Category Archives: Israel
Wines from the weekend along with lovely meatballs and spinach kugel
This past weekend we had friends and family around the table to enjoy some great food and some pretty good wines. This week there was no wine theme, actually to be more precise, the theme was that there was no theme. The theme was Drink up or let die. I say this as I have far too much history and track record in this area, and it has been my sworn duty going forward that I would embrace and channel the work of Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher and attempt to always open that bottle in its time. To meet this need I attempt to create wine themes when there is no pressing wine to get to, otherwise, I drink the wines that are up next.
I use drink by dates of the late Daniel Rogov, Cellar Tracker, and of course, my own personal notes. This week it was time to get to some bottles that I have been worried about. I got to a couple of them, but missed out on the 2005 Ella Valley Pinot Noir, which we last tasted on some 3 years ago. We did get to enjoy some wine that we have not tasted in a couple of years, the 2001 Yarden Merlot, Ortal Vineyard, one of the finest Merlot that Yarden has ever produced, along with the 2006 Recanati Cabernet Franc, both of which have a year or maybe more left on them. Both are drinking lovely now, but if you too wish to live the motto “no good wine will be left to die“, drink it now and you will not be sorry.
I often laugh when people ask me when they should drink a particular bottle. In the kosher wine world more and more wines are being created that are built for cellaring. All that means is that the bottle you buy is not quite ready to drink, and the wine maker and winery have decided to diversify their risk and have you cellar the wine rather than them. For the most part, most wine (kosher or not) is made to be drunk within the year or two. There are reserve wines that are built to age a few years maybe 4 years at most. Then there are the a fore mentioned high-end wines that are truly not enjoyable at all from release, and need time to come into their own/peak.
The Recanati Cabernet Franc is at its true peak and can be left for another year or so, but why? Unless you have more pressing wine to enjoy – drink it now! There is only one sure thing, other than taxes, and that is – that the wine will eventually die. Why not enjoy it now. There is rarely a perfect time to drink a wine. There is just the acceptable and peak time to enjoy the wine and the rest is what you make of it! Read the rest of this entry
Notes from kosher wines tasted in and around Israel
Before I left for Israel, I had a bottle of the 2008 Yarden Odem Vineyard Chardonnay. Normally this wine is killer. The 2009 vintage is lovely, the 2007 vintage was closed the last time I enjoyed it, but opened quickly enough and was lovely. Unfortunately, this bottle of the 2008 Yarden Odem Vineyard Chardonnay was clearly in a deep sleep, and one that would not open no matter what I tried. Humorously, when I came back from Israel, some three weeks later, the leftovers of the wine that I stored in the refrigerator, tasted quite nice!
In Israel, we enjoyed many wines for Passover and for other meals. Some of the wines were quite nice while some were just OK. The best two wines we enjoyed were the 2010 Dalton Zinfandel and the 2010 Saslove April. The other wines were fine but none of those were really note worthy. The 2010 Dalton Zinfandel showed far better than when I had it at the Gotham Wine Event. The Tulip White Franc was really nice, though a bit less Cabernet Franc-ish than the 2010 vintage. This is the second time I had the chance to taste April, when I enjoyed it at Sommelier last year, and it continues to impress with its light oak influence (they used staves) and interesting blend.
The only real downer for me was 2011 Galil Rose; it was OK, but nothing to write home about. I was not a huge fan of the Dalton Roses either, but hey I keep trying! I do love the Flam and Catsel Roses. The Tulip Just Cab and Merlot were lovely and continue to improve and show good varietal characteristics. I had the 2010 Galil Wines and they were average at best, which is OK, but again not wines to write home about. My father-in-law and I both enjoyed the bubbly Cabernet. Yes, I said I liked a semi-sweet bubbly Cabernet, because it was actually enjoyable. Sorry, to all the wine snobs out there, but the 2011 Tabor Pnimim (Pearls) sparkler, was enjoyable, unpretentious, and though semi-sweet, not cloyingly so in any way. No, I would not normally, bestow any praise upon a semi sweet Cabernet nor even write about it in a positive manner, as normally Cabernet and sweet do not logically go hand in hand, but Tabor did a good job, so Kudos!
Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to visit any wineries, but I did get a chance to see Gabriel Geller, a man I can happily call an acquaintance, and hopefully one day a friend, that now own a wine store in the heart of Jerusalem, called the Wine Mill. The wine store is located in the Wind Mill right next to the Prima Kings Hotel Jerusalem, and essentially at the corner of King George and Ramban streets. The store is laid out in a quite enjoyable and clutter free manner, with more than enough room for informal gatherings of his clients and customers. When I was there, I picked up some wines that I took home and I also had a chance to talk with both Gabriel and David Rhodes, a wine critic/writer who I have not yet had the chance to write about here in the blog, but a person who has solid wine abilities and who I have had the pleasure to talk with a few times now. The conversation inevitably came around to kosher wine, Israeli Wine, and Daniel Rogov (man I cannot believe it has been 6 months already since his passing), but hey what happens in the Wind Mill stays in the Wind Mill. I did have the chance to taste a lovely bottle of Domaine Ventura Cabernet Franc, but I did not write notes on the wine – sorry. From what I remember, it was very characteristic of Cabernet Franc, with good green notes, lovely ripe red fruit, without the raisin or date flavors, that are so characteristic of Israeli wines. The oak did not overpower though was felt and clearly present, and there was some nice extraction along with tobacco and light leather. An unofficial score would be B+ to A-. Read the rest of this entry
2006 Yarden Merlot, Odem Organic Single Vineyard
Recently, there was a tasting of kosher wines at our synagogue and one of the prize wines poured at the tasting was the 2006 Yarden Odem Merlot. The funny thing about this Merlot was that it was available in the general market last year for some 20 or so dollars from stores on the east coast. However, within a week or less, the wine sold out, only to reappear as few months later for 50 dollars a bottle. OUCH! Well, good news – procrastinators rejoice, good things really do come to those who wait! The price has returned to 28 or so dollars a bottle and it is one that is well worth hunting down.
The bottle is one of the more recent single vineyard Merlot to come to the states. This bottle is already old news in Israel. However, here in the states the wine is still not selling out and hence, the obvious conundrum that Yarden faces. If the wine cannot sell because there is not enough demand at 50 dollars maybe they can repeat their earlier success and hope that lightning strikes twice. The funny thing is that the retailers that bought the bottles at the old higher price are now stuck with them and are being undercut savagely by the retailers that just recently picked them up.
This was the first Merlot release from Yarden’s Organically tended Odem Vineyard. However, there are already 6 or more single vineyard wines ready and available for sale in Israel – and they have yet to sell through the 2006 vintage! OUCH! Talk about inventory! Clearly there is a need for Yarden to sell their wines and they are fine wines as well, but the kosher market is growing and may well be leaving Yarden behind, when it comes to these high-priced wines.
I would suppose that online retailers that had old stock will need to cut their prices to match the new lower prices, and eat the difference. Further, this wine is just one of many more single vineyard wines, that are of course sold at a premium from the normal Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, or Syrah, that are quite lovely by themselves and do not cost 50 or more dollars a bottle. Read the rest of this entry
Bravdo Winery – Round 2 with the new 2010 and 2011 wines
Unless you have been living under a rock for some time, you would know that I am a huge fan of the Bravdo winery! The winery is a family affair, with Professor Bravdo making the wine and his daughter, Hadar managing the winery. I really enjoyed visiting the winery, late last year, and re-tasting the 2010 red wines, that I tasted at the Gotham event in 2011. Well, recently at the 2012 Gotham Wine Extravaganza, I had the chance to meet Hadar again and taste through the new vintages of the wonderful wines!
Bravdo is imported into the United States by Happy Hearts Wine Importers, who has kept the prices on these wonderful wines at a reasonable level, while also continuing to make the newest vintages available, and not bringing in old wines. While, I was talking with Hadar, which is always a joy, Benyamin, manager of Happy Hearts, swung by and proudly stated that Happy Hearts had suggested they make a blend – and the output was Coupage! WOW! That is quite synergistic, if I say so myself, the importer suggesting a different wine, and the Professor delivering, with what I think is the best bottle, along with the Shiraz, that Bravdo makes.
There was one slightly under performing wine and that was the 2011 Bravdo Chardonnay, but given the trouble that 2011 presented, in Israel and the US, the wine is just fine thank you.
I must excuse myself for the lack of pictures, but I seem to have forgotten to take pictures of the 2010 wines! I am very sorry. The bottles look the same as the 2009 vintages just of course with a different year. You can find those, along with the wine notes here.
So many thanks to Hadar, The Bravdo Family, Happy Hearts, and of course Costas for the wonderful opportunity to taste through these fantastic wines. I hope to be tasting through these wines again soon, at a shabbos table, where I can have a bit more time to enjoy them and actually drink them. Read the rest of this entry
Teperberg Wines at the 2012 Gotham Tasting and Sommelier
This is the tenth article I am writing on wineries from the Judean Hills wine region of Israel. No matter where you look around the landscape of Israeli wines and wineries you will find story after story of rebirth, renewal, and a fair amount of plain old new! Carmel, Binyamina, Barkan, were all producing mass consumption/bulk wine up until 1o to 15 years ago. Since then, they have seen serious rebirth, still selling almost undrinkable swill for the masses, and also selling high-end, and very respectable wines for us wine aficionados.
Personally, I think it is the correct business structure to have for a growing winery. You need simple bulk wines that have high margins and can be sold anywhere and everywhere. Wines that people buy in the millions, literally. Then you need wines that bolster the lineup, entry-level wine-drinker wines, that can be the bridge to take you from swill to paradise. Think white zinfandel from Herzog Wine Cellars, they sell those bottles by the millions and they are the perfect gateway drug to get you to Chenin Blanc and then maybe to Chardonnay or Black Muscat, and finally to some real dry red wines.
Today the winery we are looking at is the Teperberg winery which was founded in 1870 by the Teperberg family (from where the name of the winery is derived) in the Old City of Jerusalem. Actually, to be accurate it was located in an alleyway of the old city of Jerusalem, and may well have been the first winery in the modern era of Israel. Later in 1964, the winery moved outside of Jerusalem, to the then quiet suburb of Motza (now a thriving community), and took on the name Efrat. The winery, ignoring its many name changes, continues to mostly produce sacramental sweet wines, as that is what its main clientele are looking for. However, in the 1990s Efrat started to create dry red wines, and to be honest they were a disaster. I remember always passing up on them, even when in school, and buying Carmel dry or semi-sweet wines instead. Read the rest of this entry
2012 Herzog International Wine Festival – part two of wine notes
As stated in the previous posting on this lovely event, there were many wines to taste and there was no way I could post all the wine notes in a single posting. Here is my follow-up posting on the wines tasted at the event, including the wines that I loved and did not love.
The wine notes are listed in the order that I tasted them:
2010 Domaine Netofa – White – Score: B++
The nose on this light gold colored wine shows clean and lovely nose of green apple, peach, grapefruit, kiwi, light quince, and rich/nice loamy dirt and mineral. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is rich and balanced with nice minerality, along with nice bright fruit that mingles well in the mouth. The finish is long and spicy with nice quince, tart green apple, grapefruit, and green tea.
2010 Binyamina Chardonnay, Reserve, Unoaked – Score: B
This wine did not show nearly as well as its 2009 sibling, the wine was flat without much to grab your attention. The nose on this straw colored wine has apple, lemon, nice mineral, bright acid, and melon. The mouth is somewhat plush and the finish has citrus to round out the wine.
2010 Binyamina Chardonnay, Reserve – Score: B+
This wine did not show nearly as well as its 2009 sibling, though not as bad as its unoaked twin. The nose on this dark straw colored wine has light oak, brioche, lemon, nice spice, light creme, and honey. The mouth is round with spice, summer fruit, and oak influence.
2011 Tulip White Tulip – Score: B++
This wine is a blend of 70% Gewurztraminer and 30% Sauvignon Blanc with the sweet and floral notes of the Gewurztraminer showing nicely with honey and guava, while the green apple and bright lemon notes from the Sauvignon Blanc blend together in a unique manner. The nose on this straw colored wine hits you with mineral, light honey, bright lemon, green apple, and guava. The mouth is nice and honeyed with light petrol, and citrus. The finish is long with both sweet lemon creme and bright lemon at the same time, along with fig, and tart notes. This is a great wine that would go well with fish or sushi.
Dalton Petite Sirah and Gilgal Chardonnay
This past weekend I was staying with friends I tried a new wine and an older wine, though a wine I have no had before. The first wine is the 2010 Dalton Petite Sirah. we have spoken many times about the difference between the Petite Sirah and Syrah and Shiraz, for more of that check out this post.
In the end, the Dalton was quite a lovely wine indeed. It was not a massive winner, though it did score well. Instead, it is another example of the direction that Israel is pointing towards, ripe beautiful wines that do not taste hot (too alcoholic) or overly ripe (new world) in you face. It has a lovely floral, blue and black fruit nose and body, though over time the blueberry fades to a richer black plum and blackberry mouth with floral resonance. There is one quandary I had while tasting this wine and that was the finish. There is a clear flavor that lingers like mad, almost bitter and I call it bitter olive but it may well be something else. Would love to hear what others think of this one.
For comparison sakes I have included the 2009 Dalton PS, which was the first release of a singe varietal PS from the winery. The 2009 is VERY different in style. While the 2009 is elegantly muscular, the 2010 is lean and soft, with a bit of muscle but more unique in its flavors than in its body. The 2009 is rich with black fruit, tannin, oak, and leather. The 2010 is more elegant with blue and black fruit, vanilla, leather, and nice spice.
The Yarden Gilgal Chardonnay is the new name for the old wines – Gamla, which is in trademark wars with Royal, so in the US the wine is sold as Gilgal in Israel the same bottle is sold as Gamla. In the US, Gamla wines are actually made by Carmel and distributed by Royal – ah the logic and business of kosher wine!
Anyway, either way the wine starts off very closed, a bit hot, and overly oaked. As it opens, it shows lovely tropical nd summer fruit, but never quite enough complexity to grab you by the scruff of your neck and shake to awake. So, while it is a perfectly fine wine, it is not one that quite meets the A- score requirements.
The wine notes follow below:
2009 Yarden Gilgal Chardonnay – Score: B++
The wine starts off closed and stunted with little tropical fruit or summer fruit, but clear oak influence. Over time the wine opens to clean peach, brioche, melon, guava, crushed herb, and ripe and intense Meyer lemon. The mouth is round and oaky with nice toast on the edges along with good acid and bright fruit. The finish is long and spicy with lemon zest and good mineral.
2010 Dalton Petite Sirah – Score: A-
The wine starts beautifully once you open the bottle with ripe blueberry, nice blackberry, over the top ripe plum that is not overripe, lovely cinnamon, and chocolate. The mouth is full and layered with attacks of blue and black fruit, floral notes, roasted meat, and soft and integrating mouth coating tannin, all coming together quite nicely. The finish is long with nice leather, cinnamon, vanilla, boysenberry, and good bitter olives. To me this is a lovely example of Durif (Petite Sirah) expression. The wine shows nice blue and black fruit, leather and heavy tannin, but one that is restrained and not meant for very long cellaring. I would give this wine till 2013 or 2014 and then drink up. The spices and vanilla are simple extensions of the 12 months in American oak. Other than the spice, the oak is not nearly as evident as in the 2009 vintage and only helps to round the mouth and add heft to what was clearly a lighter vintage, due to the cold season.
2009 Dalton Petite Sirah – Score: A-
The wine hits you hard with its heavy oak and blackcurrant, followed by lovely cedar, chocolate, mounds of black pepper and tobacco. The mouth is rich and unctuous, much like a coiled snake ready to pounce, all wrapped in a sheath of inky structure, along with tannin that is not quite integrated, all of which helps to lift the blackberry and cassis fruit up and balances it nicely with good acidity. The finish is long and smoky with more tobacco, ripe plum, mounds of vanilla, leather and black fruit that lingers. The hardcore style of this wine will allow it to last a bit more than the 2010 vintage, probably till 2014 oor 2015 than drink up.
Kosher Wine 101 2.0 and my rebuttal to many poorly written articles on kosher wine
I cannot help myself; I am one of those guys who track all web pages and news articles that talk about kosher wine and Israeli wine. So, I was excited to see an article recently about kosher wine, titled kosher wine is kosher in Israel that was written by the Indian Wine Academy. The article had some serious issues that made me really unhappy. Kosher wine already has enough perceived issues – it does not need more stupidity and ignorance. I am sorry if I am coming at this too harshly but it really bugs me!
My post on kosher wine is the top hit on Google for kosher wine and it covers all locals and issues with kosher wine. The article by the Indian Wine Academy has a somewhat harsh slant on kosher supervision and worse; it has many incorrect statements on kosher wine production. My many comments below will not make sense if you do not brush up on the many aspects of kosher wine, which I cover in my Kosher 101 blog.
This is not the only article with incorrect information about kosher wine. Another example is an article about the way that Capcanes makes kosher wine. Again, the information is incorrect, as it was pulled from Daniel’s book and the issues in Israel do not relate to Spain (where Capcanes exists) or America, except for Orlah – which is easily handled.
The Indian Wine Academy’s article on kosher wine feels a bit harsh when talking about kosher wine and they start it off by talking about the wines they tasted at the Barkan Winery. After that, they start going through the laws that they perceive defines kosher wine. They made MANY mistakes and I am listing the mistakes below and my personal rebuttal to them:
The article:
- started with a rather attention grabbing headline – Women are a no-no
- Actually, this is categorically WRONG! Women who are Orthodox may work in the winery and in the wine making process. So you may ask – prove it! Sure, I called Rabbi Nachum Rabinowitz, the Senior Rabbinic Coordinator, from the OU (one of the top kosher supervision organizations). He said there is NO issue with an orthodox woman working in a winery – PERIOD!
- then stated that the Mashgi’ah‘s (kosher wine supervisor) gets paid by the winery.
- Actually, the supervisor is NOT paid directly by the winery. The winery pays the supervision company and they pay the Mashgi’ah. This limits the potential for conflict of interest. This may sound like a small issue – but it is NOT. It is a Chinese wall that protects both the supervisory agent and the winery.
- then stated that touching a barrel or vat, no matter the financial impact, renders the container non-kosher.
- Actually, this is true, but I need to add a caveat, that if a non-orthodox Jew touches a closed barrel or vat – there are NO issues. The vat or barrel must be open for issues to arise. Further, the wine needs to move – which is rather complicated in a vat that is attached to the ground or a barrel that is rather heavy. That said, the rules are the rules and it is best to follow them to the T.
- then stated that mevushalprocess can affect the aroma and flavors of a wine.
- While I agree, for the most part, that the mevushal process ruins many a wine, there are many wineries that do a very good job of mevushal – like Herzog, Hagafen, and even Shiloh Winery. That said, I agree that mevushal wine, not made by one of these exemplary wineries, should be consumed with a year of bottling.
- then talks about the 3rd and 7th year, without much information about them
- Actually, the 7th year, also called Shmitta, where the land lays fallow every 7 years, applies only in Israel. Further, there is no law, in the present day that mandates anything special during the 3rd year.
- then talks about tartaric acid and barrels which are fine, and then states that oak chips and oak powder are produced in Israel
- Actually this may be the case but it is not necessary. One can buy the chips and powder from the same place that they buy their barrels.
So there you have it! My rebuttal to a few weird and highly mistaken kosher wine law fallacies! Please spread the word – kosher wine is not that hard to make! It is because of uninformed writers like this that kosher wine gets a bad rap – that is NOT deserved!
Kosher wine tasting at the Cask in LA featuring Celler de Capcanes and Shiloh Winery Wines
This past week my friend and I 
drove down to Los Angeles, CA to taste kosher wines at the 2012 Herzog International Food and Wine Festival (IFWF). The night before the IFWF we called The Cask, a new wine store on Pico, in Los Angeles, and they said they were having a wine tasting. I guess in my life, you can never taste too much wine! Though to get to the Cask, I had to drive for 1 hour to go 4 miles! My goodness, LA is really a nasty place to drive around during rush hour!
The Cask is not the first wine store in LA, but it is the first kosher-only wine store in Los Angeles, catering to the Jewish crowd that geographically surrounds it from all sides. There have been kosher wine stores before in LA, but a store that sells only kosher wine does take serious courage in this economy.
The Cask, the brain child of Michael Bernstein and Sivan Vardi (Sivan has since moved on), opened quietly, and just in time for Passover 2011. It had its red carpet grand opening in June 2011, with a real red carpet for people to show off their love for wine and haute couture. Interestingly, while neither partner has been part of the retail wine business before, the event I was at was well attended and went off without any hitch, from what I could see.
The front of the store, looks like any other wine store you may find yourself in on an early Friday afternoon looking for some wine to go with you cholent and roast chicken. However, the layout is still quite nice and the prices are competitive, from the quick check that I did Thursday night. However, the website is the weakest link. It is missing the social touch that is sorely needed to be competitive in this market, something that Sivan seemed to be doing before she left in September of last year. The prices are not on the site and the daily deals still show a wine from last September.
Clearly, the Cask is not trying to copy or do battle with some dude in his basement who cobbles up a kosher online wine store. Rather the Cask is all about the local touch of a high-end store where you taste and experience the wine with winemakers or wine professionals. Sure, maybe LA doesn’t need another place to go and buy kosher wine, though the Cask fills that admirably. What LA craves is the ability to walk into an establishment that has 200 or more wines and not be bewildered by the selection. The hope of the store is to educate the kosher drinking public about the hundreds of options available, and let them decide which wines best suit their palate or cuisine. Read the rest of this entry
