Vegan Meat Sauce Recipe

1. 2 tbsp olive oil
2. 2 diced onions
3. 3 diced zucchini
4. 16 oz. of thickly cut mushrooms
5. salt to taste
6. pepper to taste
7. 2 tbsp basil
8. 5 cloves of garlic
9. 2 tbsp sugar
10. 2 packages (16 oz. each) of Yves ground soy (or the Trader Joe package)
11. 2 28 oz. cans of diced tomatoes
12. 1 cup (or more) of red wine

Heat the oil till almost smoking and throw in the diced onions until they are nicely caramelized. After that throw in the zucchini and saute them till they soften. Then throw in the mushrooms and cook them till they start to soften, but do not let them get too soft or browned as you want them to still have a bite. Finally throw in the spices and then the last four ingredients and cook for another 30 or more minutes until the sauce thickens, stirring often and making sure nothing sticks.

I enjoyed this over a bed of quinoa and my wife had pasta, but this goes well over any starch you may desire. It has good bite and flavor, while also being low in calories and fat.

To pair with this dish I opened a bottle of the 2007 Casa da Corca. I guess the saying, you get what you pay for really lived up to its billing. This wine was on sale during the Passover sales and this one was not worth it. The wine is fine, but not one that I wanted to waste my Shabbos wine on. Either way, drink UP if you have some and do not let it stay too long in the bottle. Either enjoy it right after you open it or save the rest to pour into a great pot of vegan meat sauce!

The wine note follows below:

2007 Casa da Corca Douro – Score: B to B+
The nose starts off with an conspicuous amount of toasty oak followed by blackberry, black cherry, a hint of raspberry, tobacco, and lovely smokey notes. The mouth is medium to full bodied with almost mouth coating integrating tannin, a large dose of blackcurrant, that is balanced with good oak extraction, earthy notes, and herbs for a pleasant mouth feel. The finish is long with citrus zest, at times, lovely espresso coffee, vanilla, licorice, and cloves. This is in drink up mode. The wine is not showing mevushal characteristics, but is quick to fade, losing its brightness and flavor profile within hours of opening. DRINK UP!

Moises and his wife, Anne who holds a degree in History of Art and is a Sommelier, has been consulting with wineries, all around the world, to manage their vines and to make wines. In 2003, Moises started Elvi Wines, while continuing to being a wine consultant for wineries across Spain and South America. The duality of seasons between the northern and southern hemispheres allows Moises to help each in their own wine harvest and growing seasons.

Dr. Moises Cohen, the winemaker, is passionate about the terroir, and their winery’s name (Elvi) says it all; an abbreviation as Cohen explains it; EL (elokim or general rules or mother nature, just as you want, as you feel, as you believe) is always above VI (vino, wine). Wine is a mirror image of the vineyard and the wine maker. The more the wine maker manipulates the grapes and the wine, the more it feels and tastes fake. The more he/she lets the grapes and wine change and age naturally, the more the wine will be able to show its true terroir characteristics. All of the Elvi’s wines come from organically maintained vineyards! Further, the wines are brooding with earthy and mineral notes that show the terroir in ways that are quite enjoyable.

Ten years ago the family run business started a winery whose premise was to show the world the potential greatness that lies in the heart of all of Spain’s wine regions. The winery’s first release was in 2003, and since then it has slowly been growing the business. They have steadily, and carefully, been adding wines to the portfolio, that show the true vibrancy of the region and ones where they have control to make the correct decisions in the vineyard. Elvi has its own vineyard and winery in the Denominación de Origen (DO) of Montsant. The Elvi Adar hails from the Ribera del Jucar DO (situated in the center of Spain), but from the beginning Mr. Cohen has wanted the winery to “sojourn” all around Spain in order to develop a range of wines, from local grapes, that reflect really their respective terroir. The logo on the bottle draws from this inspiration, a Mediterranean boat, with which they can travel across Spain, to harvest and bottle the best of what Spain has to offer. The winery consultants for many vineyards and wineries, which allows them to select from many wineries all around Spain where they can make the best wine for the value.

No matter if they own the vineyard or if they lease the land, Cohen is always looking for the best fruit and the best environment to keep true to their mantra, of letting the terroir speak for itself. Whether that is small ripe berries, to concentrate the fruit flavor, open bunches (where the fruit is exposed to the sunlight), or the way the soil and ground cover manage the water consumption of the vines. Elvi Wines is a wonderful example of how of a winery that uses technology to coax out the truth that lies deep in the grape and dirt rather than manipulating the grape and wine.

When you talk Spain and kosher wine, most will immediately think about Capcanes wines as they have recently been given massive scores by Jay Miller reporting for the Wine Advocate. However, Elvi recently was the only kosher wine/winery that was part of the 2012 Penin’s Guide to Spanish Wines! Yup! No Capcanes nor any other kosher Spanish wine! However, it was not just one of Elvi’s wines, rather it was 7 of Elvi’s wines that were on the list! Congratulations to Moises and family. I was invited to join Moises at the event last month, and I was all set to do so, but in the end I had to drive down to LA for a wedding of a friend of mine. Moises was so nice, so he brought wines by hand and we enjoyed the wines before and over dinner.

The video above is not my video but I wanted to give you all a chance to enjoy Moises as much as I did! The fascinating thing about listening to and watching Moises talk, is that he is calm, passionate, insanely knowledgeable, and driven to make the best wine possible (kosher or not) from all that his beloved Spain has to offer. Listen to him for a bit and you will hear all the buzz words; local grapes, local vineyards, organic farming, single vineyards, etc. The truth is that while he can talk and charm an Eskimo into buying snow, his product backs his talk all the way to the end zone.

When Moises started the winery, he thought a long time about which wines were worthy of the effort and making sure that the wines would meet the growing standards of kosher wines. Not only were the wines a success but he did it in a very shrewd manner, he made the wines in the wineries that he personally consulted with. This allowed Moises to be sure that the grapes were of the highest quality, as he personally oversaw the creation and maintenance of them. Further, the close relationships that he built with the clients made it an easy win-win for both sides when he wanted to step into the winery business. The winery owners had sure income and he had solid quality grapes. Like all good operations, he built Elvi Wines up slowly, first with reds, then a Cava, and then a unique white, all the while keeping the quantities within reason and the quality at its peak. However, when he chanced upon the opportunity to partner with Bodegas Castillo de Sajazarra, while helping them build out their vineyard, it was a blessing from above. The kosher wine world was screaming for top flight Rioja and the wines that Elvi made in partnership with Castillo de Sajazarra is just that – some of the best Rioja in all of Spain, according to Penin. Actually, Elvi’s wines are served in the top Michelin rated restaurants in Spain. The pictures on the site about the vineyard is awesome! If you wait to flip through all the pictures you watch the ground being plowed, planted and monitored with many of Moises cool technology! However, the best part is the pictures of the animals who nestle near and within the vineyard due to their organic maintenance.

Another fascinating part of the relationship was the discovery of an old building that was used by the Jews, before their explosion, from Spain, in 1492. The building was where the Jews made wine and on the right you can clearly see the space for a Mezuzah. The fascinating thing is that the spot is vertical and not slanted, like many do in America and abroad. That is because Spain was the fertile ground for the Sephardi Jews (literally meaning Spanish in Hebrew) and the Sephardi custom is to place the Mezuzah in a vertical manner. The Ashkenazi Jews actually place the Mezuzah on a lean. Why? Because there were two opinions on how to place the Mezuzah, Rashi said to place it vertically, while his grandson, Rabbeinu Tam, said it should be placed horizontally. The Sephardi Jews simply follow Rashi to the tee (according to Rav Yosef Karo) and place it vertically, as he thought, while the Ashkenazi Jews place it in the middle, as a compromise between the two opinions.

The vineyard back right up to the mountains with drastic temperature shifts between day and night, allowing the fruit to ripen slowly while not giving up all of their acid potential. The vineyards are where the InVita, Mati, and Herenza come from. The rest of Elvi’s line come from other vineyards scattered across the breadth and width of Spain, including the new flagship Clos Mesorah.

As you see and hear about in the video, Clos Mesorah is the new flagship wine from Moises’s family vineyard. It is of course organically maintained and estate bottled. The wine is the clear winner of the line, edging out the previous flagship wine; El26, also from the D.O. Montsant region, though not from his family’s vineyard. The label on the Clos Mesorah is breathtaking! The artwork was done by Joan Josep Bertran, a highly accomplished and particularly spectacular artist in his own right, as you can see from his work. If you look closely the words that are faintly visible on the label are:

אֲנִי לְדוֹדִי וְדוֹדִי לִי הָרֹעֶה בַּשּׁוֹשַׁנִּים

“Ani leDodi veDodi li, HaRoeh BaShoshanim”. It is a verse from Song of Songs (Shir HaShirim) commonly associated with wedding ritual in Judaism. It would translate to “I to my beloved, and my beloved to me, who shepherds in the lilies.”

The idea being that this Clos Mesorah (Clos in French means close/enclave/family and Mesorah in Hebrew means generation/history/Jewish transmission) is a winery and wine from the family’s vineyard that is rooted in wine history and Jewish tradition. Further the circle like image on the label closes the loop around the family and their love and passion for all things of the vine. The wine is awesome and like Moises says, it is one of the best wines out there, it just happens to be kosher. To me Elvi is one of those wineries that is a safe-bet winery. The wines are always yummy, they may not be blockbuster all the time, like the EL26 and Clos Mesorah, but they are rock solid choices when you are faced with a wall of wine and you are unsure.

All the wines we tasted and than drank are still not available in the US. A representative from Royal Wines (who imports Elvi Wines) told me that the wine is coming to the US in the summer.

Many thanks to Moises and family for the chance to taste the wines and hopefully we will be getting these wines to drink soon with a meal in my house. Also, I have included posts from my previous tastings of Elvi wines, that are still on the market:

2007 Elvi Wines Adar, Red – Score: A-
The wine is a blend of 25% Bobal, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 20% Tempranillo, and 5% Petite Verdot. The wine starts off with a crazy nose of chocolate, heavy spice, cups of herb, lovely cherry, and raspberry. The mouth starts off with a heavy hit of sour cherry wrapped in good spicy oak, blackcurrant, sweet blackberry, along with a soft and plush mouth, mouth coating tannin, that all comes into a round mouth with constrained ripe yet rich and sweet fruit. The finish is long and spicy with a bit of sweet notes, tar, almond pit, tobacco, and leather. Quite a lovely and rich wine that is a great example of a wine made from ripe fruit but not overly or uncontrollably ripe fruit.

2009 Elvi Wines Clos Mesorah – Score: A- to A (closer to A)
The wine is a blend of 40% Carignan made from 90 year old vines, 30% Grenache, and 30% Syrah. This is the first release of the Clos Mesorah wine in a kosher format and it is well worth the wait. The wine is lovely and personally edges out the Capcanes Peeraj Ha’bib and makes it the best kosher Montsant out there, by a hair. The reason why I say this is because the Clos Mesorah has a more controlled nose and mouth that is devoid of raisin and date and also does not have the overly loud toasty/burnt oak.

The wine has a crazy rich and perfumed nose of ripe but controlled blackberry, crazy spice, black cherry, cheesy notes, lovely blueberry, and floral notes. The mouth is rich and crazy with concentrated and layered fruit, lovely integrating mouth coating tannin, along with a massive attack of spice, buttered herbs, and good cedar that fills the mouth and makes for a rich mouth-feel. The finish is long and spicy with rich bakers chocolate, vanilla, ripe black and blue fruit, and butterscotch, with fruit and butterscotch lingering long on the palate after the wine is gone.

2011 Elvi Wines InVita – Score: B+ to A-
The wine is a blend of 65% Pansa Blanca and 35% Sauvignon Blanc. Pansa Blanca is a grape that is rarely used in still wine and makes for a very unique flavor and wine experience. This is not your average white wine that we suffer with and not another Chardonnay. Rather, it is a rich and mouth filling wine that is brightened by the blend of Sauvignon Blanc, but rich and tropical from the Pansa Blanca. This lovely white wine takes off from where the Elvi Ness Blanco left off and is well worth finding it.

The nose explodes with bright lemon, Asian pear, green apple, melon, grapefruit, pineapple, along with Sauvignon Blanc fruit, green notes, lychee, and heavy floral notes. The mouth is big and round with nice balancing minerality, round and ripe almost sweet fruit, with herbal notes, that make for a full mouth. The finish is long and spicy with lemon/lime creme fresche and crazy long lasting citrus zest.

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2006 Elvi Wines EL26 – Score: A-
This wine is a lovely blend of 35% Grenache, 35% Syrah, and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon. It starts with an aromatic nose of chocolate, along with ripe blackberry, black pepper, raspberry, and plum. The mouth is full and concentrated with mouth coating tannin, nice dirt, graphite, ripe fruit, with spicy wood all coming together into a nice mouth. Finish is long with spice and mineral. This is a massive and extracted wine with ripe fruit and one that balances well with the oak and spice.

2008 Elvi Wines Ness Blanco (Spain, Castilla-La Mancha, Ribera del Júcar) – Score: B+ to A-
This wine is a 50/50 Muscatel and Sauvignon Blanc blend, one that is not very common to me. When we tasted this a year ago the wine was showing nicely with Sauvignon Blanc more than Moscato. The nose on this light gold colored wine is screaming with rich honey, guava, wet grass, kiwi, and lovely grapefruit. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is off dry to semi-sweet with nice rich tropical fruit, honey, and balanced acidity, along with wet grass and spice. The finish is rich and tart fruit with nice honey, spice, more grass, and lemon. This is a nice tart wine with good wet grass yet rich all at the same time. This was a fun wine that has now turned more honeyed and round.

2009 Elvi Wines Mati, Rioja – Score: B++ to A-
This is a lovely and extracted Tempranillo wine that sat in oak for five months and shows the oak influence by lovely coffee and light oak attributes. The nose on this dark garnet colored wine was rich with nice loamy dirt, dark plum, blackberry, strawberry, raspberry, mushroom, light oak, and espresso coffee. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is rich and mouth coating with more loamy dirt balanced nicely with rich tannin and acid. The finish is long and zesty with black and red fruit, nice tannin, and dirt.

2008 Elvi Wines Herenza, Rioja, Crianza – Score: A-
The nose on this dark garnet to black colored wine is rich and oaky with chocolate, dark cherry, bright mineral, rich earthy loam, dark plum, cedar, raspberry, cranberry, and rich espresso coffee. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is rich, expressive, mouth coating, and lightly extracted with rich dirt, mineral, and nice fruit. The wine is balanced nicely with acid, coffee, chocolate, and vanilla. The finish is super long, spicy, and rich with dark cherry, spice, vanilla, rich espresso coffee, and chocolate. The wine is rich with a mouth of chocolate, espresso coffee, dark cherry, and black cherry linger long after this wine is gone, which is quite quick!

2007 Elvi Wines Makor (85% Bobal and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon) – Score: B++ to A-
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine is rich with ripe plum, rich earth, raspberry, date, and black cherry. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is rich with light hints of oak, influenced from 20% of the wine being in oak for 10 months. The structure of the mouth is rich and inky, textured with nice earth notes and dark fruit, almost concentrated and rich. The wine is nicely balanced with rich and zesty acid and nice mouth coating tannin. The finish is long and tart with nice earth, rich still gripping tannin, and nice ripe and rich fruit. The oak does not show strongly in the mouth but it’s influence is felt nicely.

2007 Elvi Wines Vina Encina (33% Bobal, 26% Merlot, 21% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Tempranillo) – Score: B++
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine is rich and screaming with candied fruit of cherry, raspberry, currant, garrigue, bramble, light oak, and tobacco. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine is rich and spicy with candied red fruit and nice earth and bramble tones that is nicely integrating and coming together to highlight light oak influence and integrated tannin. The wine is nicely balanced with spicy notes, rich red and candied fruit, rounding oak, nice tannin, and spice.

2007 Elvi Wines Adar (25% Bobal, 25% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Tempranillo, 5% Petite Verdot) – Score: A-
The Adar has many similarities to the Vina Encina as it shares some common components, however, it differs clearly in its blacker fruit, richer dirt, and coffee. The nose on this dark garnet to black colored wine is rich with candied fruit of black cherry, raspberry, dark plum, blackberry, deep earthiness, cassis, and coffee. The mouth on this full bodied wine is rich with nice candied red and black fruit, balancing acid, mineral, mouth coating tannin, and spice. The wine is not so oak forward as much as it is oak influenced and rounded by sleeping in a 300L oak barrel, where the impact is not as pronounced as a smaller barrel. The finish is long and spicy with nice coffee, black fruit, integrated tannin, dirt, and oak.

2008 Elvi Wines Matiz, Rioja – Score: B+
The nose on this dark garnet, 100% Tempranillo wine, starts right out of the bottle with a powerful nose of chocolate and tobacco. As the wine opens up, the chocolate and tobacco give way to cherry and raspberry notes. The mouth on this full bodied wine is smooth and concentrated, with cherry and raspberry fruit that follow the nose. The mid palate is bright enough to balance out the wine while sharing space with a hint of tannins that are integrating nicely. The finish is long with a return of the cherry fruit, acidity, on a bed tobacco leaves and chocolate candy.

2005 Elvi Wines EL 26 (40% Syrah, 30% Grenache, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot) – Score: A-
The nose on this dark garnet to black colored wine is highly extracted with rich and ripe blackberry, black plum, toasty oak, raspberry, loamy dirt, bramble, chocolate, and tobacco. The mouth on this rich and super extracted mouth is complex and layered with massive and mouth coating tannin, rich and toasty oak, ripe and black fruit all coming together to make a wine that is very rich and spicy with ripe black fruit with all the components coming together nicely. The wine is balanced and the finish is toasty long and super extracted with even more mouth coating, ripe black fruit, plum, rich chocolate, and tobacco leaves.

2007 Elvi Ness, Ribera del Jucar – Score: B to B++ (blend of 25% Tempranillo, 32% Bobal, 39% Merlot, and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon)
The nose on this garnet to black colored wine was rich with cedar, vanilla, coffee, dirt/bramble, blackberry, black cherry, currant, plum, and mint/eucalyptus. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine initially showed bubbles, which was a bit offsetting, over time it dissipated, along with blackberry, black cherry, currant, and bramble. The mid palate was bracing with acid, a rich mouth, oak, and spice. The finish was long, with nice spice, black cherry, black currant, oak, and vanilla.

I use drink by dates of the late Daniel Rogov, Cellar Tracker, and of course, my own personal notes. This week it was time to get to some bottles that I have been worried about. I got to a couple of them, but missed out on the 2005 Ella Valley Pinot Noir, which we last tasted on some 3 years ago. We did get to enjoy some wine that we have not tasted in a couple of years, the 2001 Yarden Merlot, Ortal Vineyard, one of the finest Merlot that Yarden has ever produced, along with the 2006 Recanati Cabernet Franc, both of which have a year or maybe more left on them. Both are drinking lovely now, but if you too wish to live the motto “no good wine will be left to die“, drink it now and you will not be sorry.

I often laugh when people ask me when they should drink a particular bottle. In the kosher wine world more and more wines are being created that are built for cellaring. All that means is that the bottle you buy is not quite ready to drink, and the wine maker and winery have decided to diversify their risk and have you cellar the wine rather than them. For the most part, most wine (kosher or not) is made to be drunk within the year or two. There are reserve wines that are built to age a few years maybe 4 years at most. Then there are the a fore mentioned high-end wines that are truly not enjoyable at all from release, and need time to come into their own/peak.

The Recanati Cabernet Franc is at its true peak and can be left for another year or so, but why? Unless you have more pressing wine to enjoy – drink it now! There is only one sure thing, other than taxes, and that is – that the wine will eventually die. Why not enjoy it now. There is rarely a perfect time to drink a wine. There is just the acceptable and peak time to enjoy the wine and the rest is what you make of it!

A friend brought over two wines, one was kept it so well – that the wine survived past its peak, and was lovely and truly enjoyable two years after its time. Sadly, because the wine was so old, it died after 40 minutes from its bottle. We last enjoyed the 2002 Château Le Crock  and the 2000 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Special Edition, Chalk Hill, both brought over by our guest in November 2008! At that time we recommended drink up on both of them. Interestingly enough, I would not have imagined that they would survive another 3 and half years! Further, the 2000 Herzog Special Edition Cabernet was nice last time, but this time the bottle was DOA because of a bad cork. However, getting past the cork, the wine was more than alive with lovely fruit, cedar, and dark leathers. The kind of wine one would expect of a finely aged bottle – so mega kudos to my buddy, dried out corks are just the price one pays for loving wine.

So, the lineup was as such; 2002 Four Gates Chardonnay (bad bottle but OK), 2002 Château Le Crock, N.V Four Gates Soiree – YUMMY!!2006 Recanati Cabernet Franc _ YUMMY!, 2000 Herzog Special Edition Cabernet, 2006 Yarden Odem Vineyard Merlot – YUMMY!, 2001 Yarden Ortal vineyard Merlot – SICK!, and finally the 2007 Carmel late harvest Gewürztraminer – which was OK (lacked acidity).

To pair with these wonderful wines I made pan-fried meatballs along with a new dipping sauce and braised meatballs as well. The good news was that the meatballs disappeared along with the new dipping sauce, so I think it is a keeper!

The wine notes follow below in the order they were served:

2002 Château Le Crock – Score: B+
The wine is ready to go and maybe a bit over the hill, though this particular bottle was stored well and may have given the bottle a drop more of life. I say this as after an hour from opening the wine became unbalanced with the fruit leaving and leaving heavy acid in its wake. After a bit more time the acid blew off and what was left was old, tired, but nice aged black wine.

The nose comes at you right away and for a short period of time with black cherry, blackberry, cassis, plum, raspberry, and classic graphite. The mouth is full bodied, plush, and velvety, with mouth coating tannins, good concentration, nice cedar, and more than enough tannin to keep you very interested. The finish is a bit short with tobacco, chocolate, nice Mediterranean herbs, along with a good-sized dollop of vanilla. If you have any of this wine open it NOW and drink it right after opening, this is not a wine for the cellar, decanting, or airing.

N.V Four Gates Soiree – Score: A-
Blends are all the craze now, and this one is as unique as they come. Soiree is a blend of Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc, both of which are blockbuster wines for the Four Gates Winery. This wine has now hit its stride and is drinking perfectly and is ready to come out and play. From the moment the wine was opened, till it was fully consumed (partially the next day) the wine was lovely, though the wine lacked tannin the next day.

This wine starts off with, a Four Gates and Santa Cruz flavor, chicken cherry cola, raspberry, sweet cedar, prune/plum, herbaceous, mint, licorice, chocolate, and vanilla. The mouth of this medium to full-bodied wine has playful tannins, and a crazy concentrated attack of earthy notes, black cherry and red fruit, along with mouth rounding integrated tannin, and lovely cedar extraction all packaged into a layered and structured wine that is unique in its flavor profile. The finish is super long, layered, and spicy with oak, coffee, plum, black pepper, cloves, and vanilla. Drink for another year if you must – but now the wine is perfect and one that is worth enjoying now.

2006 Recanati Cabernet Franc Reserve- Score: A-
This was the last year for Lewis Pasco, the founding winemaker of the Recanati Winery, and we tasted this out of barrel with Lewis in 2008! The wine was awesome then and it is still fantastic. The green notes are so obvious, while also being in control – a lovely balance of green and depth – what a wine! The nose on this black colored wine has rich espresso coffee, tobacco, chocolate, obvious graphite, raspberry, black cherry, plum, cedar, and vanilla. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine is super rich and layered, with rich mouth coating integrated tannin, lovely classical franc bell pepper, and good sweet cedar extraction that fills the mouth nicely. The finish is long, rich, and plush with rich black fruit, vegetal notes, nice fat stogie in one hand and a handful of chocolate covered mint in another hand, all while wearing a leather coat.

2000 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Special Edition, Chalk Hill – Score: N/A
Unfortunately, this wine was corked. However, if you were willing to ignore the moldy nose and the sweaty socks you would see the awesome wine that was there. The nose was rich with chocolate, tobacco, blackberry, wild and beautiful. The mouth of this palate coating full bodied wine carries the blackberry, and has cassis and sweet cedar. The finish is long with good extraction and lots of vanilla. Unfortunately, the TCA was impossible to ignore and as such no wine score could be given.

2006 Yarden Merlot Odem Organic Vineyard – Score: A- (and a bit more)
This is the first single vineyard Merlot from the Odem Vineyard. This vineyard is tended to organically, but the word Organic is nowhere on the label as there are sulfites added. The last time we had this bottle the first thing that hit you was the massive amount of menthol and spice that there was. This time the menthol and herb was under control, and it was accompanied by candied plum, nice chocolate, blackberry, eucalyptus/menthol aromas, and black cherry. The mouth is massive and inky with mouth coating tannin, layer upon layer of spice and herb, black fruit that is focused and concentrated, and sweet cedar that is integrating and rich in the mouth. The finish is super long and spicy with lovely tobacco, chocolate, blackcurrant, orange rind and loamy dirt. Over time the wine opens further and shows layers of butterscotch and creamy vanilla.

2001 Yarden Merlot Ortal Vineyard - Score: Almost A
WOW, WOW, WOW!! What a glorious wine, this one is really ready with its overly date driven issues of old behind it. The wine now shows beautifully and is a wine that we did not have time to watch open as the wine disappeared in almost no time, clearly the winner of the overall tasting. The wine tasted even better than the last winning tasting and it is a wine that has at least another year ahead of it, but why wait! Drink now and you will be rewarded with what may well be the best Merlot that Yarden has made in sometime.

The nose on this wine is quite redolent and ready as soon as the wine is opened, with blackberry, ripe plum, licorice, and graphite. The mouth on this full bodied wine is mouth coating and crazy plush with layers upon layers of concentrated black fruit, raspberry, sweet date, bell pepper, crushed herb, and integrating mouth coating tannins, all balanced nicely with sweet cedar and good balancing acidity. The finish is luxurious, smokey, and long with more black fruit, chocolate, tobacco, and cloves.

2007 Carmel Gewürztraminer Late Harvest Shaal – Score: B++
While many have given this one much higher scores on Rogov’s forum, we all felt this lacked the bracing acidity to make it a true winner. The wine starts off with a crazy nose of rich honey, ripe peach, rose hips, lychee, pear, along with heavy sweetness. The mouth is rich, full bodied, and mouth coating, with good sweetness that takes over the palate, along with floral, pineapple, and melon notes that peek out from under the tropical and honeyed mouth. The finish is long-lasting with cloves and baked apricot pie. If this had more acidity to really balance out the whole, it would have been a real winner, drink up!

2010 Reyes del Imperio – Score: B
While this wine attempts to meet the Terrenal standard especially since this is non mevushal as is the Terrenal Cabernet from Spain, but it falls short because it lacks the complexity to grab your attention. The nose starts off screaming with Boysenberry and blueberry, after time the boysenberry leaves and black cherry appears along with floral notes and vanilla. The mouth is medium bodied, but has some nice backbone and packs enough of a tannin punch to almost coat the mouth and keep your attention. The finish is long with blue and black fruit, loamy dirt, mineral, and tart berries.

The Haruni Family started the Dalton Winery in 1995, in the Napa Valley of Israel in the Upper Galilee. Within the massive Upper Galilee, a few areas are starting to gather fame, such as the vineyard from which Dalton sources its grapes — Kerem Ben Zimra, Yarden’s El-Rom, Ortal, and Katzrin vineyards, and Gailil Winery’s Yiron vineyard. The vineyard and winery are located minutes from each other, which is usually a great benefit to the winemaker and winery, as the winery can truly source and crush the grapes when they have reached optimal maturity. However, when there is a war going on, and that war is in your backyard, you wish you were miles away. In July and August of the year 2006, Lebanon and Israel were engaged in a bloody battle. It raged on for 34 days, before a cease fire was declared. With the winery and vineyard overlooking Mount Hermon, almost spitting distance from the Lebanese border, the winery was in the direct line of fire.

Dalton was the hardest hit amongst the Galilee wineries, but was still able to source and crush all of its grapes within a week of the cease fire. The actual damage was not nearly as bad as the winery’s inability to prune and manage its vineyard, which caused some of the vineyards (the Chardonnay especially) to fall victim to disease and hungry wildlife. However, the winery was blessed with a bountiful harvest that easily made up for the war’s collateral damage.

The Dalton Winery, near Kerem Ben Zimra, is set in the beautiful green, mountainous country of the Upper Galilee, five kilometers from the Lebanese border, overlooking Mount Hermon. Dalton is the only winery situated in this area, and can boast that it is one of the few wineries in Israel that is estate bottled, located minutes from all its vineyards. Established in 1995, Dalton is one of the few family owned wineries in Israel. The Haruni family moved from London to Israel with the vision of developing industry in the long neglected area of the Upper Galilee. Dalton started with humble beginnings in a back yard in Moshav Kerem Ben Zimra, producing 20,000 bottles of white wine. Today Dalton produces close to 600,000 bottles, of premium and super-premium reds and whites, in its state-of-the-art facility.

Starting in 2007, Dalton made Wild Yeast Viognier that was to die for. They followed it up with a vintage in 2008 and 2009. Unfortunately, they decided to stop making this fantastic wine and instead decided to blend it into the Alma Blend. I cannot honestly tell you why they are doing this. Every wine lover that I talk with speaks highly of the earlier Viognier wines. Still, Dalton decided to blend the very Viognier, still made with wild yeast, along with some Chardonnay and attempt to make a better wine. In my humble opinion, they have moved backwards. This wine was nice and clearly has yet to find its true self, but it is in no way a wine that I would score in the same league.

I hope that the Viognier comes back and that they find something to do with the Chardonnay they blend in. Until then, try a bottle of Alma and tell me what you think.

The wine note follows below:

2010 Dalton Alma White Blend – Score: B+
The nose and mouth of this wine act in equal proportions to its blend. The wine is a blend of 66% Viognier and 34% Chardonnay. The wine is a real shame, personally, because it does not come close to being the hit that the pure Viognier was, and Dalton has said that they will continue with this Alma blend, and will not continue producing the pure Viognier. The wine starts off with clear Chardonnay styling, pear, oak, cut grass, and green apple. The mouth is firm and not so round with lemon, some tropical fruit, and oak, all coming together ok. The finish is long with lemon zest, cloves, and spice. Over time the wine’s real winner comes out of hiding and does what it can to help this wine. The Viognier’s obvious stamp is made with lovely floral notes, honey, butterscotch, and lychee. The mouth finally fills out and adds in peach. The finish is lovely but not complex with hints of fig and date. This wine has so much more potential separate than combines, unfortunately this is not an example of the saying: ‘The whole is greater than the sum of its parts’. In this case the whole is a less than the sum of its parts.

Sara Bee continues to taste as wonderful as always, but I cannot get the Banero Prosecco here on the west coast There are now two new Terrenal wines; one from Chile and one from Argentina that are both mevushal. I say this because the Spanish wines from February are not mevushal. The two new Terrenal wines continue the tradition of good kosher wine, for a reasonable price.

I am posting the previous notes as a reference, so that you do not need to go back to the older posting:

2011 Terrenal Chardonnay (Curico Valley, Chile) – Score: B++ (close to A-)
This wine is a lovely expression of unoaked Chardonnay and one that I am happy to buy often. Sure the price is also right (4.99 a pop), but price has ZERO bearings on how I score a wine. The nose screams with lemon fresche, apricot, guava, with ripe and almost sweet fruit. The mouth is really nice with sweet lemon, fig, Asian pear, apple, along with lovely and almost mouth-coating mouth. The finish is long with melon, good balanced acidity, a bit of sweet citrus zest (without the pith), along with a bit of vanilla and floral notes to close out the party.

2010 Terrenal Malbec (Mendoza, Malbec) – Score: B to B+
This wine is nice with a unique initial attack of butterscotch, along with blackcurrant, plum, and crushed herb. The mouth is soft and rich with a bit of raisin and blackberry, along with nicely integrated tannin. The finish is long and spicy along with good acidity, inky structure, sweet black cherry, spice, and vanilla on the rise.

2010 Terrenal Cabernet Sauvignon (Yecla, Spain) (not-mevushal) – Score: B+
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine is rich and vibrant with black cherry, an almost perfumed nose of blackberry, and raspberry, along with black currant, rich earth, and herb. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is a nice quaffer with enough complexity to grab your attention, with spicy fruit, almost mouth coating tannin, rich earth, and an overall mouth feel that is nothing short of quite nice. The wine’s core acidity really elevates it and the richness and spice of the finish goes a long way to making you rethink entry-level wines. I could care less what this wine costs, this is a fine wine that if tasted blind would make you do a double take, and in the end, it is quite enjoyable.

2010 Terrenal Tempranillo (Yecla, Spain) (not-mevushal) – Score: B+
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine is rich and vibrant with black cherry, strawberry, an almost perfumed nose of blackcurrant, and raspberry, earthy aromas, herb, and spice. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is a nice quaffer with enough complexity to grab your attention, with spicy fruit, nice round tannin, rich earth, and an overall mouth feel that spicy and enjoyable. The wine’s core acidity really elevates it and the round mouthed tannin, along with nice spice add to the cherry focused wine that adds a dollop of herb and vanilla on the long finish. I could care less what this wine costs, this is a fine wine that if tasted blind would make you do a double take, and in the end, it is quite enjoyable.

N.V. Sara Bee Moscato ((Italy, Puglia) – Score: B++
The nose on this effervescent light gold colored wine starts off with a powerful hit of honey and a touch of yeast. After a small bit of time, the wine explodes with summer and tropical fruits, peach, apricot, mango, pear, lychee, and papaya. This wine has a wonderful effervescence and fruity nose. The mouth on this medium plus bodied wine is lovely with nice effervescence, sweet honey, papaya, lychee, and pear. The mid palate is balanced nicely with acid and light toast, and effervescence. The finish is long and tasty with papaya, honey, and caramel, with the honey and caramel lingering long on the palate.
This is a more balanced, fuller, effervescent wine than the usual kosher blue-bottle Bartenura Moscato. Nothing against the Bartenura Moscato, but it does not compare and it is at least double to triple the price of this wonderful wine. Get a bottle or two and try it out. The Sara Bee Moscato is available at Trader Joe. Finally, as usual my score NEVER includes the price. This wine is scored what it is scored solely on its merit – irrelevant to its price, availability, or its kosher status.

N.V. Banero Prosecco – Score B+
The nose on this straw-colored Prosecco is screaming with a lovely bubble fest, along with a nice muscat nose, perfume, orange rind, yeast, toast, and honey. The mouth on this rich medium bodied wine starts off with a hit of bitterness, apple, honey, prolonged small mousse bubbles, and toast. The mid palate is core with acidity, toast, and drop of yeast, and orange peel. The finish is long and mousse-y with honey, slight bitterness, and toast. This is a wine that has a bit of beer bitterness at the start, which fades a bit, but lingers with a nice balance of perceived sweetness from the honey notes. The mouth is rich with small mousse bubbles that lie on your palate for a very long time, long after the wine is gone.

To pair with lemon rosemary roasted chicken I opened a bottle of the 2005 Four Gates Chardonnay, which was AWESOME! The wine started off very closed, but soon it turned around and made its way out of its oak and butterscotch haze to open into a tropical and summer fruit paradise. To pair with the braised sweet and sour short ribs we opened a bottle of the 2004 Four Gates Syrah. The last time we had the 2004 Four Gates Syrah, it was lovely but the weakest of the vertical. Today when we opened the wine it was fantastic! It was deep and rich with good extraction, crazy black and blue fruit, and lovely herbs and eucalyptus.

The wine notes follow below:

2005 Four Gates Chardonnay – Score: A-
This wine started off way wrong, with almost zero fruit and huge amounts of wood, along with a large dollop of butterscotch. I jokingly called it a wooden butterscotch Popsicle. Well, thankfully I waited and sure enough the wine popped out of its funk to create nothing short of heaven. The wine nose is redolent with lovely butterscotch, melon, rich butter, peach, and apricot. The mouth is full bodied, rich, and layered with rich ripe summer fruit, lemon, floral hints, Asian pear, and mango, all wrapped in good acidity and toasty oak. The finish is super long with smoky notes, caramel, nice butterscotch, with a touch and finish of cut grass vanilla.

2004 Four Gates Syrah – Score: A- to A
The nose on this wine explodes with nice blueberry, blackberry, rich earth, eucalyptus, menthol, and blackcurrant. The mouth is extracted, concentrated, and layered with layers of black cherry, mint, blue and black fruit, nice oak influence, and crazy tannin that is still integrating. The finish is long and balanced with good acidity, lovely tobacco, chocolate, vanilla, and butterscotch. Over time the wine also shows black olives and hints of tar. This is a lovely wine that has another two years ahead of it and may well be at its peak, while probably not evolving much better than right now.

In Israel, we enjoyed many wines for Passover and for other meals. Some of the wines were quite nice while some were just OK. The best two wines we enjoyed were the 2010 Dalton Zinfandel and the 2010 Saslove April. The other wines were fine but none of those were really note worthy. The 2010 Dalton Zinfandel showed far better than when I had it at the Gotham Wine Event. The Tulip White Franc was really nice, though a bit less Cabernet Franc-ish than the 2010 vintage. This is the second time I had the chance to taste April, when I enjoyed it at Sommelier last year, and it continues to impress with its light oak influence (they used staves) and interesting blend.

The only real downer for me was 2011 Galil Rose; it was OK, but nothing to write home about. I was not a huge fan of the Dalton Roses either, but hey I keep trying! I do love the Flam and Catsel Roses. The Tulip Just Cab and Merlot were lovely and continue to improve and show good varietal characteristics. I had the 2010 Galil Wines and they were average at best, which is OK, but again not wines to write home about. My father-in-law and I both enjoyed the bubbly Cabernet. Yes, I said I liked a semi-sweet bubbly Cabernet, because it was actually enjoyable. Sorry, to all the wine snobs out there, but the 2011 Tabor Pnimim (Pearls) sparkler, was enjoyable, unpretentious, and though semi-sweet, not cloyingly so in any way. No, I would not normally, bestow any praise upon a semi sweet Cabernet nor even write about it in a positive manner, as normally Cabernet and sweet do not logically go hand in hand, but Tabor did a good job, so Kudos!

Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to visit any wineries, but I did get a chance to see Gabriel Geller, a man I can happily call an acquaintance, and hopefully one day a friend, that now own a wine store in the heart of Jerusalem, called the Wine Mill. The wine store is located in the Wind Mill right next to the Prima Kings Hotel Jerusalem, and essentially at the corner of King George and Ramban streets. The store is laid out in a quite enjoyable and clutter free manner, with more than enough room for informal gatherings of his clients and customers. When I was there, I picked up some wines that I took home and I also had a chance to talk with both Gabriel and David Rhodes, a wine critic/writer who I have not yet had the chance to write about here in the blog, but a person who has solid wine abilities and who I have had the pleasure to talk with a few times now. The conversation inevitably came around to kosher wine, Israeli Wine, and Daniel Rogov (man I cannot believe it has been 6 months already since his passing), but hey what happens in the Wind Mill stays in the Wind Mill. I did have the chance to taste a lovely bottle of Domaine Ventura Cabernet Franc, but I did not write notes on the wine – sorry. From what I remember, it was very characteristic of Cabernet Franc, with good green notes, lovely ripe red fruit, without the raisin or date flavors, that are so characteristic of Israeli wines. The oak did not overpower though was felt and clearly present, and there was some nice extraction along with tobacco and light leather. An unofficial score would be B+ to A-.

Many thanks to Gabriel and David and I hope to write more about them both in the coming months, when I get back to Israel again. Many if not all of these wines will be available in America, in the coming months, excepting for the Tabor Pnimim (which many will not bemoan – I am sure). The Tulip White Franc is not imported, but one that I personally like. The wine notes follow below:

2010 Tulip White Franc – Score: B++
The wine is a blend of 65% Cabernet Franc (pulled from its skins to keep it clear) and 35% Sauvignon Blanc, along with 15% residual sugar. The nose was a true joy with unique franc expression of green notes, flowers, violet, peach, strawberry, grapefruit, and kiwi. On the mouth the light sweetness adds a clear heft to the wine along with its medium body that makes the wine feel almost full in the mouth. The finish is long with lovely fig and good acidity that balances the wine well. A unique mouth that clearly turns some people off, but one that I enjoyed.

2011 Tulip White Franc – Score: B++
The wine is a blend of 65% Cabernet Franc (pulled from its skins to keep it clear) and 35% Sauvignon Blanc, along with 15% residual sugar. I really liked this wine though I must say it is highly nontraditional and not as franc-ish as the 2010 version. Still the nose continues to impress with lovely floral notes, strawberry, bright citrus, and guava. The mouth explodes with a bit more weight than the 2010 version, and with more ripe tropical fruit, along with ripe melon, Asian pear, and nice sweetness that adds weight to the mouth. The finish is long and balanced with good bright citrus acidity, lemon zest, and almond shell.

2010 Tulip Just Cabernet Sauvignon – Score: B+ to A-
We had this wine before, and the wine did not show as well as our previous tasting which may have been a bottle variation or just me. The wine was aged in French barrels for 8 months and shows clear oak influence. The nose is filled with chocolate, cedar, tobacco, blackcurrant, raspberry, plum, and vanilla. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine is well extracted with almost mouth coating tannins, nicely integrating tannins, and enough oak to round the mouth. The finish is long and spicy with hints of tar and roasted herbs.

2010 Tulip Just Merlot – Score: B+ to A-
The grapes for this wine hail from the same hallowed grounds as the grapes from Karmai Yosef Bravdo winery, which is surrounded by vineyards that belong to other wineries. The nose explodes with heavy roasted herb, plum, cranberry, currant, and citrus zest. The mouth is medium in weight, along with good concentration and extraction, black cherry expression, nice ripe but not overly sweet fruit, along with enough oak to round the mouth and integrating tannin. The finish is long with good spice, vanilla, black olives, and blackcurrant flavors.

2011 Galil Mountain Rose – Score: B to B+
Once again, I have a love hate relationship with Israeli Roses. I loved the 2011 Castel Rose and I have very little love for Dalton or Galil’s Rose. Rose is one of those tough wines to make well. The Dalton 2010 edition caused me great consternation when I could not come to appreciate the wine. This wine did no better, actually, I had two bottles of it and both times that I drank it I could not come to truly enjoy it. I guess, the bitterness of the fruit really gets in my way. The wine is a blend of 75% Sangiovese, 13 % Barbera, 10% Pinot Noir, and 2% Syrah, so an eclectic mix to say the least, but one that did not live up to the winery as much as I had hoped. The nose is the clear highlight of this wine with beautiful strawberry expression, cherry, raspberry, and good citrus notes. The mouth is medium in weight with more acidity, floral notes, and balancing tartness. The finish is long with bitter herbs and olives on the rise.

2011 Tabor Pninim (Pearls) Sparkling Wine – Score: B to B+
This is a great example of a wine that is truly enjoyable but has no redeemable characteristics to give it a good score. Still, a fine wine that I would happily quaff when it is around. The wine is made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, but yet a wine I did not find offensive, tough it is semi-sweet in nature. The nose on this sparkling wine explodes with ripe strawberry aromas, rich cranberry, and raspberry notes. The mouth is medium in weight with nice medium-sized mousse bubbles, good acidity, and light sweetness that is reminiscent of candy drops, along with bitter Kirsch cherry, that all together fills out the mouth nicely.

2010 Kadesh Barnea Merlot – Score: B to B+
The nose is lovely and floral with violet notes, fig, raspberry, and a bit of raisin. The mouth is filled with plum and mouth-coating tannin, the sweetness is evident from the overripe fruit, but balanced with good oak extraction that helps to fill the mouth. The finish is long and spicy with dark cherry and cinnamon commanding your attention. A nice wine that will last a year or so more.

2010 Saslove April – Score: B++
This wine is another example of Israel’s desire and ability to create wild and crazy blends, very reminiscent of Australia blends, that are also quite diverse and non-Europe conformant. While the Cab/Shiraz blend may well be the Great Ausie Blend, this is an example of a blend that is not made anywhere else that I could find on Google. The actual blend is not far at all rom a classic Bordeaux blend, 40% Merlot, 20% Cabernet, but the other 40% is a blend of Nebbiolo, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot. I tasted this at Sommelier last year and I wanted to taste it again to see how it was progressing. The wine is now opened with a nose that is both unique and quite lovely. It starts off with rich almond paste, raspberry, plum, crushed herb, and floral notes. The mouth is round with nicely integrated and mouth coating tannin, nice rounding and balancing influence from 4 months in oak along with nice ripe blackberry fruit. The finish is long and spicy with cinnamon, mint, eucalyptus, licorice, vanilla, and chocolate. Not for long storage drink till 2013.

2010 Galil Mountain Shiraz – Score: B to B+
This is another of those wines from Galil, this year that just does not grab me. Sure it has bright and talkative fruit, but that is really all there is to write about. The nose has nice blackberry, plum, and raspberry fruit while the medium body is balanced and soft with nice integrated tannins. The finish is a bit stunted and starting to fade. I would drink up and buy no more.

2010 Dalton Zinfandel – Score: B++ to  A-
I tasted this wine before at the 2012 Gotham Wine Event, and I did not like it there. It was too floral without weight and body that I have come to associate with Dalton’s Zinfandels. Well, I guess it was just resting because this bottle was awesome and one of the clear highlights of the wines I tasted. This wine was aged for 12 months in American Oak, and BOY can you tell. The nose starts off with a blast of big black fruit, blackberry, black plum, and cassis, along with cinnamon, hickory, and spice. The mouth is rich, layered and full-bodied with tannin that is yielding, along with nice oak extraction, and black ripe fruit that is meddling together quite nicely. The finish is super long and spicy, with black pepper, chocolate, vanilla, cloves, leather, and black olive. Quite a lovely wine and one worth having a few more times. Drink till 2015.

To meet those needs Welner Wines has really come on strong to own this zip code. However, since then, Herzog Cellars and the Yarden Winery have both moved down into this price range with their own labels and wines. Yarden released the Ha Sod label in 2009 with both a Carmenere and Cabernet Sauvignon. We liked the 2009 Ha Sod Cabernet but were not as enthralled with this Carmenere. According to Wikipedia, Carmenere is a member of the Cabernet family of grapes, the name “Carménère” originates from the French word for crimson (carmine), which refers to the brilliant crimson color of the autumn foliage prior to leaf-fall. It was considered part of the original six red grapes of Bordeaux, France, but since then it is almost impossible to find in Bordeaux. However, the grape did not disappear, as Chile is now the world’s leading grower of this grape. The grape adds deep color but it lacks deep flavor and concentration.

The Terra di Seta was very nice, and just as enjoyable as the last two times we had it. The Chianti started off closed, but over time it opened to a lovely and enjoyable Chianti, and stays one of the best Kosher Chianti wines out there. Also, Terra di Seta is the ONLY completely kosher winery in Tuscany.

The wine notes follow below:

2010 Ha Sod Carmenere – Score: B
This is a new vantage for the HaSod label, which is a wine made in Chile by the Yarden Wine Company. They started this in 2009 because they needed a wine that could compete in the higher quality low priced wine market. Carmenere is a grape that does not make wine that is rich, deep, or powerful, however it makes for perfectly fine average and above average wine. The wine starts off with raspberry, plum, cranberry, and a distinct floral attack. The mouth is soft and medium in body with sour cherry, blackcurrant, integrated tannin, and a round mouth that makes for a very food friendly wine. The finish is long and spicy with nice herb, earth notes, black pepper, and vanilla.

2008 Terra di Seta Chianti Classico – Score: B+ to A-
The wine starts off very closed and one that needs an hour or two to open up. Once open the wine hits you with powerful and expressive roasted espresso, along with rich burnt oak, nice extraction, cherry, raspberry, and currant. The wine is throwing sediment so be careful when you pour the wine. The mouth is medium to full bodied with nice blackberry from a blending of 5% of Cabernet Sauvignon, mouth coating tannin, and toasty oak that makes for a fuller mouth. The finish is long and spicy with vanilla, herb, heavy spice, and lovely floral attack.

The bottle is one of the more recent single vineyard Merlot to come to the states. This bottle is already old news in Israel. However, here in the states the wine is still not selling out and hence, the obvious conundrum that Yarden faces. If the wine cannot sell because there is not enough demand at 50 dollars maybe they can repeat their earlier success and hope that lightning strikes twice. The funny thing is that the retailers that bought the bottles at the old higher price are now stuck with them and are being undercut savagely by the retailers that just recently picked them up.

This was the first Merlot release from Yarden’s Organically tended Odem Vineyard. However, there are already 6 or more single vineyard wines ready and available for sale in Israel – and they have yet to sell through the 2006 vintage! OUCH! Talk about inventory! Clearly there is a need for Yarden to sell their wines and they are fine wines as well, but the kosher market is growing and may well be leaving Yarden behind, when it comes to these high-priced wines.

I would suppose that online retailers that had old stock will need to cut their prices to match the new lower prices, and eat the difference. Further, this wine is just one of many more single vineyard wines, that are of course sold at a premium from the normal Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, or Syrah, that are quite lovely by themselves and do not cost 50 or more dollars a bottle.

Anyway, this wine is fairly priced at 26 or so dollars a bottle so pick up a few bottles and store them away. The wine is clearly still too young and is a pure attack vehicle with heavy spice, herb, and candied fruit. After a few many hours the wine settles down beautifully, the crazy and cloying eucalyptus/menthol nose dissipates and makes way for some wonderful butterscotch and vanilla. While this is not a Merlot that is true to its varietal, it is a wine that can be cellared till 2017 and then drink up. For now decant it and enjoy!

The wine note follows below:

2006 Yarden Merlot, Odem Vineyard, Organic Vineyard – Score: A- (and a bit more)
This is the first single vineyard Merlot from the Odem Vineyard. This vineyard is tended to organically, but the word Organic is nowhere on the label as there are sulfites added. The first thing that hits you is the massive amount of heady spice and herb, what follows is crazy candied plum, nice chocolate, blackberry, eucalyptus/menthol aromas, and black cherry. The eucalyptus dies down over time and makes way for more rich spice and black fruit. The mouth is massive and inky with mouth coating tannin, layer upon layer of spice and herb, black fruit that is focused and concentrated, and sweet cedar that is integrating and rich in the mouth. The finish is super long and spicy with lovely tobacco, chocolate, blackcurrant, orange rind and loamy dirt. Over time the wine opens further and shows layers of butterscotch and  creamy vanilla.

Cabernet will always be the classic and default red grape that most wine drinker will reach for. Why? Because it is well know and consistent. I state this because if you buy a Cabernet Sauvignon from Hagafen Winery, Herzog Cellars, or many Israeli wineries, you may find ones you love and some you hate, but they are similar in nature. They are either green with classic graphite and green notes, or maybe they are black and red with other classic flavors, but they are not going to be massive failures or unfortunate wines. Since the start of kosher wines, all the wineries have started with the noble grapes; Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Pinot Noir. Some have done better with them and some have done a so-so job. Hagafen excels with their Cabernet Sauvignon that are sourced from the Napa Valley. Herzog, has been doing a really lovely job with their Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. Israel, of course has been doing a lovely job with their Cabernet Sauvignon, especially by Yarden Winery, Bravdo Winery, Recanati Winery, Castel Winery, and others. However, recently two wineries have been selling Cabernet Sauvignon as well. Four Gates Winery first released a 2005 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, a few years ago and it sold out quickly. Since then Four Gates has once again released a Cabernet Sauvignon, but this time from the Betchart Vineyard on Monte Bello Ridge in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Another and even more Cabernet focused winery – is Covenant Winery, which makes killer Napa Cabernet. They started with the 2003 vintage and has been releasing Cabernet in two or three different formats since then.

The saying, all good wine starts in the vineyard is true, but the real saying should be, the price of wines starts in the vineyard! If you own the vines like say, Hagafen or many of the wineries in Israel, than you have a chance to control the quality and the price of the wines. However, if you buy the grapes from growers, than you are at the mercy of their cost structure and what the market can bear. Sure, many wineries get into long-term contracts that assure them consistent pricing and hopefully, some control of how the vines are managed. However, as the contracts come to a close, the pricing will increase, which places pressure on the winery’s ability to keep its margin’s alive.

Grapes in the Napa Valley have been increasing, though last year the crop tonnage went down, the prices increased slightly. The same can be said for other highly sought-after wine regions. However, there is still tons of bulk quality grapes out there that get turned into pure swill, but that can be said for any variety and/or region. In the end, Cabernet will always be the starting grape fro most wineries and the starting grape for most vineyards, because there is a consistent market for the grape and the wine, be it kosher or not.

Many wineries have built their portfolio is a logical manner, starting with mass amounts of average and drinkable wines, for the masses, and then slowly adding layers of more expensive wine to add to their cachet. This was how Hagafen started and now it has three lines of wines, and continues to grow with more and more labels and quality wine. Herzog did the same, starting in 1985 with their baseline wines, and then adding in the reserve wines as years went on, and now they have what could best be described as four levels of wines; Baron wine line (base), Reserve wines, Special Edition and Single Vineyard wines, and then the top line Generation 8 wines. Israel wineries have done the same, slowly building with baseline wines and growing from there. However, Jeff Morgan, the head winemaker at Covenant Winery, did things a different way, he started with the high-end wine and slowly built backwards. In 2003, Covenant Winery had their maiden voyage into the wine world by releasing a wonderful wine, the 2003 Covenant Cabernet! He went straight out with the flagship wine, with zero ground cover – amazing and very gutsy. The wine, is still lovely, and is one that we will enjoy again very soon. It was not till 2006 that Mr. Morgan added some ground cover with his 2006 Covenant Red C! Another smash hit and one that we tasted, not long ago, and still liked very much.

So, with that in mind I put together another wine tasting that I hoped would showcase the ability and range of Cabernet Sauvignon in the kosher market. We had one of the best ever Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2001 Yarden El-Rom Cabernet Sauvignon, a wine that the late Daniel Rogov, called Israel’s best Cabernet. We had another winner from Yarden, the 2003 Yarden Cabernet, its second line Cabernet and a wine that is consistently good and reasonably priced. We had a bottle of the 2005 Four Gates Napa Cabernet, and we had two bottles from Covenant Winery, the 2004 Covenant Cabernet, that Jeff brought over for the winemaker dinner, and the 2008 Covenant Red C that a friend brought over. Finally, we had a bottle of the 2008 Herzog Single Vineyard Trestle Glen Cabernet Sauvignon, whose grapes were sourced from the B.R. Cohn winery, which made a bottle of its own Cabernet at the Herzog Winery, this bottle was also brought over by a friend.

The 2008 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Single Vineyard, Trestle Glen, Sonoma County is Herzog’s second Single Vineyard wine from the 2008 vintage. It is also Herzog’s second year for its Single Vineyard wines. The wine is using the same grapes as the 2008 B.R. Cohn Cabernet Sauvignon was, and is clearly as elegant as its younger and cheaper brother. However, it received a bit more oak than the B.R. Cohn wine did, and had shows more extraction than its younger brother does.

So there you have it the lineup actually did do what I was hoping for. It opened conversation, it showed the range of red to green to black flavors, from leathers and chocolate, to green notes and graphite, and everything else in between. It was a wonderful evening of Cabernet and great food, and one everyone seemed to enjoy.

For dinner we made some lovely black bean soup, along with a bunch of sausage stew, and spinach kugel. As always, the sausage stew is great because of two main reasons. First, you eat everything and there are no parts that you need to remove or eat around, such as bones or nasty cartilage. Also, it can be made for vegetarians – which ROCKS!

The wine notes follow below. Many thanks to the guests that brought over wines, including Benyamin from Four Gates Winery, who brought over a bottle of his 2009 Chardonnay, which has turned the corner and is now tasting very Chardonnay like, and not as Viognier like as before. He also brought over a bottle of his 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, if you have some – DRINK UP!!!

2005 Four Gates Cabernet, Napa Valley – Score: B+ to A-
This was the first Cabernet Sauvignon ever released by the Four Gates Winery. This is a wine I have not tasted in more than a year, and it has lost a slight step in that time. The nose on this dark garnet to black colored wine is filled with blackberry, cassis, plum, and spice.  The wine fills your mouth with concentrated fruit, black cherry, herbs, nice sweet cedar, surprising acidity, and light tannin that comes together nicely. The finish is long with earthy notes and good fruit. This wine needs to be drunk up and one that is still quite enjoyable.

2009 Four Gates Chardonnay – Score: A-
The Chardonnay is back!!! Congratulations to Benyamin this wine that clearly was tasting more like Viognier than Chardonnay has turned the corner and is now showing beautiful tropical fruit, combined with a very luscious and full mouth that still starts off with honeyed notes, but parts way for the more classical butterscotch and spice that appears with time in the glass. The finish is long and spicy with cloves, mineral, bright citrus, melon, and a hint of herbs.

2004 Covenant Cabernet Sauvignon (Larkmead Vineyard) – Score: A- to A
The nose on this dark garnet to black colored wine is refined and elegant rich ripe blackberry, cassis, blackcurrant, and classic Covenant Black cherry. The wine is a classic green and graphite monster, with lovely bell pepper notes, red fruit, graphite, and loamy dirt, that melds well with sweet cedar, and mouth coating tannin that brings the wine together into a still vibrant and attention grabbing mouth. The finish is super long and rich with chocolate, tobacco, nice spice, cloves, leather, ripe plum, and good vanilla. Drink Now.

2004 Yarden Cabernet Sauvignon – Score: A-
The nose is filled with crazy black cherry, blackcurrant, and blackberry fruits that are super ripe and sweet, along with heavy oriental spice, licorice, cloves, and good mineral. The mouth is full with heavy date flavors from the super ripe black fruit, along with mounds of sweet cedar, and mouth coating tannin that makes for a rich and spicy mouth that is still seductive and attention grabbing. The mouth clams over time with less date and ripe fruit and more mineral and balance. The finish is long and spicy with crazy menthol, eucalyptus, and mint that does calm down over time and make way for chocolate and hints of vanilla on the long linger. Drink now till 2016.

2008 Covenant Red C Cabernet Sauvignon – Score: A-
This wine starts off very closed and was clearly one of the wine of the evening, along with the Herzog, that needed time to express its tannins and dark fruit that lie underneath. If you are looking to enjoy this wine in the future, I recommend opening this two hours or more before and then enjoying it open in front of your eyes.

The nose starts off with crazy tobacco, black cherry, blackberry, plum, and blackcurrant. The mouth is medium to full in body, with a round and full mouth filled with attention grabbing and mouth coating tannin, lovely sweet cedar, and good fruit that makes for a lovely mouth. The finish is long and filled with chocolate, licorice, loamy dirt, good green notes, all backed with vanilla, and hints of mineral. The wine is made predominantly from grapes grown at the Young Family Vineyard in Napa Valley, just south of St. Helena, along with press wine from the flagship Covenant Cabernet. Open ahead of time and drink now till 2016.

2008 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Single Vineyard, Trestle Glen, Sonoma County – Score: A- to A
The wine needs time to open, but once it opens it shows a beautiful classic cold weather red and green Bordeaux nose with expressive graphite, mint, bell pepper, eucalyptus, licorice, currant, and cherry. The mouth is medium to full bodied with lovely blackberry, plum, and red fruit, that mingles well with sweet cedar, and mouth coating tannin that makes for unique mouth that is more refined and elegant than it is ripe and explosive. The finish is long and spicy with cloves, tobacco, hints of chocolate, and vanilla. The wine is truly elegant with lovely tobacco, graphite, green notes, red fruit, and vanilla. Enjoy this till 2015 or so.

2001 Yarden Cabernet Sauvignon, El Rom – 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! Also, where the 2004 Yarden Cabernet Sauvignon was heavy with date, this is a wine that shows elegance and power, it shows ripe fruit that is not so ripe that date and cooked fruit comes to mind.

The nose on this wine is filled with heavy layers of blackberry, cassis, raspberry, currant, dark cherry, and plum. The mouth on this wine is complex and multi layered. This is no simple wine, it hits you in waves. The mouth on this full bodied wine has begun to soften, but that only means that the tannins are not so in your face, while still being integrated while adding even more opulence to this rich and mouth coating wine, filled with sweet and almost jam-like black and red fruit (but not cloyingly so) , sweet cedar, and eucalyptus that comes at you over and over with intensity and elegance. The finish is crazy long and is filled with lovely spice, cloves, herbs, chocolate, tobacco, and rich dirt, with slight vegetal notes. This is really quite a fine wineand one that still needs a single hour or so of air before being ready to enjoy, but one that should be consumed by 2015 or so.