I arrived at Benyamin’s house, where the wine tasting was taking place, just after the 2006 Four Gates Cabernet Franc was opened, which Alice seemed to like.  Benyamin had already shown Alice and Jose the grounds, vineyard, and winery, and was now sitting them down for some wine tasting and up close and personal examples of life on the farm (read the blog post).  I started to talk with Alice and Jose about her book, blog, and Parker – the single palate for the world.  I have slammed the single palate a couple of times here and here, and other places on Rogov’s forum.  After that, Benyamin opened a bottle of N.V. Four Gates Cabernet Franc (1999/2000), it was soft, full in the mouth, with bright acidity, bing cherries, oak, raspberry, with a hint of chocolate.  A nice bottle for being 10+ years old, I would have loved to hear what Alice and Jose thought of that one.  My notes from a year ago, when we did a Four Gates Vertical of his Cabernet Franc wines – can be found here.  While we were enjoying the wine, I kept asking questions, yes that is what I do.  I asked Alice where her fascination for natural wine comes from?  She was honest and clear, that she has no interest in changing my drinking habits, but she does want people to know what is out there, and make them realize what they are missing.  I asked that the hallowed DRC uses oak, why is that OK? I also stated that I understand that coffee and vanilla and the such are not a natural part of the wine, but can we really say that they do not add to the wine experience?  Her answer was fair, in that oak is not offensive, but it is when it is overused like so many do, or when it defines the wine, rather than helping round the wine, or allowing the wine to show its better characteristics.

Benyamin then opened his N.V. Pinot Noir, which was tasting exactly as my last notes here show.  Alice commented on the N.V. label, which Benyamin went on to explain was nothing more than the a great example of “the whole being greater than the sum of its parts”.  They then went into wine and winery talk for a bit, which was fine, as I was feeling like I was a bit too talkative, and I was after all crashing the wine tasting.  It was at this point that Benyamin remembered having made a basically natural wine, or as natural a wine as he could make, other than his one and only natural wine that he made (or God made), which was used under a wedding canopy (story in Alice’s blog).  The wine was a 1996 un-sulfited Chardonnay (yep 14 or so years old)!!!  Are you kidding me!  The wine was OFF the charts!  It was packed with lemon, oak, butterscotch, some melon, and yep some more oak.  That said, the wine was super full in the mouth, still ripe and alive, and so crazy fresh, that I begged for the left overs to take home, which Benyamin was VERY kind to give up.  Finally, Benyamin opened a yet to be released red wine blend, that tasted much like I tasted it the last time, but it needs a bit of time to reach its true potential.  I think Benyamin is almost ready to release it, though when, is beyond my knowledge.

After having met Alice and seen her in action, I can see why she so deeply wishes for natural wine to be more prevalent in the market place. She is a woman endowed with a keen palate, and a great understanding of viticulture and its abilities to influence wine making.  She must be screaming from the top of her lungs – “can you not see what you are missing”?  It is a cruel double edged sword to have such a gift and wonder why the rest of the world is so blind to the reality of wine in its natural state.  Clearly there are times when we all can see how the viticulturist has purposely modified the fruit to meet the needs of the post-Parker world.  There is a story in her book where a wine maker described how he made his wine.  He started with grape must, added in tannins from nuts, oak, and G-D only knows what else and then let the concoction ferment and age, and then slowly, filtered out what he did not like until he had a true Parker styled wine.  That is not wine making that akin to beer making.  That is using science to be 100% accurate in the reproduction of a wine target, no matter the grape state – which is what beer making is except with different ingredients.  When Joe the Plumber wants to kick back and pop open a cold one, he expects that beer to taste just like it did yesterday, or the day before, or the week before, or the year before – simply stated 100% reproducible, no matter the state of the grain, hops, or water.

But that happens only when I taste an over the top Cabernet that is coated in oak and fat with plump fruit that is so ripe, it almost tastes oxidized.  Yes, that is egregious, and unacceptable.  However, many other wines taste fine to me, some taste awesome to me, and they are not natural.  I guess I will leave it with the fact that I was humbled in her ability to appreciate and understand the true nature of the grape, vine, and wine, and that maybe one day, I will be able to get to the point of seeing what I am missing.

I want to thank Alice for letting me crash her wine tasting, and Benyamin for letting me enjoy more of his wonderful wine, hospitality, and down home cooking (that too is in Alice’s third part of the article).

Well after a fair amount of driving, we came to the Hagafen Winery, a bit late, at a not so warm time of day.  It was some 40 degrees outside, and we went inside to meet Josh Stein, Hagafen Winery’s Brand Manager.  I stated the temperature, because Josh started the winery tour outside where every vintage starts – in the vineyard of course!  I asked about the way the vines are managed, and Josh quickly replied that the vines have been managed using CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers) rules for many years now, but they are now in the second year of their CCOF certification, and hope to be certified within a year.  Of course, as we have spoken about this topic many times, the wine will NOT be organic, but the vineyard will be.  There are three full time employees, Ernie Weir, the owner and founder of Hagafen Winery, who is also the manager of the winery.  The other two full time employees, manage the winery’s most important other asset, the vineyards.  The winery started some 32 years ago, after Weir had made wine, at a custom crush site in Napa, CA, for a couple of years.  He decided to start making kosher wine.  He started his production with 25 cases and a single SKU.  Today, Hagafen makes some 8000 cases of wine, under three labels, and 30 or more SKU.  Hagafen started with no vineyards, and then in 1986 they bought the land that the winery sits on presently.  The vineyard in those days was planted with Pinot Noir and Chenin Blanc, but it was replanted in 1997 with what stands there today, 12 acres of clone 7 and clone 337 Cabernet Sauvignon, named the Weir Family Vineyard II.  The Weir Family Vineyard III came online later with 9 acres, 3 acres of Cabernet Franc, 3 acres of Syrah, and 3 acres of White Riesling.  Many of Hagafen’s wines are labeled as Estate Bottled, though they are not actually on their estate at all, as seen here on Hagafen’s vineyard map.  They source grapes from vineyards as far south as Fagan Creek, and as far north as Soleil and Moskowite vineyards.  So, how are they allowed to use the term “Estate Bottled” on their labels?  Well, the rules are a bit more simplistic, though not well known.  As described here on the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), the Estate Bottled tag line has three requirements to be added to your label.

1. The vineyard must either be owned by the winery or under the winery’s 100% control
2. The vineyard to be in the same viticultural area
3. The grapes are crushed, fermented, aged, and bottled in the winery or on the winery grounds

Hagafen has continued to expand its own vineyards, while perfecting their relationship and processes with its many vineyard partners.  They have long term contracts with the vineyards, and have recently taken control of many of the coveted blocks within the upper echelon of Napa Valley vineyards.

Stein repeated often that Hagafen is not just about wine, but about making the wine that the grape is willing to give you.  Recently, there has been a push to make the grapes/vineyard bend to the needs or wants of the wine world.  For example, America’s love affair with overripe and fruity wines has pushed many a winery to bend the grape to their will.  Instead, according to Stein, the mantra at Hagafen is to create wines that show the fruit as they are, and as such, there is variation in the vintages of the same varietal, year by year.  The vines leaves are hand pruned in a two step process, and are dappled, to keep the sunshine at bay, and not create fruit bomb wines.  When we arrived at the end of the year, the vines in front of the winery were already pruned quite nicely.  The vines, as stated before, were replanted in 1997, the winery building, which is pictured above, was built in 2000, and the lovely tasting room was completed in 2002, to imitate a Mediterranean/Tuscan styled tasting room.  As we spoke about the vineyard, the winery, and its history, one could only be in awe of the persistence in living one’s dream and persevering though all of life’s obstacles.  When Weir bought the vineyard, Stein says that they were not sure that they could actually make it.  They put everything they had saved up, into the vineyard, but it was the correct thing to do.  Sure, you can hope that the vineyard managers see eye to eye with one’s vineyard canopy or maintenance beliefs, but as time has shown, there is no assurance, unless you control the land and the vines themselves.  So, it was a logical yet terrifying step to take for a man and a winery so passionate about the vine and the wine in equal proportion.

Looking around the vineyard, one sees the requisite fans (much like the one pictured here), to keep the air flowing consistently throughout the vineyard.  Frost, hot pockets or cold pockets can doom a vineyard.  The science of vineyard management has truly improved in ways beyond one’s imagination.  However, the basic rules of air movement, drip lines, and frost aversion have stayed much the same for last decade or so.  The massive fans can help warm up the vineyard when needed, or cool them down at night.  They run automatically, via temperature controls, and can be manually turned off and on as well.  What people tend to forget about these vineyards and these fans, are that people live in Napa Valley!  Actually there were for sale signs on homes less than a few hundred feet from Hagafen Winery.  It is one thing when sprinklers or drip lines go on at 3 AM, to help warm the vines up a few degrees, thereby preventing them from freezing.  However, when one of those massive fans goes on, it sounds like a B 52 bomber is in your backyard!  I can only imagine what the first timer’s think, when one of those fans go off!  Rumor has it that there was a newcomer to Napa, who heard the fans go on in the night, got up in the dark, and thought that Napa Valley was being attacked by lots of low flying planes! While it does sound like a B-52 is in the back yard, I hope that they do not actually leave the ground!

Once more, looking around, it hit me with a vengeance; this is a winery that was tiny in 1979.  It saw an opportunity in the then nascent kosher wine market.  At that time they were the ONLY kosher wine producer in all of the USA, other than Manischewitz.  Of course, there were other wineries in France and around the world (Yarden and Tishbi were not yet in existence) producing kosher wine, but not many that were obviously visible to the common wine consumer.  Further, it was not even clear that there was a market for a kosher winery that produced high end noble wines.  Gan Eden winery would start in the 80s, along with Herzog, Yarden, and Tishbi.  I believe in many ways the fact that they were out there first, was a huge win for them.  Their market was not set on the kosher wine market, but rather on the high end wine consumer, be he a kosher wine consumer, or not!  This is the going theme when you talk with Stein, when he quite correctly and proudly tells me that that their wines have been served at the White House (starting in the Reagan administration) some 40 or more times.  They took their fledgling business to the next level, when they bought vineyards and created relationships with many of the best and coveted vineyards in Napa, thereby locking them up, and assuring them of a consistent grape quality.  Finally, they added the winery property, the tasting room, and now a first and third wine line, to help round out their portfolio, and make sure that no wine consumer is left behind.  This of course means an added risk, as they need to continue to find consumers, but they temper this new found opportunity, with smaller batches, and more marketing.  This is still a family run business, even after 30 years in the business.  Many a successful Napa Valley wineries, in recent time, has been snatched up by big brother.  Stein stressed that the winery has kept to its roots, even in the face of growing costs for land, grapes and skilled laborers, because of the free money styling of large corporations.  In a way, the recession has helped Napa valley to return to its roots, and forgo the lavish and over the top life styles and impact.  All told, quite a story for a winery that started the kosher wine theme, and continues to show its prowess and market leading skill and capability.

We then moved on to the winery, but I had to ask about the question, how can Hagafen boil their wine, and still make such a great product?  What – they boil their wine?  Why would anyone boil wine?  Well, the kosher wine market boils their wine to make it mevushal.  By making the wine mevushal, they can see their wins to Jews to be used at all occasions, where Jews and Non-Jews may be found.  Hagafen has been kosher since its introduction in 1979, and continues to be so still today.  Hagafen started, and was for many years, under the supervision of the KORC, Rabbi Traub out of San Francisco, and was not boiling his wine.  In the later 80s, under pressure from Herzog, Weinstock, and Gan Eden, they moved to the Triangle K supervision, which was not a high grade supervision, even at that time, but was a nationally recognized supervision, and they too did not require them to boil their wine.   However, as the kosher wine market started to take off in the 90s, and with Hagafen on the outside looking into the Orthodox kosher wine consumer (that did not accept the Triangle K); they switched to the OU kosher supervision.  OU required that they boil their wine, as they were still at the crush facility.  Once they moved into their new home in 2000, they continued to mevushal their wines (even though they did not require to), as the wines could then be bought by Jews for ceremonies that included non-Jews in it.  Stein was more than open and explained that they do of course boil their wine, but they do so very quickly and very EARLY in the process.  Hagafen and Herzog are the two big boys in the mevushal business.  Their wines are some of the few that can handle the early boil, and yet continue to age and improve in the bottle.  Of course, the true humor is that, mevushal is a loophole created by the Rabbis during the temple times, to limit Jews from interacting with non-Jews, because the quality was so bad, and no self respecting person would drink boiled wine!  Now that technology and processes have improved mevushal wine quality, and made them almost equal to their non-boiled brethren, I wonder if those Rabbis would still allow the mevushal loophole.  Tangent aside, many wineries in France boil their grape must to remove the green notes from their wines that are so prevalent in the sun depraved Bordeaux and Burgundy regions.  Stein showed us the “mevushaler” that is capable of taking the wine from its barrel temperature to a boiling point, and then back to the barrel temperature, in less than 2 seconds.  That was one really cool piece of hardware, and clearly not what they had 20 years ago, let alone 3 thousand years ago, when mevushal was enacted.  After, showing us that, I asked where the bottling machine was.  The answer was the same one that many wineries use; they use a mobile bottling unit.  The mobile bottling unit is a great idea, it lowers the winery’s upfront cost, and it can be done in a quick and complete manner, quite a nice piece of technology.  Of course, the mobile bottler needs to be cleaned and “kashered” (made kosher), by pushing boiling water through the whole system, which Stein says they do not care.  As long as you do not break their unit, they could care less.

As we walked through the barrel room and took in the smells of fresh ripe fruit and oak, we started to discuss the business of wine, the Hagafen wine portfolio, and their wine clubs.  In 1979 Hagafen started their winery with a single label.  They added wines to the main line portfolio, but stayed true to their line and added grew the SKU, by adding grapes, vineyards, and varietals.  Cabernet Sauvignon and Riesling may have been how Hagafen started, but they quickly added many more noble varietals, such as Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Franc, Syrah, Merlot, and Chardonnay.  In 2004, Hagafen had the chance to lock down some wonderful vineyards, and to acquire the grapes that would allow them to add a reserve level wine to their portfolio, that goes by the name Prix.  The black label has an image of the new wine tasting enter on it, along with the vineyard from where the grapes are sourced.  The Prix line started with the label seen here, and has grown to as many as 8 or more varietal.  In 2006 they added yet another label, this one being the lower level line of the portfolio, Don Ernesto.  There are three wines in the Don Ernesto line.  A Vin Gris Rosé, a white wine mélange called Collage, and a red wine mélange called Ernesto.  The line is not advertised as being kosher (though it is of course), is only available at the winery, and its two mélange’s makeup are a closely kept secret, that I could not pry from Josh, no matter how hard or persuasively I tried.  But more than anything the final line in the portfolio is more about being fun and effervescent with the wines, both from the colorful labels and website, to the styling of the wines.  Please do not take that as a slight or even think that these wines are not ready to handle your food, on the contrary, these are wines that are “entry level”, but far surpass the common level wines of most wineries today.

Hagafen may well have had the earliest kosher wine club in the entire world, but for sure in America at least.  They started their wine club in 1981, once again showing true entrepreneurship in the kosher wine business.  When they added the Prix line, they added a new wine club that would best showcase the reserve wines as well.  With the three lines securely cemented, a growing number of varietals, unique desert wines, a history that many a Napa Valley winery would be envious of, and a winemaker in Weir that is passionate about not only the wine, but the presentation as well.  With where Hagafen is today, along with its kosher supervision and their world class mevushal process, Hagafen is poised to continue to create world class kosher and mevushal wines that are enjoyed the world around by kosher and non-kosher minded people alike.  When asked why Mr. Weir decided to make his winery kosher in 1979?  Stein replied, that Ernie got into wine because he likes to grow things–that’s what’s always been a primary interest of his; he went for wine because he grew up in a household where wine was regularly served, not seen as something saved only for special occasions.  He went with kosher because at the time, Napa was making a name for itself (this was post -1976, after all), but no one was making wine with a kosher aspect to it.  Ernie felt then and still feels today that the religious aspects of wine, its relationship to the core of Judaism make it an important product to be involved with.

We would like to truly thank Josh Stein, Ernie Weir, Lola the cat, the frog, and the rest of the Hagafen staff for taking the time to show us around, explain the winery’s mantra to us, and the chance to taste many wonderful wines to boot.  Thanks so much, and best wishes for further successes in the future.  The wines notes follow below, in the order that the wines were tasted:

2007 Prix Reserve Sauvignon Blanc Moskowite Ranch: Block 53, Napa Valley – Score: A-
The nose on this light gold colored wine is popping with honeysuckle, papaya, grapefruit, and pineapple.  The mouth on this medium bodied wine has fresh papaya, pineapple, and honeysuckle.  The mid palate has bright acidity, oak, and cut grass.  The finish is long and layered with bright fruit, oak, and cut grass.

2008 Don Ernesto Vin Gris Rose, Napa Valley – Score: B+
The nose on this intense rose colored wine, is bright with raspberry, cherry, delightful fresh strawberry aromas, and a bit of floral notes to boot.  The mouth on this light to medium bodied wine is refreshing with rich cherry, strawberry, and raspberry.  The mid palate is acidic, with a touch of spice.  The finish is long and lovely with concentrated red fruit and a touch of tart cherries.

2008 Don Ernesto’s Collage White Table Wine, North Coast – Score: B+
The nose on this straw colored wine has honeysuckle, grapefruit, rich papaya, peach, and apricot.  The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine has rich peach, apricot, and grapefruit.  The mid palate is balanced with acidity and fruit.  The finish is long with peach and a touch of oak.  The wine is rich and bright, and a great wine for a hot summer day.

2006 Don Ernesto Crescendo!, Napa Valley – Score: B+ – A-
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine is hopping with rich raspberry, a hint of blackberry, kirsch cherry, and oak.  The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine is concentrated with soft tannins, rich cherry and raspberry.  The mid palate is balanced with acid and integrated tannins.  The finish is long with more cherry, chocolate and a hint of leather.  This is quite a nice bottle of wine for any wine line, let alone the lowest one.  This wine easily stands above other starting line wins of other wineries.

2008 Hagafen Pinot Noir, Napa Valley – Score: B+ – A-
The nose on this dark ruby colored wine is hopping with cherry, raspberry, kirsch, violet, oak, and smoke.  The mouth on this medium bodied wine is filled with raspberry, strawberry, and soft tannins.  The mid palate is acidic with oak and light tannins.  The finish is long with integrated tannins, acid, spice, pepper, and oak.  A nice Pinot Noir that will pair well with lamb and roasted fowl.

2007 Hagafen Cabernet Franc, Napa Valley (96% Cab Franc, 4% Merlot) – Score: A-
This is Hagafen’s second release of a single varietal Cabernet Franc, the other one being the 1996 vintage.  We really loved the 1996 vintage, but this one was even better, though it has been around 10 years since we last tasted it.  The nose on this dark garnet to black colored wine showed a bit of floral notes, along with a bunch of rich and ripe raspberry, black cherry, plum, and spicy oak.  The mouth on this full bodied wine is filled with plum, raspberry, and black cherry in a concentrated package that keeps coming at you.  The mid palate is packed with balancing acidity, tobacco, spicy oak, and nice tannins.  The finish is long with chocolate, fig, vanilla, rich ripe fruit, spicy oak, and pepper.  Quite a lovely Cabernet Franc that will age well for at least a few more years.

2005 Hagafen Prix Mélange, Napa Valley - Score: A
This is one of those classical WOW wines, a wine that keeps coming at you from the time that you smell it, through the time that you  fully consume it, quite a monster and a joy.  The nose on this black colored wine is packed with rich and ripe black fruit, blackberry, plum, cranberry, smoke, bacon, and rich chocolate, an aromatic vapor filled bottle of joy.  The mouth on this massive full bodied wine is crammed with layers upon layers of concentrated and rich blackberry, cassis, along with big tannins.  The mid palate flows off the mouth and carries the rich and concentrated black fruit, along with an acidic backbone, chocolate, more tannins, and leather.  The finish is long with rich fruit, chocolate, leather, and a shake or two of pepper and spice.

The winery is managed by Uri Kaplan, who runs the day-to-day operations of the winery, while the wine making duties are left to the capable hands of French trained Doron Rav Hon.  Doron has been part of the winery since its inception, and his handiwork is all over the wine itself.  The wine’s signature flavors are clear with every sip.  There is no overripe fruit, clobbering oak, or under ripe green characteristics, that dominate many of the wines in Israel and the world alike now a days.  Instead, Doron’s wines are all well balanced wines that do take advantage of the sun and valley’s cool nights.  He uses French oak predominately, which allows for a more subtle wine expression, and thereby giving the grapes a chance to show their true quality, without screaming it from the rooftop.  When talking with critics and wine experts alike about Ella Valley, the word that comes up is consistency and elegance.  The reds and whites alike are consistently elegant, while keeping to winery’s credo – of traditional elegance with a twist modernization.

So when we drove up to the winery, we were not surprised to find that very credo staring us in the face.  The winery’s lovely traditional structure and facade, was quietly wrapping its modern inner workings.  We were super honored to meet with Doron himself, and he was kind to show us around the winery before, sitting down to a superb wine tasting.  The conversation was varied and fascinating; from discussions around kashrut to Doron’s wine making philosophy.  The wine tasting was equally varied from an Unoaked Chardonnay all the way to a blockbuster Merlot and everything else in between.  If you had to point to a single varietal that defines Ella Valley – it would have to be Merlot.  From 2002 and on, Ella Valley’s Merlot(s) have been the top scoring and most sinewy yet refined wines in their portfolio.  Nothing about our wine tasting changed that perspective, except for the fact that they continue to show exactness and gentle prodding on all of the wines in their fine portfolio.

Most of the conversation, when not on kashrut (one of my current hot buttons) revolved around wineries and viticulture.  Ella Valley has a long history of scientific precision when it comes to their vineyards.  They planted them with exacting precision (using Napa Valley technology), and continue to tend to them with the same exacting tenacity.  I am always fascinated by how Israel with such a varied climate, can be considered a Mediterranean climate, and one that should be mimicking the viticultural likeness of Spain or Italy.  Some wineries in Israel are producing overripe wines and some are producing green styled wines.  Though some of these wineries may have their own vineyards, I do not think that they have the precision, exactness, and knowledge that Ella Valley and the king – Yarden Winery have.   Ella Valley has the great fortune to not only closely control their vineyard, but they are also close enough the vineyard, such that they can control how and when the harvest is carried out.  Looking at the track record of Ella Valley, one is almost sure that they will soon be knocking on Spain’s and Italy’s door, to claim their stake as one of the top wine producers in the Mediterranean countries.

I want to thank Doron, Uri, and the rest of the Ella Valley vineyard for taking the time to meet with us and entertain us with their wines and time.  The wine notes follow below in the order they were drunk:

2007 Ella Valley Unoaked Chardonnay – Score: B+
The nose on this straw colored wine is filled with lychee, grapefruit, lemon, and vegetal notes.  The mouth on this medium bodied wine is filled with bright and ripe grapefruit and lychee.  The mid palate is packed with bright acidity.  The finish is long and tart with ripe citrus fruit and mineral notes.

2007 Ella Valley Chardonnay – Score: A-
This was really fun to taste in parallel with the unoaked Chardonnay.  The effect of the oak comes through clearly and with great effect!  The nose on this light golden colored wine is alive with toasty and rich oak, peach, honeydew, and crème brûlée.  The mouth on this full bodied wine is rich and mouth coating while not being an oak bomb.  The mouth is rich with ripe peach and honeydew flavors.  The mid palate is balanced with enough acidity, oak, and crème.  The finish is long with spice, rich fruit, and oak.  Quite a nice wine and what a difference some oak can do!  To be clear though, the grapes used in the unoaked chardonnay are not exactly the same used in this wine, as this wine has grapes from a newer vineyard.

2007 Ella Valley Cabernet Franc – Score: A-
The nose on this purple colored wine starts with classical vegetal notes, raspberry, blackberry, sweet oak, and tobacco.  The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine has caressing tannins and rich oak that almost coat the mouth, along with blackberry and raspberry.  The mid palate is balanced and gives way to a long and generous finish of blackberry, raspberry, licorice, and tobacco.  Quite a nice Cabernet Franc and yet more proof that Cabernet Franc may yet be Israel’s signature wine.

2005 Ella Valley Merlot (35% – 40% new oak, 16 months in barrel) – Score: A
This wine is not part of the VC (Vineyard Choice or Reserve) line, but once again showing that Merlot from Ella Valley is never a bad choice.  The nose on this black colored wine is popping with rich loam, spice, a hint of green pepper, blackberry, raspberry, and oak.  The mouth on this muscular full bodied wine is open with caressing tannins, blackberry, cranberry, and rich oak.  The mid palate carries the oak and adds a bit of chocolate.  The finish is long and generous, with blackberry, spice, and a hint chocolate.  This is a powerful and thick shouldered wine that makes use of its oak, while showing its fruit qualities, and one that can be enjoyed with almost any dish.

2005 Ella Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Vineyard Choice (10% Merlot) – Score: A-
The nose on this purple to black colored wine is super rich and odoriferous with ripe blackberry, cassis, green pepper, sweet oak, and toasty wood.  The mouth on this full bodied wine is ripe, but not overripe, with blackberry, cassis, and a bit of green flavors.  The mid palate is balanced with acid, oak, integrating tannins, and chocolate.  The finish is long, with chocolate, cassis, and nice ripe fruit.  This wine is reminiscent of a California Cabernet Sauvignon, but more refined.

2004 Ella Valley Merlot Vineyard Choice (15% Cabernet Sauvignon) – Score: A
The nose on this purple to black colored wine is ripe with blackberry, raspberry, vegetal aromas, and sweet oak.  The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine has lovely mouth caressing from integrated tannins, along with blackberry, and cassis. The mid palate is balanced with nice tannins and oak.  The finish is long with red and black fruit, slight vegetal flavors, and a pull of rich tobacco.

We met Paul Dobb – the head winemaker, at around 8AM in the morning, and we moved upstairs to the understated but quite lovely tasting room that overlooks the ancient wine press.  Paul said, he has plans to spruce up the winery with a deck and a tasting bar, which sounds nice, but I found the current setup quite enjoyable.  The winery is growing since we last visited them, and they are releasing new single varietals.  The first new varietal is the 2007 Pinot Noir.  A lovely French Burgundy look-alike with Israeli attitude.  Besides the new Pinot Noir, Tzuba is shipping some of their wines to the USA through Royal Wines (the largest importer of kosher wines).  Tzuba has sold all of last year’s wines except for their top of the line Metzuda series, which they are in no real rush to sell to distributors, because it is a wine that is just coming into its own, and has more life left in it.  So, the 2005 vintage of the Metzuda blend can be found both locally in the US and in Israel, while the rest of the lineup, which is long and impressive are only available locally in Israel.

The lineup, which is visible at their website, is quite impressive, with a nice variety of both red and white wines.  When we were last there we had a chance to taste a few of the white wines.  This time around, the white wines were from shmitta (2008 vintage), and so we did not partake of them.  The vines that Paul helped to plant in 1996 are growing well, and the varietals are now starting to show quite nicely.  The Sangiovese is starting to come around, the Pinot Noir is now solid enough to stand on its own and not be plowed into the Red Belmont (their table wine).  Their noble varieties have been solid since day one, Cabernet, Merlot, and Shiraz.  I am really looking forward to the day when they start selling Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.  Till then we will be more than satisfied with the current crop of red options.  The white wines are a different story.  Beyond the Chardonnay (both late and normal harvest), none of the whites are standing on their own.  The winery plants many white varieties, but none of have yet to be sold on their own – Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon are blended into the White Belmont.  Viognier is lurking, but not yet bottled into anything.  Though we did not taste the Chardonnay this time, the last time we tasted the 2006 vintage, it was quite lovely.  We tasted the 2007 White Belmont at the Jerusalem Wine Festival, and were equally impressed by its tart yet ripe flavors.  Either way, both the red and white wines from Tzuba will keep many a wine connoisseur quite happy.

When talking with Paul while tasting some wonderful wines, he explained to us that the winery’s mantra is about creating value based world class wines.  To that point the wines are priced reasonably within Israel, while in the US, the prices are a bit higher, but that is more about the importer than Tzuba.  Currently, Tzuba is producing 40,000 to 50,000 bottles a year, and they are planting new vineyards to allow them to grow the winery.  On an aside, Kibbutz Tzuba, will be ripping up their fruit trees and replacing them with grape vines, according to the Jerusalem Post.  This is not because of the increased interest in grapes and wine, but rather because of the increased concern over water shortages within Israel.  As the article states, grape vines need a tenth or less of the water required for fruit trees, and since grapes can fetch at least as much on the open market, they will be replacing their fruit trees with grape vines.  I just thought that would be interesting to report.  On the way out of our wine tasting, I took some pictures of the current vines (in the distance), and the fruit trees right next to them.

I want thank Paul and the Tzuba Winery for taking the time to meet with us and to show us how far the winery has come and a wonderful glimpse into its flourishing future.  The wines notes follow below in the order they were tasted:

2007 Tzuba Tel Tzuba Pinot Noir – Score: A-
The nose on this garnet colored wine is reminiscent of a terroir based Burgundy.  The nose is hopping with rich minerals, cherry, strawberry, and a bit of sweetness like Cherry Herring.  The mouth on this medium bodied wine is rich with loamy soil, strawberry, and cherry.  The mid palate is acidic in nature, with more loamy soil, and a touch of coffee.  The finish is long with bright red fruit and spice.  Quite a nice Pinot Noir and one that I hope is exported to the US.

2007 Tzuba Tel Tzuba Cabernet Sauvignon – Score: B+
The nose on this garnet colored wine has cherry, cranberry, raspberry, spice, and oak.  The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine has cranberry and plum that lead into a mid palate of oak, balancing acid, and nice integrating tannins.  The finish is long with tannins that coat the mouth and linger long on the palate, along with more spice.

2007 Tzuba Tel Tzuba Shiraz – Score: A-
The nose on this purple colored wine is redolent with pepper, tar, cassis, blackberry, and oak.  The mouth on this full bodied wine follows the nose with blackberry and cassis.  The mid palate has tar, tannins, and tobacco.  The finish is long with elegant tannins, tobacco, and black fruit.  Quite a nice Shiraz that is sure to impress.

2006 Tzuba Hametzuda (75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Malbec) - Score: A-
The nose on this black colored wine is deep and brooding with blackberry, oak, and flinty loam.  The mouth on this full bodied wine is deep, brooding, complex, and mouth coating with inky blackberry, cassis, and chocolate.  The mid palate is balanced with oak and tannin.  The finish is long and spicy, with acid, tannin, tobacco, and pepper.  This can be drunk now, but one that will be best enjoyed in a year or so.

I arrived at 3 PM and started tasting the French wines.  This year they had more verticals than they had last year, but they also had fewer French wines that were top notch than last year.  Also, a few of the bottles on the French table and many more around the whole event were oxidized or corked.  Either way, about 6 to 9 bottles overall had to be pulled, or were not right, which is a shame.  The French wines that were not oxidized were also not knockouts.  That is except for the usual French suspects of — Pontet Canet and Chateau Guiraud Sauternes.  The stars of last year were either no shows or DOA.

1. Yatir was a no show
2. Segal was a no show
3. Castel C was there, but the 2003 vintage, which is not available.  Kind of makes you wonder what they thought about the 2006 vintage, if they did not want to bring it.
4. Chateau Smith-Haut-Lafitte Pessac-Leognan was a no show
5. Francois Labet Puligny-Montrachet 2002 – which was last year’s star, was oxidized.
6. The Meursault Premeir Cru – was also oxidized or corked.
7. Carmel and all of their wonderful single vineyard and appellation wines were a no show
8. Finally, the 2005 Capcanes Peraj Ha’abib, Flor de Primavera tasted fine but was oxidized on the nose to the point of not being able to enjoy it.  Same goes for the Binyamina Ruby Syrah – which was a major hit the last time I tasted it.

With all the misses, there were a ton of hits including the awesome food made by Todd Aarons, chef of the winery’s Tierra Sur Restaurant.  The food was incredible, from pulled duck Gnocchi, to lamb bacon, to chicken mole.  You name it, it was there.  Essentially, the menu of the Tierra Sur restaurant was open to the guests – which was quite a treat.

So I want to thank the winery for being such gracious hosts and putting on a fabulous show.  The wines were wonderful, and the food was to die for.  The wine notes follow below:

2002 Chateau De La Tour Clos – Vougeot – Score: B+
This is a wine that needs a TON of air. I tasted this once an hour after opening and again another hour later, and the mouth turned from flat and light bodied to tannic and medium bodied.

The nose on this electric ruby colored wine is floral in nature, with hint of oak, heavy classical Bordeaux dirt and earth. The mouth on this light to medium bodied wine has cherry and raspberry. The mid palate is fruity and tannic that flows into a long and spicy finish with bracing acidity and oak.

2003 Chateau Labegorce Margaux – Score: B-
The nose on this dark garnet wine is filled with dirt, cranberry, oak, cherry, and raspberry. The mouth on this light to medium bodied wine is highly tannic with raspberry, cherry, and oak. The mid palate is acidic and light which flows into a long finish of red fruit and acid.

2005 Barons Edmund & Benjamin de Rothschild, Haut Medoc – Score: B-
The nose on this garnet colored wine is filled with earth and dirt, raspberry, and oak. The mouth on this medium bodied wine has raspberry and cherry notes. The mid palate is tannic with exaggerated tannins that will need a fair amount of time to mellow out. The finish is long with tannin, acidity, and red fruit.

2004 Chateau Malartic Lagraviere Pessac Leognan – Score: B+
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine is a classical Bordeaux nose with rich dirt, raspberry, currants, eucalyptus, and hot out of the bottle. The mouth on this full bodied wine is mouth coating from the rich tannins. The mouth starts with currants, cherry, and raspberry. The mid palate starts with rich sweet oak and balancing acidity, and flows into a finish that is long with more rich oak, acidity, and tobacco notes.

2001 Chateau Leoville Poyferre Saint Julien – Score: B+
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine is oaky, with blackberry, cherry, and cranberry. The mouth on this full bodied wine is red in nature with cranberry, raspberry, and cherry. The mid palate is starkly tannic who have yet to integrate. The finish is long with red fruit, oak, and more tannin.

2004 Barons Edmund & Benjamin de Rothschild, Haut Medoc – Score: B – B+
The nose on this garnet colored wine is filled with raspberry, blackberry, currants, oak, and cloves. The mouth on this medium bodied wine carries the fruit from the nose over with more red fruit of currant and raspberry. The mid palate is tannic with harsh tannins. The finish is long with more oak and tannin. This is a nice wine, not withstanding its mevushal status.

2003 Chateau Leoville Poyferre Saint Julien – Score: A
The nose on this garnet to black colored wine is huge with blackberry, cassis, cranberry, eucalyptus, and cloves. The mouth on this full bodied and crazy bold black wine is mouth coating with sticky tannin. The mouth starts with blackberry, cassis, figs, and anise. The mid palate is boldly tannic, with oak and coffee. The finish is long and astonishing with balance of oak, coffee, chocolate, and more tannin. This wine continues to impress and is a dense black wine with complex layers of black fruit, tannin, coffee, and chocolate. Impressive, but still too tannic.

2002 Chateau Leoville Poyferre Saint Julien – Score: B
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine is hot to start but that blows off after a few hours, along with cassis, cranberry, oak, and allspice. The mouth of this full bodied wine is tannic with cranberry and cassis. The mid palate is acidic, oaky, and tannic. The finish is long with a heady mix of tannin, core acidity, and a nice balance of rich oak. A nice wine, but one I think that is either sleeping now or again a bad bottle.

2003 Barons Edmund & Benjamin de Rothschild, Haut Medoc – Score: B+
The nose on this dark garnet wine is a classic and savory Bordeaux nose with cassis, raspberry, loads of dirt and earth, and nice oak. The mouth on this full bodied wine is a friendly mouth that is sweet and flavorful with cassis, raspberry, and rich oak. The mid palate is acidic with bracing tannins that flow into a long tannic finish of raspberry fruit, more acidity, and a hint of coffee.

2004 Chateau Le Crock Saint Estephe – Score: B+
The color on this deep and dark garnet colored wine is filled with cranberry, blackberry, raspberry, and cloves. The mouth on this full bodied wine is red in nature with flavors of cranberry, raspberry, and cassis. The mouth flows into the mid palate with nice tannic structure, cloves, coffee, and oak. The finish is long with more oak and tannin. This is a heavy tannic wine that will mellow over time and will improve with air.

2003 Chateau Pontet – Canet Pauillac – Score: A+
The color on this Bordeaux is deep garnet to black. The nose on this massive Bordeaux is chock full of graphite, cassis, blackberry, cloves, oak, and raspberry. This is a massive wine with complex layers of cassis, blackberry, and cloves. The mouth is still rich in tannin and like last year, it is still massive but the chocolate has moved to the back and the oak and tannin have moved into the fore front. The finish is expressively long and rich with coffee, chocolate, oak, and one that lasts long on your mouth with acidity from nice black fruit. This may have been the best bottle of the festival and could well be one of the best kosher wines out there. This wine is so nice because it does not have rich California oak, but it does have a rich palate of oak, tannin, and nice black fruit.

2002 Francois Labet Meursault – Score: A
In the end this was the only drinkable French white Burgundy at the festival, which was a shame. That said this one was quite nice. The nose on this light straw colored wine was jumping with lemon, custard, creamy oak, peach, apple, and somehow also crisp – quite a wonderful nose. The mouth was popping and beautifully expressive with acidity and rich fruit of peach, apple, pear, lemon, and apricot. The mid palate is rich with oak and core acidity. The finish was long with lemon custard, rich oak, and nice cidity that puts a bow on this wonderful and classical white Burgundy.

2006 Rashi Barbera d’ Alba – Score: B – B+
This was a nice and a good showing for Rashi, which is great because the last time I had a Rashi wine it was oxidized and over the hill. This is a nice Barbera with the usual acidity and light tannins along with light oak, but a nice balanced wine. The nose on this garnet colored wine has notes of cranberry, blackberry, cherry, and light whiffs of oak. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is nice and earthy with cranberry, and raspberry. The mid palate has classic Barbera acidity, with bracing yet integrated tannins, and hints of oak. The finish is long and spicy with fresh red fruit acidity. This is a nice balanced wine of red and black fruit, acidity, and a hint of oak and integrating tannin.

2004 Rashi Barolo – Score: B
The nose on the light garnet colored wine is earthy with cranberry, cherry, plum, eucalyptus, and hints of oak. The mouth of this medium bodied wine is busy with cranberry and cherry. The mid palate is balanced but not rich with tannin, acid, and light oak. The finish is medium with oak, acidity, and cloves. The wine is not a winner to me, but it is better than the 2000 vintage which was horrible recently.

2004 Gamla Chardonnay – Score: B – B+
The nose on this light straw colored wine is bright with lemon, peach, pear, and sage. The mouth on this medium bodied wine carries the nose’s fruit with bright acidity that flows into a long and spicy finish with more peach and lemon acidity. This is a nice bright Chardonnay that is not one of those oak bombs. It is balanced with just a touch of oak that gives the wine its’ spicy finish, but does not define it.

2007 Gamla Sauvignon Blanc – Score: B
The nose on this pale gold colored wine is crisp and herbaceous with grass, lemon, and apple. The mouth on this light to medium bodied wine is acidic in a very unbalanced way. It throws the mouth of apple, lemon, and grass way off and really kills it. The acidity is front and center in the mid palate as it flows into a finish that is bright with more herbaceous flavors and lingering lemon grass flavors on your palate.

2007 Barkan Sauvignon Blanc Reserve – Score: B+
The nose on this gold straw colored wine is strikingly bright and herbaceous with custard, lemon, and peach. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is spicy and crisp with peach, apples, and minerals. The mid palate is balanced with oak, acidity, and herbs, which is really nice on a Sauvignon Blanc. The wine is still bright and fruity, but the oak adds a bit of spiciness that helps to lift the fruit flavor and balance the wine out quite nicely. The finish is long and spicy with lemon acidity that stays on your palate long after the wine is gone. This is a nice showing for an oaked Sauvignon Blanc.

2003 Castel ‘C’ Blanc – Score: A
I must say that this is probably one of the best Castel ‘C’ I have ever tasted, a real winner, and a shock to see it at the festival, as the 2006 vintage is the current vintage on the market. The nose on this straw to golden colored wine is truly lovely with peach, custard, eucalyptus, and allspice. The mouth of this medium to full bodied wine is packed and herbaceous with peach, green apple, lemon, and eucalyptus. The mid palate is bracing with nice acidity and oak that is not over the top. The finish is long and spicy, with oak, lemon custard, and sage. This is a real nice wine that is an example of a white Burgundy done correctly outside of France.

2005 Castel Grand Vin – Score: A
This is one of my favorite wines in Israel, a powerful yet elegant wine that makes you think it comes from a Chateau in France. The nose on this garnet black colored wine is filled with graphite, cassis, plum, blackberry, and sage. The mouth on this full bodied wine is black in nature and not over oaked or overly tannic, with cassis, dark plum and blackberry. The mid palate has a nice balance of acidity, oak, and not yet integrated tannins. The tannins have a few more years in them till they settle down and let the oak play around. Till then they will control the mid palate, but the acidity and oak will have a supporting role. The finish is long with coffee, oak, herbs, and a hint of chocolate. This is another excellent wine by Eli Ben Zaken.

2007 Goose Bay Pinot Gris – Score: B – B+
The nose on this straw colored wine has guava pear, and sage. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is fruity and acidic with pear, guava, and sweet wood. The mid palate is balanced with nice acidity and fruit. The finish is long with a bit more sweet wood and crisp flavors of lemongrass. A nice showing for this Pinot Gris.

2006 Goose Bay Chardonnay – Score: B+
I must say that this chardonnay is not your run of the mill chard. The fruit on this chard is almost perfumed because of its intensity and the wine is nicely balanced. The nose on this bright straw colored wine is perfumed with rich peach and tropical fruit. The mouth on this medium bodied wine carried the perfumed qualities from the nose along with apple, peach, and lemon. The mid palate is acidic with a touch of minerals. The finish is long with a hint of oak and more tropical fruit acidity. The oak helps to round out the mouth, while the acidity helps to brace the fruit defined mouth.

2007 Goose Bay Sauvignon Blanc – Score: B+ – A-
The nose on this light straw colored wine is heady and crisp with lemongrass, hay, and gooseberry. The mouth on the light to medium bodied wine is perfumed with bright and rich lemon and peach fruit. The mid palate is acidic with fresh fruit and lemon grass. The finish is nice with more grass and fruit flavors that linger on the palate. The wine is a really nice crisp, fruity, and grassy wine that would go quite nicely with sushi or other light fish or fowl meals.

2007 Goose Bay Pinot Noir – Score: B+
This wine has not changed much at all from my last tasting.

The nose on this dark ruby colored wine is filled with earth, cherry, raspberry, and oak.  The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine is almost velvety with cherry and raspberry flavors.  The mid palate has integrated tannins, earth, and nice acidity.  The finish is long with more acidity and earth.  Yet another nice wine by Goose Bay Winery.  The wine has a surprising mouth feel and overall structure.  This is a keeper for sure.

2007 Alfasi Pinot Noir Reserve – Score: B – B+
The nose on this bright ruby colored wine is packed with white pepper, raspberry, and tart cherry. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is heavy with cherry, raspberry, earthy dirt, and mineral. The mid palate is tannic given its young age and leads into a nice finish of tart cherry, white pepper, and strawberry acidity.

2007 Bodegas Flechas de los Andes, Gran Malbec – Score: B+
This was a real nice find, as I have yet to taste it, but heard nice things about it on the forums. The nose of this purple colored wine is popping with pepper, blackberry, plum, and spice. The mouth of this medium bodied wine has blackberry, plum, and figs. The mid palate is tannic with just enough acidity. The finish is nice with black fruit acidity, pepper, along with a dollop of leather.

2007 Capcanes Peraj Petita – Score: B+
The nose on this bright ruby red color is hot out of the bottle, along with a dollop of white pepper, cranberry, cherry, and red plum. The mouth of this medium bodied wine is fleshy at times and more subdued at other times. The wine is fleshier as it opens, and then mellows out as the wine airs further. The mouth is red with cranberry, cherry, plum, and cola flavors that cascade into a nice mid palate of tannin, light oak and nice acidity. The finish is long with tannin and oak and a hint of leather.

2006 Herzog Special Reserve Russian River Chardonnay – Score: B+
The nose on this gold straw colored wine is filled with perfumed fruit of peach, pear, apples, and lemon. The mouth of this medium to full bodied wine is packed with fresh and bright fruit flavors. The rich mouth starts with peach, pear, and apple along with a vibrant mouth feel that flows into a nice balanced mid palate with acidity and semi rich oak. The finish is long and buttery with nice oak and bright peach and pear acidity. A nice California Chardonnay. This wine is so different from the New Zealand Chardonnay and the white Burgundy. It is really funny how the flavors differ with the same varietal but different regions.

2005 Herzog Cabernet/Zinfandel/Syrah Special Reserve – Score: B+ – A-
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine is bursting with sweet and rich oak, cranberry, blackberry, raspberry, and spices. The mouth on this rich and complex wine comes from the 66% Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Watts “old vine” Zinfandel, and 3% Edna Valley Syrah. The rich and structured black fruit emanates from the Cabernet fruit; the Zinfandel gives the wine its fruity red flavors, while the syrah grapes give the wine its spicy structure. The rich and complex mouth structure starts with cranberry, cassis, and cloves and flows into an oaky and acidic core that is balanced with a nice amount of tannin. The finish is long and oaky with a nice dollop of tannin and spice that makes this one of my favorite wines. The wine is red and black, rich and complex, layered and spicy all at the same time.

2004 Herzog Syrah Special Reserve – Score: A-
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine is packed with pepper, blackberry, cassis, and herbs. The mouth on this full bodied wine is rich with blackberry, cassis, and rich perfumed oak. The mid palate is oaky and tannic. The finish is long and luxurious with chocolate, leather, oak, and spice. This is one really nice syrah that is peppery, and black with nice leather, oak, and tannin along with an unexpected chocolate traveler.

2005 Herzog Syrah Special Reserve – Score: B+
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine is packed with pepper, sweet cranberry, blackberry, and oak. The mouth on this full bodied wine is fruity with cassis, cranberry, and pepper. The mid palate is oaky with bracing acidity and coffee flavors. The finish is long with chocolate, pepper, and coffee. This is not as full bodied and rich as the 2004 vintage, but a fine bottle as the same.

2005 Herzog Chalk Hill Warnecke Special Edition Cabernet Sauvignon – Score: A-
The nose on this garnet to black colored wine is rich with oak, cassis, cranberry, pencil shavings, and chocolate. The mouth on this wine is nice oak, cassis, blackberry, raspberry, and cloves. The mid palate is super oaky with acid and massive tannin. The finish is long with a nice chunk of chocolate, coffee, rich oak, light leather and still hopping tannin. The wine is a really impressive California Cabernet with a massive chocolate, coffee, oak, and fruit laden complexity that meld together quite nicely.

2006 Covenant Red C Napa Valley – Score: A
This was the winner to me between this wine and its bigger brother – Covenant. The nose on this dark garnet colored wine is hopping with pepper, blackberry, cassis, and oak. The mouth is massively tannic and highly extracted with rich blackberry, cassis, and cranberry fruit, along with pepper and spice. The mid palate of this brooding wine is more tannin, oak, and chocolate. The finish is long with heavy tannins, oak, and crazy rich fruit. This is a tightly wound bundle of tannin, fruit, chocolate, and pepper that has yet to truly work out their differences, but one that is sure to shine in a year or two.

2006 Covenant Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley – Score: A-
The last time we tasted this massive and brooding Cabernet, it was chocolate laden with ripe fruit and complex structure. This time around, the chocolate was basically a no show and the complexity was slowly ebbing away into a more elegant Napa Cabernet than last year’s tasting.

The nose dark black colored wine is rich with coffee, blackberry, dark plum, and currants. The mouth of this full bodied wine is heavy with layers of blackberry, cassis, plum, and currants. The mid palate is oaky and tannic and flows into a long tannic finish with oak, coffee, and a hint of chocolate. This wine is more fruit forward and French than it is a Napa Cabernet, but it is still a nice wine. I am sure it has a few more life changing events in it, and it may well become once again a classic Napa Cabernet.

2006 Herzog Generation VIII Cabernet Sauvignon (To Kalon Vineyard) – Score: A
The previous vintages of this wine (the 2002 and 2004) were just the usual Napa fruit or Alexander Valley blended with Napa fruit from their usual Cabernet Reserve lines. This wine marks a new beginning for this label and is one which will endear itself to many of the Napa Valley fans out there. This vintage’s fruit hails 100% from the renowned To Kalon Vineyard in Napa Valley’s Oakville District. This was the wine’s coming out party, as it was released to the press and public for the first time ever at this show.

The nose on this dark garnet colored wine is spicy with cassis, blackberry, cloves, oak, and sage. The mouth of this massive and complex wine is bursting with dark fruit – blackberry, cassis, rich oak, and loads of spice tones. The mid palate is rich with extreme extraction, mounds of tannin, and oak. The finish is luxurious and long with oak, chocolate, and tannin. This wine is a highly extracting, spicy, oaky, chocolate wine that is massive and yet not overpowering, quite a masterpiece by Joe.

2005 Barkan Altitude Series 412 Cabernet Sauvignon – Score: B+
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine is red than it is black. The nose starts with currants, plum, blackberry, spice, and oak. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine is nice with currant, plum, blackberry, and anise. The mid palate is oaky and tannic with a dollop of chocolate. The finish is long with more oak, chocolate, and red fruit. A nice showing.

2005 Barkan Altitude Series 624 Cabernet Sauvignon – Score: B+
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine is a bit more black than the 412. The nose starts with cranberry, blackberry, cassis, and oak. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine is way too tannic. The tannin overpowers the palate, and will need time to calm down. Cranberry, blackberry, cassis, and oak are barely able to peek past the tannin curtain and join the party. The mid palate is again dominated by tannin along with oak and coffee. The finish is long with more oak, coffee, and black fruit flavors. The wine is nice, but will improve mightily with air and time.

The press release from Herzog Winery follows below:

In addition to the impressive line-up of wines, attendees will be treated to a mouth-watering selection of gourmet delicacies prepared by Chef Todd Aarons of Tierra Sur restaurant, located inside Herzog Wine Cellars. Tierra Sur has been highly praised by Los Angeles Times restaurant critic S. Irene Virbila, who dubbed Tierra Sur “one of the best restaurants in Ventura County.” This year, Chef Aarons will continue to dazzle diners with his Mediterranean-influenced cooking, which will be on display for all to eat throughout the festival.

This year we are excited to host special guest Daniel Rogov, Israel’s renowned wine critic. Mr. Rogov will be available for a book signing of his latest 2009 edition of Rogov’s Guide to Israeli Wines.

At the spacious, contemporary Herzog Wine Cellars, guests will not only be able to taste wines and enjoy dishes prepared by Chef Aarons and his staff, but they will also be able to view the winemaking facility, located about one hour north of downtown Los Angeles, a mile off Route 101 at the southern edge of Oxnard. For directions, please visit our website or contact me directly by phone or e-mail (see below).

Doors will open to the public at 7:00 p.m. For more information or to R.S.V.P., please call the Tasting Room at (805) 983-1560.

The International Food & Wine Festival at a glance:

Date: Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Location: Herzog Wine Cellars
3201 Camino Del Sol
Oxnard, CA 93030

Time: Doors open at 7:00 pm

Tickets:
$100 per person
$85 per person (for 2 or more tickets)
Herzog Wine Club members – $75 per person

Special Offer: For each pair of tickets purchased before January 30th, receive a complimentary copy of Daniel Rogov’s book.
Please call the tasting room at 805-983-1560 to purchase tickets.

It was a beautiful Sunday morning that had us driving up to the Four Gates Winery which is on top of a hill in the Santa Cruz Mountains.  The drive up the hill to the winery used to be a dirt road long ago, and with all the switch backs and the almost vertical climbs, it dumbfounds me how Binyamin (and many others who lived on the hilltop) ever drove up and down that mountain side many times a day.  Since then, the road has been paved and now by comparison, it feels like a highway.

As we drove to Santa Cruz we were greeted with the usual California traffic on a holiday weekend.  However, as we got further into and by Los Gatos, the road cleared up.  The drive in was truly beautiful for a couple of reasons.  First, I was not driving, a buddy of mine kindly agreed to drive us there.  Secondly, the day was just beautiful, and finally, as a passenger, it gave me a chance to look at the Santa Cruz Mountains long and hard with all the traffic!  Once we got the winery road, we drove up the hill and past the vineyard and to the winery itself.

The Four Gates Winery is owned, operated, run, and managed by a single man – Binyamin Cantz.  He is the chief and only winemaker, along with being the CEO, and sole vineyard manager.  Parenthetically, he is a man I am proud to call a friend and I state it here for full disclosure.  He has people help him every so often, which is great, but he is really the sole proprietor of Four Gates Winery.  Binyamin has been making wine for some 25 years now, more as a home winemaker to start, but that turned into a real passion for wine some 17 years ago, when he planted the vineyard.  The vineyard is planted on a lovely hillside with views (far away views) of the Pacific Ocean and parts of Santa Cruz.  In 1997 he released his inaugural vintage, which was a success, and to this day, some 11 years later, his 1997 Merlot is still quite lovely.

We met Binyamin in his house where he was cleaning out glasses for the wine tasting.  The house is a rustic home rebuilt recently with exposed roof beams and original wood floors.  Binyamin built his winery with his own hands and it is quite an ingenious layout.  The winery is built on a hillside with no sun direct exposure, as it is surrounded by large mature trees.  The winery building has two floors.  The top floor is where the crush and press occur for the wines and where the fermentation occurs for the red wines, the Chardonnay is fermented in barrels below (sur lie).  It is also used for bottle labeling after they are filled downstairs, and is a general storage for previous year vintages.  The ground floor is dug into the hillside and is cool in the hot summer days.  This is the perfect place to let sleeping wine lie, and as such, it is the winery’s barrel room.  After crush or press, Binyamin funnels the wine to the barrel room via gravity into the stainless steel settling tank.  From there it can be pumped into any of the barrels or smaller tanks, for whatever the situation calls for.  Once the particular varietal is finished living in its woodsy confines, the wine is blended in the tank before bottling.

We followed Binyamin into the fields to look at the Pinot Noir, Merlot and Cabernet Franc vines.  The Pinot Noir was already picked in part, at this time (Labor Day weekend), but the vineyard was alive with the smell of fruit and clippings.  All around the vines, Binyamin had let lay the clippings of the green grapes, exuberant grape leaves, and prunings.  More and more vineyard managers are crafting their grapes to meet the need of the winemaker’s vision.  It may be in the interest of getting more sun on the fruit to get more tannin, color, and bigger flavor.  It may be the need to pare back slightly on the vine’s exuberance to concentrate the vine’s efforts on fewer grapes.  Or it may be the interests to not only manage the grape’s overgrowth, but also to manage the environment (hillside versus plateau) or other such matters.  As we walk through the vineyard Binyamin explains that he is one of the few kosher wineries in the world that grow his grapes organically.  The winery is CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers) certified.  Also, the vines are dry farmed which creates fruit flavors that are bursting in the mouth.  As we were walking along, Binyamin explains that his objective is to maximize the sunlight on his grapes, while also keeping steadfast to the grape’s true nature.  The vineyard is in the Santa Cruz Mountains at an elevation of 660 feet, where temperatures do not reach high extremes like in Lodi and Napa.  Further, the evenings are quite cool in the summer, and fog is a common sight in the early morning or late evenings, this temperature variation helps to increase the fruit’s flavor. The Merlot vines are partially on the top of the hillside and lower down as well, with the topside vines being harvested separately for the M.S.C. line (Four Gates’ Reserve line) of wines.

Once we completed our tour of the vineyard, we adjourned to the home and got down to tasting the wines.  The tasting notes are listed below in the order that they were drunk.  I have also listed other Four Gates wines below (that were not part of the tasting) for completeness.  We would like to thank Binyamin Cantz for his hospitality, for lunch, and for a beautiful afternoon in the hills, overlooking Santa Cruz.

Four Gates Cabernet Franc 2005 – Score: A-
Our previous notes hold well with addition to notes of mint and chocolate that appear on the nose and in the mid palate.

Four Gates Cabernet Franc 2006 (Barrel tasting) – Score: A-
The nose on this bright garnet colored wine scream with classic Cabernet Franc floral notes, mint, cherry, cranberry, and asparagus.  The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine is more flush and tannic than its older sibling, which plays to its youth.  The wine starts with cherry, cranberry, and what I can only call chicken cherry cola.  The mid palate has strong vegetal notes of asparagus and eucalyptus.  The finish is a long vanilla walk into the sunset.

Four Gates Pinot Noir N.V. - Score: A-
The nose on this bright ruby colored wine is packed with cherry, vegetal notes, raspberry, and sweet oak. The mouth on this medium bodied Pinot is luscious almost velvety. The cherry, cassis, and cranberry hit you right away. The layers of fruit come at you in waves after that. The mid palate almost rolls right off the waves with acidity and vegetal flavors. The finish is long with vanilla and cherry.

Four Gates Chardonnay 2004 – Score: A
Our previous notes are holding strong.  Though I must reiterate how nicely the wine has come together and is now poised to be a huge success.

Four Gates Syrah 2004 – Score: A
Our previous notes are holding quite nicely (reset here as the previous note was in context to a different setting).  The nose on this deep to brooding garnet colored wine is screaming with cassis, blackberry, eucalyptus, and oak.  The mouth on this full bodied and velvety wine hits you in waves of cassis, blackberry, and plum.  The mid palate of this wonderfully complex wine, is still tannic in nature, and will settle down in a couple of years.  The finish is long with tar extraction, and wood.

These wine notes are listed for ease of access:

Four Gates Chardonnay 2000 – Score: A

Four Gates La Rochelle Merlot 2005 – Score: A-

Four Gates Merlot M.S.C. 2001 – Score: A
]]> http://kosherwinemusings.com/2008/08/31/four-gates-winery/feed/ 2 winemusings http://kosherwinemusings.com/2008/03/02/tanya-winery/ http://kosherwinemusings.com/2008/03/02/tanya-winery/#comments Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:30:00 +0000 winemusings http://winemusings.wordpress.com/2008/03/02/tanya-winery/ ]]>

Tanya Winery

On a clear and cool winter day we meet up with Chaim Feder – one of the investors in the Tanya Winery.  The winery is tucked away in Ofra where the wonderful and eccentric wine maker Yoram Cohen lives.  When we first met Yoram he was hard at work building a barrel.  Yes, he was hand building a barrel that he had just finished shaving down and toasting, and was now applying the finishing touches to a recycled barrel with equal care that he gives his wines.  It was fitting that this is how we met Yoram.  In an almost poetic manner, Yoram was doing what he does best – recycling, rebuilding.  He is one of those ever restless artists on the hunt for his next challenge.  The good news for us oenophiles – is that he chose to ply his new trade in the world of wine.  Yoram had a very successful photography business and left it all for the ever finicky world of wine making.  In 2002 Yoram started to make wine out of his house.  In 2007 one of Chaim’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.  They hope to be producing 40,000 bottles as soon as the newest vineyards come on line sometime next year.

Upon meeting Yoram and the almost completed barrel, Yoram showed us the newly built wine cellar and tasting room – that is behind his house, and that he built by hand.  Anchoring the middle of this beautiful hand crafted structure is a 40+ year old vine!  The vine was there before Yoram bought the house.

Yoram showed the way to the slightly smaller cellar and gave us a taste of a 2005 Cabernet from a 5 liter wine cask.  Chaim said Yoram was hoping to sell them for the seder table.  Yet another example of his eccentric but wonderful artistic talents that Yoram brings to the staid and stogy  world of wine making – a truly refreshing attitude and perspective that we are sure will do him and the winery well.  Upon tasting the wine and some other white vintages we drove to the newly minted headquarters in Ofra’s industrial area.  There we were given to taste a myriad of bottles and barrel tasting that gave us an appreciation of the upcoming wines and the up and coming winery’s main talent – Yoram and his artistic spin on wine and life as a whole.

We want to thank Yoram, Chaim Feder and their respective families for their very kind hospitality and time.  Following are the tasting notes which we sampled at the winery.

Tanya Cabernet 2005 (Small Cask) – Score: B+
This garnet colored wine (grapes from Har Bracha) has a nose of date, vanilla, and oak.  The mouth of this balanced medium bodied wine is filled with cherry and raspberry.  The finish is long with a wooden cloak and cherry clinging on.

Tanya Jerba 2003 (fortified desert wine) - Score: A-
The nose of this honey colored wine is packed with honey, pineapples, and dates.  The mouth on this full bodied and fortified wine is still a bit too hot.  This will calm down as time progresses.  Citrus fruit, honey and apple come in early and stay along for the long finish.  This is a wine that one can enjoy with almost any desert – once it calms down a bit.

Tanya Chardonnay 2007 (Barrel and Vat Tasting) - Score: A-
We tasted two versions of this wine – one aged in steel and one aged in oak.  The nose on both of these medium straw colored wines attack you with citrus, papaya, lychee and even grows as it sits in the glass.  The mouth on this medium – full bodied wine has vanilla and sweet wood on the oaked version and both have strong notes of citrus, apple and lychee.  The finish on both are long and satisfying and the blending of them will be even superior with the crispness (of the steel fermented version) and sweet wood balancing themselves out quite nicely.

Tanya Merlot 2006 (aged in oak for 16 months) - Score: A-
The nose on this garnet colored wine is filled with chocolate, black fruit, and smoke.  The mouth of this medium – full bodied wine is balanced with soft and integrated tannins.  Dark fruit, blackberry and chocolate round the mouth out, and the finish is long and satisfying.

Tanya Pinot Noir 2007 (Barrel Tasting) - Score: A
The nose on this burgundy colored wine is green with grass aromas, cherry and oak.  The mouth on this medium – full bodied wine is still crazy with tannin.  The wine is still very young, but the tannin and mouth feel are very generous and will take time to balance out.  The red fruit and grass clippings still come through and the finish is one of the longest we have tasted in some time.  A wonderful wine that will definitely be aided by more time in the barrels.

Tanya Cabernet Franc 2007 (Barrel Tasting) - Score: A
The nose on this deep garnet colored wine is green with violet flowers and vanilla.  The mouth on this medium bodied wine is still a bit tannic with acid and red fruit to spare.  The finish is long and the acid blends well with the oak to give the wine a fuller feel in the mouth.  The classic Cabernet Franc nose rings true, while the classic Cabernet Franc mouth is still hiding below the oak coat.

Tanya Cabernet Halel Reserve 2006 (Barrel Tasting) - Score: A+
The nose on this deep garnet to purple colored wine is filled with oak, currants, and cassis.  The mouth on this full body wine is complex with blackberry, cassis, eucalyptus, and sweet wood.  The finish is long and very satisfying.  The soft tannins are blending well with the fruit and can still use some time in oak to round them out some more.  A real showcase of the winery’s future.

The thing that makes Tzora such a special winery are their vineyards.  Ronnie James tends to the vines, and it is a labor of love.  Unfortunately, as we write this article we are told that Ronnie has passed away.  Ronnie and Tzora wines were built on the ideal that terroir makes the wine.  The land that the vineyards sit on are the names given to the wines (Shoresh, Neve Ilan, Givat Hachalukim).

Ronnie was growing grapes since the 50s for himself and many other wineries.  We will all miss him and his wine and vines will continue to pay tribute to him and his legacy.

We would like to thank the staff at the winery for allowing us to join in and enjoy the tastings.  Following are the tasting notes which we sampled at the winery.

Tzora Judean Hills 2004 - Score: B+
The nose on this ruby red colored wine (60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot) is laden with raspberry, cherry, and oak notes.  The mouth on this medium bodied wine fat with tannins and cherries.  The finish is medium long and quite enjoyable.

Tzora Givat Hachalukim 2006 - Score: B+
The nose on this garnet colored wine (100% Cabernet Sauvignon) is laden with red berries and cherry.  The mouth on this medium bodied wine is smooth and balanced with oak and soft tannins giving way to cherry and spice.  The finish is not so long, but the wine lingers long on your palate after the wine is gone.

Tzora Shoresh 2004 - Score: A
The nose on this garnet colored wine (100% Merlot) is laden with red berries, mineral aromas, and cherry.  The mouth on this medium bodied wine is balanced with integrated tannins giving way to red berries and oak.  The finish is medium long with cherry and spice.

Tzora Or 2006 - Score: A+
This wine has quite a story around it as Robert Parker gave it one of the highest scores in a recent Israeli wine expose that he conducting along with Mark Squires.  We were able to taste the end of the bottle and it was still quite impressive – none the less.  Gewurztraminer grapes are harvested and then deep frozen for two months.  Then they are extracted for 24 hours and only the first drips of the grape juice become Or.  The nose of this golden wine is filled with honey and tropical fruit.  The mouth of this full bodied and almost syrupy wine is fruity with citrus, pineapple and a touch of mint.

Mony Chardonnay 2005 - Score: A-
This golden straw colored wine has a nose of apples, lychee, and oak.  The mouth of this medium bodied wine is balanced with just enough oak and abundant fruit.  The apple, lychee, and citrus jump out at you.  The finish is long and laden with spicy oak which makes for quite a nice white wine experience.

Mony Shiraz Reserve 2005 - Score: A-
This ruby colored wine’s nose is earthy, musty, and oaky.  The mouth on this medium bodied wine has strong notes of integrated tannins, dirt, leather, and pomegranates.  The finish is long and generous with spicy wood and more leather.