As I have been posting so far, I enjoyed my last trip to Israel and Europe. Last we left off, we had just had a kosher wine tasting at DD house. Instead of posting about the next three wineries we visited, which I will post soon, I wanted to post the other wine tasting, which was also at DD’s house. That man is a gluten for punishment!

There were some winners, a lovely bottle of Carignan from Carmel (another QPR winner), the 2013 Dalton Semillon, Single Vineyard Elkosh – still going nice, but getting close to drink-up. For this tasting, I brought a bottle of the fantastic 2014 Hagafen Riesling, IMHO, every tasting needs a Riesling! Sadly, that was about it. The 2014 Yaacov Oryah Alpha Omega was nice as well. The shockers were once again the pushed nature of the Mia Luce reds. We had all the Mia Luce reds, from 2012, 2014, and 2015 and they did not show well. The last 2012 Mia Luce from the other tasting was corked, so they brought another one, and this was not corked but man was it pushed and overripe at this point. I am not sure – Carignan is not a wine that I am finding can last long in Israel. At least so far from the wines I have tried, either the Recanati Carignan or the Mia Luce Carignan (sourced from the same vineyards).

I did have a horizontal of many Carignan last year, and Mia Luce was the clear winner. They were older bottles and they were lovely, maybe these were bad bottles as well, I do not know. I will be tasting my older ones to double-check soon.

My many thanks to our friend DD for hosting us in his lovely home! To be honest, after all the wine tastings I had up until this point, I was done for, so my notes were not very good this time. The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here:

2016 Midbar Unoaked Chardonnay: Score: 84
Nice sweet nose of candied melon, peach, dried apple, and straw. The mouth is medium bodied with too much sweetness and not enough balance, with not enough acid, good enough fruit, but no focus, showing more stone fruit, sweet quince, nice grapefruit, with good sweet spices, and herb. The finish is long and spicy with peach, with tart and sweet quince lingering long.

2016 Har Bracha Gewurtztraminer: Score: 75
Wow, this is a sweet and dried fruit disaster, with tons of notes of oxidation and no joy – sorry. Very sweet pass, tropical, and insane melon/guava, dry flower madness, no balance.

2013 Dalton Semillon, Single Vineyard Elkosh: Score: 90
Nice nose of Semillon funk, smoke, flint madness, with incredible dried straw, with dry peach, apricot, and lovely earth. The mouth is lovely, with rich mineral, good enough acid, and as it opens the acid shows more, with great rich saline, earth, dry flowers, mad quince, and rich fruit pith. Really fun, funky, tart, and dirty wine, with mineral galore. Bravo! Drink 2018.

2014 Hagafen White Riesling Dry, Rancho Wieruszowski – Score: 92 (QPR) (mevushal)
It is another hit for this lovely bone-dry Riesling. Ernie has been making them every two years now, starting with the inaugural 2012 vintage.
The nose on this lovely wine has stopped being all about tropical notes and much more about the insane petrol, mineral, and intense saline, with lovely floral notes, that gives way to ripe melon, guava, peach, and apricot. The mouth on this medium plus body wine has a nice almost viscous, but clearly mouth filling mouthfeel, that is now showing surprisingly oily in nature, it was not as vicious in the past, with intense acidity, honeyed notes, grapefruit, citrus, along with great tart fruit. The finish is long and refreshing, crisp and intense, with nice mineral, slate, and spice that lingers long, with the honey/petrol/citrus/honeysuckle lingering for almost ever! BRAVO!

2016 1848 4th Generation Chenin Blanc: – Score: 88
Nice nose, ok saline, good peach, nice quince, good flint, and tart honeysuckle. Nice enough mouth, wish it had more balance, showing grapefruit, unidimensional, and peach. Nice enough.

2014 Yaacov Oryah Alpha Omega – Score: 90
This wine is a blend of Semillon, Viognier, and Roussanne. Officially this an orange wine, as the juice (wine must) sat on the grape skins for 72 or so days. However, the color is far more golden than orange. The wine has evolved since the last time we enjoyed it, and it needs less time to fully open in the glass.
The nose on this wine, is rich, layered and truly hedonistic, with waxy notes, paraffin, with lovely orange, nectar, honey, and cherry blossom notes! The mouth on this medium bodied wine is layered and complex with lovely acid, viscous mouthfeel while staying crisp and bright – which is where this wine truly differentiates itself from oaked chards, showing lovely dried mango, candied melon, with sweet quince and candied pith. The finish is long with still nice acid, tart fruit, with hints of tannin, green tea, honeysuckle, mad candied tangerine, and vanilla lingering long. Bravo! Drink by 2019.

2015 Mia Luce CSM – Score: 78
This is a nose full of smoke, toast, and ripe date juice, with some blueberry, roasted animal, and herb. The mouth is so pushed that all I get is prune, dark plum, and hints of date. Far too much for me.
Had this one again recently in the USA and it was flat and uninteresting – either way, a pass.

2014 Mia Luce Rosso (Syrah) – Score: 70
All I can say is unprofessional, grape juice, pass. Shocked to see this wine fall apart so quickly.

2014 Dalton Grenache – Score: 75
The nose on this wine is nice, with good bright fruit, nice dirt, graphite, some heat, with candied cherry, and nice raspberry. The mouth is ok to start but then the overcooked, and prune hits you over the head and not much else matters after that.

2012 Mia Luce Rosso (Carignan) – Score: 82
This is another Israeli wine, nothing unique, smells like all the rest of them, blueberry, dark prune, cherry, and who cares about that. The mouth is prunes, cherry liqueur, and nice enough tannin. Sad another wine that has fallen fast.

2013 Jerusalem Winery Pinotage – Score: 70
This is classic date juice – this was so pushed that whatever else there is I could care less.

2013 Carmel Carignan, Vineyards – Score: 88
This is nice, with good smoke, nice earth, mineral, with smoked meat, blue fruit, and nice sweet spices. The mouth on this full bodied wine with lots of black pepper, dried cranberry, with earth, and fun mouth drying tannin, with red fruit, and black plum. The finish is long and earthy with nice spices, white pepper, leather, and cinnamon, tar, and menthol.

2011 Binyamina Carignan, Reserve – Score: 70
watery, flat, and unprofessional.

2014 Gamla Nebbiolo, Hashmura – Score: 85
A really jammy and fruity wine, with mounds of oak, and vanilla. The mouth is fruity and pushed, with dried cherry, cranberry, and boysenberry, showing nice tannin that is nice, with good acid, and balance, with blue and black fruit that is ripe and cherry fruit. The finish is long and spicy, and candied fruit monster, green notes, with good sweet spice, and leather. Nice enough

2013 Carmel Malbec, Admon, Single Vineyards – Score: 77
So sad, it is a smoke bomb, with date juice wrapped up with green notes. That wine is so pushed and so fruit forward that it is undrinkable.

2014 Hilla Cabernet Franc, Louise Winery – Score: 60
candied cherry juice and not much more

2011 Teperberg Cabernet Sauvignon, Terra – Score: 70
The nose on this wine turned oxidized quickly, with sweet to candied notes and sweet herb. The mouth on this wine is candied, flat, and boring.