The name of the winery is given for the name of its owner, Fred David, who can been seen partially obscured behind his wine, in the picture to the right. However, it is also very apropos to the work that the David does full time, that being a vigneron for his Vignoble, or in English a wine maker manicuring his vineyard. A vigneron in its purest sense, means a person who not only makes wine, but one who also tends to his vineyards. There really are very few true vigneron left out there, simply because of the sheer effort and time required to do it. Of course, Fred has people who help him, but he runs an independent family owned winery whose vines are all tended to in an organic manner.

Most people know this winery by the name of the kosher wine it sells here in the US: Le Mourre de l’Isle. Actually, the name of the winery, as we said above, is Vignobles David. Please keep the real winery’s name in mind, so you can be on the lookout for the other kosher wines that Allied will be importing from them in the near future.

As larger conglomerates are buying up more and more wineries, wineries like Vignobles David are standing their ground and producing wonderful wines in an ecologically friendly manner to boot. The winery has been around since 1991 and has been producing kosher wines since 2005. The winery also produces a kosher Rose but that is sold exclusively in Europe. This year, David has added a reserve wine to both his kosher and non-kosher lineup that he is going to release here in the US sometime in February.

As we were sitting around Ghermezian’s table, the conversation moved in many different directions. I could not help but ask questions about the wine business from two people whose very life depends on it. As I listened to the conversation I was fascinated by the way that Mr. David reminds me of another true vigneron, who is also a very good friend, Benyamin Cantz of Four Gates Winery. They both create kosher wines with rich intensity; they both mind their vines and care deeply about their craft. Obviously, David’s operation is many times larger than Four Gates, and one is in the US and the other in France, but I could not help but take notice of the common threads in their lives and the wines that they produce from their vines.

Discussing terroir with a Frenchman is truly enjoyable, but doing it in French is even more fun. I dabble in the romantic language and it was a joy talking with David in his native tongue, even if I did mangle a few of the words. As the discussion moved to his wines, I asked why he does not sell his Rose here in the US? Mr. Ghermezian showed interest and yet, Mr. Davis explained that while the US market enjoys his wines, he is able to sell his entire stock in Europe, whether kosher or not. Actually, the majority of his wine is not kosher and it sells out in Europe, with his customers asking for more. Yet, he creates kosher wine because of his religious beliefs. The cost of the kosher wine is slightly higher than the non-kosher variation, simply because of the extra costs that the kosher wine production entails, and yet I could not help but sense his pride in its production as we were talking.

The complexity of creating a kosher blend comes down to a tradeoff between cost or quality. The reason comes down to the rate of ripening of different grape varietals, Grenache does not ripen at the same time as Syrah or Mourvedre. So if one wants a kosher blend, he must have kosher supervisors there for three pickings to maximize the blend’s potential, or pick once and hope for the best. With great pride and precision, Mr. David explained that he had kosher supervisors at his winery for some thirty or more days! From the first picking all the way to the last picking, then through the fermentation, and finally culminating with the wine’s internment into concrete or oak. Each step requires the supervision and it also requires his constant focus, which is not his only task or distraction, as he must still create his other non-kosher wines that are all coming ripe at the same time.

Talk of kosher wine cannot help but include side topics such as cost, countries, or quality. Funny thing is that except for a few wines from a couple of importers, kosher French wines have been rising in price, while prices from other kosher wine producing regions have been going down or staying the same. Clearly Israel has its own problems with sky-high prices for average to quality to wines, but it also has many wonderful QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) winners, like Galil, some Yarden, and Recanati. But looking at the prices of Vignobles David, on his website, you find that the kosher version is only a single Euro higher than its non-kosher counterpart. It would be really great if he released a kosher version of the  Blanc Le Mourre De L’Isle, a Rhone GRV Blend (Roussanne 34%, Viognier 33%, Grenache blanc 33%)! Hagafen Winery and Royal’s Domaine l’Or de Line (also a White Rhone Blend of Grenache Blanc, Picpuol, Roussanne, Bourboulenc, Clairette and Picardin) are the kosher Roussanne wines that I know of. The wines are lovely, but a little competition goes a long way! The more white Rhone varietals we can get in the kosher world – the better!

In the end, it was a great experience sitting with David and tasting his two wines. The Le Mourre de L’Isle Cotes du Rhone, continues to be a star in the QPR area, and always unique given the lack of quality kosher Grenache or Mourvedre, though this is the first year it is blended with Syrah, making it a true GSM (Grenache, Mourvedre, Syrah). Actually given its percentages, it could be called an SGM, though that is not an acronym that is used in the wine business, so we will stick with GSM. The wine blend that is GSM, was one of the hottest items in the wine world, with rave reviews on wines from Australia, the Rhone Rangers of California, and of coarse the original source for all things GSM – Cotes du Rhone! However, in recent time, Syrah/Shiraz and its ilk have been selling a bit more poorly here in the USA.

The main reason for this problem is actually two fold, bad wine and the confusion caused by having two grape names that are the same varietal. On the subject of bad wine, there really is no answer. People see the word Syrah now days and they cringe, remembering the poor Syrah quality wines that lined the supermarket shelves. The Australians helped fix that with better Shiraz wine, but there is still the issue of which one is which! The Australians will tell you that they make Shiraz wine and they do it in their own way with brighter bigger fruit, along with lots of tannin and body. In comparison, the French will say that their Syrah wines are lighter, more elegant and refined, while still easily besting a grilled cotes du boeuf!

While tasting David’ wines they do tend to live to the quality Syrah name, with rich acid to boot. The wines also channel a bit of the Shiraz name because of their rich fruit, though not in your face or overly hot, like his Australian counterparts. His wines also have a bit of that animal quality that is so lovely and rich, which makes it uniquely Cotes du Rhone. In the end the wines are true to the Syrah style, with a bit of extra fruit, which makes David happy as his passion and love for wine does evoke a real sense of pride about the grapes that are sourced from his vineyards.

According to David, the Syrah adds the rich black and red fresh fruit, along with the nice tannin, and color. The Grenache for richness and spice, and the Mourvedre for structure and more color. The three varietals are located in 3 different locations in the vineyard which wee planted in three different soils. Any time you talk about a blend the question inevitably comes up, which is – how did you construct the blend and when in the maturation of the wine did you do the blending? For the kosher Le Mourre de L’Isle, the recipe moves with the quality of the grapes, but normally a vat of Syrah is fermenting separately, along with a vat of Syrah / Grenache that is fermenting together, and depending of the vintage Mourvedre is fermenting alone or with a bit of an old plot of Grenache. The Syrah and Mourvedre are aged separated in larger format barrels (500 L) to limit oak influence, while the Grenache is mainly aged in concrete. Only after the wines have gone through malolactic fermentation (also known as second fermentation or malo), does David start to look at blending them and completing the final aging in a happy union.

The conversation again moved, this time to David’s winery, and I could not help but ask about where the name for his Le Mourre de L’Isle comes from? Le Mourre de L’Isle is the name of a plot that I own which faces the roman aqueduct, Le Pont du Gard, answered David. He explained further “that when you are looking at Gardon River, which flows into the Rhone River some 10 miles downstream, you can see terraced vineyards, showing exposed red pebbles, typical of the Rhone soil, which has a form of a nose. Like an island going into a river. Literally, Le Mourre de L’Isle means the nose, the nose of the animal. This is also the reason for why there is a bull on the label“.

As he was talking about his wines he let slip that he will be producing a very limited Chateauneuf du Pape, totaling 110 cases. The plot is some 2 and half acres located in Chateauneuf du Pape. The vines are a mix of 55-year-old Grenache vines, along with some Syrah and Mourvedre, as well. Of course the vines are tended to in an organic manner and will not be released until it is ready, so we will have to wait to find out when this new wine will be available.

With some Chateauneuf du Pape, David will have a nice line of Southern Rhone labels, from the basic Cotes du Rhone to the highly acclaimed Chateauneuf du Pape. What was missing was a wine in the middle. The Cotes du Rhone Villages AOC, or what he calls the 2010 Vignobles David Cotes du Rhone Villages Reserve, fills in the missing link.

While talking about the Cotes du Rhone Villages, he said he had hoped to call it Oz. No, not in ANY WAY to promote any relationship with the Australian wines out there. Rather, because of its inner strength, grip, and power, or Oz in Hebrew. Also, because David loves Amos Oz’s books. Unfortunately, the trademark was taken in the US and in other locales where he sells his wine, so he fell back to reserve, which has no trademark issues.

The new Reserve wine is a lovely almost full-bodied wine that really forces you to take notice. A clear next step for this winery and another wonderful example of what France has to offer in the $25 or lower category. The wine is a Grenache/Syrah (GS) blend and one with more earthiness than typically found in its Israeli or California counterparts. It may lack a bit of the extreme heft found in some of the Rhone Ranger wines from California, but they also have less acidity and minerality that David’s wines channel so well.

As we were talking, inevitably, the conversation weaved its way through things that I cannot reprint, as I was asked not to, and because the content would not fit this blog. Still, it was while having these and other conversations with both David and Ghermezian, that I saw what people find so romantic about wine making and sometimes, wine business. That said, while the passion and drive in both of these men are real, the effort and work they apply to their crafts is equally as real, and something that I think most forget when they get all romantic about wine in general. The wine business can be a scorned wife or a passionate mistress, metaphorically speaking of course, with both and either being unhappy and throwing hissy fits all over the place. Of course, they can be deeply romantic but a scorned lover, no matter how passionate is always one cold day, bad crop, and/or extra hot day away from a full-blown disaster. I really love what the late Daniel Rogov said, channeling famous winemaker Andre Tchelistcheff’s axiom: “In a good year, don’t worry about the wine. God made the wine for you. In a bad year pray to God that your winemaker knows how to make wine”. Sure, I am a sentimental sap, and spending time with these two gentlemen is sure to twist your objectivity, but to me Vignobles David has always been what it means. A family owned vineyard and winery managed by a passionate and capable man, whose last name is David and who is ever confident, both in his winemaking abilities and his spiritual connection with nature and God.

As I was writing this article, Mr. David was coming back from the Concours des Vins à Orange competition, a wine competition showcasing Cotes du Rhone wines and the 2010 Reserve GS won a gold medal with congratulations. They loved the Reserve GS as much as I did, and I am sure you will like it as well, once you get to taste it.

My many thanks to both Mr. Fred David and Mr. Ghermezian (and his lovely family), in whose house we met and who’s hospitality we all partook of, with coffee and cheese after the tastings.

The tasting notes follow below:

2010 Le Mourre de L’Isle, Cotes du Rhone, Vignobles David – Score: B++ to A-
This wine blend is composed of 60% Syrah, 30% Grenache, 10% Mourvedre, also known by the folks in the know, as GSM, an acronym stemming from the first letter of the 3 varietals used in this blend. There really are few kosher GSM on the market, some from Israel, and one or two from France, and the rest from the Rhone Ranger winemakers of California. The nose on this dark garnet colored wine is filled with bramble, espresso coffee, lovely and balancing dirt, raspberry, heavy dark cherry, blackcurrant, cloves, black pepper, and cinnamon. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is truly accessible with soft plush tannin, rich and ripe forest berries, and nice mouth rounding oak, all coming together with the truly important bracing core acidity. The finish is long and spicy with beautiful spice, ripe fruit, nice tannin, all coming to a lingering sense of light oak, fleeting vanilla, rich black pepper, and ripe black fruit. This wine is a great example of what rich acidity can do to a wine; it intensifies concentration and focus to good fruit, and makes the wine linger longer on the palate.

2010 Reserve, Cotes du Rhone Villages, Vignobles David – Score: A-
This wine blend is composed of 40% Syrah, and 60% Grenache, also known by the folks in the know, as GS, an acronym stemming from the first letter of the 2 varietals used in this blend. This bright purple colored wine steps up and slaps you across the head with a crazy rich and heady nose of blackcurrant, bramble, rich oak, roasted meat, freshly brewed espresso, spice, raspberry, blackberry, and tar. This wine shows a super rich, full-bodied, yet bright mouth with mouth coating tannin, rich extraction, along with focused concentration of fruit, all coming together into a truly earthy, fruity, meaty mouth. The finish is richly spiced with layers of more coating tannin, soft leather, tar, black fruit, rich minerality, espresso and oak. Quite a lovely wine that is not another big and black Syrah, rather this is a lovely balanced GS that shows its richly spiced and terroir driven roots in more ways than one.

Still, the Sara Bee tastes as wonderful as always, but I cannot get the Banero Prosecco here on the west coast There are also two new Terrenal wines from Spain that are still not mevushal. I say this because the rest of the wines are mevushal, excepting for these two. The two reds continue the tradition of good kosher wine, for a reasonable price.

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

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 is 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 is 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.

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.

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.

2009 Pascal Bouchard Chablis – Score: B+
The nose on this straw colored wine has peach, apricot, nice mineral, and grapefruit. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is bright with bracing acidity and nice dirt and mineral background that adds a bit of complexity. The finish is long and tart and lingers nicely on the palate, with the dirt and grapefruit/peach showing well on the finish.

2009 Chateau Maime Cotes de Provence – Score: B++
The nose on this light rose colored wine with a tint of orange is rich and slightly sweet with quince, peach, kiwi, fig, strawberry, and light mineral and spice. The mouth on this light to medium bodied wine is lightly sweet and unique with a rich and zesty mouthfeel. The wine is balanced and tart with nice spice. The finish is long and spicy with tart quince, strawberry, and mineral lingering long.

2009 Domaine Lafond Tavel – Score: B++
The nose on this pink/rose/cherry colored wine is a lovely rose with a bit more punch than your average rose colored wine! The nose starts with peach, strawberry, currant, raspberry, tart and bright dark cherry, along with rich dirt and mineral. The mouth on this medium bodied wine again channels its nose with a more rich bodied wine than your average Rose, with bright and rich fruit, while being nicely balanced with light tannin, bright fruit, and mineral. The finish is long, spicy and bright, with rich red fruit and nice mineral. This is a unique Rose and one that is quite lovely.

2004 Chateau Puligny Montrachet – Score: C
The nose on this light gold colored wine is showing obvious signs of reduction, stink and oxidized nose, quince, green apple, peach, apricot, light oak, and grapefruit. The mouth on this medium bodied wine again shows oxidized reduction, with still nice acid and loamy dirt. The finish is long and spicy with peach, tart green apple, and green tea. Sadly this wine, and a few other bottles that I also tasted is almost not score-able, really just cooking wine.

2010 Domaine Netofa – White – Score: B++
The nose on this light gold colored wine shows clean and lovely nose of green apple, peach, grapefruit, kiwi, light quince, and rich/nice loamy dirt and mineral. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is rich and balanced with nice minerality, along with nice bright fruit that mingles well in the mouth. The finish is long and spicy with nice quince, tart green apple, grapefruit, and green tea.

2010 Baron Herzog Pinot Grigio – Score: B+
The nose on this straw colored wine is nice with green tea, lemon, green apple, and kiwi. The mouth on this light bodied wine is nice with a tart and rich mouth of fruit and nice balanced acid. The finish is long and nice with ripe grapefruit, green tea, and tart fruit. This is a nice quaffer that would go well with light fish dishes and salads.

2009 Covenant Lavan Chardonnay – Score: B+ to A-
The nose on this straw to light gold colored wine is rich and toasty, with lemon citrus, fig, creme brulee, rich toast, melon, honeysuckle, peach, apricot, and brioche. The mouth on this full bodied wine is rich and mouth coating with white fruit, toasty oak, and nice balanced citrus. The finish is long and spicy with rich toasty oak, fig, ripe melon, lemon citrus, brioche, and creme brulee.

2009 Binyamina Chardonnay Reserve Unoaked Galilee (Israel, Judean Hills) – Score: A-
The nose on this straw to light gold colored wine has stayed fairly consistent between the two times I have tasted this wine, some 6 months apart. The nose explodes with rich ripe and tart summer/tropical fruit, pear, kiwi, lychee, honey, grapefruit, ripe lemon, apple, and floral notes. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is super rich with explosive fruit that follows the nose, peach, lemon, apple, kiwi, lychee, and grapefruit. The mid palate flows off the mouth with super rich and tart lemon, honey, apple, and mineral almost yeasty. The honeyed and spicy finish is super long with crazy tart fruit, lychee, grapefruit, kiwi, lemon, floral notes, and mineral. The wine is super enjoyable with more than enough attention getting fruit, minerality, and floral notes. The lack of oak is a benefit with this fruit and makes one wonder whether oaking this wine is such a good idea!

2009 Binyamina Chardonnay Reserve Galilee (Israel, Judean Hills) – Score: B++
The nose on this light gold colored wine started off muted and not nearly as bright as its unoaked brother. The nose opened to a rich and deep honeyed nose, oak, smoky toast, floral notes, grapefruit, lemon, yellow apple, and mounds of caramel and butterscotch. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine is rich with honey, oak, pear, kiwi, grapefruit, lemon, and apple, all rounded with a tad of oak which seems to dull the fruit. The mid palate is oaky with toast, cut grass, and butterscotch. The finish is long and richly honeyed with butterscotch, oak, kiwi, lemon, melon, and grapefruit. Honey coated butterscotch candy along with ripe grapefruit, lemon, and melon linger.

2009 Binyamina Sauvignon Blanc Reserve (Israel, Galilee) – Score: B+
The nose on this straw to light gold colored wine is ripe with kiwi, grapefruit, peach, green apple, mineral, light cat’s pee, and bright lemon. The mouth on this nice and medium bodied wine is rich and tart with bright citrus and tropical fruit, and balanced with nice acidity. The finish is long and tart with bright citrus, kiwi, and tempered with mineral.

2007 Domaine du Castel ‘C’ Chardonnay – Score: B++
This is the second or third time we have tasted this wine and it is now starting to show its age and its losing its bright fruit and showing more and more burnt oak and less fruit. The nose on this light gold colored wine smells burnt with mounds of toasty oak, peach, green apple, almond, and apricot. The mouth on this full bodied wine is mouth coating while still astringent with bright acidity, light and dying fruit, and crazy heady burnt oak. The finish is long and spicy with lemon, green apple, and crazy burnt oak. Drink up!

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 Yatir Sauvignon Blanc – Score: B++
The nose on this straw with light gold halo colored wine started off with a butter or malo funk that was a bit off, along with nice kiwi, lemon, green apple, spice, and mineral. The mouth on this medium bodied wine was nice with rich brightness that is tempered slightly and rounded nicely by the oak influence. The wine is balanced nicely and the finish is long and spicy with rich tart fruit, rounded oak, and spice. A nice Sauvignon Blanc but one that just does not have enough complexity to bring the entire package together.

2009 Yatir Viognier – Score: A-
The nose on this straw colored wine is rich and heavy with bright lemon, kiwi, fresh green grass, melon, honey, and guava. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is rich and mouth coating yet balanced perfectly with lovely honey tones, fresh grass, and guava. The finish is long and spicy with tons of tart fruit, kiwi, and nice honeyed fruit that rounds out a finish on a grassy knoll. This is a lovely Viognier that is not as classic with rich perfume and all, but one that makes its own very enjoyable path.

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 Binyamina Shiraz Reserve – Score: A-
The nose on this purple colored wine is rich with roasted meat, ripe blackberry, black cherry, black pepper, spice, ripe plum, raspberry, tobacco, and cedar. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is mouth coating and rich with nice black fruit, tannin and cedar play nicely on the palate and flow into a long and spicy finish with more mouth coating tannin, tobacco, black pepper, spice, blackberry, chocolate, and vanilla. The wine is a lovely example of a smooth ripe Shiraz without overripe or sweet overtones while being spicy and complex enough to get your attention.

2007 Binyamina Zinfandel Reserve – Score: B+
The nose on this dark garnet to black colored wine starts off way to hot, however over time it calms down to expose chocolate, tobacco, cedar, raspberry, plum, blackcurrant, black cherry, crushed herbs, dirt, and mound of black pepper. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is starting to show its age with excessive date flavors that taste oxidized, plush mouth feel from nice tannin, rich loamy dirt, and fruit. The finish is long and spicy with heaps of black pepper, cedar, vanilla, and chocolate linger.

2005 Carmel Kayoumi Cabernet Sauvignon – Score: A-
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine is super rich with, now classic Israeli Cabernet aromas and flavors, blackberry, tobacco, cassis, rich cedar, and some nice earthiness. The mouth on this full bodied wine is super rich and mouth coating, the mouth coating tannins have melded nicely with the rich cedar to create a nicely balanced wine whose parts are all coming together nicely, though the tannins are still a bit austere. The finish is long and concentrated with tobacco, spice, nice chocolate, and still not integrated tannins coming together to linger nicely.

2008 Capcanes Peraj Ha’abib, Flor de Primavera – Score: A-
The nose on this garnet to black colored wine is screaming with blackberry, cassis, black plum, chocolate, mocha, rich toasty cedar, and spice – what a nose! The mouth on this full bodied wine is layered with black fruit, nice mouth coating tannin, toasty cedar, that comes together in a lovely and spicy manner. The wine is nice and balanced, but still coming together in all its parts. The finish is super long and spicy, with more nice cedar, chocolate, black fruit, and tannin. The toasty cedar, plum, blackberry, and chocolate linger nicely.

2005 Capcanes Peraj Ha’abib, Flor de Primavera (Magnum) – Score: A- to A
The nose on this black colored wine is exploding with rich black plum, cassis, blackberry, chocolate, sweet cedar, blueberry, and rich tobacco. The mouth on this massive full bodied wine is exploding with lovely rich and concentrated fruit, blueberry, layers of blackberry, cassis, and extracted oak flavors, and nice mouth coating tannin. The wine is nicely balanced with rich and expressive tannin, cedar, and tobacco. The finish is long and extracted with nice tannin, blackberry, cassis, tobacco, and chocolate finish.

2007 Yatir Forest (50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% petite Verdot, 7% malbec, 7% Merlot) – Score: A-
The nose on this dark purple colored wine explodes with rich and concentrated plum, blackberry, toasty oak, crushed herbs, and dirt. The mouth on this full bodied wine is rich and layered with massive mouth coating tannin, rich toasty oak, and rich black fruit, and nice core acid all coming together into a nice and velvety mouth feel. The finish is long and spicy with nice black plum, rich chocolate, nice crushed herb, lovely green bell pepper, chocolate, coffee, and nice dirt. This is a rich and layered wine with big tannin that needs time to settle down, along with earthy and green goodness.

2007 Capcanes Flor de Flor (100% Grenache from 105 year old vines) – Score: B++
This wine was all the rage for a year already from a winery that has been producing world-class wines that happen to be kosher. When we had the first chance to taste this bottle in Oxnard, I was not impressed as impressed as others were. The wine starts off with a nose of light oak, earthy and mushroom, raspberry, currant, loamy dirt, and some floral hints. The mouth on this medium bodied wine has integrated tannin, chocolate, tobacco, with oak that is coming together quite nicely. The wine is OK but nothing on it grabbed me with either complexity, focus, or concentration that would make me stand up and take notice.

To be fair, we tasted this wine again in NY and it showed far better – here is the note for that tasting.

2007 Segal Cabernet Sauvignon Unfiltered – Score: A-
The nose on this dark purple colored wine starts off with rich earthiness, dates, rich and ripe blackberry, cedar, tobacco, and creme de cocoa. The mouth on this full bodied wine is super rich, layered, and concentrated with massive mouth coating tannin, that is married in a lovely way with rich cedar, and ripe black fruit. The mouth is focused in way that accentuates the ripe black fruit along with the oak extraction that makes for a lovely wine. The wine is rich but it is also balanced with good acidity. The finish is long and rich with cedar, date, chocolate, tobacco, and rich black fruit. This is a lovely wine that is ready now, but could use a year and will be fine till 2017 or 2018.

2007 Barkan Superieur Pinotage – Score: A-
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine is rich and filled with cedar, tobacco, raspberry, plum, currant, nice smoked meat, herbaceous notes, tobacco, and rich spice. The mouth on this full bodied wine is super rich and concentrated with massive mouth coating tannin, rich cedar, nice red fruit, and heady tobacco that is coming together quite nicely. The wine is well balanced and the finish is long, massive, and super spicy, with a fat stogie, black pepper, cedar box, ripe red fruit, and a spice box that ties the entire package up perfectly. This is by far the best Pinotage I have ever tasted, but to fair, that has not been very many.

2006 Barkan Superieur Shiraz – Score: A-
The nose on this deep purple colored wine is super rich and extracted with rich black pepper, tar, earth, bramble, ripe black plum, blackberry, raspberry, coffee, mint, and rich cedar. The mouth on this full bodied wine is rich and massive with an inky structure, full on spice attack, along with a concentration and focus that comes from the rich tannin, cedar, and black fruit, and inky structure all coming together nicely. The finish is long and spicy with cedar, chocolate, tar, black pepper, and plum all lingering nicely on the palate.

2007 Domaine du Castel Grand Vin (70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 5% Petite Verdot) – Score: A-
The nose on this purple colored wine is rich with toasty oak, blackberry, plum, earthiness, crushed herbs, and raspberry. The mouth on this full bodied wine is massive and richly extracted with massive mouth coating tannin, rich black fruit, rich toasty oak, and rich earth notes, all coming together in a very harmonious manner. The finish is long and rich with still massive tannin, rich fruit, chocolate, coffee, mint, and garrigue.

2006 Binyamina Cave (65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot, 2% Petite Verdot) – Score: A-
This wine has been around for many years and this is the first vintage that I really liked. In part that had to do with the fact that Binyamina, who bought and now owns the boutique winery, was flash pasteurizing the wine (Mevushal), for the US export business. Now, the wine is being left alone and it is improving greatly. The 2006 vintage was a fantastic vintage for Israel, and this bottle is no less wonderful. The nose on this garnet colored wine is super rich with nice cedar, rich candied fruit, raspberry, black cherry, chocolate, blackberry, and mint. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine is hits you with a rich concentration of black fruit, rich cedar wood, nice tannin that comes together nicely. The finish is long with cedar, rich chocolate, cedar, and nice tannin that last long on the palate with a hint of mint and herb.

2007 Binyamina Diamond, Avnei Hachoshen Ya’alom (50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Syrah and 20% Petite Verdot) – Score: A
We tasted this wine last year at the event in Oxnard when Assaf brought in a bottle or two of this wonder on the slide. The wine we tasted this year was an almost identical wine that we tasted last year – rich and wonderful.

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.

2006 Binyamina Ruby, Avnei Hachoshen, Syrah – Score: A- to A
The nose on this dark garnet to black colored wine is packed with super sweet and ripe blackberry, cassis, tobacco, ripe black plum, raspberry, creme de cocoa, and sweet oak. This full bodied wine has a crazy complex and layered mouth with an inky structure, rich extraction, integrating tannin, and sweet oak, all coming together nicely now. The finish is long, spicy, and complex with nicely integrated tannins, date, sweet oak, ripe plum, and chocolate. This wine is rich and layered, though the wine is coming up on its end life – another year or so.

2006 Binyamina Sapphire, Avnei Hachoshen Sapir (45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Syrah and 25% Merlot) – Score: A-
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine hits you first with some alcohol, dark plum, blackberry, raspberry, coffee, mineral, and cedar. The mouth on this full bodied wine is rich and layered with nice mouth coating tannin and sweet cedar that are coming together nicely. The wine is balanced with a long and spicy finish of blackberry, coffee, rich tobacco, and cedar. A lovely and rich wine with solid focus and complexity.

2007 Binyamina Aquamarine, Avnei Hachoshen Tarshish (100% Cabernet Sauvignon) – Score: B++ to A-
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine is rich and expressive with rich coffee, oak, blackberry, cassis, plum, raspberry, crushed herbs, and pencil shavings. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine is rich with spicy oak, red fruit, nice tannin and date. The finish is long and spicy with spicy oak, coffee, nice tannin, and herbs.

2009 Goose Bay Pinot Noir Reserve (not mevishal) – Score: B++ to A-
This is a non-mevushal version of the usual Goose Bay Pinot Noir. The slap that the Goose Bay wines get are that they live for a year or two and no more. Many think it is because of the mevushal process, but this one is not mevushal and so it is a great wine to either be confirm or be a rebuttal to the lack of longevity of the Goose Bay wines. This is a small batch wine, only 250 cases were produced. The nose on this bright ruby colored wine is rich and bright with tart cherry, a rich and loamy dirt that is actually perfumed, rich coffee, raspberry, strawberry, and currant. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine is rich with still integrating mouth coating tannin, rich candied and tart red fruit, nice earthiness, and oak, from being in new French barrels for 11 months. The parts are still coming together, with the tannic structure needed time to settle in. The finish is long and tannic with nice tart red fruit, coffee, and kirshce cherry. Look for a bit of leather in a year and the wine to be coming together as well.

2009 Goose Bay Pinot Noir – Score: B+
When tasting this wine at the event the wine was not showing well at all. We later drank this wine and it showed far better. The nose on this ruby colored wine has strawberry, light cherry, bramble, rich earth, espresso coffee, and rich oak. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is rich and almost dense with spicy oak, nice tannin, rich red fruit, and mounds of dirt, with kisrche cherry making a solo appearance on the finish.

2003 Chateau de la Tour Clos Vougeot, Grand Cru – Score: B++
AHH!!! This wine is infuriating! One bottle is rich and extracted and crazy cool, the next time I taste it from a different bottle it is DOA. The thing I do with the French wines is taste them a few times along the evening, as they tend to be hit and miss. If I find a wine that is consistent across bottles, we are good. At this tasting it was OK. This is the third time we are tasting this wine, and it is still as I remember it, powerful tannins, rich mouth feel, and oak extraction that is just now getting under control. That said, please stay with my previous advice, buy from a reputable merchant who will be happy to take the wine back if the bottle is DOA. This is an expensive wine, so be sure to have that assurance.

The mouth dark garnet colored wine is rich with spicy raspberry, cherry, plum, coffee, rich earthy loam, mushroom, oak, and crushed herbs. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is rich with still massive tannin that is melding now lovely with the rich oak and bright and intense red fruit. The wine is perfectly balanced and the tart and intense fruit rise on the finish with more tannin, oak, rich coffee, and lovely dirt. This is a great wine if the bottle is right.

2009 Domaine Netofa, Latour Netofa (70% Syrah and 30% Mourvedre) – Score: A-
The nose on this classic Rhone styled wine is super rich and bright with ripe plum, blackberry, crushed herb, rich tar, cherry, and nice mineral. The nose is super rich and expressive and makes you stand up and take notice with rich earth and fruit. The wine also has a controlled approach to oak, though the oak influence is noted in the perfumed nose and rich rounded mouth, but not a star, more of an accent that really makes the wine seem Rhone like and less American Rhone-rider like. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine is super rich and inky in structure, along with nice bright and ripe fruit, and mouth coating tannin that makes for a lovely wine that is rich yet controlled with nice fruit. The finish is long, spicy, and balanced with nice acid, rich fruit, tar, coffee, and mineral. One of the best kosher Rhone styled wines.

2009 Chateau de Parsac, Montagne-St-Emilion (mevushal) – Score: B++
The nose on this deep garnet colored wine is screaming with earth, loamy dirt, mushroom, rich raspberry, currants, anise, and oak. The wine is a Bordeaux blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc. This medium to full bodied wine starts with a rich caressing mouth coating tannin, that is supported by more earth, raspberry, and currants, along with nice oak and coffee. The finish is long and spicy with rich coffee, more nice mouth coating tannin, rich earth, plum, and ripe currant. Quite a nice mevushal bottle!

2009 Flechas de Los Andes Gran Malbec – Score: B++
The nose on this garnet colored wine is super rich with heavy extraction with rich toasty oak, blackberry, crushed herb, rich tobacco, plum, raisin, chocolate, and cherry. The mouth on this insanely full bodied wine is rich and toasty with mouth coating tannin, rich toasty oak, tobacco, and rich fruit all come together to create a mouth that shows its influence from oak encasement. The finish is long and spicy with massive tannin, raisin, chocolate, and tobacco. This wine is super rich and focused but the complexity is what is missing to make this a superior wine.

2003 Chateau Leoville Poyferre Saint Julien (62% Cab, 28% Merlot, 8% Petite Verdot, 2% Cabernet Franc) – Score: A- to A
The nose on this garnet to black colored wine has a huge and crazy nose of chocolate, oak, date, raspberry, black plum, bramble and loamy dirt. The mouth on this rich, concentrated, and extracted full bodied wine shows still gripping tannin, loamy dirt, rich fruit, along with clear oak impact, giving the mouth a rich and layered attack of ripe fruit and massive mouth coating tannin that is still coming together. The mid palate is balanced with rich and bright fruit, along with a long and spicy finish, nice tannin, chocolate, oak, red fruit, and more nice dirt. This wine attacks and does not let up till well after the wine is gone.

2005 Chateau Leoville Poyferre Saint Julien (62% Cab, 28% Merlot, 8% Petite Verdot, 2% Cabernet Franc) – Score: A-
The nose on this garnet to black colored wine has a huge and crazy nose of chocolate, oak, raspberry, blackberry, cassis, mint, creme de cocoa, tobacco, and mineral. The mouth on this rich, concentrated, and extracted full bodied wine shows a massive and complex mouth with rising tannin, rich oak, and chocolate that is truly unique. The wine is classically French with balancing acid. The finish is super long and lovely with tobacco, rich oak, mint, mineral, and chocolate. This is wine is truly lovely and very enjoyable tasting it side by side with its slightly better and older 2003 sibling.

2004 Pontet Canet – Score: A- to A
The nose on this purple to black colored wine has a massive nose of rich and ripe blackberry, plum, raspberry, chocolate, tobacco, smoke, and loamy dirt. This nose is rich but not overripe to the point of a Napa Cabernet, definitely more refined and lovely. The mouth on this full bodied wine is rich and concentrated and lovely with true gripping mouth coating tannin, ripe red and black fruit, spicy oak that brings the entire rich wine together. The wine is balanced, super long and spicy with more crazy and rich tannin, blackberry, chocolate, date, tobacco, dirt, and mushroom. The wine is killer and a bit better than the 2003 vintage. This wine has many more years ahead of it.

2004 Chateau Labegorce Margaux – Score: B+
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine is rich and expressive with lovely mint, crushed herb, eucalyptus, blackberry, raspberry, plum, oak, and coffee. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is nice and round with lovely mouth coating tannin, rich and ripe fruit, nice oak, and coffee. The finish is long, with rich tannin, raspberry, chocolate, oak, and mint. The mouth is showing well but I would not hold this for a long time, maybe a year or two at most – drink up!

2005 Chateau Malartic Lagraviere Grand Cru Pessac-Leognan – Score: A-
WOW what a rich and smoky wine. The nose on this dark garnet colored wine is smoking with an almost smoke screen like aroma, over a sea of intense dry and candied raspberry, ripe blackberry, rich currant, mint, plum, and rich chocolate. The mouth on this blockbuster full bodied wine is intense, structured, and concentrated with lovely and massive tannin, rich fruit, and smokey oak. The finish is super long and concentrated with bright fruit, acid, fat cigar tobacco, nice oak, mint, and a long slug of mocha. This is a rich and layered wine that is well worth seeking out and one that will reward your perseverance for another 6 or 7 years at least!

2008 Herzog Oak Knoll Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley) – Score: A-
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine is rich with nice raspberry, blackberry, plum, chocolate, cedar, cassis, and pencil shavings. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine starts off with a strong hit of spicy oak, ripe fruit, and massive tannin that has not yet even started to come together, this wine will hopefully be there soon, but for now open early or decant. The finish on this wine is long and spicy with rich spicy oak, ripe black and red fruit, and a fair amount of chocolate. This is a wine that needs time and as it ages look for some leather and richer fruit to appear.

2006 Herzog Generation VIII Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley,To-Kalon Vineyard) – Score: A
This is the third or fourth time I have tasted this wine, and every time I taste it I am impressed and in true awe. The nose on this black colored wine is screaming with rich toasty oak, creme de cocoa, black cherry, blackberry, cassis, and rich spice. The mouth on this massive full bodied wine is rich, layered, huge, and concentrated, with mouth coating 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.

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. 1 pound of potatoes – cut into large cubes
2. 1 pound of yams (orange sweet potatoes) – cut into large cubes
3. 2 sweet onions – cut into large cubes
4. 3 tablespoons of olive oil
5. 2 tablespoons of garlic powder and paprika
6. 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:

1. 2 tablespoons olive oil
2. 2 large onions coarsely diced
3. 16 oz. of mushrooms thickly sliced
4. 7 cloves of garlic
5. 1 teaspoon of salt, or more to taste
6. 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!!!

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.

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.

The varietals that the winery is now using are becoming more and more common around Israel. Organic vineyards are now common place, with Tishbi, Bashan, Yarden, Or Haganuz, and others using organic techniques to manage their vineyards. It is good for the environment, it is good for the workers of the vineyards, and it is good for all of us that enjoy the wines. Other than the organic farming, Viognier is a hard grape to grow and to sell, and it is no surprise that Gush Etzion does not make a single varietal wine from this grape. The Gewurztraminer, Petite Verdot, and White Riesling are getting far more play now a days as well, and ones that do well in the Israeli heat. We really enjoyed the White Riesling but were surprised by the lack of the classic oily texture. We enjoyed a bottle of Carmel White Riesling at Sommelier and that one was a bit more complex because of the oily texture. We did not get to taste the Gewurztraminer on that day, and the Petite Verdot is currently used solely for blending.

Other than its initial vintage the winery hit its next big growth spurt in 2005 when the winery’s current building was ready to play. The winery itself was finished in September 2004, and has a capacity to produce 50,000 bottles a year. The winery currently produces some 40,000 bottles and caps it at that number to continue to keep its boutique styling and processes. The winery was established in partnership with investors from the United States and Tishbi Winery who buys the rest of the grapes from Gush Eztion’s vineyards.

The new building did more than just expand the winery’s production ability, it added two very important features that more and more wineries are doing or dreaming about doing. Those being adding a restaurant, which serves only local fare, and creating a viewing booth or platform for visitors to be able to watch wine making, bottling, or any other wine process that occurs within the winery itself. The visitor center was designed so visitors can watch the entire production process while staying safely out of the way of the staff. The visitor center in Gush Etzion consists of a steel bridge that is suspended above the inner workings of the winery, allowing guests to view the bottling line, the production area, and the steel vats. You can view the barrel room through a transparent glass window. Attached to the winery is the Mehadrin Kosher milk restaurant/cafe that is open late into the night.

The combination of being to allow guests to essentially do a self-guided tour along with a place to taste the wines and have a meal is a theme that is being replicated all over the world, and particularly well, in Israel. Carmel, Tishbi, and Binyamnia to name a few have implemented this wonderful idea, and in 2005, so did Gush Etzion. The idea is not a new one, but it is new for many of the kosher wineries around the world. A few weeks ago we went to the famous Tierra Sur restaurant that is located within the Herzog Winery, and enjoyed a lovely dinner, along with a very nice tasting. We could have done the self-guiding tour there as well, but we had done it a few years ago, when they were bottling wines. The viewing platform at Herzog is two floors above the winery’s work floor, and viewable by a walkway that is wall-to-wall large pane glass windows that give every single guest a bird’s eye view of the winery’s inner workings.

Though we did not actually meet the Rosenberg’s at the winery, we have heard many first hand accounts of the winery and how lovely the food is at the cafe. Friends of ours went to the winery a year or so ago, and it took me a long time to figure out they were talking about Gush Etzion. For the longest time I thought they were talking about Ella Valley Winery, which is a mere 6 kilometers from Gush Etzion, but Ella Valley does not have a cafe, though they have a large and lovely tasting room.

Instead we met the Rosenbergs at the 2011 Sommelier, like we met Chaim and Yoram from Tanya, and like we met many other wineries as well. During our conversations with Shraga and the rest of the winery staff, we never did talk much about the winery, and that is our loss for sure. Hopefully, the next time we are in Israel we will get a chance to see the winery first hand and experience its lovely ambiance and cafe.

Until then, we are so happy that we had the chance to taste some of the current wines from the winery and hopefully you will also get a chance to taste some of the lovely wines that this old yet up and coming winery has to offer. Most of these wines are now locally available here in the USA and many are worth the time to search them out. The wines are now imported into the USA by a new wine importer – The River. They also import Har Bracha (Mount Blessing) and Kadesh Barnea, two other wineries that we also tasted at Sommelier a few months ago. Look for upcoming posting on these wineries and more.

My many thanks to the entire staff of the Gush Etzion Winery, especially to Shraga for taking the time to talk with us. The wine notes follow in the order they were tasted:

2009 Gush Etzion, Sauvignon Blanc, Alon Haboded – Score: B++
The nose on this light straw colored wine is rich with spice, quince, yellow apple, kiwi, mineral slate, stone fruit, and herbs. The mouth on this light to medium bodied wine is refreshing with tart acidity and spice that help to highlight the fruit and give slight focus to the wine. The finish is long and spicy with more apple and stone fruit. The ripe fruit help to balance the wine’s lemon tartness. A nice enough Sauvignon Blanc but missing the complexity to take it to the next level. Drink in the next year or so.

2010 Gush Etzion, Unoaked Chardonnay, Alon Haboded- Score: B++
The wine is another example of winemakers stepping away from the ABC (Anything But Chardonnay) epidemic by loosening up on the oak and letting the fruit do all the talking. The nose on this light straw colored wine is rich with yellow apple, grapefruit, kiwi, stone fruit, lemon rind, almond shell, and mineral. The mouth on this medium bodied wine does all the talking without having to play footsie with oak. The fruit shines through with enough weight to catch your attention while also being balanced and bright. The mineral and lemon rind helps to highlight the stone and tropical fruit, while adding some complexity as well. Drink in the next year or so.

2009 Gush Etzion, White Riesling, Alon Haboded – Score: B++ to A-
The nose on this light straw colored wine is screaming with rich and sweet honey, dates, lovely flowers, mineral, pit, fig, and vanilla. The mouth on this medium+ bodied wine is dry but feels sweet from the ripe fruit, honey attack, and fig though balanced nicely with tart acidity, and mineral. The mouth feel on the wine is almost coating from the ripe fruit and would go well with spicy dishes. The finish is long and spicy itself with vanilla, flowers and honey balanced by the acid, mineral, and fig. This is a wine that should last a year or so, but is drinking lovely right now.

2007 Gush Etzion Nahal Hapirim (60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot, and 14% Petite Verdot) – Score: B++
The nose on this dark garnet to purple colored wine is rich with crushed herbs, prunes, date, vanilla, sweet cedar, blackberry, ripe plum, cassis, chocolate, and tobacco. The mouth on this rich and full bodied wine shows the influence of sitting for 12 months in French oak, with sweet cedar and tannins that have melded quite nicely together. The flavors flow from the nose and balance nicely with acid, but also show the ripe fruit with slightly raisin overbite. The finish is long and spicy with sweet cedar and chocolate coming together on the finish. Drink this year.

2008 Gush Etzion, Cabernet Sauvignon, Alon Haboded- Score: A-
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine is screaming from 20 months of oak with rick oak, crushed herbs, dark cherry, blackberry, raspberry, plum, chocolate, tobacco, smoky notes, rich mineral, loamy dirt, and vanilla. The mouth on this crazy rich and expressive wine is medium to full bodied with massive tannins that have yet to integrate with the rich oak influence and spice. The mid palate is toasty and balanced with leather being nicely exposed. The finish is long and spicy with the tannins showing some respite along with nice chocolate, leather, and tobacco. This is a powerhouse of a wine that needs a year for the oak and tannins to settle down, and then should be OK for two to three more years.

2008 Gush Etzion, Cabernet Franc, Alon Haboded- Score: A-
The nose on this dark purple colored wine starts off with crazy nice eucalyptus, herbaceous notes, floral hints, black cherry, plum, rich oak, raspberry, toasty espresso, and vanilla. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine is rich and toasty and again shows clear influence of oak but in a nice and almost integrated manner, that makes for a rich and creamy mouth feel, while the mid palate is balanced nicely. The finish is long, spicy, and lovely with eucalyptus, herbaceous notes, floral hints, raspberry, and vanilla stealing the show. This is a truly lovely Cabernet Franc that shows much of the varietals best features.

2008 Gush Etzion, Shiraz, Alon Haboded - Score: A-
The nose on this black colored wine leaps out and smacks you upside the head with rich black pepper, roasted meat, cassis, oak, rich loamy dirt, mineral, crushed herb, inky nose, garrigue, massive ripe plum, raisin, and tobacco. The mouth on this super rich and layered wine hits you with massive tannin to start that is not yet integrated, along with a lovely inky structure. The mid palate is balanced and flows into a super rich and spicy finish with classic Shiraz flavors showing well; ripe plum, cassis, blackberry, while finishing with nice leather, tobacco, oak, and vanilla. This is clearly a powerhouse wine that has yet to settle down its components and needs a year, and then drink for two or so years after that.

2007 Gush Etzion, Merlot, Emek Bracha (85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc) – Score: A-
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine shows clear oak influence with rich oak, ripe plum, rich and expressive tobacco, raspberry, cassis, and vanilla. The mouth on this rich and mouth coating wine starts off with massive tannin that has yet to integrate, along with rich oak and vanilla. The mouth feel on this wine is so oak and tannin rich and expressive that it takes time for the fruit to come out and take a bow, still the wait is worth the final product. The finish is long and rich with leather, tobacco, and vanilla taking a backstage to the ripe plum, raspberry, and cassis. This is a wine that needs a year or so to integrate and then enjoy for two or so years.

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!

Tanya Winery is not one of those winery’s that buy their grapes or schlep them from the Galilee all the way down to the Judean Hills. Actually, the winery and its grapes are located in the heart of the Judean Hills, in and around the city called Ofra. The Winery’s vineyards are planted in the central area of the gentle slope of a mountain proximate to Ofra in chalky rocky ground at an elevation of 900 meters above sea level. The winery has 8 acres of vineyards that grow the following varietals; Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz, Cabernet Franc, and Chardonnay.

As we were drinking through the wines there was one very distinct attribute of these wines that were almost quite shocking! Normally tannin makes for either a puckering experience, a gnarly experience, or a lovely mouth coating experience. This was none of the above! The tannins here were clearly mouth drying almost assailing the mouth with tannin that seemed to be trying to get your attention. I correctly guessed that this must be oak tannin, though I think it is also tied to the rich toast that Yoram must have used on these staves or a heavy char on the barrel itself.

It was a real joy to see Yoram and Chaim all over again. We had called Chaim in advance and he assured us that not only was he going to be there, but also Yoram and the wine mashgiach (kosher certification supervisor). It was a real joy to taste through the current crop of wines, though we did not get a chance to taste all the Eliya wines for 2009. Currently, the wines imported into the US are still of older vintages, but I am sure many of these will make their way to our shores soon.

Many thanks to Yoram, Chaim, and the mashgiach (missed his name) for making our tasting the joy it always is, the wine notes follow below in the order they were tasted.

2007 Tanya Halel Pinot Noir Reserve – Score: A-
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine exudes a rich and expressive nose with crushed herbs, raspberry, black cherry, nice plum, vanilla, crème de cocoa, and rich espresso coffee that makes you think you walked into a Starbuck shop. The mouth is rich and medium to full bodied with what can only be explained as crazy charred toast, rich and extracted oak tannin that literally dries your entire mouth, and almost takes the focus away from the lovely crushed herbs, cocoa, and raspberry. A sense of espresso, and charred meat arrives with mouth drying tannin continuing. More charred and spice rise on the finish with roasted meat and fresh ground espresso, raspberry, and black cherry.

2009 Tanya Halel Cabernet Franc Reserve – Score: A-
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine exudes a rich and expressive nose with raspberry, crushed herbs, rich floral notes, lovely green notes, charred oak, and plum. The mouth is rich and medium to full bodied with more crazy mouth drying tannin, rich charred oak, nice raspberry, more floral, along with espresso, and green notes that seem to heighten the experience. A sense of floral notes continues with more dry tannin, and charred oak. Espresso, charred oak, shows as floral notes and crushed herbs rise on the finish with a hint of chocolate cherry, and vanilla.

2010 Tanya Halel Blend Reserve (60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 10% Shiraz) – Score: B+ to A-
This wine put a smile on my face, as it is a wine that actually embodies the moniker on the label! The nose on the electric garnet wine continues with this new Tanya charred style, with toast, rich espresso, raspberry, plum, cassis, crushed herbs, cocoa, and pencil. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine is rich and mouth coating with espresso, raspberry, ripe plum, crushed herbs, cocoa, pencil, bone dry tannin that will settle down in a year or so, and some black fruit. The mid palate is balanced but the lack of concentration is what is missing. Cocoa, raspberry, crushed herbs, and cassis rise on the spicy finish that fades into a vanilla chocolate float with black cherry and pencil topping.

2009 Tanya Halel Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve – Score: A-
The nose on the electric dark garnet colored wine is a rich and black wine with echoes of a French wine while deeply ensconced in a Mediterranean style. The nose on this electric purple colored wine evokes deep black cassis and blackberry, while balanced with raspberry, ripe plum, and chocolate, with a touch of pencil and mineral. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine is mouth coating while also mouth drying with rich tannin, cassis, blackberry, ripe plum, balanced nicely with crushed herbs, and licorice. The wine is balanced nicely with more than the average acid, sweet oak all part of a spicy finish with chocolate, blackberry, cassis, in harmony with crushed herbs, mineral, licorice, and pencil shavings. A nice lively and rich black fruit Cabernet that may be a bit over the top in char but balanced nicely. This will show far better in a year or so.

2009 Tanya Halel Blend Reserve (70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot) – Score: A-
The nose on this electric purple colored wine is redolent, rich, and ripe with blackberry, cassis, raspberry, ripe plum, cocoa, chocolate, crushed herbs, and sweet oak. The mouth on this rich, full bodied, and mouth coating wine is quite lovely and concentrated with rich plum, blackberry, raspberry, rich espresso, and crazy mouth coating tannin. The wine is balanced nicely with rich espresso, date, and chocolate. The finish is long and spicy with espresso, vanilla, raspberry, chocolate, nice crazy tannin, ripe plum, pencil shavings, and sweet oak. The mouth on this wine is lovely, concentrated, and rich with black fruit, espresso, and rich oak extraction, balanced with herbs, and pencil shavings.

2009 Tanya Eliya Shiraz Reserve – Score: A- close to A
The nose on this electric purple colored wine is super rich and true to its varietal, with rich black pepper, tar, blackcurrant, raspberry, espresso, roasted meat, rich and opulent sweet oak, ripe plum, spice, and crushed herbs. The mouth on this rich, ripe, and full bodied wine is so Syrah like, with concentration and layers that hit you wave after wave of ripe plum, blackcurrant, blackberry, rich spice, black pepper, all in front of a backdrop of rich oak, mouth coating tannin, and crushed herbs. The wine is nicely balanced with tar, sweet oak, oak extraction, more spice, and crushed herbs. The finish is long and extracted, with spice, sweet oak, rich tannin, roasted meat, blackberry, tar, and vanilla. This is a super rich and extracted Shiraz that is lovely with still mouth drying tannin that need to die down a bit.

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.

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.