Blog Archives
Vignobles David Le Mourre de L’Isle Cotes du Rhone and Cotes du Rhone Villages Reserve
On a warm winter day in January, I had the opportunity to sit down with the head winemaker and owner of Vignobles David, and Shai Ghermezian, executive vice president of Allied Importers, who imports the wine into the country. The winery’s 114 acres of vineyards are located on the southern side of the Rhone Valley, in front of the famous Pont du Gard, within the triangle-shaped area of Avignon, Nîmes and Uzès.
The name of the winery is given for the name of its owner, Fred David, who can been seen partially obscured behind his wine, in the picture to the right. However, it is also very apropos to the work that the David does full time, that being a vigneron for his Vignoble, or in English a wine maker manicuring his vineyard. A vigneron in its purest sense, means a person who not only makes wine, but one who also tends to his vineyards. There really are very few true vigneron left out there, simply because of the sheer effort and time required to do it. Of course, Fred has people who help him, but he runs an independent family owned winery whose vines are all tended to in an organic manner.
Most people know this winery by the name of the kosher wine it sells here in the US: Le Mourre de l’Isle. Actually, the name of the winery, as we said above, is Vignobles David. Please keep the real winery’s name in mind, so you can be on the lookout for the other kosher wines that Allied will be importing from them in the near future.
As larger conglomerates are buying up more and more wineries, wineries like Vignobles David are standing their ground and producing wonderful wines in an ecologically friendly manner to boot. The winery has been around since 1991 and has been producing kosher wines since 2005. The winery also produces a kosher Rose but that is sold exclusively in Europe. This year, David has added a reserve wine to both his kosher and non-kosher lineup that he is going to release here in the US sometime in February.
As we were sitting around Ghermezian’s table, the conversation moved in many different directions. I could not help but ask questions about the wine business from two people whose very life depends on it. As I listened to the conversation I was fascinated by the way that Mr. David reminds me of another true vigneron, who is also a very good friend, Benyamin Cantz of Four Gates Winery. They both create kosher wines with rich intensity; they both mind their vines and care deeply about their craft. Obviously, David’s operation is many times larger than Four Gates, and one is in the US and the other in France, but I could not help but take notice of the common threads in their lives and the wines that they produce from their vines.
Discussing terroir with a Frenchman is truly enjoyable, but doing it in French is even more fun. I dabble in the romantic language and it was a joy talking with David in his native tongue, even if I did mangle a few of the words. As the discussion moved to his wines, I asked why he does not sell his Rose here in the US? Mr. Ghermezian showed interest and yet, Mr. Davis explained that while the US market enjoys his wines, he is able to sell his entire stock in Europe, whether kosher or not. Actually, the majority of his wine is not kosher and it sells out in Europe, with his customers asking for more. Yet, he creates kosher wine because of his religious beliefs. The cost of the kosher wine is slightly higher than the non-kosher variation, simply because of the extra costs that the kosher wine production entails, and yet I could not help but sense his pride in its production as we were talking.
The complexity of creating a kosher blend comes down to a tradeoff between cost or quality. The reason comes down to the rate of ripening of different grape varietals, Grenache does not ripen at the same time as Syrah or Mourvedre. So if one wants a kosher blend, he must have kosher supervisors there for three pickings to maximize the blend’s potential, or pick once and hope for the best. With great pride and precision, Mr. David explained that he had kosher supervisors at his winery for some thirty or more days! From the first picking all the way to the last picking, then through the fermentation, and finally culminating with the wine’s internment into concrete or oak. Each step requires the supervision and it also requires his constant focus, which is not his only task or distraction, as he must still create his other non-kosher wines that are all coming ripe at the same time.
Tanya Winery – an idyllic winery in the rolling hills of Binyamina’s Judean Hills
This is not the first time I had the opportunity to taste wines from the wonderful Tanya Winery. Actually, the first time we had the chance to taste Yoram Cohen’s wines (the winemaker) was in 2008, some five years ago. Since then, we did not have the chance to taste ant other wines from Tanya, as they were not available here in the US, until recently! Now, they are being imported by Red Garden Imports, an importer’s name that I heard many times from a few small boutique wineries as I walked around Sommelier! Actually we were supposed to go to the winery early in 2011, but Yoram’s kid got sick so we had to postpone the visit. Instead, we had to wait almost a year to get the chance to taste some Tanya wines, and it was a worthwhile wait, given the current crop of wines.
Many in Israel know Yoram not because of his unique personality or artistic passion, but rather because he was on Israel’s Big Brother 3! Yes, you heard me correct Yoram Cohen was on the Big Brother of Israel, but I guess he should stick to what he does exceptionally well, as he was the second housemate to be tossed out. I hope it helped to put focus on his personality and winery, because they are both quite unique and wonderful treasures that we get to enjoy!
In the middle of the first day for me at the 2011 edition of Sommelier, I got to the Tanya Winery booth! Just a few reminders about Tanya Winery, in case you are too lazy to click the link to my other posts 
. In 2002 Yoram started to make wine out of his house. In 2007 one of Chaim Feder’s friends tasted Yoram’s wines and was sure that Yoram was the next big thing in wine. Chaim and his partners met Yoram and the rest is history. They upgraded the winery’s future productivity by purchasing new equipment, plantings new vineyards, and leasing more space for the winery. The winery’s current production is about 30,000 bottles annually. Most wineries were displaying their wines from 
2008 at the event, which by now you all know is a problem for many, being that it was a Shmitta year. In case this is your first roll through my blog, check out my Kosher 101 posting about Shmitta and more. Tanya however did not produce any wines in 2008, which all I can say is WOW! Takes a certain spirit and belief system to not make wine for a year! The winery has three labels; Enosh, Halel, and Eliya Reserve, all named after his kids, which are shown on the booth and on the website (though at a younger age). Enosh is the winery’s top Bordeaux blend, Halel is the main wine line, while Eliya is the lower label that has recently been upgraded, as is visible in the Shiraz below.
As I tasted these wines, I did not know that one of them was also part of my original wine tasting in 2008! The 2007 Pinot Noir, which we tasted from the barrel, has clearly changed with more red fruit showing and lovely oak extraction as well. However, the body and structure look the same from those many years earlier!
Awesome kosher meatball recipe, lovely sauces, last 2009 HaSod Cabernet Sauvignon, and 2010 Tierra Salvaje Pinot Noir Reserve
This past weekend, I was on a mission from God (in my mind anyway) to make the best possible meatball possible. My wife thinks I have gone crazy, because to her the meatballs we have made in the past were fine to her, and they are. Still, my quest to make the perfect meatball cannot be quenched, though this past iteration was quite possibly my best. There are some more tweaks we will need to do, but more on that soon. Now I wanted to make a single meatball recipe, but two different sauces. Why? Simple, my wife was not interested in a meat based sauce, and I did. Now the only con to frying meatballs is that the sauce you make has no meat flavor in it. Yes, the onions and base can start from the fat that is rendered from the fried meatballs, but that still does not cut it. A true meat sauce requires meat flavors to be fully integrated in the sauce, via cooking and reducing with the meat, thereby concentrating the meat and tomato flavors, in combination. Further, I was NOT going to braise the meatballs after I went to the trouble of frying them and getting them nice and crunchy to only lose that in a pot of sauce!
So, I was left with the trouble of cooking two sauces, one with the rendered fat and one without. To get the rich meat flavor, I further rendered the fat of Nechama’s Smoked Andouille sausages (made from turkey and chicken), and then cooked them in the completed tomato sauce, to enrich the sauce with a lovely bit of heat and meat flavor. While this was successful, the extra sausages did not render well enough for me, and the extra steps were not worth the final outcome.
For the meatball recipe, I used a further modified version of the classic meatball recipe from America’s Test Kitchen:
- 1 cup of cooked but slightly watery oatmeal (cooled down) – this is the panade
- 2 pounds of 85% lean ground beef
- 6 oz. Aarons Best Sliced Beef Fry Cured & Smoked – well diced
- Two cups of squeezed shredded onions and zucchini – WELL SQUEEZED out
- 4 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
- 2 eggs
- 3 garlic clove, minced
- 3 tablespoons of paprika and cumin (combined)
- Salt and pepper
- Vegetable oil Read the rest of this entry
Baked Meatballs, Tomato Sauce, Brown Rice, and Binyamina Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve
This week we were interested in trying some new stuff. Last week we could not eat meat leftovers, so it was vegan week. However, this week we decided that it was time for some meatballs. We have made meatballs before using a boiling technique in tomato sauce, but I always want to monkey with meatballs, for a reason I truly do not know. So, I went looking around the internet for people’s opinions on meatballs, and most folks are of the opinion of frying or baking, but very FEW recipes recommend boiling meatballs in a sauce. So I went with Alton Brown’s recipe, but used ground almonds to coat the outside of the meatballs instead of breadcrumbs, and the spices from my recipe linked above. We liked the meatballs but where I was looking for a crunch or at least some resistance on the outside of the meatball, we found almost none, this even after baking them at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. I will try this recipe again as I am reticent to fry the meatballs unless I am absolutely forced into that technique to get some crunch. The tomato sauce was the exact recipe I always use, and it was awesome.
Tomato Sauce Recipe:
2 pound of sliced onions
2 tbsp of olive oil
2 tbsp of sea salt
5 cloves of garlic
4 tsp of fresh basil
2 tsp of black pepper
2 28 oz cans of whole tomatoes
2 cups of red wine
The recipe is as simple as it gets. Heat a 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. Once the onions are browned, drop in the garlic and basil and wait for them to start to toast and become fragrant, NOT TOO long or else it will burn. Then add the tomatoes and wine to the pan, along with some black pepper. Cook the sauce until it starts to reduces by a third, then let cool down over night, reheat the next day and serve with whatever you want.
I wanted to have a nice and powerful red wine for this meal. Normally the pairing calls for a Chianti, Pinot Noir, or acidic Merlot. However, I was in the mood of a bigger wine, so we went with the 2006 Binyamina Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. I bought this wine for a song during the Passover sale, and I regret not buying more. As you will soon see, this wine is already feeling the effects of the mevushal process, but the wine is still awesome and has another year at least. The only other regret I have was not having had a non-mevushal bottle of this wine to compare side by side. Binyamina has started to release mevushal wines for the US market, and seems to do the mevushal process (flash pasteurization) at bottling time, which is the worst time possible. The earlier you do it, the better chance the wine has of surviving it. Hagafen and Herzog have both done fantastic jobs of mevushal-ing their wines and still garnering large and respectable scores. That said, not doing any mevushal-ing is even better! The process of flash pasteurization takes the wine from room temperature to absolute boil (210 degrees or so) and back to room temperature in less than ONE second. Still, one never wants to boil their wines, so doing the process is still harmful to the wines, and the later you do it, the worse it damages the wine as well. So, it would have been great to taste the two wines side by side, one with and without mevushal-ing, but they do not export the non-mevushal wines reserve wines to the US.
As explained already, we normally boil our meatballs in our favorite tomato sauce. However, this time we baked the meatballs and did NOT put them back in the sauce as that would have just made their shell soft. However, we served the baked meatballs alongside brown rice, topped with tomato sauce, and another side of fresh green salad. The wine matched well with the tomato sauce and meatballs, as the wine has enough acidity to match the tomato sauce’s acidity, and enough body to match the meatballs and the earthy almond coating.
The wine note follows below:
2006 Binyamina Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve – Score: A-
The nose on this garnet to black colored wine is hopping with ripe blackberry, raspberry, black plum, rich and extracted oak, loamy dirt, and spice. With time the wine’s nose changes to show mounds of pepper, almost redolent with pepper and some stewed plums or prunes (from the mevushal process). The mouth on this full bodied wine is complex and concentrated with blackberry, ripe plum, and bramble. Clearly the oak and tannins play a huge role in this wine. The body opens and softens with clear oak and tannin presence, along with nice weight. The mid palate is nice and balanced with acid, oak, integrating tannins and a hint of chocolate. The finish is super long and concentrated with blackberry, plum, oak, and a dollop of vanilla and tannins. After time the finish is equally long, super spicy, with oak, an explosion of pepper, blackberry, black plum, along with some nice vanilla at the end.
Cholent, Spicy Food, and Segal Cabernet Sauvignon Special Reserve
This past weekend saw us sharing a Kiddush with my Brother and family after my nephew completed his Bar Mitzvah portion splendidly well. The spread we were presented with was absolutely outstanding! It included a North African Cholent called – dafina (wheat berry, onions, and meat), and a European Cholent (potatoes, meat, onions, etc.). In addition to the cholent(s), there were an assorted number of chicken options, along with tons of other salads and side dishes (including some smoking hot peppers and olives).
Well, before Shabbos I picked up two bottles of wine. One was a 1999 Nebbiolo wine that I found at the wine store, and it was DOA. The other was a 2004 Segal Cabernet Sauvignon, which was quite nice.
The wine went well with the cholent and spicy dishes and was enjoyed by others at the table.
The wine note follows below:
2004 Segal Cabernet Sauvignon Special Reserve – Score: B+
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine is hopping with sweet oak, blackberry, cranberry, and dark chocolate. The mouth on this fat yet not complex full bodied wine is somewhat mouth coating, and carries along with it the fruit characteristics from the nose, with blackberry and cranberry. The mid palate is balanced with well integrated tannins and acidity, that pick up the fruit flavors while adding some fullness to the mouth. The finish is medium long with more black fruit and a nice chocolate presence. The wine is effective, but not a complex wine, like the 2003 Ella Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.
This past week’s wine(s)….
This week we had a light weekend. We first tried a bottle that I was given to taste and let me say it was a complete and utter disaster. The wine tasted like blueberry and cherry cough syrup. Truly sad. Luckily, I had a fantastic bottle of wine to pick up the slack.
Recanati Petit Syrah – Zinfandel (PSZ) Reserve 2004 – Score: A
This wine is just scrumptious! It has many of the enjoyable characteristics of a cousin of its – the Herzog Zinfandel/ Cabernet/Syrah 2002 wine. The color is a deep purple with a tingle of blue. The Nose on this wine jumps out at you. The first thing I smell is blackberry, blueberry, and green aromas. The mouth of this velvety and complex wine is full of plum, blackberry, and spice. This wine screams fun and is beyond playful. I only had a single bottle and I hope to find some more. This wine is similar to the Herzog in the way that the Zin characteristics come through. However, this is a classic example of Lewis Pasco and his wine making techniques. The wine is let free to exhibit its true fruit abilities. The green of the grape is evident, but there is enough oak to bring the whole package together. A true winner! By the way this version is a bit tastier then the previously reviewed sibling (the 2005 PSZ).
This Past Friday Night Wine…
No guests this week – taking a breather, so I only opened a single bottle.
Rothberg Cellars Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 - Score: A-
The nose on this Garnet – purple colored wine is filled with nice fruit, blackberry, cassis, and coffee. The mouth of this medium-full bodied wine is filled with fruit carry over. When I first opened the bottle, the mouth had blackberry, cassis, and a nice finish of coffee and oak. At the mid point of the meal, the wine went French and became insanely mineral and earthy. It overshadowed the fruit and the oak. When it settled more, the wine lost the lovely coffee – but the fruit returned, the mouth was smooth, and the finish was filled with nice spicy oak. A funny wine – but one that I enjoyed a lot over the two meals.
This past Friday Night’s wines….
This week we had some people over so the selection was larger. In the order they were drank….
Chateau Yon-Figeac 1995 – Score: B-
The nose was nice and opened over time, but this was way over its life. The color was still Bordeaux red, and the mouth was a bit tannic still, but the wine was oxidized and worse – it had an almost cooked flavor to it. Shame really, as a few years earlier and it may have been fun.
Recanati Cabernet Franc Reserve 2004 – Score: A-
Not a fan favorite – which I believe has far more to do with the fact that we had people over who are particular about their Franc . This is not a classical Franc. Not much has changed from the previous note I made on this wine. Open early and it will be enjoyed. But just remember this is not a Cab Franc – this is a Cabernet is a Franc’s clothing.
Carmel Cabernet Franc Appellation 2002 - Score: A-
Again – not a fan Favorite. If this was renamed Cabernet it would have been a smash hit. Huge wine (like the Recanati). Bold and spicy with a very long and generous finish. The mouth on this medium – full bodied wine is chuck full of red fruits and a large dollop of tannins. Open early and drink soon.
Herzog Syrah Special Reserve 2001 - Score: B+
This one was a bit more what people expected – but an interesting split down the middle some liked some did not. Mainly I think because of the wines aggressive nature. It has a beautiful purple color. The nose is filled with dark fruit and a ton of black pepper. The mouth first hits you with tannin, pencil shavings, and mineral flavors that are not so appealing. They give way to nice fruit, a touch of tar, and a long and peppery finish. Drink up.
Herzog Syrah Special Reserve 2002 - Score: A-
This one was a bit more what people expected – and liked by everyone at the table. Again a deep purple color, and a nose of pepper, dark fruits, and tobacco. The mouth is much smooth, balanced and really a nice fullness that gives this full bodied wine a good showing. The mouth gives way to a fair amount of dark fruit, and then again to a long and peppery finish. Showing well, but drink up.
Hagafen Syrah 2000 - Score: B+
Another winner of the evening. This wine is still going strong. Again the color was a nice purple. The nose was not peppery like the Herzog wines. This one was more red with a tinge of green. The mouth on this medium – full bodied wine was smooth with a fair amount of red fruit and almost no tannins to perceive. The oak is still present and almost sweet. The fruits give way to a long and fruity finish. Not my cup of Syrah – but others may disagree.
Yarden Syrah 2002 – A-
In my humble eyes – the winner of the night by FAR! This wine is still brooding and will be a huge winner for years to come. In retrospect – 2002 was a bad year for Israeli wines, but a good year for the bottles we opened this evening. The wine’s color is a deep red to purple. The nose is still teeming with red fruit, oak, and tobacco. The mouth on this full bodied wine is still a bit tannic, though integrating nicely. The mouth gives way to a nice amount of fruit, but the star is the chocolate and tobacco that come along for a nice and long finish. This wine should hold out a bit more.
Mony Wine
We recently tasted some Mony wines that we liked so we thought we would share them with you.
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.
