Two weeks ago we enjoyed a lovely meal with friends and family and it was centered around meat lasagna and kosher wine blends from around the world. We had some vegetarians over, so I made lasagna with soy instead of meat, and in the end both pans of food disappeared, so I think it came out OK.

The lasagna dishes used the same recipe as I have here, but one used trader joe’s soy meat and the other used plain old beef chuck ground up.

I am cutting it short today – so this is the wine list and thanks to everyone for coming by and making the meal that it was:

2010 Don Ernesto Clarinet – Score: B+
The nose opens with lovely blueberry, the blend is undocumented but is quite nice for Hagafen’s entry-level wine, along with raspberry, ripe black and blue fruit, along with butterscotch. The mouth has nice toast, chocolate, mouth coating tannin, along with espresso coffee, and black cherry. The finish is long and spicy, with graphite, toast, boysenberry, and more cinnamon.

2009 Karmei Yosef Winery Bravdo Coupage – Score: B+ to A-
The wine is one of my favorites and a wine that needs time to open, but I also think this wine is in a bit of a funk and needs more time to find itself, such is the way of wine – time to time. For now the score is lower than in previous tastings as it was in a funky mood.

The nose on this deep black colored wine is rich with mineral, herbaceous, black cherry, raspberry, and rich plum. The mouth on this full bodied wine is lovely but closed for now, with blackberry, heavy not integrated tannins that coat the mouth, and cedar. The finish is super long and rich with ripe fruit, heavy tannin, lovely vanilla, tobacco, and rich chocolate. Give this wine 6 months and it should start showing its real self.

2006 Elvi Wines Priorat EL26 – Score: A-
I know this wine continues to have its polarizing following, with passionate lovers and haters, given its unique and clearly earthy qualities, I love it. The earth and mineral almost accentuate every flavor in the mouth and add so much complexity to it – that I think the mouth will explode.

This wine is a lovely blend of 35% Grenache, 35% Syrah, and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon. It starts with an aromatic nose of anise, ripe blackberry, black pepper, raspberry, and plum. The mouth is full and concentrated with mouth coating tannin, nice dirt, graphite, black cherry, ripe fruit, with spicy wood all coming together into a nice mouth. Finish is long with spice, mineral, herb, eucalyptus, tobacco, and chocolate. This is a massive and extracted wine with ripe fruit and one that balances well with the oak and spice.

2009 Barkan Assemblage Tzafit – Score: A-
I blogged about this wine when I highlighted the Barkan winery, and it has changed from that tasting, but now showing other unique qualities. The wine is a unique blend of Marselan, Caladoc, Carignan, and Pinotage, and is a Shmitta wine because it uses 5% of 2008 grapes in the blend.

The nose on this wine starts off a bit closed, but when it opens, the wine shows very differently than the last time we enjoyed this wine, a year ago! The wine starts off with crazy Kirsch Cherry, ripe banana, blackcurrant, raspberry, licorice, and herb. The mouth is rich and layered with nice red and black fruit, raspberry, layers of plum, lovely cedar, and mouth coating tannin that rounds out the mouth, along with nice spice. The finish is spicy with chocolate covered herb, hints of date, bakers spices, and vanilla.

As the wine opens it turns into a very different wine with the ripe jammy fruit, floral notes that command your attention, and crazy rich aromas of orange peel, citrus fruit, lemon, and sage. The mouth follows the nose with an explosion of black fruit as well and a rounded mouth from the softening tannin. The finish is spicy and sweet from the sweet cedar, cloves, root beer, and vanilla.

2010 Flam Classico – Score: B++
The wine is slow to open and needs a fair amount of time open to the air to come to its full potential, for now decanting is the fastest approach. We used a venturi to speed the opening up process. This is the third or fourth time that I have tasted this wine and it is not tasting now as good when we tasted it in the winery last year.

The wine is a blend of 50% Merlot, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon , 5% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petite Verdot. The nose starts off with a super rich mineral nose, rich and ripe black Kirsch cherry, ripe blackberry, loamy dirt, nice spice, graphite, and eucalyptus. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine is lovely with mouth coating tannin, rich toast, bramble, roasted herb, classic Israeli cedar, and nice black olives. The finish is long with still integrating tannin, chocolate, vanilla, mineral, and blackberry. Black cherry, blackberry, toasty oak, and espresso coffee linger long on the palate.

 2005 Tabor Mescha – Score: A-
This is another lovely Israeli red blend, with 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Shiraz and 10% Merlot. The nose explodes with black cherry, licorice, raspberry, currant, herb, graphite, and loamy dirt. The mouth is rich and layered and this is a wine that needs an hour to really round out. The mouth starts with layered and concentrated attack of blackberry, black plum, along with red fruit, sweet cedar, silky smooth and soft tannins that literally coat your palate and make you dream about being wrapped in silk and soft fluffy cotton. The finish is long and rich with nice tobacco, vanilla, herb, blackberry, and cinnamon.

A lovely ripe, layered, and classic Israeli wine – drink up within a year or two max – but why wait – this has hits is peak!

NV Shiloh Shiloh’s Fort – Score: B++ to A-
This is a lovely sweet red wine that is concentrated and complex to keep your attention. The nose shows lovely oxidized notes, along with dark dried cherry, orange notes, plum, and heavy spice. The mouth is rich and extracted, with clear sweet influence adding to the body, with enough layers to keep your attntion, but without charred fruit flavors that I usually find in Israeli “port-like” wines. The mouth shows nicely with mouth coating tannin, raspberry, date and cedar. The finish is super long and spicy, with tons of vanilla, dried fruit, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper, and chocolate that linger long on the palate.