This past week we attended the bar mitzvah of our friend’s kids.  I say kids as they are twins and they did a wonderful job both on their readings and their speeches.  After the ceremony, we were treated to a crazy feast that was quite enjoyable, to say the least.  The meal was scrumptious and the wines served with it were also quite nice.  They were mevushal wines and as stated in previous postings, the quality of mevushal wines can be all over the map.  The wines we were served were quite nice, and in many ways interesting.  None of them made us stand up and cheer, but two of them were downright enjoyable, and two of them were fascinating more from their characteristics then their overall flavor profiles.  Because I had them away from home, I had no place or ability to write notes, therefore, the notes are less through then they normally are.

So many thanks to the hosts, and the wine notes follow below:

2007 Barkan Pinot Noir – Score: B+
I have already blogged about this one here, and enjoyed it now as much as I did the last time.  The acid really picks the wine up, still funny that they bottled the Pinot in a Bordeaux bottle!

2006 Tishbi Cabernet – Petite Sirah – Score: B – B+
This is one of those wines that is really fun.  The nose is packed with classical Golan dirt, nice red fruit, a touch of blackberry, and herbs.  The mouth of this very soft and light to medium bodied wine is active, alive, and really nice.  Fresh red fruit, gobs of nice dirt, and a medium long finish with nice acidity and spice.  A great quaffing wine that is light enough, yet tasty as well.

2005 Teal Lake Shiraz Cabernet – Score: B
This is a wine whose nose is 100% different than its mouth.  The nose on this wine is almost Cabernet like with a nice combination of red and black fruits.  However, the mouth of this medium bodied wine is a very fruity and extremely floral, to the point of throwing the wine off kilter.  It is a trait of these Teal Lake Shiraz wines, to be crazy floral, but this is a bit too far!

2008 Tierra Salvaje Carmenere – Score: B
This Chilean wine is cool because it is a rather uncommon varietal, but that is where it ends pretty much.  I will say that the wine starts off with an awful smell that does blow off over time.  Still what is left is a floral nosed wine with just enough red fruit to call it wine.  The mouth of the medium bodied wine has a fair amount of floral characteristics along with some fruit, pepper, and a touch of acidity.  There may have been some tannin in the wine, but it was not registrable above all the other noise.