Well, I hope I get into the flow of weekly posts, or even more often. For now, I am behind on wine posts from Yom Tov and other get-togethers. So, here is a list of wines I have recently tasted. Some I enjoyed and well, some not. There are a few shmita wines here, so be careful, as always I highlight them as shmita of course.

2007 Elvi Utiel-Requena Makor – Score: A- (Crazy QPR)
This wine is a blend of 85% Bobal and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon. The nose on this wine is rich with lovely umami, soy sauce, ripe plum, rich earth, loam, mushroom, raspberry, and black cherry. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is rich and impressively structured for such an old wine, showing really nice acidity, still integrated tannin, with an inky mouthfeel of velvet and texture with crazy mushroom, earth, barnyard, dark concentrated fruit, blackberry, ripe fruit, perfectly balanced with ripe currant, dark red forest berry, and green notes. The finish is long and tart with more dirt, and barnyard, showing still gripping tannin, and nice ripe and rich fruit. The oak does not show strongly in the mouth but it’s influence is felt nicely. BRAVO!!

2014 Louis Blanc Crozes Hermitage – Score: A- (Good QPR)
This is a lovely black fruit Syrah, with hints of blue fruit in the background. The nose on this wine is lovely, with roasted meat, rich licorice, with blueberry notes in the background, along with earth, loam, mineral, and spice galore! The mouth on this medium bodied wine is balanced and well-focused, with a mineral core, followed by sweet boysenberry that comes alive with time, followed by blackberry, spiced plum, and rich loam, that is wrapped in spicy oak, rich mouth coating tannin, and fig. The finish is long and spicy, with leather, chocolate, lovely charcoal, and bitter almond notes that give the wine its edge. The sweet fruit shows quickly and really is a nice wine, I hope it turns more French with time. It is ready now and will be at peak in two years. Drink till 2021.

2015 Psagot 7 Shmita Red – Score: B to B+ (shmita wine)
This is a blend of all the varietals that Psagot bought/used for the Shmita year of 2015. The white shmita blend was really nice, while this was good enough. It is very green.
The nose on this wine is cranberry, cherry, and asparagus salad. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is nice, but nothing spectacular, other than the very impressive mouth coating tannin. Other than that, it feels like a second label French wine, with lots of press juice, very harsh and not balanced, with black and red fruit. The finish is long and green, with good acid, and mounds of herb and foliage.

2015 Psagot 7 Shmita White – B+ to A-
This is one of the nicer Shmita white wines, it is a blend of all the white varietals that Psagot has under control. The nose is redolent with Mango, lychee, floral notes, honeysuckle, and lovely bright citrus notes. The mouth is medium bodied with good acid, nice balance, all wrapped in straw, cut grass, mint, green notes, with lovely grapefruit, peach, and pineapple. The finish is long with nice acid, mineral, and spice. Nice!!

2014 O’dwyers Creek Pinot Noir, Limited Release – Score: B+
I heard great things about this wine, and while I liked it – the real issue is that the mevushal process was making too clear an impact. The nose is nice, with rich floral notes, lots of wood, with cooked red fruit, smoke, roasted meat, and nice herb. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is nice enough, but to be honest, the wine tasted cooked and smoked, and while I like toast in wine, this is wood juice, with fruit. The mouth is medium bodied with raspberry, cherry, red forest berry, nice tannin, acid, and too much oak that is all over the place. The finish is long with tobacco, earth, smoke, more toast, and herb. Drink till 2018 if this wine works for you.

2013 Recanati Wild Carignan, Reserve, Judean Hills – Score: A-
As I have said a couple of times now, the Recanati Carignan really has only three years before it turns into date juice. Sure enough, this wine is a few months from that right now, so DRINK up IMHO. Others, who can stand the date and over ripe notes, will find this wine almost young in nature. To be honest, this was one of the best ones to date, so it is sad to see it going now. The nose shows the over ripe notes, with ripe black fruit, the blue has gone as well. The wine is layered, extracted, rich, and an earth monster, showing roasted animal, mineral, black fruit, with dates on the back end, spice, and more dirt! The wine is well balanced with acid, spice, black fruit jam, leather, and spices galore. Drink Up!

2012 Abarbanel Riesling, Estate Bottled – Score: B+ to A-
A lovely wine, very surprising with great acid and elegance. The nose is classic with petrol and good spice. The mouth is weighty, with honeysuckle, peach, honey notes, followed by good fruit focus, elegance, and pith. Bravo!

2013 Galil Mountain Winery Pinot Noir – Score: B+
A nice enough wine. The nose is redolent with coffee, spice, smoke, cherry, and crushed herb. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is nice, no flaws with good focus, but not much elegance or complexity. The fruit is nice, with espresso and more smoke lingering long. The tannin structure is nice, but drink within the next two years.

2013 Kishor Viognier – Score: B+
Sadly I liked this wine before but now this wine is dying drink up. It shows some of the classic notes, but all the style is gone. It is essentially peach juice. Drink up!!

2009 Shirah Syrah McGinley – Score: A-
I have not had this wine in three years and it now at peak and in drink now mode. The wine is a Syrah sourced wholly from the Santa Barbara vineyards of McGinley Vineyards, along with 4% of Viognier that was co-fermented. What a nose, the wine opens with notes of candied fruit, ripe blueberry, pear, passion fruit, ripe blue and black notes, and black tea. The full bodied mouth is rich, layered, and concentrated with rich blackberry, blueberry, boysenberry, dark cherry, and tannins that are now fully integrating and mouth draping, showing well with lovely sweet oak. The finish is long and blue, with tons of roasted animal, licorice, along with chocolate covered coffee beans, cinnamon, black pepper, and spice.