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Lemon/Honey/Pepper Roasted Chicken, Rice Pilaf, and 2004 Four Gates Chardonnay
This past week was harried and crazy coming back from New York, where we visited the Gotham Wine Event and a bit of the New York scene. Anyway, my wife was very kind to essentially make shabbos. To start she whipped up a batch of scrumptious roasted chicken, where she places the chicken in a pan and then covers the chicken with a melange of honey, red pepper flakes, lemon, and a few other spices. Along with that she made some delicious spinach kugel, brown basmati rice, and a fresh green salad. To match the food I went looking for a nice chardonnay in the cellar, and came up with a 2004 Four Gates Chardonnay. The wine has been one we have drunk before, but this wine has turned, and should start being drunk up soon. I always kid Benyo that it would be fine to add in a bit of oak to his Chardonnay. Well, maybe not, this bottle was almost a cousin to the 2007 Castel Chardonnay C, that is bright and also burnt on the nose from so much toasted oak. The Four Gates Chardonnay is not as burnt as it is oaky, and is losing its fruit. It seems to me that the oak is now overpowering what fruit is left, and so, if you like an oaky Chardonnay drink up, if not, drink up!!
Also, since I trounced it on Rogov’s forum, it is only fair to give it its due. This shabbos a friend made a lovely kiddush spread for all of the shul to enjoy. Part of that spread was a bottle of Red Label 2005 Hagafen Pinot Noir. On the forum both myself and Daniel did not find it very good at all. My only guess is that it was in a crazy dumb period. Because this morning that same bottle was lovely, with clear notes of oak, strawberry, cherry, plum, and coffee/chocolate. Very nice and very worthwhile. Probably at its peak or maybe a bit on the other side, but not brown or orange in any way. Anyway, as always full disclosure. Also, I had a drop of some 2004 Hagafen Merlot. Very nice, soft, accessible, rich with supple tannins, oak, plum, a hint of cassis, and raspberry. Nice wine, but drink up time.
The wine note follows below:
2004 Four Gates Chardonnay – Score: A-
The nose on this electric light gold to gold colored wine is filled with heavy and luscious toasted oak, starts a bit burnt to start, lemon, melon, peach, toasted almond, and butterscotch. The mouth on this full bodied wine is now overpowered by layers of concentrated spicy and toasted oak, along with butterscotch, melon, and a hint of almonds. The mid palate is packed with more oak, lemon, and bright acidity. The finish is long and spicy, with tasty oak, butterscotch, and lemon. As it sat the wine lost a bit of the burnt toast flavors, and it was awesome, but the next day, it was over. I recommend to all that it is time to drink this wine up, and enjoy it with heavy roasted fowl, light stews, and hard cheese.
Hagafen Winery Visit
The day started out as a lovely and sunny Sunday, the last one of 2009. We took a long and enjoyable last look at massive Clear Lake, which our hotel wrapped around, and headed south on CA-20. As we closed into Lower Lake, we were supposed to continue south on CA-29, but plans are just that – plans! Instead, we took the road less traveled, the Knoxville-Berryessa Road (lovely pictures of the road linked here from a motorcycle rider). It is so called because, it is a road that runs through government-owned land, counted some 5 or so structures from Lower Lake until Berryessa Lake. For some 30 or more miles, at a rate of maybe 35 mph, we saw no one – period. Truly a road less traveled. Finally, and blessedly, right before Lake Berryessa, we came upon a truck, and two folks fishing (actually, I think that was not public knowledge 
, and they told us where we were. I guess this teaches us, that if we do not want a GPS or expensive phone contract (with GPS on it), and instead want to go retro, we should act retro, and carry around a map or two!
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.
- The vineyard must either be owned by the winery or under the winery’s 100% control
- The vineyard to be in the same viticultural area
- 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. Read the rest of this entry
Pepper encrusted Roasted Chicken and 2006 Hagafen Pinot Noir Prix Reserve, Fagan Creek, Block 38
On Friday Night, January 1st, 2010 amidst the noise of fire crackers bouncing off our roof top (seriously), bottle rockets firing off left and right, and a few star bursts to boot, we somehow found a way to sneak in some shabbos serenity. My wife made pepper encrusted roasted chicken, a rice pilaf, along with a fresh green salad. It was a nice off week, but absolutely not a quiet one! Our neighbors were firing off so many fire crackers, it sounded like a gun range. Mix into that all the other plethora of fireworks and it is a miracle that we ever got to sleep. However, the craziest part was the sound of fire cracker hitting our roof! Yep, it sounded like a hand grenade hitting a bunker roof in a movie, just crazy and absolutely surreal. I suppose, the dude or dudette who tossed the hand grenade in our direction never imagined it would go that far. Thank goodness there was no fire.
That was not the only madness that revolved around me that week. The wine I tasted that week was bright and powerful and over the top. However, another bottle of the very same wine a few days later was not nearly as good. I had a third chance to taste this wine, a few more days later, and it was still not as good. Man, I have heard of bottle variation, but this was crazy. Still, I will say that in the end, my friends who drank the bottle a few hours after I did thought it was a bit more smooth and drinkable, while others thought it was thin as water. I guess I will chalk it up to an experience. The wines note below is of my Friday Night / fireworks experience.
The wine note follows below:
2006 Hagafen Pinot Noir Prix Reserve, Fagan Creek, Block 38 – Score: A-
The nose on this dark ruby colored wine is smoky, with nice mineral notes, black cherry, rich sweet oak, coffee, and cinnamon. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is spicy, with a rich mouth of dark cherry, raspberry with soft to integrating tannins. The mid palate is acidic, with tannin, sweet oak, and smoke. The finish is smoky and long, with coffee, cherry, integrated tannins, cinnamon, and a dollop of vanilla. The red fruit lingers on your palate long after the wine is gone. The mix of spicy smoky red fruit, nice extraction, and coffee, makes it all fun, but still not a classic Pinot Noir in any way.
Tzuba Winery Visit and Wine Tasting
On Friday in early August, my friend and I, drove around the winding roads of Route 3965 (Sderot Hahotsvim) up from Highway 1, past the Sataf junction, and on and up Route 395 to Kibbutz Tzuba. At the entrance of the kibbutz, drive past the gate and take the second left and follow the sign to Yekev Tzuba. The winery’s rectangular and unassuming building lies to the back of the kibbutz overlooking a bluff and an ancient wine press from the first millennium. As you drive up to the building you can see the vineyards to the right and Tzora Winery’s vineyard to the north.
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. Read the rest of this entry
A Few Nice Israeli Wines that compliment wonderful Shemini Atzeret Meals
A week ago saw us enjoying meals with friends and on our own. The Jewish Holiday called Shemini Atzeret is the last part of Sukkot and the one that sometimes gets out of hand, when some mistaken souls confuse Shemini Atzeret with Purim (and think getting drunk is part of the deal). However, since we did not put up a sukkah and most folks believe that one should eat in the sukkah (without a blessing) on Shemini Atzeret, we ate out for the first two meals. On Saturday day we went to a friend’s home and were served a wonderful bounty of flavors and textures and some really fun wines. We brought a bottle of 2003 Galil Winery Yiron, while another guest brought a bottle of 2007 Lambouri Ya’in Kafrisin. later in the meal the host opened a bottle of 2006 Shiloh Cabernet Sauvignon.
Later that evening we laid low after a long Simchat Torah celebration, with a wonderful meal of meatballs, rice, and fresh green salad. The recipe for the meatballs were the same we have had before, but this time we substituted a pound of ground turkey for one of the two pounds of ground meat. The mixture was way off, as the ground turkey meat is soft and sticky, instead of firm like ground meat. To make the mixture work we added in ground almonds bit by bit until it was he correct consistency. The tomato sauce was the same and the meatballs came out soft yet firm to the fork.
The wine notes follow below:
2003 Galil Yiron – Score: B+
The nose on this garnet colored wine was hopping and screaming out of the bottle with chocolate, figs, ripe and plump blackberry, plum, and mounds of oak. The mouth on this full bodied, extra ripe, and mouth coating wine is filled with ripe plum and blackberry, rich chocolate, and sweet oak. The mid palate is balanced with acidity and soft tannins. The finish is super long with more rich fruit, chocolate, figs, and a hint of tobacco. Quite a nice wine, but would have been better a few months earlier. Clearly over the hill and on its way down – DRINK UP!!! This is a change from the previous wine note we had on this wine. This wine has become fatter and plumper and not as tight and concentrated.
2006 Tishbi Estate Pinot Noir – Score: B+
The nose on this ruby colored wine is hopping with strawberry, cherry, raspberry, and a bit of oak. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is almost mouth coating, but needs a few hours of air to show its best. The mouth is soft and lush with nice cherry and raspberry notes. The mid palate is balanced with nice acidity, soft tannins, and a hint of coffee. The finish is long with more bright fruit, light oak, and vanilla. Quite a nice balanced Pinot. On an aside, Daniel Rogov did not give this a great score, but I wonder if it was a bad bottle, or if the wine has moved past that deficiency. As usual Daniel tastes the wine a few times, so I can only guess that either the wines here in the US have gone through to another stage in their life, or we had a “good” bottle. He noted that there was too much volatile acidity, but I did not see anything like that in the bottle I tasted.
Yarden, Galil, and Delagrave Bordeaux Wines in the Sukkah
This past weekend saw us spending time in a Sukkah with our family in Florida. Yep, pretty hot temperature, but the Sukkah is shaded and we hooked up a pair of fans (attached to a timer), so that the fans are blowing when we are in the Sukkah. The fans are on opposite sides of the Sukkah, giving us a nice cross breeze. Further, the Sukkah walls are made of crisscrossing wood slats that have hollow parts. So the combination of cross breeze fans, open walls, and mesh roof, made the Sukkah a nice place to hunker down.
We did not cook or prepare any of the food for this family occasion, though I did help with the decorating and electrical aspects of the Sukkah. Beyond that I bought the wines. I went for a simple combination of whites and reds and I was quite happy with the outcome. Still, the clear star of the holiday was the food that was magnificently prepared by my sister in-law and a few other family members. They are always so kind and courteous, fantastic hosts, with a lovely family, and a kind soul. So, before the holiday (which started on Friday Night), we made our way to Crown Wine & Spirits. There used to be a wonderfully stocked kosher wine store, called – Corks Kosher Wine Emporium, but they are gone now — just another casualty of the economic times in which we live. The selection of kosher wines was far smaller than it had been before, because of the business that was taken away by Corks. So in the end, the economy handed a double whammy to the Boca Raton kosher wine scene, by putting Corks out of business and limiting the selection at the only other purveyor left. There is a small selection of lower quality wines at the Kosher Market Place, whose owner owned Corks, but not the stuff I was looking for. The selection may be also small at Crown, but they have a nice selection still of solid wines from Israel, France, and the USA. A nice mixture of Yarden, Galil, Herzog Reserve, Herzog (plain but good for the basic meal), Herzog Selection from France, Hagafen wines, and a smattering of Alfasi wines as well. Again, a nice mixture of quality wines at all price ranges, and the prices were very reasonable. I walked out with six quality wines for less than hundred dollars, which is OK. The prices were comparable with KosherWine.com, which I use as a barometer for pricing wines at local purveyors.
The meals were out of this world. The first evening we were served Matzah Ball soup, perfect roast, salad, moist turkey, Capon, and gobs of salads and sides, pairing lovely with some of the 2007 Yarden Odem Vineyard Chardonnay, 2005 Yarden Pinot Noir, and a blue bottle of Bartenura Moscato. The next day we were served gefilite fish, heavenly cholent, Turkey and gobs more of side dishes, paired nicely with a bit of leftover Yarden Pinot Noir, Yarden Odem Chardonnay, and some 2007 Galil Cabernet Sauvignon. For Saturday night we had Matzah ball soup, an unbelievable assortment of chicken dishes, and turkey, along with many lovely sides, pairing nicely with the Galil Cabernet Sauvignon. For the second day we were served gefilte fish, veal, turkey, gobs more of sides, and a killer Sushi salad (which mimics all the components of sushi in a nice salad). To pair with all of those flavors we had a 2004 Delagrave White Bordeaux and an overkill of a 2003 Yarden Merlot.
I would like to extend my many thanks to tour lovely hosts and the rest of the family which made our stay so comfortable. Best wishes and a happy and healthy year to all. The wine notes are listed below in the order they were consumed:
2005 Yarden Pinot Noir – Score: A-
This is a wine that Daniel Rogov rates as one of Yarden’s best Pinot Noirs ever, and I was not disappointing as much as I had higher hopes for it. The wine reminds me more of the N.V. Four Gates Pinot Noir, with a touch more tannins and attitude. The nose on this dark ruby colored wine is popping with black cherry, raspberry, black plum, rich oak, and vanilla. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine (once it opens) is layered and rich with not yet integrating tannins, black plum, black cherry, and oak. The mid palate is crisp and acidic with nice tannins and oak. The finish is long with red fruit, vanilla, oak, and spice.
2007 Yarden Odem Vineyard Chardonnay – Score: A-
The nose on this dark straw with green hues wine is popping with kiwi, papaya, lemon, peach, rich oak, and violets. The mouth on this rich and full bodied wine is almost mouth coating with fruit that follows the nose. The mid palate is tight yet balanced with bright acidity, and salt water – which threw me off! The finish is long and lovely with rich oak, tropical fruit, acidity, and a bit more salt water.
2007 Galil Cabernet Sauvignon – Score: B+
The nose on this garnet colored wine has blackberry, raspberry, plum, and roasted herbs. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is concentrated with blackberry, raspberry, and plum flavors. The mid palate is acidic with nice integrated tannins. The finish is medium long with more concentrated fruit and herbs.
2004 Herzog Selection Chateau Delagrave White (blend of Sauvignon Blanc and and Semillon) – Score: B-B+
The nose on this light straw colored wine is filled with lemon, green apples, light herbal notes, and floral notes. The mouth on this light to medium bodied wine follows the nose with green apple, tropical fruit, and lemon. The mid palate is crisp with nice tart fruit. The finish is medium long with tart flavors that linger long after the wine is gone, along with green tea, and floral notes.
2003 Yarden Merlot – Score: A-
The nose on this dark garnet to black colored wine is popping and rich with blackberry, cherry, cranberry, green herbal notes, figs, and lovely sweet oak. The mouth on this full bodied wine is rich, layered, and complex with blackberry, cranberry, and tannins that are still lightly aggressive. The mouth is complex with layers of fruit, sweet oak, and figs. The mid palate is acidic and balanced with integrated tannins. The finish is long with rich ripe black fruit, nice tannins, sweet oak, figs, and vanilla. The wine is rich and lovely and quite a treat and can easily pair with red meats, but is overkill for the basic food groups.
Couscous Au Poulet, Boulette, Makoud, 2007 Hagafen Lodi Roussanne, 2004 Four Gates Chardonnay, N.V. Four Gates Pinot Noir, 2006 Four Gates Cabernet Franc, 2005 Herzog Special Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon/Zinfandel/Syrah
Two weeks ago saw us huddled around our shabbos table enjoying some wonderful company, friends, family, food, and wine. This past Friday Night we had my family and friends over for a classical Tunisian Friday Night dinner – Couscous Au Poulet and Boulette. Many have had couscous, which is fine, but proper boulette(s) and fluffy couscous is what makes a couscous dish work. Boulette is French for balls, which in this context mean meat balls. But if you think Italian meatballs, again, you are missing the point. My family makes boulette by frying the meatballs, and then topping them with slices of potato, obviously they are thank god all very healthy! However, being that I care for my heart and arteries, and they work far better when not stuffed with cholesterol, I go with lean meat and braise them in a pan of tomato sauce and wine. The meat sauce is a hit on the table often, though not true to the Couscous heritage. But the main ingredient to meatball heaven (other than the meat), is the Quatre Epices! WAIT! If you are wondering what the heck is going on – yeah that is the last bit of French, I hope – . Truly, there are few things that totally metamorphosize a dish like FRESH Four Spices! What an explosion of flavor that is tempered by the sweet flavor of cinnamon. There are those who use Four Spices that is based on Ginger – but that is not what we use! The Four Spices we use is based on: Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Cloves, and Black Pepper, though the black pepper is not in equal proportions as the other three spices, but that is fine with me.
Meatballs Recipe:
2 pound of sliced onions
2 tbsp of olive oil
2 tbsp of sea salt
1 pound of finely diced onions
1 pound of finely diced zucchini
4 tbsp of Four Spices
3 pounds of meat
3 slices of thick bread soaked in rice milk
5 cans of 10oz tomato sauce (or 2 large cans of tomatoes)
Heat the wide and deep pan with olive oil, once the oil starts to shimmer, add the sliced onions and sprinkle them with salt (to help them release their water), and then sauté them until they brown nicely. In the mean time mix the rest of the ingredients (except for the tomato sauce) until the meat moves well in your hands but can keep its form. I find that the meat we order is rarely the same in terms of consistency. So at times it is really thick, while other times it moves far better. I can only guess it depends on how much fat, versus God knows what else, makes the meat more solid or more fluid. This time, we added rice milk to the mixture to make it more fluid, as after the mixture was made, it was far too thick. Roll the meat into balls that have a rough diameter of one and half inches to two inches. Once the onions are browned, add the tomato sauce to the pan, along with some basil, and pepper. Cook the sauce until it starts to reduce slightly. Then drop in the rolled meatballs and simmer them for 1 hour.
Bouillon Au Poulet (Chicken soup) Recipe:
1 chicken cut up
Cubed Carrots
Cubed Onions
Cubed Parsnip
Cubed Turnip
Cubed Sweet Potato
Cubed Potato
Cubed Zucchini
Parsley
Tons of Garlic
Saffron
Bay leafs
This all depends on the size of your pot, and I always overdo the amount that I cook, which is fine with me, but too much leftovers, becomes a hassle! So, keep the amount to a single large pot with a double boiler to cook the Couscous. This part is important, the only way you will get the correct texture and flavor in your couscous, is to boil it over the Bouillon. First drop the chicken into the pot and start browning the meat. Next throw in the hard vegetables and let them get some of the chicken fat. Once some of the chicken fat is rendered, mix the vegetables around and then remove the chicken for a bit. Place the rest of the softer vegetables in, and then place the chicken and spices on top. We do this to allow you access to the chicken for later on, when it is removed for making the Makoud. Finally fill the pot till the top with water and you are good to go. Boil the soup for an hour or two. Be careful to not overcook the sweet potato or zucchini. I normally pull them after an hour (or a bit less), and let them cool. At that same time (about an hour in), I pull the chicken meat off and then return the carcass back to the soup to help it thicken the soup more. After the soup is fully cooked, we let the soup cool and throw it into the fridge for the next day. I find the soup tastes much better after a few hours of chill on it. Normally, I cook this Thursday night for Friday night dinner – the classic Tunisian meal for Friday Night. The next day I will reheat the soup, and at that time I drop on the double boiler, wet the holes so that the couscous sticks to the pot, and then I pour in two boxes of dry couscous. Now, on an aside, the folks who make couscous from scratch need to be praised, but I have no time to do that. There is a GREAT video on how to make couscous from scratch. I guess it is a touchy issue to the real Tunisian cooks, much like dry vs. fresh pasta is to a true Italian cook. Now, once the double boiler it hot and MAKE SURE that there is a GOOD INCH at least between the boiling liquid and the bottom of the double boiler. Remember, we want steamed couscous and NOT boiled couscous. Another very important tip is that once you have poured in either the fresh or dry couscous in the double boiler make sure to create three holes in the couscous layer. By doing this you will have three circles in the couscous layer and should be able to see the double boilers holes. By making these holes into the couscous layer, you allow the soup steam to rise from out of the bottom pot and circulate inside the upper boiler. Also, start the process by ladling a few ladles of broth from the bottom into the double boiler. This will allow the top layer of couscous to not get dry off the bat.
Makoud Recipe:
This dish has been described by Ashkenazim as Potato Kugel! AHAHHH! What a shanda! No way my friends, Makoud is NOT potato kugel. It is more of a chicken potato Soufflé. Like any good potato casserole, you MUST preheat the pan with the oil, so that the potatoes and mixture get crispy underneath and on top (from the oven heat). Further, do NOT overcook the makoud! In the beginning, I was like – what we do not need all of those eggs! Wow was I wrong. The eggs of course make it a soufflé instead of a kugel!
Canola Oil
Potatoes (from the chicken soup) – just add more to the soup for the second hour
Chicken from the soup, pulled and cubed
2 eggs per pound of chicken
Salt
White or Black Pepper
Cumin`
Basil
Place the oil in the casserole dish and preheat for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. In the mean time mash the rest of the ingredients together, and place into preheated dish and then cook for 40 minutes or until crispy on top. This is simple as can be, the most difficult part is stripping down the chicken when it is still boiling hot!
That makes up the Couscous menu. There are two side dishes of sliced carrots (classic middle-eastern carrot salad) BUT without Cilantro (Cilantro is the work of the devil!), along with Marmouma (a pepper and tomato salad).
To pair with all of this lovely food, we chose a set of wines, as I wanted to taste a few of them and well, it was time to drink some of them already. So enjoy the recipes and the wine notes follow below (in the order they were drunk):
2007 Hagafen Lodi Roussanne (15% of Marsanne) – Score: B+
This was not a winner on the table, but I kind of liked it. It is deceptive in its nose and mouth. Initially, you think it is bone dry from the nose. Then you taste it and you think it is actually sweet, to only concentrate a bit more and realize that this wine is as dry as a Sancerre, but ripe with fresh fruit flavors, quite a ride. The nose on this golden straw colored wine is popping with kiwi, melon, lemon, and dry green grass. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is ripe with melon, kiwi, grapefruit, and lemon. The mid palate quickly flows from the mouth in an almost shocking manner. The fruit just ends and then there is an onslaught of bone dry green tea, flowers, and bright acidity. The finish is long with summer fruit, slight bitterness, and toasty flavors. The fruit attacks to start and is then annihilated by the bitterness and green flavors that come bright into the finish. I think the finish is what turned off the crowd. I can see this work with sweeter flavored foods, with something like maple glazed salmon, or veal. Interesting wine indeed that exhibits characteristics that are not commonly seen in the other kosher white wines. The closest that I have tasted recently, that compares to the Roussanne is this Chilean Chardonnay. It may not as good as the Roussanne; but has many commonalities, the most striking one is its green dryness.
2004 Four Gates Chardonnay - Score: A
Well, after tasting that bone dry wine, any Kosher California Chardonnay will taste sweet! Still, the 2004 vintage has a bit more residual vintage than do the 2005 or 2007 vintages. This wine has not really changed much since our last tasting. The oak is ever present, and the sweet tooth is receding, which gives rise to the acidity and the fresh fruit flavors that still abound. Thank goodness I have a few more leftover. I want to taste these soon side by side my 2005 and 2007 vintages that will be a real kick!
N.V. Four Gates Pinot Noir – Score: A-
This wine is still holding to our previous tastings, with the tannins receding further, which is allowing the dark cherry fruit to come through, while showing a bit more wood as well.
2006 Four Gates Cabernet Franc – Score: A-
What a treat, we have recently had this wine a few times, and the latest tasting is still true (which after a few weeks is almost obvious with this winery). Of course we are not complaining. Many thanks to Benyamin for bringing this wine to the dinner.
2005 Herzog Special Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon/Zinfandel/Syrah – Score: B – B+
What can I say; this is normally a wine that we love! This vintage or bottle was not a winner. Almost no one took more than a drop. The wine was overly Zinny – tasting of rose and blackberry intertwined. It may sound cool, but not great. The wine was left open in the fridge for a couple of days and the Zin flavors (31%) finally gave way to the dominantly measured Cabernet (66%) and Syrah (3%). At that point the American Oak and full body of the Cabernet were tempered by time and vanilla. Still, the wine was way off balance and overall off putting. I would recommend decanting this for a few hours in advance to give a chance for all the flavors to come out and play.
2009 Jerusalem Wine Festival – Pictures and Wine Notes
Our story begins in 2003 and bombs are exploding up and down the state. Residents are worried to leave the house, and the wine industry is taking a severe hit, as overall morale is down. As the state steps up, and brings its considerable weight to bear on the problem, private individuals start to wonder how to remove the malaise from among the populace. Up steps Avi Ben, an owner of a successful chain of wine stores, who comes up with an idea to kill two birds with one stone. So Avi sat down with a few local wine marketers, and organized the first Jerusalem Wine festival. In his own words, as described by Jerusalemite.net – We decided to organize a fair that would bring wine distributors to Jerusalem. We picked a great location, the Israel Museum, and once they agreed to house the festival, all the planning became easier. People loved the location, they loved the idea, and it was a huge success. Under this backdrop, my friend and I were more than happy to attend the 6th annual Jerusalem Wine festival, which was once again located in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
As we gave our tickets to the attendant (previously bought at the Nahalat Shiva Avi Ben store for 60 NIS) and slowly walked our way to the sculpture garden in the back, we could already take in the night’s air. It was filled with the smell of olive trees, pine trees, open wine bottles, and the initial sense of excitement. As we got closer to the open air arena, that hosts the 33 wineries that were presenting their wares for the evening, we were greeted by a table of glasses. The glass was ours to use during the evening, one that would be our ever present partner to the evening’s soiree, and one that we could take home after the long evening. I paused at the opening to the garden, and took in the spectacle that was in front of me. Beyond the dim lights, the 33 wineries that rimmed the garden and the center as well, essentially creating a pair of concentric circles, what was evident was the lightness of the evening. This was not going to be a wine snob event, or an event that would require heavy wine talk. Instead it was a casual affair, accentuated by the dress code of many of the attendees – shorts, tee shirt, and flip flops. But even more evident was the electricity, the life, the joy (even if alcohol fueled), that powered the evening and lit up the night’s sky. It was almost ethereal yet real, and one of the most exciting aspects of the evening.
<slight tangent about kosher issues>
Unfortunately, I must take a moment to talk about what I can only now explain as a kashrut problem surrounding the whole evening. As much as I loved the festival, those of us who are Orthodox practicing Jews, had a few problems that we faced that evening. They were:
- Shmitta wines for those of us who live in the Diaspora. The 2008 vintage is a shmitta year, and many of the wineries use a loophole called heter mechira, where they sell the grapes to non-jews. This is a not so accepted practice in the modern era, and so most Orthodox Jews do not drink those wines. The only way to know is to pick up the bottle and read the back label, where things of this nature are spelled out. The wines from Yarden, Galil, and some others, use a more accepted practice called Oztar Beit Din, and so I happily enjoy Yarden and Galil wines from the 2008 vintage.
- As lovely as the Spieglau glasses were, they were not “toveled” – ritually immersed, which Orthodox practicing Jews do, before making use of the utensil.
- 99% of the wines served that night, were non-mevushal wines. Meaning they were not pasteurized, which sounds great, because why would you want to pasteurize wine for goodness sakes, this is not milk with volatile bacteria. Well, because “mevushal” wine can be handled by non Jews, while non-mevushal wines cannot be. Furthermore, if a non Jew were to touch my wine glass or bottle, I cannot drink that wine anymore. The law is not very PC to say the least and truly requires a long post to analyze it better (which I will be doing soon God willing), but my belief system is based on faith and not one that I can turn on and off when it suits me or my friends. Now, I do not bring this up to disparage the Jewish lineage of those that were pouring the wines. Rather, I bring it up because the rules around the open bottle were lax to say the least. The open bottles, from which the wine was being poured was touched by many a passerby, and of their lineage, I have no idea.
My feeling is that the next time I go to this event; I would probably attend, but not drink any wines.
</end tangent >
Once we were finished taking in the scene/madness that was swirling before us, we moved our way to the booth of one of Israel’s most exciting wineries – Yatir Winery. It has captured the imagination and attention of many wine lovers including myself. I have been lucky to visit the winery twice before, and each time I am in awe of their progress and continual assault at the wine world’s malaise and opinion of Israel’s wine industry. Just this past year they were awarded one of the highest scores for their flagship wine by Robert Parker and Mark Squires of the Wine Advocate. There I had what can only be described as a brain freeze, when I tasted one of the best white wines of Israel - the 2008 Yatir Sauvignon Blanc, before I realized that the wine was produced using heter mechira. I was mistaken at that time, and once more unfortunately, and is the main reason that I did not enjoy more of the whites that evening, as they were either produced by non kosher wineries, or because they were the 2008 vintage and used heter mechira. That said the 2008 Sauvignon Blanc was wonderful, but was clearly not opened long enough to get its legs under it. Still, it showed a nice tropical fruit flavor along with a bit of cut grass and some lychee. From there we moved on to the Galil Mountain Winery‘s booth, where we were hoping to be able to taste the highly acclaimed Galil Meron. Unfortunately, it was not available for tasting till 9PM, so we were “forced” to partake of their other showings until the hour passed. I was happily distracted by the Galil Pinot Noir, which is a more classical take on a French Burgundy, than those recently produced by Israeli wineries. Still, the wine has enough facets – like its soft oak and coffee flavors to throw you off the French scent. The other two wines I tasted while waiting for the grand moment, were less than enthralling. The 2008 Galil Rose, was bland and flat, and the 2007 Galil Barbera was but a glimpse of its older brother’s power and depth. Where the others disappointing, the Galil Meron did not. It was a wine well worth the wait and one that I highly recommend for those in Israel (the US allotment will not be available till 2010, probably for Passover).
We next visited the booth of Dalton Winery, where we tasted a dud of a wine and a real nice winner. The Dalton Rose, made of 100% Cabernet Sauvignon grapes was an average quaffer, with a rose petal flavored mouth and a raspberry nose. Nothing to write home about or post about. The winner was the 2007 Dalton Shiraz – WOW! A solid blockbuster of a wine and one worthy or your attention. We then weaved our way on over to the booth of the Binyamina Winery, where we took in a nice 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. While some booths had massive and expressive signs – note the Yarden/Golan Heights Winery’s sign, other small wineries had zero signage. Yarden being one of the biggest wineries in Israel had a sign to match their importance and prestige. Heck, forget the sign, they had a whole platform. The sculpture garden is lovely and expansive, but the floor is rock and dirt, which while native to Israel and Jerusalem, is a bit too native for many of the folks standing and walking around for the 4 to 5 hours that the event was open for. Yarden and another winery had a lovely platform, with soft padding, great lounge chairs, a few tables, and awesome wines (which is obvious). I cannot seem to find a picture of the platform, but take my word for it . Anyway, we once again weaved around and through the crowd, and moseyed on over to the booth of Tzuba Winery. We have spoken before about Tzuba, and we had the extreme pleasure of visiting their lovely winery before. They are a winery with a long lineage of managing vineyards of the Judean Hills. The wines were a nice selection of the wines available from the winery, within Israel, and yet another reason for us of the Diaspora to do Aliyah! Yes, they export some wines, but the vast majority sells fine within Israel. We enjoyed a lovely 2007 Belmont (55% Sauvignon Blanc and 45% Semillon) which showed nice dirt, lychee, grapefruit, and peach. The 2006 Tel Tzuba Merlot was also quite nice. The 2006 Tel Tzuba Cabernet was a bit off, so I did not write it up, the bottle tasted over ripe or oxidized.
We were off again, and moving towards a booth with a large sign, the Tishbi Winery Booth. It was mostly a waste of a trip, this time around, except to prime the pump for a return trip later in the evening, to taste their wonderful desert wine, when my evening of tasting was done, and my evening of drinking began, but we are jumping the gun! I digress again! After the awful and overripe 2006 Tishbi Shiraz tasting, we ran into a bunch of acquaintances from Rogov’ forum. The inner circle of wine booths did not take up all the possible space, so they filled the empty space with some nice standing tables. I rolled up to the table to augment my wine notes, and as I am of to do, I struck up a conversation with the people around me. Standing there as well was Zvi and his lovely wife. He overheard the conversation I was having (which is shocking given my quiet personality), and quickly surmised that it was I that had blown him off earlier in the evening. We were supposed to meet up at the booth of Assaf Winery. Well that never happened, because we could NOT find the bloody booth! It was one of those booths that had almost no signage, and so made it a bit hard to find, given the swarms surrounding the booths. Anyway, after talking a bit, Zvi pipes up asking “did you get to taste the 2003 Magnum Yarden Merlot”? Well no I say, heck I had yet to stroll over to the booth/platform at all. Given the opportunity, I bid my adu, and head on over to the Yarden “booth”. I nicely asked for a bit of the Merlot, and was rewarded with what can only be described as a drunkard’s convention sized glass of the dark garnet gold! Keeping in the new Hebrew and non-sequitur slang the Merlot was chaval al ha zman (translated literally — it’s a waste of time” in slang — fantastic, wonderful, out of this world, great). I lingered long at the booth while I slowly enjoyed my glass of wine. The Merlot was fat yet not over ripe, red fruit, with a ton of chocolate and tobacco. It almost felt like you were drinking ripe fruit and wood, while smoking a fat cigar and inhaling boxes of dark chocolate – quite a trip to say the least – like I said – chaval al ha zman.
Once I had my chance to talk with the Yarden crowd and enjoy my wine, I found my way over to the booth of Tzora Winery. We have spoken about this winery before, and have also had the pleasure of going to their lovely winery, just before the untimely passing of their founder Ronnie James. Well, the wine has not missed a beat, with the new winemaker Eran Pick. The 2006 Neve Ilan was dirty and lovely. The 2006 Shoresh was a bit lighter, but still quite enjoyable. As I continued my trip around the inner circle, I hit upon Alexander Winery’s booth. The winemaker Yoram Shalom was pouring and his marketing agent was talking – quite a show! The wine that was pouring was the 2007 Sandro (named after Shalom’s brother). We were fortunate enough to meet Shalom the last time we visited his winery in Moshav Beit Yitzchak. The booth was abuzz with the recent award they won in a Spanish Wine Contest (missed the name – sorry) for their top star – 2005 Alexander The Great – Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2007 Sandro was overripe, as I have said before. The wines in the Golan and Upper Galilee can tend towards overripe flavors if not picked at the correct time. The Sandro is a blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot. We meandered around a bit, and we found ourselves at the Agur Winery’s booth. There I made my second faux pas, and tasted the 2008 Agur Blanca – which was also a shmitta wine and they use Heter mechira. The Blanca was really nice, though there are critics out there that do not like it as much as I did, oh well . I was not as impressed by the 2007 Agur Kessem (40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 20% Petit Verdot, and 10% Cabernet Franc), still a nice wine with a mix of black and red flavors, along with nice toasty oak, earth, and mouth coating tannins.
My friend disappeared by now, and I was moving around alone by now. I swung by the Yarden booth again, to get a taste of the 2004 Yarden Ortal Merlot, which was stunning (I had not tasted this one before). At this point, my palate was shot and I swung by the Tishbi booth once more, to get a taste of the stunning 2006 Jonathan Tishbi Barbera-Zinfandel Fortified Dessert Wine. I absolutely loved it and it reminded me of the Carmel Vintage – which is another desert wine that is quite impressive as well. The evening ended and I picked up some wines to go, in an outside pavilion.
My take away overall was that the festival was well run, while most of the wine purveyors were pushing some light weight wares that met the interest of the majority of the festival customers. There is nothing wrong with that, the average wine consumer likes their wine smooth and easy to drink. Given that trend, the wineries were pouring wines that met the consumer’s interests. The wineries that I highlighted were pouring wines that were quite enjoyable and highly unexpected (Galil and Yarden). Finally, ignoring the wines for a second, the festival’s attendees were all very amiable, courteous, and joyous. Yes they were imbibing alcohol, but alcohol can bring out the worst in people, and that was NOWHERE to be seen, and I stayed to the closing on Tuesday night. There is a lovely saying in Jewish Lore that goes something like this; When alcohol enters the person’s true self comes out. That was more than evident Tuesday night, under the full moon’s sky, the beauty that is Israel, was open for all to see and enjoy.
So, thank you so much to the Israel Museum, Avi Ben and all the wineries that were pouring their wares, the wine notes follow below:
2008 Yatir Sauvignon Blanc – Score: B+
The nose on this straw colored wine is filled with lychee, grapefruit, and tropical fruit, along with a strong sense of brightness, and almost clean steel smell. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is super bright with lychee, grapefruit, and tropical fruit, along with some nice balancing green flavors. The mid palate is bright which leads into a long and crisp finish of more tropical fruit. A really nice crisp Sauvignon Blanc with just a hint of roundness that comes from a bit of time in French barrels.
2007 Galil Pinot Noir – Score: B+
The nose on this dark ruby colored wine is classical in nature with nice terroir notes, along with cherry, cranberry, and raspberry. The nose was hot out of the bottle, and I did not stick around long enough to see when it dissipated. The mouth on this medium bodied wine follows the nose with more cherry, raspberry, and not yet integrated tannins. The mid palate is still tannic and hot, along with coffee and bright acidity. The finish is long and spicy with bright red fruit and an almost toasty flavor
2007 Galil Barbera – Score: B
The nose on this light garnet colored wine is filled with cranberry, plum, oak, and coffee. The mouth on this medium bodied wine has nice light and integrating tannins that work well with the mouth’s plum and cranberry. The mid palate is almost smooth with light tannins, coffee, and oak. The finish is long with bright acidity, coffee, and red fruit. This is not the winner that the 2006 vintage was, and may be too early to really tell where this wine is going.
2006 Galil Meron – Score: A-
The nose on dark garnet to black colored wine is popping with blackberry, raspberry, ripe plum, chocolate, coffee, and rich oak. The mouth on this full bodied and complex wine has layers of blackberry, tar, coffee, and rich plum. The mid palate is layered with oak and integrating tannins that come at you in layers. The finish is super long with tar, pepper, blackberry, and chocolate. This is a real winner and one that is sure to please almost anyone at the table.
2007 Dalton Shiraz Reserve – Score: A-
The nose on this dark garnet to purple colored wine is filled with ripe fruit, plum, blackberry, tar, and pepper. The mouth on this full bodied wine with complex layers hits you often with wave after wave of blackberry, ripe plum, and cassis. The mid palate is filled with tar, oak, and coffee. The finish is long and spicy, with oak, tar, blackberry, and chocolate. Quite a nice Shiraz indeed.
2006 Binyamina Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve – Score: B – B+
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine was hot out of the bottle, with ripe fruit, cranberry, blackberry, and oak. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine has cassis and blackberry flavors. The mid palate is balanced and spicy with oak and bright acidity. The finish is bright and spicy with blackberry, coffee, and oak.
2007 Tzuba White Belmont (55% Sauvignon Blanc and 45% Semillon) – Score: B+
The nose on this bright light straw colored wine has mineral qualities, along with lychee, grapefruit, peach, and an almost toast aroma. The mouth has very ripe flavored fruit that mingles nicely with earthy and mineral flavors, along with grapefruit and peach. The mid palate is tart and earthy. The finish is long with more tart fruit and clean mineral flavors.
2006 Tzuba Tel Tzuba Merlot – Score: B+
The nose on this dark ruby colored wine has nice earthy notes along with raspberry, cranberry, cherry, oak, and vegetal notes. The mouth is medium bodied with integrating tannins, cranberry, and raspberry. The mid palate is balanced with oak and acidity. The finish is accompanied by earth, spices, and round red fruit. This is a wine that can use more air in and out of the bottle and one that will serve you well.
2003 Yarden Magnum Merlot – Score: A-
The nose on this black colored wine (not showing any hint of slowing down or brown), is ripe with rich red fruit, slightly hot, plum, raspberry, cassis, rich oak, and mounds of dark chocolate. The mouth on this complex and full bodied wine was throwing sediment, and comes at you with layers of with rich plum, blackberry, and chocolate. The mid palate is bright and balanced with acidity, integrating tannins, and coffee. The finish is long with tobacco, chocolate, and nice tannins. It almost felt like you were drinking ripe fruit and wood, while smoking a fat cigar and inhaling boxes of dark chocolate, quite a treat indeed.
2006 Tzora Neve Ilan (70% Cabernet Sauvignon & 30% Merlot) – Score: B+
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine is filled with rich earth, blackberry, cranberry, oak, and coffee. The mouth on this medium bodied wine follows the nose with cranberry, raspberry, roasted oak flavors, and something akin to toffee. The mid palate has integrated tannins that flow into a long finish with spice, dirt, and red fruit.
2006 Tzora Shoresh (100% Cabernet Sauvignon) – Score: B+ – A-
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine filled with plum, raspberry, earth, and toasted coffee beans, and oak. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine is spicy with somewhat gripping tannins that have yet to integrate, plum, cassis, and raspberry. The mid palate is bright with acidity and oak, and leads into a long and earthy finish with rich oak, coffee, and nice spice.
2007 Alexander Sandro – Score: B – B+
The nose on this garnet colored wine is perfumed with almost overripe fruit, toasted oak, blackberry, and raspberry. The mouth on this full bodied wine is gripping with powerful tannins, cassis and plum. The mid palate is filled with toasted oak and balancing acidity. The finish is long with cassis and plum fruit, and chocolate.
2008 Agur Blanco (65% Viognier & 35% Riesling) – Score: B+
The nose on this electric straw colored wine is perfumed with rich and lively grapefruit, honeydew melon, and peach. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is rich and almost glycerol and oily with ripe peach and honeydew. The mid palate is balanced with bright acidity that leads into a long and rich finish of tart fruit.
Salmon, Chicken, Four Gates Merlot, Yarden Winery Pinot Noir, Yarden Winery Viognier, Galil Mountain Winery Viognier
This past weekend we were up at Benyamin’s Winery – Four Gates Winery. We came early to hook Benyamin to the internet – yes my friends Benyamin is VERY close to the digital age. Anyway, after that we enjoyed a wonderful dinner and a following Saturday day and evening, that was nonstop relaxing, food, and camaraderie.
The evening started with a lovely bottle of 1998 Four Gates Merlot/Cabernet Franc Blend (experimental blend), that was really nice, but placed to the side once the fish hit the table. The Salmon was poached perfectly in a bottle of some Chardonnay (no idea which vintage), and paired quite nicely with the first of the two Viognier that we tasted – 2006 Yarden Winery Viognier. The wine’s fullness and richness melded perfectly with the rich Salmon flavor, quite a treat. The fish was followed by roasted chicken, new potatoes (yanked early to keep them away from the pesky gophers), and a lovely fresh salad. The main course was paired with another bottle – 2004 Yarden Winery Pinot Noir. What is a shame is that for the first time that this wine has tasted good for me, that we did not get a chance to taste it with a Four Gates Pinot Noir. So many times the 2004 Yarden Pinot Noir vintage has been either cooked, oxidized, or downright undrinkable. I was almost starting to think that the bottles of the 2004 vintage shipped here to America were toasted. I tasted them in Chicago, in New York, In California, and they were all bad. I am happy that finally the wine has had a chance to show itself and when it does, I would have loved to compare it against another awesome kosher Pinot Noir producer. Anyway, the Pinot Noir was not only quite nice, it went really well with the roasted chicken, that had a fair amount of herbs encrusted all over it, which melded quite nicely with the spicy Pinot Noir.
The following day I had an early taste of the cholent I whipped together before Shabbos, made of onions, new potatoes, sweet potatoes, zucchini, and a bunch of stuff that I do not remember. It was thick, warm, and hearty with a tangy flavor that kept on going, and matched well with the left over Merlot/Cabernet Franc blend. Before lunch started Benyamin opened up a bottle of Four Gate’s first public released Merlot – the 1997 Four Gates Merlot. The wine, keeps going well, full bodied and oaky with robust fruit and an acidic backbone that is not waning. Lunch started with more poached salmon that we paired with a 2006 Galil Mountain Winery Viognier, along with some leftover 2006 Yarden Winery Viognier. The Yarden Viognier was really showing its muscle the next day, the floral and mineral flavors were bursting out of their shell, but never overpowered the ripe honeydew and pear, while the ever present oak, filled out the glass. The Galil Viognier, was not to my liking, but I am sure there are others that will love it. I missed the perfume that I associate with a Viognier, but it was still fruity and present. The meal continued with more salads, artichokes, humus and other such dips, and some lovely fresh salad.
After lunch, some of us crashed and others went for a walk, and after some folks came over, many had dinner with more wine. I however, stopped drinking after lunch, as I was driving back that night. I want to thank Benyamin for his ever open arms and warm hospitality, and for another smashing shabbos at his hideaway in the mountains.
The wine notes follow below:
2006 Yarden Winery Viognier - Score: A-
This wine is a classic Viognier that follows the lineage of its forefathers. The nose on this golden colored wine starts hot and is slow to open up until a few hours after opening. Once open the wine is popping with super rich perfume that embodies fresh and ripe pear, honeydew, violets, sweet oak, and lemon. The mouth on this full bodied and rich wine is screaming with more ripe pear, honeydew, and peach. The mid palate is bright enough with acidity to balance out the rich body. The finish is long and luxurious, perfumed and earthy with more rich fruit. This is a really nice mineral and richly perfumed Viognier that will make you believe in the power of Viognier.
2004 Yarden Winery Pinot Noir – Score: A-
I must admit that this wine has failed me at least twice in the past few times that I have tasted it. Not this time! This bottle, was not flawed in anyway. The nose on this dark garnet colored wine was crazy hot out of the bottle, but that calmed over time. The bottle needs at least three hours of air to blow off the heat and open the black fruit that lays deep within this wine’s veins, but hidden initially under a blanket of oak. This wine opens with sweet oak, blackberry, plum, and classic Pinot cherries. The mouth on this full bodied wine was velvety and mouth coating. The tannins are now well integrated and not mouth puckering and give a richness to the wine. The mouth starts with blackberry, plum, and cherry, and flows into a mid palate of more oak, some mild acidity. The finish is long with rich fruit, oak, and a bit of chocolate that rounds out the wine. This is a nice showing that will easily be around for a year or two more.
1997 Four Gates Merlot – Score: B+
This wine is still kicking and is still drinking well. The wine is very similar to our last tasting, and is a smooth, mouth coating, and full bodied wine. The nose on this soft red to black colored wine is a rich and opulent aroma of chocolate, cherry, blackberry, and oak. The mouth on this wine is full and mouth coating and is filled with chocolate, blackberry, and cherry. The mid palate is oaky, with light acid, and integrating tannins. The finish is a long and luscious walk down the oak boardwalk with a warm espresso and a shot of vanilla to boot. This lovely wine has pushed past its peak and is time to drink up.
2006 Galil Mountain Winery Viognier – Score: B+
As nice as this wine is, it was more like a Sauvignon Blanc than it was a Viognier. The nose on this light yellow with a greenish tint colored wine is ripe with apple, peach, pear, floral, and light hints of oak. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is bright with floral flavors, along with pear, and peach flavors. The mid palate is bright with acidity, light oak, and nice green flavors. The finish is long with more fruit, and a tinge of dirt flavors. Not a Viognier I would buy again, as it lacks the rich perfume that I associate and require from a nice Viognier.
