To celebrate the end of Passover, we had friends join us for two of the four meals on the last days. We spent the entire Sunday cooking, and while it was crazy work, it was a ton of fun. We had a TON of help from our friends who were spending Passover with us, so MANY thanks to them!!

Sunday Night Menu:
Herb Encrusted Baked Gefilte Fish Loaf
Eggplant salad
Quinoa
Passover Meatballs
Kugel
Fresh Salad

Wine Menu:
Leftovers of Elvi Ness Blanco and Yarden Pinot Noir from Saturday

Monday Day Menu:
Baked Gefilte Fish Loaf
Eggplant salad
Stuffed Vegetables
Kugel
Fresh Salad

Wine Menu:

2003 Carmel Shiraz, Single Vineyard, Kayoumi – (Israel, Galilee, Upper Galilee) – Score: A-
As one peers into the inky black colored depths of this wine with purple halos you are immediately met with waves of tobacco, tar, licorice, black pepper, oak, espresso coffee, roasted meat, blackberry, cassis, plum, and herb. The mouth on this full bodied wine is rich, lovely, and concentrated with blackberry, cassis, roasted meat, plum, lovely integrated tannin, and herb. The mid palate flows off the mouth with balanced acid, oak, lovely tannin, tobacco, and tar. The finish is super long with nice tannin, oak, black fruit, black pepper, dirt, herb, and licorice.

2003 Four Gates Syrah, Special Reserve – Score: A- to A
This wine continues to impress and is keeping strong to my previous notes. The first thing that hits you when you open this bottle of wine and peer into its purple-black stare is the ripe blueberry notes that come screaming out at you, along with blackberry, cassis, plum, tobacco, chocolate, tar, and rick oak. The mouth on this full bodied, mouth filling, concentrated, and inky structured wine comes at you in layers with fruit that follows the nose, ripe blackberry, plum, cherry, blueberry, inky black tar, and oak. The mid palate is balanced with acid, oak, tobacco, and chocolate. The finish is super long, black, and spicy, with rich oak, chocolate, tobacco, tar, and blackberry. This is a truly wonderful wine that is highly structured with lovely tannins and a wine that still has a few years left under its belt. The nose is killer with the lovely ripe blueberry and blackberry, along with the oak, tar, and chocolate. It follows through with the mouth till its tantalizing finish. Quite a powerful wine that still has its sea legs beneath it and one that has a bright horizon ahead of it.

2007/2008 N.V. Four Gates Pinot Noir Kosher – Score: A-
This wine has turned blacker since the last time I tasted it and I love it! The wine is showing far more black fruit characteristics than earlier along with coffee and more dirt. The nose on this light purple colored wine is bursting with Chicken Cherry Cola, raspberry, black plum, black fruit, coffee, dirt, and mint. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is a concentrated attack of fruit, with black currant, raspberry, chicken cherry cola, and black plum. The mid palate is bracing with acidity, along with not integrating tannins that play nicely with the wine and the bright fruit, and coffee. The finish is super long with oak, nice acid, black plum, dirt, coffee, and kirsch cherry. This is not an over oaked wine in any way, and that is clear from my notes, still the oak is present in places and works well when it does peek out from under the fruit haze.

Monday Night Menu
Baked Gefilte Fish Loaf
Eggplant salad
Leftover Cholent
Fresh Salad

Wine Menu:
Leftovers of Four Gates Syrah (awesome) and Pinot Noir…

Tuesday Day Menu (Friends and Family):
Baked Gefilte Fish Loaf
Eggplant salad
Kielbasa Stew
Kugel
Fresh Salad

Wine Menu:

2009 Goose Bay Pinot Noir Kosher East Coast – Score: B++
This is a wine with two lives; one of pure and channeled dirty fruit and another of fruit cloaked in a shroud of pure espresso coffee and rich woody oak. The wine starts off with ripe red fruit; strawberry, cherry, plum, red berry, rich loamy dirt, and smoky notes. Over time, the nose loses a bit of its forward fruit and turns on a crazy rich and expressive oaky espresso nose with nice red fruit and loamy dirt taking a back seat. The mouth on this medium bodied wine starts of very fruit forward and balanced with nice strawberry, raspberry, and cherry, all wrapped in a frame of spicy oak, dirt, balancing acid, and a hint of oak. As time progresses, the wine changes to a mouth with the frame of reference changing to rich and expressive oak, lively espresso coffee, ripe red berries, dirt and graphite, along with a spicy and oak finish. This is a fun wine that I think people need to open and enjoy while keeping an eye on how it progresses through the meal.