lie on and age for a few years, if stored properly.
The beer’s rich mouth, along with its mild bitterness, and unique spice flavor profile makes this a perfect compliment to pizza, rich pastas, light to medium meat or seafood, and rich deserts.
The beer note follows below:
La Fin Du Monde – Score: B++
The nose on this cloudy light gold colored beer starts with sweet malt, banana, heady spice, cloves, lots of foam and nice effervescence. The mouth on this medium bodied beer is rich and spicy with a frontal attack of cloves and coriander, followed by rich yeast, and toasty malt. Apple comes in along with a bit of citrus, all clinging to the rich head and mouth and making for a lovely spicy experience. The finish is long with more spice, honey/caramel, apple, citrus peel, and pepper. The high alcohol does not affect the taste, but beware of this puppy as it can catch up to you quickly if you take it for granted.
Herzog International Food and Wine Festival 2011 Results
Well 2011 has come and gone and I am finally getting the chance to write up the 2011 International Food and Wine Festival (IFWF) that was held at the Herzog winery in Oxnard. In some ways it was the best ever and in some ways it was not. To start, 2011 was the fourth incarnation of this event and each time it has been well worth the trip. This past year’s event, in many ways, was the best. The food, as usual, was fantastic! The food is catered by Chef Todd Aarons, the head chef of the Tierra Sur, the world-class restaurant that is in the Herzog Winery. As usual, the food that Mr. Aarons and his staff prepare the event is bite size or a bit larger format, food that easily fits on a small plate. Essentially, think of them as normal or slightly large tapas, depending upon the food in question. As usual, the tapas were just divine, and as usual I always get the scarps. I say that because, I want to finish tasting the wines before I eat the awesome food, which would seriously inhibit my ability to write coherent wine notes. Of coarse, there is never a lack of good wines to taste, so essentially, I always eat whatever is left over as they are winding up the food and wine service. It is a mad rush to get some pictures and eat some food – truly sad, and totally my fault!
This past year’s event was even larger than its predecessors. As usual, the Herzog winery was fully decked out and expanded in the back by adding on a few heated tents. Normally, the French and Israeli wines were poured from the back room and the tent, behind the back room, which itself abuts to the parking lot behind it. This past year, they expanded further by pouring only Israeli wines from the entire back areas, moving Capcanes to the Spanish and Italian section, and moving all the French wines to its own room – the Herzog Situation or Conference room, which is off to the right from the entrance, essentially on the other side of the building. Some may look at that and say they relegated the French wines to the “basement”, but the way I see it, Royal has SO MANY wines to show off from its portfolio, and only so much room in the winery that they chose the best holistic group they could that would not look too small or take up too much room, in the conference room, and that fell to the French wines.
This was the first of the, not so good points, and that was the lack of communication around this change of venue for the French wines! I totally understand the complexity of it, and there was signage. However, given the drastic change that was in affect, a bit more information for some would have been good. I found myself telling many people about the new location for French wines, that they thought were AWOL for 2011. That said, I think this will not be an issue in 2012, as the event will be moving from Oxnard and the Herzog Winery to LA at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Century Plaza!
Of coarse, with all the room taken up by wines and wonderful food, there still needs to be place for the humans and this was issue number two, which again will be fixed in 2012. That being, there was very little room to move about as the evening moved on. I found myself having to find a corner to just write notes, let alone not to feel claustrophobic, which is a problem I do not normally exhibit. That said, I hope that the new venue will allow the event to stretch its wings and soar to higher heights with more space and more opportunities to showcase its wonderful food and wines.
I truly believe that 2011, was the first year where the wines totally out shone the food, excepting for 2008, when the French wines were truly off the hizzy. This is not in anyway a slight to Aaron’s food, rather it is a compliment to Royal wine portfolio, that has now reached world class, and something I am sure they are extremely proud of. I do not need to repeat the story of Herzog, which can be found in the middle of last year’s post, as that would be just repeating myself. I just hope you read this and it grabs you enough to buy some tickets that are going really fast for the 2012 version of the International Food and Wine Festival which will be happening in LA this year – enjoy the notes. I need to add my personal thank you to the entire Royal and Herzog staff for putting together such a great show, and much luck on your new 2012 event!
The wine notes follow below, in the order they were tasted:
2007 Domaine l’OrDeLine Chateauneuf du Pape – Score: B+ to A-
Would love to know how Herzog pulled this one off, and who is the negotiant for this wine. I found a lovely write-up about the winery and the name, anyway, on to the note.
The nose on this light gold colored wine is hopping with kiwi, grapefruit, lemon, gooseberry, mineral, apple, and white peach. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is rich with white fruit, tropical fruit, and mineral. The mid palate is round and balanced, with nice spice and mineral. The finish is long with clean yet round flavors of of fruit, spice, mineral, and bramble. The wine is so classic in its minerality and clean lines yet ripe and luscious. Read the rest of this entry
Minute Steak, Roasted Potatoes, Garlic Green beans, and Domaine du Castel Petit Castel
This past week I went spelunking into my freezer and I found two pounds of minute steak, or what the meat world calls chuck blade steak. The steaks are kind of that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde meat. It wants to be braised but it also can work with a grill. Say what? Actually, the meat has a large amount of connective tissue with a thick gristle running down the middle. The best way to manage this cut of meat is to grill it after you marinade it for a few hours, or braise it. Well, I had no time to marinade the meat ahead of time, so I coated the meat with paprika, garlic powder, and black pepper. I then put them on the grill and used a bit of barbecue sauce as well. Finally, I placed the grilled steaks into a shallow pan, added in some more barbecue sauce into the pan, and then covered it with aluminum foil and placed the meat into a warm oven.
For a side dish, I whipped up two very simple dishes. One was roasted sweet potatoes, potatoes, and onions. The other was garlic green beans with onions and mushrooms. Here are the recipes:
Roasted Potatoes and Onions Recipe
- 1 pound of potatoes – cut into large cubes
- 1 pound of yams (orange sweet potatoes) – cut into large cubes
- 2 sweet onions – cut into large cubes
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- 2 tablespoons of garlic powder and paprika
- 1 teaspoon of salt and pepper
Cut up the vegetables into large cubes 1 inch or more cubes. Then place them in a large bowl and fill the bowl with water to cover, and let them sit there for an hour of so. This is VERY important. It helps to accelerate the roasting process. Then pour out the water, and pat the vegetables dry. Next mix the spices together so that they are combined well. Next spread out the vegetable cubes into a large shallow roasting pan and cover with oil and then sprinkle the spice mixture over the vegetables. Then flip the vegetables around and add more spice mixture until coated very well. Finally, pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees and roast for 30 or so minutes, or until the vegetables start to caramelize.
Garlic Green beans, with mushroom and onions Recipe:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 large onions coarsely diced
- 16 oz. of mushrooms thickly sliced
- 7 cloves of garlic
- 1 teaspoon of salt, or more to taste
- 1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed
Heat up the oil in a large skillet till it starts to smoke. Then drop in the coarsely diced onions and saute them till nicely browned. Then add in the thickly sliced mushrooms and saute them till they have sweated out half their size. Then add in the garlic till they start to bloom, then add salt and pepper to taste. Finally add in the green beans, and mix everything up, so that the hot vegetables coat the green beans, and take it off the fire when the green beans just start to soften.
The meal was absolutely killer! Sorry if I and tooting my own horn, but the pairings were just perfect. The meat was soft on the indie, yet crispy on the outside, the green beans were nicely wilted yet slightly crisp, and the roasted vegetables were lovely with the meat!
To pair with the meat we went looking for a rich red wine and pulled out a bottle of 2006 Petit Castel. I was really looking forward to a rich wine, but the wine’s lack of core acid made the wine feel flabbier and flat. The mouth was rich, but the date and sweet cedar flavors also turned me off. This is a bottle you really should be drinking up!!
The wine note follows below:
2006 Domaine du Castel Petit Castel – Score: B++
The nose on this black colored wine with brown tinge is rich with sweet cedar, chocolate, tobacco, herbs, date, very apparent green beans, ripe plum, blackberry, and currant. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine is still rich and concentrated with green notes, ripe fruit from the nose, rich black cherry, mouth coating tannin, and sweet cedar all coming together. The wine is missing the bright acidity of old, which makes it feel a bit underpowered. The finish is long and super spicy, with rich black pepper, herbs in the background, and heavy sweet cedar and vanilla to round it out. DRINK UP!!!
2006 Gush Etzion Cabernet-Merlot nice wine but flawed
Last week I wrote about the Gush Etzion Winery, and about how much I liked many of the wines at the Sommelier wine tasting. I was therefore excited to taste the 2006 Gush Etzion Cabernet-Merlot, which is one of the older vintages that is now available in the US.
Unfortunately, the wine did not live up to its hype. The wine started off in a crazy haze of madness and funk, with heavy astringency, aromas of funk, flavors going in all directions, and an overall mess. The wine did start to come out of its haze, but in the end, it took some 12 or more hours to reach a state of what I can only call “B++”, but there is no way I can score this wine. The amount of time I was willing to wait for this wine to come around, is not reasonable, and in the end, the wine’s weird salt and astringency is not really scoreable.
This bottle may well have been a bad one, but I have zero interest in finding and tasting another one for now. What I would recommend, if you want to taste this wine, is to buy it from a reputable merchant, who knows you and is willing to accept the wine back if you find it our of whack as I did.
My “wine note” follows below:
2006 Gush Etzion Cabernet-Merlot – Score: (nice wine but flawed) N/A
This wine starts off VERY wrong with massive funk and things going in all directions, bad astringency, and nothing good. Things get better as the wine opens, and finally get really good at the end, but maybe this was a bad bottle or the wine is going – either way not a wine I can score well. My notes are really from the end flavors and aromas, but that is highly unreasonable for a person to wait as long as I did. I would make sure to buy the wine from a reputable merchant who will accept the return if the bottle is bad.
The nose on this vibrant purple colored wine has now calmed from its madness with rich blackberry, black cherry, blackcurrant, rich espresso, chocolate, light tobacco, anise, spice, oak, green notes, and pencil shavings. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine is rich and mouth coating with mouth coating tannin, along with what I can only define as a shot of sea salt, rich black fruit, and cedar all finally coming together to make a nice mouth. The finish is long and salty with blackberry, black currant showing strong with layers of rich tannin, cedar, and espresso coffee to finish it off.
This is a nice wine and a shame that it was incoherent to start – be careful and you may well be rewarded with a lovely wine.
Gush Etzion Winery – One of the oldest and up and coming wineries of the Judean Hills
This is the ninth article I am writing on wineries from the Judean Hills wine region of Israel. This particular winery is located just outside the city of Gush Etzion in the Judea region. The winery was a not even a figment of their imagination when Shraga and Tamar Rosenberg moved to Efrat, which is located in Gush Etzion, in the heart of Judea, just south of Jerusalem in 1986. However, the blackberry bush in their backyard looked interesting and their neighbors told them that it could be used to make fermented juice. So with the simple act of fermented blackberry juice (sorry I cannot bring myself to call that wine) was born the desire to, in time, create a world-class winery in the Judean Hills! He was not so different than another pioneer in the Israeli wine world, Eli ben Zaken of Castel Winery, who also left his job to create a world-class winery. Though Gush Etzion has not yet reached the level of Castel in terms of overall wine quality, it is steadily making its way up the hill.
Most would not associate wine and blackberry juice, but for Rosenberg it was a great gateway beverage to acquire the yearning for something a bit more real. With time, Rosenberg realized that wine was his real future and he started tinkering with it in his basement – a classic garagiste! During that time his ultimate dream was growing, of building a winery that would prove the words of the Patriarch Jacob, who prophesied to his son Yehuda some 3000 years ago: “Binding unto the vine, his foal, and unto the choice vine, the colt of his ass; he will launder his garments in wine and his robe in the blood of grapes. His eyes shall sparkle with wine, and his teeth white with milk” (Bereishit 49:11-12). Commenting on these verses, Rashi states, “[Yaakov] prophesied regarding the land of Yehudah, that it would produce wine like a fountain.”
As his tinkering continued friends told him how much they loved his wines and one thing led to another – with Rosenberg officially leaving his managerial position at senior citizen’s home to become a farmer and winemaker! In 1995, with the decision already made, he started to look around for enough grapes to make his dream a reality. To do this he reached out to growers in the area and he quickly found out that if he wanted to make this happen, he would need to plant his own vineyard and augment it in the time being with what he could find in the area. With total control on his vineyard, Rosenberg could manage the vines to make the kind of wine that he sees as world-class, rather than the yield and size that the growers wanted.
As the winery started to grow so did their output. In 1998 the Rosenbergs released their first vintage from their newly minted winery, in the basement of their house in Efrat. They initial vintage consisted of 7000 bottles, which is quite large if you are doing all the work in your basement! The varietals for the first year were all from the Noble grapes; Chardonnay, Cabernet, Merlot, and Sauvignon Blanc. Since then both the varietals and bottles have increased. By 2009 mass planted had expanded the winery’s vineyards to about 120 acres. Among the varieties planted include; Chardonnay, Organic Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, White Riesling, Shiraz, Merlot, Organic Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Gewurztraminer and Viognier.
Tanya Winery – an idyllic winery in the rolling hills of Binyamina’s Judean Hills
This is not the first time I had the opportunity to taste wines from the wonderful Tanya Winery. Actually, the first time we had the chance to taste Yoram Cohen’s wines (the winemaker) was in 2008, some five years ago. Since then, we did not have the chance to taste ant other wines from Tanya, as they were not available here in the US, until recently! Now, they are being imported by Red Garden Imports, an importer’s name that I heard many times from a few small boutique wineries as I walked around Sommelier! Actually we were supposed to go to the winery early in 2011, but Yoram’s kid got sick so we had to postpone the visit. Instead, we had to wait almost a year to get the chance to taste some Tanya wines, and it was a worthwhile wait, given the current crop of wines.
Many in Israel know Yoram not because of his unique personality or artistic passion, but rather because he was on Israel’s Big Brother 3! Yes, you heard me correct Yoram Cohen was on the Big Brother of Israel, but I guess he should stick to what he does exceptionally well, as he was the second housemate to be tossed out. I hope it helped to put focus on his personality and winery, because they are both quite unique and wonderful treasures that we get to enjoy!
In the middle of the first day for me at the 2011 edition of Sommelier, I got to the Tanya Winery booth! Just a few reminders about Tanya Winery, in case you are too lazy to click the link to my other posts 
. In 2002 Yoram started to make wine out of his house. In 2007 one of Chaim Feder’s friends tasted Yoram’s wines and was sure that Yoram was the next big thing in wine. Chaim and his partners met Yoram and the rest is history. They upgraded the winery’s future productivity by purchasing new equipment, plantings new vineyards, and leasing more space for the winery. The winery’s current production is about 30,000 bottles annually. Most wineries were displaying their wines from 
2008 at the event, which by now you all know is a problem for many, being that it was a Shmitta year. In case this is your first roll through my blog, check out my Kosher 101 posting about Shmitta and more. Tanya however did not produce any wines in 2008, which all I can say is WOW! Takes a certain spirit and belief system to not make wine for a year! The winery has three labels; Enosh, Halel, and Eliya Reserve, all named after his kids, which are shown on the booth and on the website (though at a younger age). Enosh is the winery’s top Bordeaux blend, Halel is the main wine line, while Eliya is the lower label that has recently been upgraded, as is visible in the Shiraz below.
As I tasted these wines, I did not know that one of them was also part of my original wine tasting in 2008! The 2007 Pinot Noir, which we tasted from the barrel, has clearly changed with more red fruit showing and lovely oak extraction as well. However, the body and structure look the same from those many years earlier!
Covenant Red C Sauvignon Blanc, O’Dwyers Creek Sauvignon Blanc, and Gilgal Cabernet Sauvignon
This past weekend we were out of town partying with family, so I swung by the semi-local wine store and picked up some bottles. The store is called the Vineyard in the Westgate plaza in Lakewood. I MUST be honest, many years ago I swore I would never return to Lakewood, it is just to right wing for me. That said, it was the closest place with the best selection so I bought some bottles. The prices were average, not as low as kosherwine.com or skyviewine.com, but OK. The man at the register was very nice to give me a discount and when I asked which wines were on sale, he was more than happy to point them out, which allowed me to keep within a budget and get some good wines. Overall a fine experience, and if you live in the Lakewood area, from what I know it is either the Vineyard or Wine on the 9, in Howell NJ.
I was truly excited to taste these two Sauvignon Blanc wines side by side! There has been much talk of them on the wine forum, and I wanted to make my own decision. I truly enjoyed them both, the 2010 O’Dwyers Creek Sauvignon Blanc and the Covenant Red C Sauvignon Blanc. When we opened them in the evening, the clear winner was the O”Dwyers, it was far more expressive with tart fruit and crazy acidity, all balanced with nice mineral and a solid body. Still, the Covenant was lurking and when it finally got over its oak haze, it was the ultimate clear winner. Funny thing was that to me if you wanted a nice Sauvignon Blanc, you either went with a Ella Valley or an Hagafen, and maybe a Goose Bay, when young. Now, I would go with either of these any day of the week!
The ONLY con I can say about the Covenant Sauvignon Blanc is the packaging – or maybe the lack of one. It almost feels like they had no idea how to label it, so they threw on their Red C label and that was that. There is no mention of the varietal or winery on the front label, all you see is a big red C. The back label has
The third wine was a true and utter disaster. Sorry, I normally like Yarden wines, but this Gilgal, which is another name for the old Gamla series, before Royal claimed that label for themselves, in the US. The wine was far too sweet with over ripe fruit and in your face raisin and date. It had a nice body and rich fruit, but the lack of clean fruit meant it was way off balance for my taste.
The wine notes follow below:
2010 O’Dwyers Creek Sauvignon Blanc - Score: B++ to A-
The nose on this dark straw colored wine screams from the time you open till you finish it of ripe grapefruit, tart lemon, mowed grass, kiwi, and lychee. Still the grapefruit and the lemon are the clear stars in the show. On the palate of this medium bodied wine the lemon and grapefruit follows with crazy bracing acidity that is perfectly balanced with the kiwi and mowed grass. The grapefruit and lemon rise long and tartly on the finish to a point of feeling you just swallowed a chunk of citrus, along with a hint of mineral. After time the wine does develop a somewhat floral and honeyed flavor, but does not detract from the tart and ripe fruit. The wine’s power is its lovely acidity, perfect balance, sufficient body, and ripeness that you cannot help but put a smile on your face.
2010 Covenant Red C Sauvignon Blanc - Score: A-
The nose on this straw colored wine is slow to come out from behind the veil of oak, over time the wine shows its true colors of controlled rounding oak, straw, slate, grapefruit, lychee, and lemon. The mouth of this medium plus bodied wine starts off slow as well, but opens to reveal a lovely tartness from the lemon and grapefruit, followed by slate and spice. Spice, lemon zest, and grapefruit rise on the finish with a touch of the oak and straw. The overall wine sensation is not nearly as acidic as the O’Dwyers, but it is controlled beautifully with the rounding oak, bright fruit, and mineral, straw, and slate, that bring a focus to the wine that the O’Dwyers cannot match.
2007 Gilgal Cabernet Sauvignon – Score: B to B+
This wine is a bit too overripe without the requisite body and stuffing for my taste. The nose on this dark purple colored is filled with sweet cedar, blackberry, blackcurrant, black cherry, crushed herbs, graphite, high alcohol, and vanilla. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine is still rich with nice tannin and balanced with enough acidity, sweet cedar, and herbs to keep your attention. The finish is long and spicy with graphite, alcohol, sweet cedar, black cherry, and blackberry rising at the end. This is a lovely wine but one that has very ripe fruit without the rest of the package to keep the wine balanced and not overly sweet and ripe.
2012 Herzog International Food & Wine Festival comes to Los Angeles
Once again Herzog is putting on its massive food and wine festival on February 15th, 2012 (MAN I still cannot get used to that number) starting at 6PM. The festival is a great place to get to taste some of those wines that are either beyond your price budget, or hard to find wines, or ones that you pass by on the shelves because you just have no idea how good they are. They will be pouring more than 100 bottles of wines, so be sure to get there early, before the crowds show up. There will be a few new faces this year, with a couple of new wine makers showing up, and a few surprises (think new kosher wineries), from what I hear. Of course, there is also the food TO DIE for, from Mr. Aarons and his staff of insanely competent chefs! So please be sure to BUY your tickets here (coupon code below). The wineries pouring will include; Flam Winery (newly Kosher), Tulip (also newly kosher), many wonderful French brands, Goosebay, Teal Lake, Harkham, Barkan, Segal, Shiloh, Gamla, Carmel, Psagot, Domaine Netofa, Domaine du Castel, Binyamina, Morad, Capcanes, Ramon Cardova, Elvi Wines, Casa de Corca, Porto Cordovero, Alfasi, Yatir, Fleches de los Andes, Rashi, Bartenura, Weinstock and Herzog Wine Cellars… OVER 130 WINES WILL BE POURED!
Tickets are going fast so grab one or more while you can. Like last year they will be pouring wine and spirits – from around the world. Last year they poured cognac and scotch, and the display/table was “well attended”.
Here are my notes from lat year’s event!
Please note the change of scenery! The event this year will be in Los Angeles BABY!!! That is right you heard me correctly! You do not need to drive 50 minutes to and from your home; rather you can drink and eat to your heart’s content, and then crash at one of the many rooms in the lovely Hyatt Regency Century Plaza! Herzog is working out a deal with the Hyatt and will hopefully have great deals for staying there on the website soon.
The last four years that we have enjoyed attending this event it has been getting a bit more crowded each year. This year with all the room that the Hyatt has to offer, the hope is that there will be more than enough room to roam and taste the aromas of the world and the flavors of Todd Aaron’s world renowned Tierra Sur Restaurant. Please DO NOT worry, just because the event is at the Hyatt does NOT mean the Hyatt will be doing the catering, rather ALL food preparation will be handled by the incomparable staff of Tierra Sur Restaurant. The food will be prepared on the premises, just as if it was still in Oxnard!
Yes, Yes I left the best for last. Herzog is giving out a coupon out for 10% off the ticket price – use the coupon (on the page after you add the tickets to the cart) KOSHER.
Every year we go and every year we are so excited because it gives us a chance to taste the wines and to see what to buy for the upcoming holidays. So grab you mouse and start clicking and we look forward to seeing you all the 2012 Herzog International Food & Wine Festival.
This is a copy of the blog posting from Herzog’s web site:
Join Herzog Wine Cellars in celebrating fine wines and cuisine at the 2012 International Food & Wine Festival. Year after year, this massive event has highlighted choice wines and spirits brought in from around the globe. This year’s festival is coming to Los Angeles, CA for the first time, and is the perfect place to taste amazing, rare and hard to find wines and spirits. More than 100 labels will be poured from Royal Wine Corp’s diverse international portfolio, all in the sophisticated setting of the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza.
The Best Kosher Wines I tasted in 2011 allowing for some editorial freedom
This past year we have been lucky and honored to be able to taste all of these wonderful wines. There are so many “best of..” lists out there, including wine lists and the such. Some decide that the criteria is uniqueness, like the Wine Spectators top 100 wines of the year, which were not the TOP wines that they scored through the year. Others use the criteria of wines they thought were some of the best they tasted for the year. This is the list of wines that many liked in the past year, on Rogov’s forum.
I chose to use my scores as the criteria, and to use a range of 14 months for the bottles I tasted. Many of these were tasted at wine events and others drunk at my or a friend’s table. Either way, the wines are top notch and the best ones I tasted in the year+, irrelevant to when the wine was released or if it is still available, as well as wines that were interesting enough to note. Like the heading says – the best wines that I tasted in 2011 and a bit before. And yes, I may well be a bit late on the deal by releasing this a week into 2012, but hey – it is a complete list, so I hope you enjoy it. Also, there are notes here that are new to the blog. They were tasted throughout the year, and have yet to be posted, so think of some of these as a sneak preview to many wineries and wine notes to come.
Enjoy and may 2012 be even better! The wines are listed by score and then in alphabetical order from there.
Wines that scored an A or Almost A
2007 Binyamina Diamond, Avnei Hachoshen Ya’alom/Diamond (50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Syrah and 20% Petite Verdot) – Score: A
Wow what a blockbuster wine! Assaf Paz brought it to the tasting, and it was in very limited supply, as we said in the previous posting about the wine event.
The nose on this garnet to black colored wine explodes with sweet oak, rich and ripe blackberry, licorice, raspberry, chocolate, rich plum, along with a bit of prune. The mouth on this broad shouldered and massive wine is packed and layered with layer upon layers of rich and ripe black fruit, blackberry, and raspberry. The mid palate is balanced and flows off the mouth with rich sweet oak, acid, chocolate, and coffee. The finish is massive and long with a huge mouth coating structure, along with prune, oak, blackberry, and chocolate. This is a massive and structured wine that is unique and one that truly shows the power of Israel’s potential.
2007 Carmel Mediterranean (37% Carignan, 26% Shiraz , 20% Petit Verdot and 15% Petite Sirah and 2% Viogner) – Score: A
This is another one of those wines (like the 2005 Yatir Forest) that is more elegant than it is massive or powerful, yet it still has lovely oak, tannin, and some extraction, a nice balancing act indeed.
The nose on this light garnet colored wine is lovely and accentuated by Smoky fumes, rich oak, raspberry, cranberry, blackberry, plum, cherry, and roasted herbs. The mouth on this full bodied wine is rich with ripe raspberry, blackberry, cherry, fig, and elegant tannin. The mid palate is rich with well handled oak, lovely tannin, and red fruit. The finish is long and elegant with rich, and ripe red fruit, smoky oak, roasted herbs, plum, and cherry.
2006 Castel Grand Vin – Score: A
I love this wine – it was one of the winners of the evening for sure, and one that all the people who were around me loved as well.
The nose on this massive dark garnet to black colored wine is packed and redolent with blackberry, roasted herbs, raspberry, spicy oak, plum, chocolate, and mineral. The mouth on this massive full bodied wine is mouth coating and rich with layer upon layer of rich and dense extracted black fruit, cassis, blackberry, plum, and cherry. The mid palate is balanced with oak, extracted tannin, and rich chocolate. The finish is long, extracted, awesome, and layered with black fruit, chocolate, rich plum, and almost sweet oak.
2006 Dalton Matatia (80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc) – Score: A
The nose on this black colored wine starts off with cassis, raspberry, licorice, oak, nutmeg, and spice. The mouth on this full bodied wine is inky and deep with rich plum, cassis, raspberry, coffee, and oak. The mid plate flows off the mouth nicely with acid, coffee, spice, and gripping tannin. The finish is long and expressive with plum, chocolate, coffee, and tannin.
2003 Four Gates Syrah (same as the last tasting) – Score: A
WOW! This is a killer wine. The first thing that hits you when you open this bottle of wine and peer into its purple-black stare is the ripe blueberry notes that come screaming out at you, along with blackberry, cassis, plum, tobacco, chocolate, tar, and rick oak. The mouth on this full bodied, mouth filling, concentrated, and structured wine comes at you in layers with fruit that follows the nose, ripe blackberry, plum, blueberry, tar, and oak. The mid palate is balanced with acid, oak, tobacco, and chocolate. The finish is super long, black, and spicy, with rich oak, chocolate, tobacco, tar, leather, and blackberry. This is a truly wonderful wine that is highly structured with lovely tannins and a wine that still has a few years left under its belt. The nose is killer with the lovely ripe blueberry and blackberry, along with the oak, tar, chocolate. It follows through with the mouth till its tantalizing finish. Quite a powerful that has its sea legs beneath it and bright horizon ahead.
2006 Herzog Generation VIII Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley,To-Kalon Vineyard) – Score: A
The nose on this black colored wine is screaming with rich oak, chocolate, black cherry, blackberry, cassis, and rich spice. The mouth on this massive full bodied wine is rich, layered, and mouth coating with tight tannins, chocolate, oak, blackberry, and cassis. The fruit on the mouth is rich and ripe while not being overly ripe to the point of tasting cooked. The mid palate is balanced and flows from the mouth with still bracing tannins, nice acidity, oak, and chocolate. The finish is crazy long with chocolate, rich oak, blackberry, and rich ripe fruit. This is a crazy winner that will be around for at least another 8 years. I hope to have the opportunity to taste it again and again in the coming years at the Herzog Wine Festival.
2001 Yarden Cabernet Sauvignon El Rom (Israel, Galilee, Golan Heights) – Score: A
The notes on this wine have not changed drastically, the tannin is still kicking, the mouth equally as rich, and the heat has dissipated. This is one of the best wines I have tasted from Israel. The wine is still a bit closed, so an hour or two of air time would be of great help!
The nose on this brilliant and deep garnet to black colored wine is filled with heavy layers of blackberry, cassis, raspberry, tobacco, and oak. The mouth on this wine was also a bit slow out of the bottle, but that changed quickly enough. The mouth was complex and multi layered. This is no simple wine, it hits you in waves. The mouth on this full bodied wine is still tannic though the tannins are breaking down and adding even more opulence to this rich and mouth coating wine filled with blackberry, cassis, rich sweet oak. eucalyptus, and almost jam like – but not in a chewy annoying way – more in a rich and cultured manner. The mid palate follows off the first set of layers and is where the structure comes in. The structure is built on tannin, acidity, and lush layers of vegetal flavors. The finish is crazy long and is filled with blackberry, cassis, chocolate, tobacco, rich dirt, slight vegetal notes, and sweet wood. This is really quite a fine wine and one that is not yet peaked at all, though quite enjoyable now as well.
2008 Yarden El Rom Cabernet Sauvignon – Score: A
The nose on this purple to impenetrable black colored wine is crazy rich and redolent with blackberry, cassis, licorice, pencil shavings, ripe plum, vanilla, and oak. The mouth on this rich, layered, and highly focused full bodied wine is crazy rich and opulent, with rich sweet oak, blackberry, cassis, black plum, pencil, and massive tannin. This is a massive wine that is concentrated but equally refined with the tannin, oak, and fruit still early on in their integration. However, even now the wine shows beautifully and will be better to enjoy in a couple of years. The mid palate is rich with balancing acid, blackberry, sweet oak, more rich tannin, licorice, and chocolate. The finish is super long and concentrated with sweet oak, nice tannin, licorice, vanilla, chocolate, plum, and pencil shavings. This is right on the tail of the 2001 older brother, just way younger of course. In 8 years, you will all be begging for this wine – get it while you can!
2003 Yarden Katzrin (Red) Score: A
The nose on this deep purple colored wine is screaming with exuberant jam like aromas of black plum, cassis, blackberry, black fruit, oak, licorice, and chocolate. The mouth on this massive, tannic, and crazy jam packed wine is packed with crazy black fruit, black plum, blackberry, cassis, and raspberry. The mid palate is balanced with sweet oak, and yet more oak, and a nice dollop of tannin on the side. The finish is long with more oak, coffee, dark chocolate, and tannins that keep up nicely with the oak. A truly magnificent wine that shines through almost all other wines we tasted that night.
2004 Yarden Katzrin (Red) Score: A
The nose on this massive black colored wine is screaming with black fruit, dark rich blackberry, dark plum, black cherry, rich ripe fruit, cassis, chocolate, and rich oak. The mouth on this massive full bodied wine is rich with ripe black fruit, cassis, black plum, blackberry, and cherry. The mid palate is balanced and flows from the mouth with acid, sweet oak, chocolate, and gripping tannin. The finish is long with rich oak, black fruit, cherry, chocolate, and tobacco.
2007 Yarden ROM (53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Syrah, 24% Merlot) – Score: Filthy or A
The nose on this black and impenetrable colored wine is super rich with blackberry, cherry, plum, cranberry, cassis, chocolate, cedar, and tobacco. The mouth on this rich, full bodied, and layered wine with massive extraction, and a rich mouth of blackberry, cassis, tobacco, cedar, rich layers of fruit, and plum. The mid palate is balanced with rich acid, cedar, tobacco, and chocolate. The finish is long and spicy with a smokey finish, along with ripe plum, chocolate, blackberry, tobacco, and lingers long with chocolate and tobacco. This wine is filthy and lovely in ways I have not seen in sometime. What a true joy.
2005 Yatir Forest (77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Petite Verdot, and 10% Merlot) – Score: A
The nose on this dark garnet to black colored wine is another massive and explosive success by the Yatir Winery. This wine does not have an oak abuse problem, instead it has a rather elegant nose with Blackberry, lovely oak, black plum, ripe fruit, and raspberry. The mouth on this full bodied wine is mouth coating with layers upon layers of blackberry, cranberry, cassis, and candied raspberry. The mid palate flows off the mouth with lovely tannin, oak, and bracing acid. The finish is long with rich black fruit, chocolate, licorice, anise, smoke, and tobacco.
NV Yarden Brut, Segal Rechasim Dishon Cabernet Sauvignon, and other OK wines
I will keep this one short, as I want to get to my top wines of the year post. However, my wife and I spent the first part of Saturday night prepping, breaking down, and rolling 60 sushi rolls filled with Hamachi, Salmon, Tuna, and julienned vegetables. All I will say is that there was little to none of it left before the evening was over.
We enjoyed some lovely still and sparkling wines, along with some very not so great wines as well. The wine notes are iffy, as I was not taking serious notes, except for one wine that was the clear winner of the evening.
The wine notes follow below:
NV Yarden Brut – Score: B+ to B++
The first interesting thing to note about this sparkler is that it was produced in 2001 and not produced again, so we are talking about a 10 to 11 year old wine made from equal parts Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The nose on this straw to pink colored wine is rich with citrus notes, peach, tart green apples, fresh flowers, and brioche. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is effervescent with a lovely mousse of many small bubbles, creamy and delicate attack of tart green apple, citrus, and acid backbone that is definitely not dead in any way. The finish is long, creamy, and moussy with brioche, toast, tart apples and lemony goodness. Fun stuff that works great with sushi.
2007 Segal Rechasim Dishon Cabernet Sauvignon – Score: A–
The nose on this black colored wine is super rich with rich cedar, tobacco, cassis, rich ripe plum, licorice, raspberry, and chocolate. The mouth on this rich and medium bodied wine is mouth coating with lovely tannin, raspberry, rich ripe plum, cassis, integrated tannin, and cedar. The mid palate is rich and lovely with good acid, tobacco, cassis, chocolate, tobacco, and cedar. The finish is long and rich with sweet cedar, tobacco, cassis, ripe plum, chocolate, and tobacco. This is a rich and concentrated wine that has just enough to grab your attention but is also a bit played out with its not so unique flavor profile. Still a fun and rich wine that has two or so years left in its legs.
Baron Herzog Brut Champagne – Score: B-
Sorry this wine did not make the mental cut for me – the flavors do not meld in any way that makes sense to me.
2006 Rotheberg Cellars Pinotage – Score: N/A
DOA, OK but really not that interesting.
