Category Archives: Kosher Sparkling Wine
Yarden Merlot, Hagafen Cuvee de Noirs, and Four Gates Cabernet Sauvignon
This past weekend we enjoyed a Friday Night meal at a friend’s of our new digs and we were super excited to be invited. These are dear friends and we truly enjoyed the food, the company, the camaraderie, the joy, and the wine! We brought over a bottle of Ernie’s 2007 Hagafen Cuvee de Noirs Brut, but it did not taste as lovely as the last two times we had it. We also enjoyed a 2003 Yarden Merlot that another guest brought, and that was nice but too new-world for my taste. Benyamin was also there, and he brought over a bunch of bottles of his new 2009 lineup as a house-warming gift, and the hosts kindly opened a lovely bottle of the 2009 Four Gates Cabernet Sauvignon. The grapes are sourced from a new location for the Four Gates Winery – Monte Bello vineyard! Loom for a new post in the next day or so.
The wine notes follow below – and many thanks to our hosts! The evening was as spectacular as the two of you are – Mazel Tov!
2007 Hagafen Cuvee de Noirs – USA, California, Napa Valley, Yountville – Score: B+ to A-
The last two times we had this bubbly it was richer and more explosive in the nose and palate. This time it was OK, but not at the same level. I bought it at the winery, so maybe it is a case of bottle variation. The nose on this lovely salmon colored wine was lively with effervescent small bubbles, along with pear, light toast, yeast, apricot, citrus fruit, peach, and strawberry. The mouth on this medium bodied wine attacks first with a lovely mousse of small bubbles, followed by summer fruit, citrus, and nice yeast, that give the mouth a lively feeling. The finish is super long, with strawberry, summer fruit, brioche, yeast, light oak, and citrus rind. This is a lovely sparkling wine that really needs time in the fridge and one that is a lovely now and will continue to be lovely for at least a few more years to come.
2003 Yarden Merlot – Score: B+ to A-
I will admit that this is a really nice wine. I will further admit that it is worthy of one still enjoying it, as the tannin, acid, and fruit are still all holding themselves together nicely. My issue with it is the sweet dates and raisin that come from the super, and over the top, ripe fruit. This wine is too new world for me. Yes the wine has a body and stance that is worthy of the fruit, but this is a bit too much for me. The nose on this purple to black colored wine is redolent with black cherry, blackcurrant, oak, raisin, roasted herb, raspberry, and chocolate. The mouth on this full bodied wine hits you first with still gripping tannin that give the wine a coating mouthfeel, along with spicy oak, ripe fruit and sweet dates, that come together into a truly expressive and concentrated mouth. The finish is long and spicy with spicy oak, herb, black fruit, and tannin that linger long on the palate. This wine continues to go and go, because of the rich tannin and acid. The in-your-face oak of old has mellowed, but in its place is the over the top ripe fruit, which takes this wine down a notch.
2009 Four Gates Cabernet Sauvignon – Score: A- to A
The fruit for this lovely old-world Cabernet comes from Betchart Vineyard on Monte Bello Ridge in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I have been able to watch this progress from press to bottling, and it has gone from a rich red fruit wine, to a hybrid rich old-world wine with big red fruit along with some lovely black fruit. A unique Cabernet that is rich, extracted, balanced, yet oak influenced in a lovely manner, this is not a big black new-world Cabernet! The nose on this purple to black colored wine is screaming with cloves, graphite, oak, kirsch cherry, raspberry, blackberry, red fruit, tobacco, roasted herbs, and anise. The mouth on the medium to full-bodied wine is super rich, extracted, and concentrated, with nice fruit, spice, big round and mouth coating tannin, and lovely oak that makes for a rich and spicy mouthfeel. The finish is long, lovely, and spicy with more tannin, chocolate, tobacco, cinnamon, red fruit, more spice, and a nice hit of vanilla. The chocolate, oak, cloves, herbs, red fruit, and vanilla linger long. Best in a year and drink by 2016.
The new vintages of Trader Joe kosher wines
It has been a year since we last posted about the kosher wines at Trader Joe’s. The Banero is now only available on the east coast, but at least it is back in stock. The Sara Bee is also back in stock and doing really well. The prices have risen a bit, but I guess that is par for the course, with Moscato going crazy in the wine world.
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 Best Kosher Wines I tasted in 2011 allowing for some editorial freedom
This past year we have been lucky and honored to be able to taste all of these wonderful wines. There are so many “best of..” lists out there, including wine lists and the such. Some decide that the criteria is uniqueness, like the Wine Spectators top 100 wines of the year, which were not the TOP wines that they scored through the year. Others use the criteria of wines they thought were some of the best they tasted for the year. This is the list of wines that many liked in the past year, on Rogov’s forum.
I chose to use my scores as the criteria, and to use a range of 14 months for the bottles I tasted. Many of these were tasted at wine events and others drunk at my or a friend’s table. Either way, the wines are top notch and the best ones I tasted in the year+, irrelevant to when the wine was released or if it is still available, as well as wines that were interesting enough to note. Like the heading says – the best wines that I tasted in 2011 and a bit before. And yes, I may well be a bit late on the deal by releasing this a week into 2012, but hey – it is a complete list, so I hope you enjoy it. Also, there are notes here that are new to the blog. They were tasted throughout the year, and have yet to be posted, so think of some of these as a sneak preview to many wineries and wine notes to come.
Enjoy and may 2012 be even better! The wines are listed by score and then in alphabetical order from there.
Wines that scored an A or Almost A
2007 Binyamina Diamond, Avnei Hachoshen Ya’alom/Diamond (50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Syrah and 20% Petite Verdot) – Score: A
Wow what a blockbuster wine! Assaf Paz brought it to the tasting, and it was in very limited supply, as we said in the previous posting about the wine event.
The nose on this garnet to black colored wine explodes with sweet oak, rich and ripe blackberry, licorice, raspberry, chocolate, rich plum, along with a bit of prune. The mouth on this broad shouldered and massive wine is packed and layered with layer upon layers of rich and ripe black fruit, blackberry, and raspberry. The mid palate is balanced and flows off the mouth with rich sweet oak, acid, chocolate, and coffee. The finish is massive and long with a huge mouth coating structure, along with prune, oak, blackberry, and chocolate. This is a massive and structured wine that is unique and one that truly shows the power of Israel’s potential.
2007 Carmel Mediterranean (37% Carignan, 26% Shiraz , 20% Petit Verdot and 15% Petite Sirah and 2% Viogner) – Score: A
This is another one of those wines (like the 2005 Yatir Forest) that is more elegant than it is massive or powerful, yet it still has lovely oak, tannin, and some extraction, a nice balancing act indeed.
The nose on this light garnet colored wine is lovely and accentuated by Smoky fumes, rich oak, raspberry, cranberry, blackberry, plum, cherry, and roasted herbs. The mouth on this full bodied wine is rich with ripe raspberry, blackberry, cherry, fig, and elegant tannin. The mid palate is rich with well handled oak, lovely tannin, and red fruit. The finish is long and elegant with rich, and ripe red fruit, smoky oak, roasted herbs, plum, and cherry.
2006 Castel Grand Vin – Score: A
I love this wine – it was one of the winners of the evening for sure, and one that all the people who were around me loved as well.
The nose on this massive dark garnet to black colored wine is packed and redolent with blackberry, roasted herbs, raspberry, spicy oak, plum, chocolate, and mineral. The mouth on this massive full bodied wine is mouth coating and rich with layer upon layer of rich and dense extracted black fruit, cassis, blackberry, plum, and cherry. The mid palate is balanced with oak, extracted tannin, and rich chocolate. The finish is long, extracted, awesome, and layered with black fruit, chocolate, rich plum, and almost sweet oak.
2006 Dalton Matatia (80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc) – Score: A
The nose on this black colored wine starts off with cassis, raspberry, licorice, oak, nutmeg, and spice. The mouth on this full bodied wine is inky and deep with rich plum, cassis, raspberry, coffee, and oak. The mid plate flows off the mouth nicely with acid, coffee, spice, and gripping tannin. The finish is long and expressive with plum, chocolate, coffee, and tannin.
2003 Four Gates Syrah (same as the last tasting) – Score: A
WOW! This is a killer wine. The first thing that hits you when you open this bottle of wine and peer into its purple-black stare is the ripe blueberry notes that come screaming out at you, along with blackberry, cassis, plum, tobacco, chocolate, tar, and rick oak. The mouth on this full bodied, mouth filling, concentrated, and structured wine comes at you in layers with fruit that follows the nose, ripe blackberry, plum, blueberry, tar, and oak. The mid palate is balanced with acid, oak, tobacco, and chocolate. The finish is super long, black, and spicy, with rich oak, chocolate, tobacco, tar, leather, and blackberry. This is a truly wonderful wine that is highly structured with lovely tannins and a wine that still has a few years left under its belt. The nose is killer with the lovely ripe blueberry and blackberry, along with the oak, tar, chocolate. It follows through with the mouth till its tantalizing finish. Quite a powerful that has its sea legs beneath it and bright horizon ahead.
2006 Herzog Generation VIII Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley,To-Kalon Vineyard) – Score: A
The nose on this black colored wine is screaming with rich oak, chocolate, black cherry, blackberry, cassis, and rich spice. The mouth on this massive full bodied wine is rich, layered, and mouth coating with tight tannins, chocolate, oak, blackberry, and cassis. The fruit on the mouth is rich and ripe while not being overly ripe to the point of tasting cooked. The mid palate is balanced and flows from the mouth with still bracing tannins, nice acidity, oak, and chocolate. The finish is crazy long with chocolate, rich oak, blackberry, and rich ripe fruit. This is a crazy winner that will be around for at least another 8 years. I hope to have the opportunity to taste it again and again in the coming years at the Herzog Wine Festival.
2001 Yarden Cabernet Sauvignon El Rom (Israel, Galilee, Golan Heights) – Score: A
The notes on this wine have not changed drastically, the tannin is still kicking, the mouth equally as rich, and the heat has dissipated. This is one of the best wines I have tasted from Israel. The wine is still a bit closed, so an hour or two of air time would be of great help!
The nose on this brilliant and deep garnet to black colored wine is filled with heavy layers of blackberry, cassis, raspberry, tobacco, and oak. The mouth on this wine was also a bit slow out of the bottle, but that changed quickly enough. The mouth was complex and multi layered. This is no simple wine, it hits you in waves. The mouth on this full bodied wine is still tannic though the tannins are breaking down and adding even more opulence to this rich and mouth coating wine filled with blackberry, cassis, rich sweet oak. eucalyptus, and almost jam like – but not in a chewy annoying way – more in a rich and cultured manner. The mid palate follows off the first set of layers and is where the structure comes in. The structure is built on tannin, acidity, and lush layers of vegetal flavors. The finish is crazy long and is filled with blackberry, cassis, chocolate, tobacco, rich dirt, slight vegetal notes, and sweet wood. This is really quite a fine wine and one that is not yet peaked at all, though quite enjoyable now as well.
2008 Yarden El Rom Cabernet Sauvignon – Score: A
The nose on this purple to impenetrable black colored wine is crazy rich and redolent with blackberry, cassis, licorice, pencil shavings, ripe plum, vanilla, and oak. The mouth on this rich, layered, and highly focused full bodied wine is crazy rich and opulent, with rich sweet oak, blackberry, cassis, black plum, pencil, and massive tannin. This is a massive wine that is concentrated but equally refined with the tannin, oak, and fruit still early on in their integration. However, even now the wine shows beautifully and will be better to enjoy in a couple of years. The mid palate is rich with balancing acid, blackberry, sweet oak, more rich tannin, licorice, and chocolate. The finish is super long and concentrated with sweet oak, nice tannin, licorice, vanilla, chocolate, plum, and pencil shavings. This is right on the tail of the 2001 older brother, just way younger of course. In 8 years, you will all be begging for this wine – get it while you can!
2003 Yarden Katzrin (Red) Score: A
The nose on this deep purple colored wine is screaming with exuberant jam like aromas of black plum, cassis, blackberry, black fruit, oak, licorice, and chocolate. The mouth on this massive, tannic, and crazy jam packed wine is packed with crazy black fruit, black plum, blackberry, cassis, and raspberry. The mid palate is balanced with sweet oak, and yet more oak, and a nice dollop of tannin on the side. The finish is long with more oak, coffee, dark chocolate, and tannins that keep up nicely with the oak. A truly magnificent wine that shines through almost all other wines we tasted that night.
2004 Yarden Katzrin (Red) Score: A
The nose on this massive black colored wine is screaming with black fruit, dark rich blackberry, dark plum, black cherry, rich ripe fruit, cassis, chocolate, and rich oak. The mouth on this massive full bodied wine is rich with ripe black fruit, cassis, black plum, blackberry, and cherry. The mid palate is balanced and flows from the mouth with acid, sweet oak, chocolate, and gripping tannin. The finish is long with rich oak, black fruit, cherry, chocolate, and tobacco.
2007 Yarden ROM (53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Syrah, 24% Merlot) – Score: Filthy or A
The nose on this black and impenetrable colored wine is super rich with blackberry, cherry, plum, cranberry, cassis, chocolate, cedar, and tobacco. The mouth on this rich, full bodied, and layered wine with massive extraction, and a rich mouth of blackberry, cassis, tobacco, cedar, rich layers of fruit, and plum. The mid palate is balanced with rich acid, cedar, tobacco, and chocolate. The finish is long and spicy with a smokey finish, along with ripe plum, chocolate, blackberry, tobacco, and lingers long with chocolate and tobacco. This wine is filthy and lovely in ways I have not seen in sometime. What a true joy.
2005 Yatir Forest (77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Petite Verdot, and 10% Merlot) – Score: A
The nose on this dark garnet to black colored wine is another massive and explosive success by the Yatir Winery. This wine does not have an oak abuse problem, instead it has a rather elegant nose with Blackberry, lovely oak, black plum, ripe fruit, and raspberry. The mouth on this full bodied wine is mouth coating with layers upon layers of blackberry, cranberry, cassis, and candied raspberry. The mid palate flows off the mouth with lovely tannin, oak, and bracing acid. The finish is long with rich black fruit, chocolate, licorice, anise, smoke, and tobacco.
NV Yarden Brut, Segal Rechasim Dishon Cabernet Sauvignon, and other OK wines
I will keep this one short, as I want to get to my top wines of the year post. However, my wife and I spent the first part of Saturday night prepping, breaking down, and rolling 60 sushi rolls filled with Hamachi, Salmon, Tuna, and julienned vegetables. All I will say is that there was little to none of it left before the evening was over.
We enjoyed some lovely still and sparkling wines, along with some very not so great wines as well. The wine notes are iffy, as I was not taking serious notes, except for one wine that was the clear winner of the evening.
The wine notes follow below:
NV Yarden Brut – Score: B+ to B++
The first interesting thing to note about this sparkler is that it was produced in 2001 and not produced again, so we are talking about a 10 to 11 year old wine made from equal parts Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The nose on this straw to pink colored wine is rich with citrus notes, peach, tart green apples, fresh flowers, and brioche. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is effervescent with a lovely mousse of many small bubbles, creamy and delicate attack of tart green apple, citrus, and acid backbone that is definitely not dead in any way. The finish is long, creamy, and moussy with brioche, toast, tart apples and lemony goodness. Fun stuff that works great with sushi.
2007 Segal Rechasim Dishon Cabernet Sauvignon – Score: A–
The nose on this black colored wine is super rich with rich cedar, tobacco, cassis, rich ripe plum, licorice, raspberry, and chocolate. The mouth on this rich and medium bodied wine is mouth coating with lovely tannin, raspberry, rich ripe plum, cassis, integrated tannin, and cedar. The mid palate is rich and lovely with good acid, tobacco, cassis, chocolate, tobacco, and cedar. The finish is long and rich with sweet cedar, tobacco, cassis, ripe plum, chocolate, and tobacco. This is a rich and concentrated wine that has just enough to grab your attention but is also a bit played out with its not so unique flavor profile. Still a fun and rich wine that has two or so years left in its legs.
Baron Herzog Brut Champagne – Score: B-
Sorry this wine did not make the mental cut for me – the flavors do not meld in any way that makes sense to me.
2006 Rotheberg Cellars Pinotage – Score: N/A
DOA, OK but really not that interesting.
Kosher European Wines, Hagafen Wine, Kosher Meat Lasagna, White Bean and Kalamata Soup, Vegetable Kugel
This past weekend we had a bunch of friends over to the house and we were so happy to celebrate the good health and recovery of a dear friend of the family who honored us by coming on over for the meal. It is starting to feel a bit chilly around here, so we thought it would be great to try some lovely White Bean and Kalamta Olive Soup. The link to the recipe was the best I could find on the web. The one I use is from Mollie Katzen’s cookbook, which I have no right to place on my blog, please buy her book she is a genius!
The soup is simple to make, and I follow her recipe to the tee, short of adding in a wee bit more wine than her recipe calls for. Personally, that is the ultimate compliment, using someone’s exact recipe, with little or no change, because it is perfect as it is.
We then cooked up meat lasagna. I have modified the lasagna many times, as I am constantly looking for the perfect lasagna that is not too dry or too runny. I think I have finally done that! This past week the lasagna was killer, very tasty, and it was solid without being the least bit dry. The recipe is a change from another cookbook I use, but I have modified this one to not worry about sharing it. Also, I wrote a lot about the process, so the recipe looks long, but I am just adding in my years of struggle with these recipes to make sure you do not. Overall a pretty easy recipe:
Meat Lasagna Recipe: (Makes two pans of lasagna)
2 Tbsp. Oil
2 chopped onions
5 garlic cloves smashed (or just use the frozen garlic)
2 lb. of ground meat
1 sliced green pepper
1 sliced orange or yellow pepper
3 28 oz. cans of crushed tomatoes
2 15 oz. cans of tomato sauce
12 oz. of red wine (more acid and tannin the better)
4 to 5 Tbsp. parsley
2 tsp. sugar
3 tsp. of basil
salt and pepper to taste
16 oz. (18 pieces) of dry lasagna noodle (normal pasta that needs to be cooked)
1 LARGE eggplant sliced 1/2 inch thick
In a large Dutch oven or tall walled pan, heat up the oil until shimmering and then throw in the chopped onions and cook them till they are close to being browned. Then throw in the crushed garlic and as soon as it starts to smell garlicky, throw in the ground meat. Be careful never to burn the garlic, as that is nasty! Move around the meat and make sure it nice and browned. Now throw in the sliced peppers and lets cook until tender. Then throw in the crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, red wine, herbs, salt and pepper. Now mix the pot around a fair amount until the wine color disappears and the tomato color is bright. Keep cooking the sauce until it reduces by 20% or until the sauce looks nice and thick. This step is VERY important, so do not skimp on this, it takes time but you will be generously rewarded.
At this point, bring a very large pot of water to boil and then place the lasagna noodles and cook them 1 to 2 minutes before al dente. We do this because we want them to finish in the oven. NEVER TRY the already cooked or NOT cooked pasta – it does not work. Cook the pasta and you will get the lovely texture that is not available any other way. Once cooked, pour out all the water, and put in some cold water in the pot to keep the pasta from drying up. Read the rest of this entry
Herzog Generation 8, Teal Lake Moscato D’Aussie vs. Sara Bee Moscato, Elvi Wines Brut Cava
This past weekend we were honored to be eating with friends who were celebrating being first time grand parents! Their friends came up from LA, and brought some wonderful wines, cakes, and cookies. We partook from two of their wines, and we added in a bubbly as well.
I must state that the 2002 Herzog Generation 8 was truly the winner of the evening. It is a massive wine with a rich and layered mouthfeel that still has a year of kick left in it. We used to make fun of it, because essentially it was nothing more than the Herzog Special Edition, with more oak on it. Well, I recant all of my previous jokes about it. To be honest, I would never buy one of these bottles, as it is far too expensive for my tastes, but I am more than honest enough to state that the wine is impressive.
The other wine that our friend’s friends brought over was a lovely Moscato from Teal Lake. The name, Moscato D’Aussie, is a humorous take on the Italian blue bottle – Moscato D’Asti. The first thing that hit me when I smelled this wine was gooseberry! Now gooseberry is famous in Australian Sauvignon Blanc, but I did not expect it in Moscato!
As an aside, Royal Wines has declared war on Trader Joe’s Sara Bee Moscato! All over the Internet, you can find this pleasant tasting Moscato for $6.75 or lower. That is right in the wheelhouse of Trader Joe’s Sara Bee, which retails for $5.99. A dollar is a dollar, but it is clear, that Royal went out and looked for a bottle that they could play ball with. This Moscato D’Aussie is undercutting one of their cash cows, the Bartenura Blue Bottle. This has always been an age-old question in marketing and war, how do you fight the little guy that has lower overhead and equal quality product, who can out price you? Answer; undercut yourself, by building the same product in a location that woks for you. The old saying is true, “if you cannot beat them – join them”. I personally like the Sara Bee Moscato more, but Royal has declared open season on Sara Bee, and the winners are all of us! Read the rest of this entry
Rosh Hashanah lunch, Herb encrusted gefilte fish loaf, Rosemary and Sage Infused Encrusted Rib Roast, vegetable kugel, and many wines
Rosh Hashanah day was a bit more wine focused than the previous evening. We invited a bunch of friends over and they brought some wonderful wines for us to enjoy. The first one being the 2008 Brobdingnagian Besomim Wine from Jonathan Hajdu, the associate wine maker at Covenant Wines. The other wine was the 2007 Hagafen Cuvee de Noirs, which I had been craving and was a wonderful surprise and delight to enjoy! We also opened a bottle of 2007 Galil Mountain Winery Shiraz Cabernet, which is another bottle that I truly enjoyed. The wines were all killer and really enjoyable. Now on to the menu and my normal format, we will get back to the wines later.
The meal started with the same starter course as we had the previous night, our reliable Herb encrusted gefilte fish loaf and green and black olives, and hummus. The reason I really like this recipe is because while normal gefilte fish recipes tastes like bland boiled white fish, this recipe tastes like herb-encrusted fish that is lightly charred with the herb and spice flavors permeated through and through the fleshy texture – quite a treat. The main course consisted of one of my favorite cuts of meat – rib roast. This was not a standing rib roast, as it was already deboned. The only way to cook this meat is covered slow and low and then blast it with a 400 degree oven to char the outside. This is the recipe of the generation X master of cooking science; Alton Brown, who I believe took much of what he learned in culinary school and Harold McGee and made it simple and palatable to generation X. The roast came out really nicely; it was NOT over or under cooked. However, the issue was that we served it lukewarm instead of piping hot. It is difficult on Yom Tov to both warm up a chunk of meat and not over cook it while trying to serve it piping hot. At least the rest of the meal was warm, including the Sage and Rosemary Jus. Along with the rib roast we had a repeat performance of brown rice, vegetable kugel, and fresh vegetable salad. The guests did serious damage to the rib roast, so I think it worked out well. We bought two chunks of rib roast, one 7+ pounds and the other one being 5+ pounds. The 7+ beast was consumed on Rosh Hashanah lunch, while the other chunk was served to family, when we all gathered for Succot (more on that is a subsequent post).
To pair with the lovely side of cow, we opened two bottles of wine, the two a fore mentioned; 2008 Brobdingnagian Besomim Wine and 2007 Galil Mountain Winery Shiraz Cabernet. The Brobdingnagian Besomim is a field blend of Zinfandel, Grenache, Petite Sirah, and Carignan. The grapes are sourced from the Chabad Rabbi’s small vineyard that he planted on his property in the Napa/Sonoma area. Jonathan then made the wine and it is truly a wine for drinking with food, this is no sipping wine. The wine is crazy rich with spice, which is the obvious derivative for its name (Besomim means spice in Hebrew). The wine easily handled the richly fat and herbed rib roast and the side dishes. We also enjoyed a bottle of 2007 Galil Mountain Winery Shiraz Cabernet. Originally, Daniel Rogov had given the wine a poor score, and I wanted to try it anyway, and I am happy I did. In a later tasting, before his untimely passing, he tasted the wine again, and scored it much in line with my notes and score.
The wine notes follow below in the order enjoyed:
2007 Hagafen Cuvee de Noirs – USA, California, Napa Valley, Yountville – Score: A-
The nose on this lovely burnt peach colored wine was lively with effervescent small bubbles, along with pear, orange, brioche, light toast, yeast, mango, apricot, peach, strawberry, and chocolate. The mouth on this medium bodied wine attacks first with a lovely mousse of small bubbles, followed by strawberry, peach, apple, orange, and pear. The mid palate is lovely and balanced with lively acidity, brioche, yeast, oak, and mango. The finish is super long, concentrated, and spicy with strawberry, lovely mousse, brioche, more chocolate, yeast, mango, peach, light oak, orange, and tea. This is a lovely sparkling wine that really needs time in the fridge and one that is a lovely now and will continue to be lovely for at least a few more years to come.
2008 Brobdingnagian Wines Besomim – USA, California, Sonoma County – Score: A-
This is a wine that truly lives up to its name. Besomim is Hebrew for a potent spice mix that is used as part of a post Sabbath havdalah (or separation) ceremony. The grapes used in this blend come from a field blend of Zinfandel, Syrah and Petite Sirah. The nose on this dark garnet to black colored wine is screaming with spices, nutmeg, black pepper, cloves, along with mint, tobacco, chocolate, a hint of tar, high alcohol to start, cedar, raspberry, plum, black fruit, herbs, and vanilla. The nose is assaulted by all of these aromas in quick succession, so I am sure I missed some. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine is hopping and super concentrated with dark cherry, plum, blackberry, nutmeg, cloves, spices, mint, and chocolate. The mid palate is balanced with nice acidity, chocolate, mint, tobacco, and cedar. The finish is super long and spicy, with rich spices, toasty almost spicy cedar, tobacco, chocolate, tar, black pepper, cloves, blackberry, herbs, and vanilla. This is a wine that is best enjoyed with heavy foods, this wine is far to spice infused to be enjoyed as a sipping wine.
2007 Galil Mountain Winery Shiraz Cabernet kosher – Israel, Galilee – Score: B++ to A-
The nose on this purple to black colored wine is an alchemy of the two fruits used, tobacco, rich chocolate, tar, strong alcohol to start, black pepper, dirt, sweet cedar, smoky notes, raspberry, blackberry, plum, and vanilla. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine starts off very hot, but over time cools off to show both sides of this blend, the syrah shows first with a strong presence of black pepper, coffee, blackberry, and tar, over time the syrah gives way to the Cabernet with rich blackberry, plum, sweet cedar and chocolate. The Cabernet side of this wine almost 100% reminded me of the Alexander Winery Cabernet with its sweet cedar, plum, and blackberry combination. The mid palate is balanced with rich acid, sweet cedar, black pepper, tar, chocolate, tobacco, licorice, dirt, plum, raspberry, and a nice dollop of vanilla on top. This wine pack a punch with its heat, but once that dies down, the wine has two sides that are both lovely apart or combined, and linger nicely with rich ripe plum tobacco, chocolate, a hint of tar, and vanilla.
Seniorio de Aldaz Tempranillo, N.V. Banero Prosecco, Rosemary & Lemon Roasted Chicken, and Cholent
This past week saw us taking it a bit easier and that led us to thinking about our usual Rosemary & Lemon Roasted Chicken. We paired it with brown Basmati rice and fresh green salad. I looked for a lovely wine to pair with our meal, and thought I came up with a nice option – the 2009 Seniorio de Aldaz Tempranillo. The nose was killer! It was rich and powerful, but the mouth was out of whack, very unbalanced, and missing the point. I had to stop drinking the wine and went to find another bottle, and came up with the Trader Joe N.V. Banero Prosecco.
For lunch we had a nice cholent, but it is far from perfected to write it down yet – keep glued to this blog for the final version.
The Seniorio de Aldaz Tempranillo was the real shame. It opens to a powerful nose but that fades with time. The mouth starts very tannic, which does not bother me, and then goes scary. I have now tasted the Banero a few more times since our last tasting, and I think that the original notes are a bit off – as there is less or no muscat flavors than I remember from the original tasting.
The notes are listed below in the order they were tasted:
2009 Senorio De Aldaz Tempranillo (Spain, Navarra) – Score: B- to B
The nose on this bright garnet to purple colored wine is hopping with raspberry, crushed herbs, kirsch cherry, ripe plum, mineral/rock/gravel, bramble, blueberry, and tons of floral notes. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is unfortunately its downfall; it is far too out of balance with strong floral, blueberry, and cherry notes up front, without enough characteristics balancing it out. The mouth follows with plum, raspberry, and not yet integrated tannins. The mid palate is acidic with unbalanced tannin, mineral, and more floral notes. The finish is long and rocky (pun intended) with gripping tannin, more unbalanced fruit, and floral notes. The floral notes, cherry, and blueberry linger on the palate.
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.
Viognier, Chardonnay, Kosher Korbel, Black Bean Soup, Lemon Rosemary Chicken, and Portabella Risotto
This past week we spent time with friends and family and it was a lovely time for all. Family came in from out of town and we were excited to see them and spend time with them. We started the meal with Brazilian Black Bean Soup. We have made this soup a few times already and the recipe is from the classic Mollie Katzen Moosewood Cookbook. The soup hit the spot given the colder temperature that has hit our area. The Viognier was nice with Kiddush, but it is over my friends – drink up or cook with it. My hope is that the 2008 or 2009 Goose Bay Viognier is coming out soon. The Goose Bay Viognier was lovely for some time with a classic perfumed and flowered nose, but those days are well past and please heed my advice – drink up or dump it. Once the wine was gone, we moved on to another bottle – which may well have been the biggest surprise of the evening!
Benyamin came by again this week and he brought a bottle of wine that I thought was going to be a total waste of time, but was more than happy to try out of sheer curiosity. In the end, it turned out to be my favorite wine of the evening. It was not the highest scoring wine, but it was the most enjoyable wine because it shocked me so and was downright tasty still after all of these years! The wine I am talking about is the N.A. Kosher Korbel Brut Champagne from 1997! This puppy is more than 13 years old! This wine sold for 13 dollars at the time. The wine was all the rage in 1995 and the re-released with a different vintage in 1997. The wine was never released again after that, which was a shame, but for those two years the wine was great. I do not remember it very well from back then, but from what I remember, I was not a huge fan. That all changed last night! The bubbles were lovely and soft, the mousse was almost foamy with a continuous attack of effervescence that did not let up all night. The bottle disappeared quickly, but even the bit that we left to the side was wonderful throughout the meal.
Following the sparkling wine and the soup, we moved on to the main course of Portabella Mushroom and Sweet Potato Risotto, Lemon Rosemary Pepper Flake Roasted Chicken Recipe, Cold Roasted Green Bean Salad, and Fresh Green Salad. To match these dishes, I pulled out an interesting pair of Yarden Chardonnay. Both of the wines hail from the 2007 vintage, a 2007 Yarden Chardonnay, and the 2007 Yarden Odem Vineyard Chardonnay. The wines were way too young and are not ready to drink – either of them. The wines were tight and not open, almost DOA out of the bottle. After a few hours, long after the meal was over, the wines were open and nice, but I do not think that even they are hitting their stride. These wines are way too young, maybe asleep, and need another year before they will show their best stuff. Right now my money would be on a Four Gates Chardonnay, if you are looking for a full bodied, fruity, and luscious California Chardonnay. We have tasted them in the past few months, both the 2004 and 2005, and they are both stunning. That said, in a year or a bit longer the two 2007 Yarden Chardonnay wines will be ready to party and show their white stripes.
For dessert our friend brought us another masterpiece, Kahlua Chocolate Cake! The cake all but about disappeared, and that was because we pulled it from the table before that could occur. Our many thanks to our friends and family who joined us for the meal and who were very kind to share their wonderful cake and wine with us.
The wine notes are listed below in the order they were served:
2007 Goose Bay Viognier (New Zealand, North Island, East Coast) – Score: B
This wine is on its way out The perfume is now gone. The nose on this light gold colored wine has grapefruit, lemon, slight floral notes, cut grass, smoky and tasty oak, honey, and citrus. The mouth on this medium bodied wine has lost its original oily and perfumed charm, now it has only a citrus body, with peach and pear along for the ride. The mid palate is bracing with acid, toasty oak, and lemon. The finish is long with more acid, caramel, straw, toasty oak, and lemon/grapefruit. It is a shame as this was once one of my favorites. I hope there is a new vintage coming out soon.
N.V. Korbel Brut California Champagne (USA, California) – Score: B++
This wine is from 1997! Are you kidding me! It was the second and final kosher run of the winery. The nose on this straw colored wine was filled with a yeast and mushroom nose, toast, herbs, asparagus, and lemon. The mouse on this medium bodied wine was filled out by the small bubbles of the lovely and still very alive mousse, toast, yeast, mushroom, and lemon. The mid palate was bracing with core acidity, and toast. The finish was nice along with more nice small bubbles, toast, mushroom, and lemon. It was a lovely wine that was drunk quickly and one that paired well with our hearty black bean soup. Really a shock that this 13 dollar wine survived this long and was more than acceptable! Kudos to Benyamin Cantz for keeping it so long and in such good quality, and for sure to Korbel for making a reasonably priced kosher wine that could live this long and taste maybe even better than I remember it tasting originally!
2007 Yarden Chardonnay (Israel, Galilee, Golan Heights) – Score: A–
This wine was closed and tight to start, it took it a good hour or two to come out of its shell. This wine is still not ready to enjoy at its fullest without a fair amount of up front effort. The nose on this lemon colored wine has butterscotch, butter, lemon, toasty oak, mint, pear, peach, and apple. The mouth on this full bodied wine has toasty oak, pear, peach, lemon, apricot, and apple. The mid palate is heavy with acid, toasty oak, butterscotch, and a touch of mint. The finish is long with more oak, butter, butterscotch, bright citrus, lemon, and toasty oak. The toasty oak, butterscotch, and lemon linger on the palate.
2007 Yarden Odem Organic Vineyard Chardonnay – Score: A– to A-
This wine takes a very long time to open up – clearly not it’s time to be drunk yet. Once it opens, the nose on this gold colored wine is filled with toasty oak, honey, ripe fig, caramel, butter, spice, rose notes, apple, grapefruit, and lemon. The mouth of this full bodied wine is mouth filling with ripe fig, apple, grapefruit, lemon, cloves, and toast. The mid palate is balanced with bight acidity, caramel, butter, and spice. The finish is long with more toast, oak, ripe figs, right citrus, and butter. This is a lovely wine, but not yet ready to show its best stuff. Leave this one alone for a year and come back.
N.V. Banero Prosecco and Cholent
On the week of October 22nd we enjoyed a simple meal of Parve Cholent and a bottle of the new Trader Joe kosher wine – Banero Prosecco. Prosecco is the Italian version of Champagne, except that it is not. Champagne is a term used ONLY for wine made in the Champagne area of France. Of course, the term has been used recently to mean bubbly or sparkling wine in general, and that of course annoys the French greatly, as it diminishes the special aspects of Champagne. So, they have trademarked the term, so that wine made outside of Champagne cannot use the Champagne moniker. Prosecco is a bubbly and sparkling wine, but it is made with the less expensive method of secondary fermentation known as Charmat.
To start grapes used in sparkling wines are commonly picked early to minimize the sugars in them. This also causes the grapes to be higher in acid, as the sugar is grapes are in inverse proportion the acid in grapes, as the grapes ripen and increase their sugar, the grapes acid goes down. The higher the sugar and ripeness of the grapes the higher the alcohol content of the wine will be. Which is OK (sometimes), for bold red wines, but for bubbly wine which is consumed at a higher rate, it would be a bad night for most after two glasses. To allow for pleasant drinking without a massive buzz, sparkling wine makers pick the grapes early, thereby having lower sugar content, which means lower alcohol. However, with lower sugar and higher acid, the wine maker must do wonders to make it palatable.
When you enjoy a bottle of sparkling wine, no matter the version, what you are enjoying is a wine that has, in one or another, undergone two sugar fermentation(s). The first is the usual one which happens when the grapes are crushed and pressed and then yeast is added to ferment the wine. What is happening is that the yeast is eating the sugar in the wine juice and creating alcohol as its byproduct. Then the wine is aged in steel or wood and then is bottled. The wine at this point may not be so stellar in nature, as we explained because of its higher acid and lower sweetness. Then the wine is then ready for bottling and the start of the second fermentation, yeast and sugar are reintroduced to each bottle, and then they are closed with a beer cap. The wines go through a second fermentation and can be aged there for as many as 8 years. The wine sits on its lees, the byproduct of acid and sugar being consumed by yeast. More alcohol is added to the mix as well by this second fermentation, but there is so little sugar added that the alcohol change is barely noticeable. This second fermentation and the aging help to improve the wine and of course add bubbles!
Finally, after the requisite second fermentation is deemed complete, the lees are convinced to move to the neck of the bottle, the bottle neck is frozen, the cap is removed, and the frozen lees shoot out. To make up for the lost space, the wine maker adds in brandy, port, sugar, or some other special ingredient and of course a bit of sulfur dioxide as a last bit of preservative.
Well this weekend we wanted to pair our cholent with a not so obvious wine choice – Prosecco. Sparkling wine was a lovely pairing with our vegetarian cholent and one that I really enjoyed to boot. This wine turned out to be really nice and one worth looking into. As we spoke about last week, Trader Joe is selling a few Kosher wines for a nice price. We will be tasting them throughout the next few weeks so keep watching. This is the second wine of the group that we will be tasting.
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, muscat perfume, 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, but quickly leads into the muscat and perfume infused mouth which is rich with small mousse bubbles that lie on your palate for a very long time, long after the wine is gone.
