Well after my last couple of posts, this one returns to wines and wineries I enjoyed on my last trip to Israel and Europe. The next winery was Tabor winery and many thanks to Justin for meeting with us and sharing his knowledge and wines.

My last post on Tabor winery was earlier last year, though I have been posting about the white wines and rose wines throughout the summer.

The winery’s tasting room has undergone a radical renovation and I really like what they have done with it! The labels have also undergone a continuous facelift, over the past few years, and I think these are here to stay – as they are now. The special wines – which they called Adama II in the past has been renamed the Premium line. There are two new wines, the Tannat and Marselan, and they are under a new line, the Single Vineyard line.

We also have once again changed the flagship wine’s name! It started with Mescha, then it was changed to 1/10000 or whatever the bottle count was that year. Then it was renamed Limited Edition, and now it has been changed to Malkiya. I really hope this will be the last name change – we can only hope!

So at this point, the wine lines stand at:

• Har (Mount Tabor) – these are the baseline wines
• Adama – these are the wines we all love and the QPR superstars live here, like Sauvignon Blanc, Roussanne, Rose, and the Cab and Merlot
• Premium Wines – these used to be called Adama II and they hold all the wines, like Sufa, Ram, Zohar, and others
• Single Vineyard (like everyone is doing a single vineyard line now) – this is where the two new Tannat and Marselan wines live
• Malkiya – this is the new name for the 1/10000

Sadly, I missed out tasting the Tabor Roussanne, Adama, which was a shame as the wine I hear is very nice, and there are very few Roussanne available in the kosher market, other than Covenant Winery’s Mensch, Hagafen Winery’s Don Ernesto, and Netofa Winery’s new Roussanne wine (more on that soon).

My many thanks to Justin and the winery for putting up with us during a harvest week. The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here:

2015 Tabor Riesling, Shahar – Score: A- (Shmita) Sold only in Israel
This wine is more fun, in some ways than the 2014 vintage. It is more steely, leaner, with far drier and less tropical fruit. This is a lovely wine showing a very earthy side, with flint, rich fruit, petrol, crazy dry peach, with a soap/lavender aroma. The mouth is rich, layered, funky, richer than the 14, rich and yet really bright and showing great pith with great lovely acid, followed by bright summer fruits, no tropical fruit, with lovely Meyer lemon, orange and tangerine pith, and citrus galore. Really nice, floral and funky. Bravo!

2016 Tabor Riesling, Shahar – Score: B+
While the 2015 vintage was showing better, the 2016 vintage was not as focused or as bright. The nose was lovely with nice notes of saline and grapefruit, with mounds of green apple and ripe kiwi. The mouth on this medium bodied wine continued with lots of citrus fruit notes, grapefruit, lemon Fraiche, with rich spice, slate, mineral, that gives way to rock, and a nice round mouth, but the finish is sadly very short. The finish shows some minerality and that is about it.

2013 Tabor Raam (Thunder) – Score: B+ (tasted at the winery October 2016)
The wine is a blend of 60% Syrah and 40% Cabernet Sauvignon. The nose on this wine is dark, showing black fruit, blueberry, and plum with spice and smoke. The wine has a nice medium body wine with soft mouth coating tannin, showing good spice, nice butterscotch, clove, soft and sweet, with good focus but ripe. The finish is long and shows blackberry and blue fruit, with good tannin, nice acid, with chocolate and leather.

2013 Tabor Sufa (Storm) -– Score: B+
This wine is a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon and 50% Petite Sirah. The nose on this wine is a nice blend of Cab notes and PS notes, with really nice mineral, graphite, and then the blueberry comes in, with nice black forest berry. The mouth on this full-bodied wine has good acid, showing tart and juicy fruit, tart black currant, but really pushed for me, with nice mouth coating tannin, good spice, and sweet oak. The finish is long and nice, with coffee, garrigue, and green notes. Nice

2013 Tabor Marselan, Single Vineyard – Score: B+
This is the first vintage for this new wine from Tabor, and its the first year for the wine line and new labels for the Single Vineyard wines. They chose two very interesting wines for their first release and these should sell well in Israel and the USA.
The nose on this wine is really sweet, showing nice blackberry, boysenberry, with dark fruit, and nice chocolate. The mouth on this full bodied wine is ripe and intense with rich extraction, ripe black fruit with blue fruit in the background, all wrapped in a rich mouth coating and searing tannin, along with earth and inky structure, with tar, and spice. The finish is long and tannic, that gives way to chocolate and black tea. A nice wine, but it is really too ripe for me, but many will like this style.

2013 Tabor Tannat, Single Vineyard – Score: B+
This is the first vintage for this new wine from Tabor, and its the first year for the wine line and new labels for the Single Vineyard wines. They chose two very interesting wines for their first release and these should sell well in Israel and the USA. Other than Shira wine’s Tannat there are no other wineries I know doing this varietal, very interesting.
Where the Marselan felt a bit unidimensional, this wine has layers and bit more interesting overall, but it too is too ripe for my palate. The nose on this wine is really bold, with rich blue and black fruit, showing cherry, and heady spice. The mouth on this full-bodied wine starts at you with some really ripe fruit, that gives way to chocolate, dark brooding fruit, with searing acid, and intense tannin that is none stop, and well layered, sadly the fruit is really ripe. The finish is crazy long, with nice saline, mineral, graphite, and spice that is backed by coffee. Nice!

2013 Tabor Malkiya – Score: A-
This is what used to be called the Limited Edition 1/10000, it is the third name for the same wine, hopefully, it is the last name change. The vines are planted in limestone rocks that have cracks in the shape of stars, stressed vines.
The nose on this wine is exceptional, really lovely with intense mineral, tar, graphite, black olives, with blackberry, earth, green notes, foliage, and green herbs. The mouth on this full bodied wine is beautifully structured with intense acid and mouth drying tannin, with great intense power and finesse, while showing earth, inky blackberry, dark forest berry, all well controlled, with saline, more graphite that gives way to rich red and black fruit. The finish is long and earthy with mineral that gives way to lovely green notes, roasted herb, spice, dark tea, and lovely dark chocolate. Bravo!

2012 Tabor Special Edition – Score: A- (tasted in USA)
This wine is a unique blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, and 20% Petite Verdot. The nose on this wine is really nice and gamey, with dark brooding fruit and red fruit in the background. The mouth on this medium to full-bodied wine is nice with good spice, rich extraction and lovely blue and red fruit, with chocolate, tart, and juicy fruit, with blueberry, raspberry, cherry taking center stage, with good acid and mouth coating tannin. The finish is long and spicy, with mad saline, good mineral, graphite, earth, leather, and Asian spices.