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Harkham Windarra Shiraz and Domain Netofa Galilee
When we were in Australia this past July, we had the real joy of enjoying a lovely bottle of preservative free wine from a new old Kosher Winery – the Harkham Windarra Winery. The winery is focusing on small batches of fruit, selected predominately from hillside vineyards in the Hunter Valley. Minimal handling, bottling without filtration, only the use of French oak and low levels of preservatives are just some of the techniques used by their passionate Burgundian trained winemaker Christian Knott. The winery was established in 1985 and the Harkham family took over in 2005. Since then they have upgraded the facilities and changed the winemaking philosophy.
When we last tasted the wine(s) from the Harkham Windarra Winery, one was a superstar and one was a wine that I did not love, but thought I needed to give another chance. Well, now I will get my chance, as we stated in that post, the Harkham Windarra Shiraz is being imported to the US by Royal Wines, and it is available at many online stores, for as low at 17 dollars. I hope to get a bottle and get back to you about it. For now remember that it is mevushal, so do not think that this bottle is for cellaring. The wine for cellaring is its bigger brothers, the Harkham Shiraz Reserve, and the star of the show, the preservative free (free of added sulfites) 2009 Aziza’s Shiraz. They have just released the 2010 Aziza and Reserve, but they are still in Australia. Also, as stated in the post, the winery is currently only shipping the lower level label – the mevushal 2009 Shiraz, the other higher level labels are staying local in Australia, where they happily sell out to local merchants, both kosher and non-kosher alike.
The other new interesting wine on the market that is keeping to the same Shiraz theme from a new winery created by Pierre Miodownick, the head wine maker of all Royal Wine’s European wines. He has released four wines, as described here on Daniel Rogov’s post, but only one of them has been exported to the US, the Domaine Netofa Galilee. The wine is available now locally at a few online stores, and I hope to be taste it soon as well.
Happy Wine Hunting!!
Surfer’s Paradise, Mortadella & Brisket Cold Cuts, Israeli Salad, and Teal Lake Shiraz
Our second shabbos in Australia was magical for many reasons. First the hotel was gorgeous, close to the beach in Surfer’s Paradise, Australia. Surfer’s Paradise reminded me and my wife of a nicer and less seedy Miami Beach. Second the hotel was literally next door to the synagogue! No joke, I promise! Crazy cool. Third, we picked up some great stuff to enjoy for the Shabbos meals. First we picked up some lovely rolls at the partially kosher bakery chain; Goldstein’s Bakery. Partially kosher, because only the articles clearly labeled as kosher, along with uncut breads are kosher. Along with the lovely rolls, we picked up two packets of cold cuts at the Synagogue’s kosher food store, and a lovely Pumpkin/Sweet Potato soup. The two cold cuts we bought were ones we never saw, at least in cold cuts anyway. We bought Mortadella and Brisket. Mortadella is normally made of finely hashed/ground heat-cured pork sausage which incorporates at least 15% small cubes of pork fat (principally the hard fat from the neck of the pig). It is delicately flavored with spices, including whole or ground black pepper, myrtle berries, nutmeg, coriander and pistachios, jalapeños and/or olives (from Wikipedia). This particular Mortadella had no pork, of course. Instead, the ingredients read Beef, Chicken, Water, Salt, Spices, peppercorns, and mineral salts. The brisket seemed to be pastrami, but I could not be sure.
Overall, the meal and the area were just fantastic. The sad thing was that to find a decent bottle of kosher wine in that area, was close to impossible – which was truly sad. In the end, we found a bottle of Teal Lake Shiraz, and even that was a fair amount of work – we found it at a wine and spirits superstore called Dan Murphy’s, which reminded me of BevMo (a wine and spirits superstore here in California).
The wine note follows below:
2008 Teal Lake Shiraz – Score: B+
The nose on this purple colored wine starts off hot initially with spicy oak, ripe plum, blackberry, mineral notes, stony, raspberry, bramble fruit, white pepper, and jasmine or rose flowers. The mouth on this full bodied wine hits you with spicy blackberry, raspberry, and plum that fill your mouth with soft and integrating tannins. The mid palate is brooding with acid, oak, and pepper. The finish is long with oak, pepper, blackberry, and more tannin that linger long on the palate with plum, oak, and chocolate. This wine went downhill quickly after my initial notes, so I would drink this up now.
Harkham Winery and the Sydney Skyline make for a wonderful shabbos in Australia
We left for Australia on Monday night, and we arrived Wednesday morning – 14+ hours in an airplane! Thank God we slept most of the flight. I must say that kosher airplane food has become so inedible, that it is an honest to God disgrace. Really, does the food have to be so bad? Thank goodness my wife brought food along, so we were covered. Anyway, this trip was not about wine, it was all about seeing this wonderful country and a bit of relaxation. Really, you are in a country for two weeks, that is the size of the 48 contiguous states, and you are still wondering why it takes so long to drive to that mountain range or walk to the beach. The place is huge, it is the fourth largest exporter of wine, yet as much as we drove, we never saw a vineyard. Sure they exist, and we saw signs for wineries, but nary a vineyard in sight. It is like saying I drove through all of California on the main highways (5 or 101), and I visited San Francisco, and Los Angeles, and I did not see a single vineyard. Yeah, because the place is huge and that is NOT where they are!! Anyway, the country is gorgeous, the people are so nice, the only real issue I had with the place was that everything other than casinos, some restaurants, and a tiny number of supermarkets, everything closes at 5 or 5:30 PM sharp! Are you kidding me!
Anyway, we arrive in Sydney on Wednesday, and take in the sights of the Sydney harbor, the rocks, the botanical gardens, and much more. By the time we get back we are dead to the world, but we have to shop for shabbos, as we were staying in the city, and not going to Bondi beach (where most of the Jews in Sydney live). Our friend was SUPER nice and picked us up from the hotel and took us to the area to shop for food. There too everything was closing already, but we got the chance to go into the local kosher market and other than a few items, we left empty handed. The prices are crazy high, and the value was nowhere to be found. I took a quick peek at the wines there, and none were very interesting or good (base line Barkan and the such), and again the prices were out of control. So we went to Katzy’s to wait for our friend, who was getting his kids to sleep, and then coming by for dinner with his wife. We had not seen him for some 11 or so years since he left the bay area, so it was great catching up with him.
Now, I was still minus a bottle of wine for shabbos, and the proprietor of Katzy’s was kind enough to point out that most of the things we would want for shabbos could be bought at the rare (yes it exists) 24 hour Coles supermarket at Bondi Junction. We went to the store later in the evening, after dinner, and it had tons of kosher items, which is nice, but they had no wine, as in Australia wine, beer, and spirits are NOT sold in most stores. Rather, they are sold at shops called Bottles Shops, and they too are not allowed to be open too late. Anyway, while waiting at Katzy’s for our friend, I did what can only be called a David. Yep, my wife has named my behavior after my name. I walked up to a person waiting in line at the restaurant, and asked them “Where can I find a decent bottle of wine around this area”? The person turned around and said, no, but maybe this guy does, pointing to a young man to his right. Who did this person turn out to be, the son of Menashe Harkham, the owner of Harkham Windarra Winery!!! Yep, by “sheer luck” I fell upon the winery. The young man sold me a bottle of 2009 Harkham Windarra Winery Aziza’s Shiraz Preservative Free.
The winery was initially called Windarra Winery, which started in 1985 and produced wine and liquors. The wines slowly went down in quality and the winery was finally sold to the Harkham family in 2005. Initially, they produced no wines or liqueur, after taking the winery over. However, Richard Harkham, the winery’s GM, one day entered into the winery to help the old owner, and never looked back. Soon after that he won his first award for his 2007 Shiraz. The first kosher wine was the 2008 vintage, which sold out to restaurants and wine stores. The 2009 vintage (which is on the web page) was splintered in a way. The entry level wine – the 2009 Shiraz was sold out to Royal Wines, who has just imported the wine into the USA, and is mevushal. As we finally sat down for dinner with my friend, Menashe swung by the table, and kindly offered us a glass of the 2009 Harkham Shiraz (Mevushal), and we kindly accepted. I was so tired from the trip that I could not really taste the wine, from a tasting perspective, but it came over a bit lighter than I expected with pepper, floral notes, and a distinct mevushal taste. It may have been me or the wine, but I will be doing a more official tasting of it, when it arrives in US stores. I never got to taste the 2009 Shiraz Reserve, as it too was 100% sold to restaurants and shops. When I contacted Richard a few days before our departure, he was super kind to point me to the lovely wine shop in Vaucluse (a suburb of Sydney) called Vaucluse Cellars. We picked up a couple of bottles of the Aziza to take home and try again in a few months. The Aziza’s Shiraz was also sold 100% to shops and restaurants. The Aziza’s Shiraz is named after Richard’s Grand Mother who passes away in early 2009.
The Harkham Winery has been doing extremely well in Australia, with rave reviews and a continuous stream of people knocking on their door for their wines. The super cool thing is that the wine is NOT known as the ONLY kosher wine produced in Hunter Valley, but rather as a really good winery that produces wine in Hunter Valley. The kosher symbol is almost impossible to find on the bottle, and that is fine. It brings back memories of the first time I heard about Capcanes Peraj Ha’Abib (from Montsant Spain) from a friend of mine who received Robert Parker’s newsletter – the Wine Advocate. The newsletter called the Peraj Ha’Abib the best kosher wine (at that time), and one that no one knew about, as it was not yet imported by Royal at that time. So I went scurrying around to find a few bottles, and I called the then importer Eric Solomon of European Cellars, and asked which wine stores you sold the wines to. He gave me a wine store in NY (no not Gotham), and when I called them I asked them if they had the kosher wine from Spain? That was a mistake. They had no idea that Capcanes was even kosher – and for good reason – because the wine was killer whether it was kosher or not. Anyway, same here, the nice man who sold me my bottles of Aziza’s Shiraz, could care less if the wine was kosher or not (though he knew); he just really liked the stuff. In fact so does many wine stores and bars in Sydney! Check out these non-kosher restaurants and wine bars that pour the wine! Yulli’s Bar, Number One Wine Bar, The Bentley Bar, Seans Panaroma and Bilsons.
All this and I have yet to mention the other amazing facts of this winery. They are the only winery in Hunter Valley that has produced sulfite and preservative free wines! No not quite Alice Approved, as it used oak and yeast, but the oak is not so pronounced in the wine, as the notes below will show, but the yeast is a non-starter 
Richard is the co-wine maker, but he uses the expertise of one of the renowned flying wine makers; Beaune (Burgundy) based Christian Knott. It is a win-win situation here. Think about it, February and March are pretty dull in Burgundy, not much going on wine wise, except for maybe some bottling. However, in Australia it is harvest season and the wine maker is busy full time. This of course works great for the flying wine makers. They work half the time in France and half the time in the southern hemisphere, either South America, South Africa, or Australia. Christian clearly brings a Burgundian approach to the wine with bramble and mineral, but it still has the massive pepper and crazy dark complexity that says Hunter Valley.
When we talk about preservative free, it does not mean organic! What? You see in the USA, the rules are VERY simple, you CANNOT add any preservatives in ANY manner – as described here, (sorry the data is in a PDF) on the USDA website. But in Australia, they are allowed to add up to 125 ppm (parts per million) of sulfites to the wine. However, the Aziza’s Shiraz is 100% preservative free, meaning no added sulfites. As described above, there is almost NO 100% free sulfite wine, unless the sulfites are filtered out. Why? Because sulfites happen naturally when wines are fermented. Further, to be called organic in the US or in Australia, the grapes must have been grown and maintained organically. The grapes at Harkham Winery are not yet organically grown and maintained, so the bottle cannot be labeled with anything other than 100% preservative free, instead of 100% organic, which would be far easier in Australia to pull off. That said, there is a push and a market being created by the need of people for 100% preservative added wines – why? Because there are a small percentage of the world who are allergic or react poorly to sulfites in wine. How many? The USDA describes it as 1/100 as stated here.
Well, after enjoying dinner with our friends, we bought a rotisserie chicken from Katzy’s to go, and then our friends kindly drove us back to our hotel. We also made our way back to Bondi Station on Thursday night to pick up some more stuff for Shabbos and we were set. The chicken was so-so, not a huge hit with my wife, and the chicken soup that we also picked up at Katzy’s was more salt than flavor, so no winners from Katzy’s for the shabbos. That said, the hummus and Israeli salad that we made, along with some nice brown rice was a winner and it all worked out in the end.
Many thanks to Richard, Menashe, and his other son, for allowing us to enjoy the wonderful wine from Harkham Winery, and best wishes on more success in the future! The wine note follows below:
2009 Harkham Windarra Aziza’s Shiraz Preservative Free - Score: A- to A
This wine has two lives it starts with red fruit, but as it airs out, the wine turns black with chocolate. At first the nose on this dark purple colored wine is redolent with huge floral notes, massive white pepper, rose hips, ripe plum, and fig. The mouth on this full bodied wine is complex, layered, rich, and crazy concentrated to start with white pepper, a crazy attack of tannins and structure, floral notes, plum, raspberry, and nice oak. The mid palate flows off the mouth with solid acid, integrating tannins, and oak. The finish is long with oak, figs, cocoa, plum, and raspberry, and white pepper. The pepper and intensity flows all the way through. Once the wine grabs a few gulps of air, maybe an hour at most, the nose of the wine transforms into a black beast, with blackberry, ripe black plum, chocolate, and oak. The wine turns inky and black in the mouth, with extra ripe blackberry, inky concentration, black plum, more concentrated white pepper (which softens with time), and nice oak. This wine has a powerful backbone of acid which will hold it in good stead, as there are no added sulfites, which will allow it to lie in the cellar for a few more years at least. A fun and powerful wine that I look forward to tasting again in a few months.
Chicken Soup, Moroccan Merguez Tajine, Kielbasa Stew, and a plethora of wines
This past weekend saw us hosting a meal for my Nephew and friend who had just completed his qualifications to start his PHD at Berkley University. The meal started with a nice Chicken Soup (recipe here) and my wife’s awesome whole wheat challah. It was followed by two stews that were consumed heartily. Benyamin Cantz joined us for the meal, along with some of our dear friends, and as I was preparing the stews, I could hear Benyo saying “never use the same ingredients in two dishes that are served during the same meal”. So as I reused Yukon potatoes and carrots in the two stews, I knew I would hear it from him. That said, the flavors of the two dishes were so very different that it worked out. The tajine recipe starts off with browning both ends of sliced Merguez, cut into one inch tubes. Once both sides are browned, I remove them from my Dutch Oven and brown the onions. I always throw in the salt and pepper at this point to help soften the onions and make them release their water and increase their sweetness. Once the onions are browned nicely, throw in all the spices, and make sure the spices coat the onions. Once the spices are evenly distributed, throw in the other vegetables and let them get some of the spices coated on them as well, and cook them for 10 or so minutes to help them release their liquid. At this point throw in the sun-dried tomatoes, the wine, water, browned Merguez, cinnamon stick, and vegetable stock. Throw this in a preheated 400 degree oven for one hour. Then add in the chickpeas and fruit and let cook for another 30 or so minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick and serve.
Moroccan Merguez Tajine (recipe)
1/4 cup of olive oil
2 pounds of Merguez sliced into one inch tubes
6 cloves garlic
3 large onions cut into chunks
Salt and pepper
paprika
ground turmeric
ground cumin
cayenne pepper
ground cinnamon
ground cardamom
ground ginger
garlic powder
ground coriander
Pinch of saffron threads
4 Yukon potatoes cut into chunks
6 carrots cut into chunks
1/4 cup of sun-dried tomatoes
2 cups vegetable stock
1 cup of white wine
1 cinnamon stick
1 can cooked chickpeas
1/2 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup of dried dates
The kielbasa recipe can be found here on another blog posting. It came out OK, but not as glorious as my previous attempt. The stews were paired with brown basmati rice, and a nice fresh green salad. To pair with these foods, we went to a collection of wines that were brought by Benyo from his personal stash and from my stash as well. A side note, some of the wines were well past their prime, and some were a bit past their prime. Please do not look down at the work, rather look down on us for holding on to these puppies for too long.
The wines are listed in the order that they were consumed:
2004 Four Gates Rishona (750ml) – Score: A-
I need to start by stating that this was a bottle that Benyo made for us, as it was a 750 ml bottle, rather than the released 375 ml sized bottle. The color on this brown tinged/dark ruby colored wine, was hopping with chicken cherry cola, coffee, mature oak, fig, and raspberry. The mouth on this intense and full bodied wine was layered with bright black cherry, coffee, and oak. The mid palate was bracing with bright acidity and oak. The finish was long and tantalizing with more cherry, oak, and coffee, layered under a canopy of mature flavors. This is clearly a wine that needs to be consumed now, but to some, this was one of the winners, which was shocking given the list of wines we enjoyed.
Elvi Wines Adar Cava Brut N.V. – Score: B+
The nose on this bubbly and effervescent light pink colored wine, is hopping with strawberry, lemon, and cherry. The mouth on this light to medium bodied wine is packed with small bubbles that are active and alive, they mingle well with the strawberry and cherry. The mid palate is alive with bracing acidity. The finish is medium long with core acidity, strawberry, bubbles, and a lemon burst at the very tail end. Drink UP!
2009 Terra Vega Shiraz – Score: B+
The nose on this garnet colored wine is filled with dirt, mineral, raspberry, plum, violet notes, and cherry. The mouth on this medium bodied wine starts off with cherry, raspberry, and plum that flow into a lovely acidic mid palate, with spicy wood, tannins, and coffee. The finish is long with spicy wood, cherry, plum, coffee, and pepper that all linger on the palate after the wine is gone.
1989 Gan Eden Cabernet Sauvignon – Score: N/A
I still remember this wine in its youth. It was fantastic and some of the best Cabernet I have ever tasted. That said, this was kept too long, which is no affront to Craig (wine maker at Gan Eden). The nose on this mahogany was relegated to oak and some dark fruit. The mouth is still tannic and oaky with bright acidity, but the fruit was all gone and a bit off. What more can be said, this was a glorious warrior in its past, but if you still have some, it should be left to lie in the bottle for sentimental value.
2005 Four Gates Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley – Score: A-
The nose on this dark garnet to black colored wine is filled with blackberry, cassis, plum, oak, and spice. The mouth on this medium to full bodied is concentrated with fruit that follows the nose, blackberry, cassis, and plum. The mid palate is balanced with oak and still gripping tannins. The finish is long and graceful, with spicy oak, black pepper, cassis, and a hint of leather.
1998 Four Gates Merlot – Score: B
This is another one of those wines that was held too long. It was still there, but not at the Four Gates level. In the evening it still had a bit of a nose, but was off. By day the wine was less off, but the nose was all gone.
Galil Mountain Meron (77% Syrah, 11% each of Cab and Petit Verdot) – Score: A
The nose on dark garnet to black colored wine starts off with a quick hit of blueberry, and then continues to show rich and ripe plum, cassis, blackberry (almost bursting with juice), tobacco, ripe black cherry, sweet oak, fig, smoke, and pepper. The mouth on this full bodied wine is layered and concentrated with rich ripe fruit at the attack on a bed of lush and integrated tannins. The mouth follows with layer after layer of more ripe blackberry, cassis, plum, and black cherry in a concentrated and concerted attack. The mid palate flows perfectly with oak, soft integrated tannins, crazy spicy and smoky nuances, chocolate, and tobacco. The finish is long and spicy with black cherry, ripe and nicely extracted black fruit, tobacco, smoke, and oak. Quite a nice wine, and one of the winners of the evening.
2003 Ella Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Vineyard’s Choice (97% Cab, 3% Cabernet Franc) – Score: A
The nose on this inky black wine is screaming with bright and ripe blackberry, cassis, cherry, and gobs of rich and spicy oak. The mouth on this massive full bodied wine is layered with blackberry, cassis, and plum. The mouth is balanced with spicy oak, still gripping tannins, and nice acidity. The finish is long with ripe black fruit, spicy oak, and chocolate. Quite a nice wine, and one that still has a bit of time in it, but may be close to its peak.
Alcohol and Brown Sugar Braised Short Ribs and 2007 Beckett’s Flat Five Stones Margaret River Shiraz
On the weekend of December 25th, we were north of Napa Valley hanging out at a lovely and quaint area called Clear Lake. Clear Lake is actually not the name of the city, nor is there a city near the famous Clear lake that bears its name. Still, if you tell anyone you were hanging out in Nice, they will think you went to France, and not a quiet and lovely city in California. Anyway, as we were away from home for the weekend, we tried to take the smallest number of things with us. So dinner was cooked in a crock pot and lunch was cold, which makes things simple. Dinner consisted of Flanken/short ribs, white rice, fresh green salad, and some awesome roasted new root vegetables (fresh from out of the ground), that we bought at a Farmer’s Market in Los Gatos, CA. I need to take a tangent, as usual, to highlight the difference between flanken and Korean short ribs. First and foremost – flanken – is a flat slab of meat over a single plate bone – like depicted here.
Flanken - beef on plate bone
Note that there is a single bone and a nice chunk of meat on it. This cut of meat is also known as English Cut. Also, the meat on this cut of beef is chock full of intercostal muscle and tendon, and a layer of boneless meat. The meat, is not thin and easy to cook, but rather tough and in need of a long hot bath of some finger licking good sauce. Now, in stark and obvious contrast, there is the cut of meat sometimes known (incorrectly in my eyes) as flanken or Korean Ribs, which is cut across the bones. The meat is a thinner cut, more meat and less bone, actually a few small bones. This is what the meat looks like, as explained earlier, it is cut across the bones and sliced thinly, allowing it to be grilled (with some marinating ahead of time), sautéed, or seared into perfection. That said, my favorite is still the English cut flanken, with its meaty and heavy flavors, that come to life with a nice sear on all three sides (counting out the bone of course). After the meat is seared nicely, sauté cubed onion, carrots, celery, ans mushrooms in the left over fat. Finish the dish with a nice amount of Johnny Walker or Canadian Club, along with some brown sugar to cut the bitterness of alcohol, for 5 or so hours. Anyway, remember that flanken is with the bone and short ribs are against the bones.
Korean Short Ribs - cut across the bones
For the final pièce de résistance, I present, roasted root vegetables. We had, sweet potatoes, rutabagas, gorgeous red and yellow beets that we roasted until they puckered up and released some of their sweetness. The roasting process helped to extract the water from the vegetables, while concentrating and caramelizing the vegetable’s sugar. Quite a treat and a great pairing for the meat.
To pair with the meat, I went looking for a wine that was fruity, acidic, and had just enough body to keep up with the meat and sweetened vegetables, and I found that in the 2007 Beckett’s Flat Five Stones Margaret River Shiraz. I must say that it is a HUGE upgrade from the lack luster 2006 vintage. In our previous tasting of the 2006 vintage, it came to a screaming halt a few feet after the mid palate, while the 2007 vintage is luscious and full throughout. The wine has not much pepper to be found, but in its stead is a lovely mineral and earthy tone that keeps this wine on its toes.
The wine notes follow below:
2007 Beckett’s Flat Five Stones Margaret River Shiraz – Score: B+
First of all, yes this bottle has a twist-off cap, get OVER it, now to the wine note. The nose on this dark ruby to garnet colored wine is nice with rich plum, raspberry, and cherry undertones, along with deep mineral notes, and a hint of chocolate. The mouth on this medium bodied wine has rich and bright flavors of plum, raspberry, and cherry. The mid palate has some nice oak, bracing acidity, and balancing yet not totally integrated tannins. The finish is bright and long with red fruit and mineral notes along with a few chunks of chocolate.
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
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.
Noya Restaurant and Galil Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon
This week I am in Jerusalem and we visited a restaurant called Noya. It is in the area of Jerusalem that is starting to look like downtown Chicago – always under construction. Jerusalem is adding a new light rail system that will run from the City Center to the main bus station. However, it is over budget, still in construction, and it is turning the center of town into a huge mess. Jaffa street, is the main drag in the center of town and it has been turned into a one way street with basically only buses running in that lane. The rest of the road is dug up and waiting for rails to be laid down – but from what I hear on the street, this will be going on for a couple of years still – what a mess. The once proud road of Jaffa that goes through the city and ends at the Jaffa gate – is now in ruins. The once bustling and litter strewn streets are now littered with closed shops and ditches that are untouched. So now the center of town, where the entire buzz exists, is actually a few hundred feet after the construction zone (and more towards the old city) – called Shlomtzion Hamalka. Along with the new mall that starts right after the Shlomtzion Hamalka district, and that runs all the way up to the old Jaffa gate, called Mamilla Mall.
Anyway, Noya is right on the corner of Shlomtzion Hamalka – on what Jaffa turns into right after the construction zone. The restaurant has a nice ambiance and the service is competent and charming. I wish I could say the same for the food. We started off with two appetizers – the lamb platter and the Beef Carpaccio. The lamb platter was OK, but underwhelming in flavor and slightly overcooked. The Carpaccio was more pickling than beef. The vinegar and lemon overpowered the dish, which is a shame, as the meat looked nice. The theme of the restaurant seems to be lamb, as the menu for the entrees is dominated by lamb dishes and a few fowl dishes. There was one beef dish; Entrecote, so we decided on the entrecote and the mixed lamb platter. To pair the meat dishes we had a bottle of Galil Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 blend. The wine was nice, but the lamb again was underwhelming. The Entrecote was nice and cooked perfectly. The salad that accompanied it was pretty to look at and to eat. The lamb platter however, was again overcooked and lacking in punch or flavor. Lamb dishes should allow the lamb to talk for itself. The tangy and gamey flavors should mingle with the dish’s overall direction. Unfortunately, our dishes were more listless than tangy and the overall dish lacked motif or even imagination. Again, the entrecote, was delightful and well put together, I guess it was a bad day for the lamb dishes, and would try the restaurant again.
The wines notes follow below:
Galil Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 – Score: B+
The nose of this red and purple haloed wine has a pair of lives. It starts with an inky Shiraz nose of cassis and sweet wood. Later the nose changes to a cabernet nose of pencil shavings, sweet wood, cassis, cranberry, and raspberry. The mouth of this full bodied wine is soft with Cabernet stylings – which make sense as the blend is 51% Shiraz and 49% Cabernet. The mouth has cassis and raspberry. The mid palate has eucalyptus, some acidity, and slight to integrated tannins. The finish is medium long with more wood, nice tannins, and acidity.
Tekiah Tempranillo Reserve, Four Gates Chardonnay, and Rothberg Cellars Shiraz
This weekend saw us spending a glorious pair of days at our friend’s home. They are as always the consummate hosts, and we truly enjoyed it. The meals were divine and I brought over a few bottles to share. The first is a little known bottle from a company called Tekiah and it was enjoyable. As always the Four Gates Chard was the star. The Rothberg Shiraz was OK, but too simple a wimpy for my tastes.
The wine notes follow below:
Tekiah Reserva Tempranillo 2007 – Score: B
The nose on this ruby colored wine is filled with spice and cherry. The mouth on this light to medium wine is really just cherry and more cherry. The mid palate is a bit spicy with no tannins to be found. The finish is accompanied with spice and a touch of coffee.
Rothberg Cellars Shiraz 2004 – Score: B
The nose on this garnet colored wine was strong with cherry and raspberry notes. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is still tight and young. It has notes of raspberry and plum. The mid palate is really quite plain. The finish is average long and has nice notes of sweet wood and a hint of spice.
Four Gates Chardonnay 2000 – Score: A
Not much has changed with this one since I last blogged it. I have a few left, but I say it has hit its peak – drink up and be happy.
