The next winery that I enjoyed on my last trip to Israel and Europe, was Matar by Pelter winery. I have been to the winery a few times over the past years and my posts can be found here, and they continue to impress with their red and whites wines alike. Though I must say, that the red wines have become riper with time. Time will tell if this is a blip or a conscious desire.

There is not much more to say here. Their white and rose wines from 2015 were nice, but nowhere near the level of their 2014 wines. The good news is the 2016 white wines are far closer to the 2014 vintage. Sadly, the 2015 reds are not showing like Matar wines normally do, but again 2015 was a really bad year. They are not date juice, but the 2015 reds, like the Merlot and the Petite Verdot, are just riper than usual and are showing a bit unbalanced.

My many thanks to the winery, and especially Gal Yaniv, the winery’s CEO for going out of his way to help us in many ways – my many thanks, sir! The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here:

2016 Matar Sauvignon Blanc – Semillon – Score: A-
Another lovely vintage of this wine. The nose is ripe with gooseberry, green apple, crazy grapefruit, fresh cut grass, and kiwi. The mouth is great, ripping acid, with a super focus along with lovely spice, rich ripe melon, and lovely cloves, with slate and rich citrus pith. The finish is long and green and it is pure acid, bravo with cinnamon and slate. Bravo!!

2016 Matar Chardonnay – Score: A-
The nose on this wine is a lovely chard nose with green apple, a bit of gooseberry, citrus, pear, with herb and lovely foliage and green notes. A nice medium mouth with crazy acid, great fruit focus, with intense citrus pith, lovely tart mouth-filling fruit that gives way to crazy pith, slate, and lemon Fraiche. The finish is long and tart, with good mineral, slate, rock and fruit pith lingering long. Nice!

2016 Matar Chenin Blanc – Score: A-
This may well be their best Chenin Blanc ever, the wine is very close in style to Netofa’s Chenin Blanc, it is far drier than previous vintages and is showing purity and original style.
The nose is very different than previous vintages with great Chenin funk, with honeysuckle, straw, rich floral notes and herb. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is lean, rich and yet focused with old world style, great mineral, rich saline, lovely straw, earth, all balanced with epic acid, and great dry yellow melon and pear. The finish is long and mineral-focused, with lovely flint, smoke, earth, slate, backed by crazy saline, acid, and tart fruit. Bravo!

2016 Matar Rose – Score: B+
This wine is made from Grenache fruit. The nose on this starts with lovely gooseberry, with candied grapefruit, raspberry, and herb. The mouth is medium bodied with good with crazy candied grapefruit, rich lemon Fraiche, and rich slate. Nice wine but almost single-minded with some slate, pith and tart fruit. yeah, 2016 was a tough year for Rose. This one is not in the top 10, not close.

2014 Matar Merlot – Score: B+
The nose on this wine is ripe, fruit forward, with rich blackberry, green notes, and earth. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is fruit forward with dark fruit, plum, with nice green notes, rich herb, and spice, with black and red fruit showing in layers, with heady spice, sweet dill, and more ripe fruit. The finish is long and green, with chocolate and mint wrapped in mounds of spice and herb. While the wine is nice, it is too ripe and fruit-forward for me, but some may like this style.

2015 Matar Petit Verdot – Score: B+ (Shmita wine)
Where the Merlot was balanced but really ripe and fruit-forward, this wine felt unbalanced to me, and sadly was not a wine I could get my head around. The nose shows nice dirt, with ripe fruit that is far more pushed than previous vintages. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is really pushed, with more dirt, chocolate, really ripe and fruity notes, with mouth drying tannin, crazy spice, with mineral on that long finish.

2015 Matar Cumulus – Score: B+ to A- (Shmita)
This wine is a blend of Cabernet, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc, a classic Bordelaise blend. I enjoyed this wine earlier this year, and now it seems to not be showing as well. The nose on this wine shows lovely mineral, with dark fruit, graphite, and earth. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is nice, but it shows pushed, not overly so, but riper than it did earlier this year, with lovely blueberry, blackberry, and rich spice that is wrapped in balanced tannin and nice acid that gives way to chocolate and herb. The finish is long with good mineral, graphite, tart fruit, juicy raspberry, saline, nice tobacco, and green foliage.

2014 Matar CB (Cumulonimbus) – Score: A-
This wine is the flagship of the winery and is a blend of 44% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Shiraz, 8% Petit Verdot, and 8% Cabernet Franc. The grapes were sourced from the Golan Heights, the Upper Galilee, and the Jerusalem Hills. This wine was aged in French oak for 22 months.
The nose on this wine is nice with graphite, mineral, lovely chocolate, mint, earth, and black fruit. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is lovely, well controlled, with draping tannin, layers of rich dark fruit, showing elegance, with blackberry, plum, rich mineral that gives way to earth, rich tobacco, and sweet dill with great green notes. The finish is long and green, with a mineral core, showing rich earth, with leather, tar, lovely blue notes, and eucalyptus. Nice!