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The 2019 Kosher rose season is open but I am underwhelmed at best
It is not yet summer and here in NorCal, it feels more like winter with these strange May storms with thunder and hail. Sorry, but in NorCal, we do not get thunder, it is very strange indeed! Anyway, enough with my meteorologist fanboy moment, the weather was not conducive for my last tasting here in San Jose with a group of folks, but Rose was on the docket so rose it was.
Rose wine in the non-kosher market is exploding – especially Rose wine from Provence; a wine region of France. Sadly, in the kosher wine market – that is not quite the case. I did not stress my previous statement with a suffix of AT ALL, even though I am not allowed to open a bottle of rose on my Shabbos table with guests – why? Well, that is simple – no one will drink it!!
Even worse, is that wine manufacturers may well have jumped the shark! There will be some 60+ kosher roses available in the USA this year! That may not sound like a lot, but when all you had was Herzog White Zinfandel 10 years ago – it is insane. The first high-end rose was Castel’s 2009 rose and that was only 10 years ago. Back then, there were few to no real Rose wine options, other than a handful of Israeli wines and almost no French Rose made it here. Now we will have tons of Rose, and I really think the real question here is will people drink it all?
Also, I want to bring up a topic I rarely talk about – price! Yeah, I hear you, Avi Davidowitz, of KosherWineUnfiltered, please quiet down, gloating does not suit you – (smiley face inserted here). The prices of Rose wines have gotten out of control. QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) has become nonexistent, essentially here in the USA, for the kosher rose market. Finally, I am sorry, but I really feel that wineries were either horribly hampered in some way with the 2018 rose vintage, or honestly, they just threw in the towel, The 2018 vintage is the worst one in the last 10 years. We have hit Peak Rose, we really have. Peak X is when X becomes so default within the construct of our lives, and the quality and quantity of X peaks. Clearly, calling peak kosher rose is a subjective call, but look around. The roses of 2018 feel commodity at best, they feel rushed, no real care, rhyme, or reason. They feel like we have peaked. They are nowhere near 2017, and 2017 was nowhere near 2016, and so on. I am sure next year may be another peak rose, and to be honest, many have called for Peak Oil and Peak TV, so maybe I am just projecting what I see around me, but this year’s crop of roses feel half-hearted pure cash cows, and really without love behind them.
As always, I will be chastised for my opinions, my pronouncements, and I am fine with that. This is wakeup post, there may be ONE or two roses I would buy, but respectfully, given the prices, I would rather buy, the 2018 Covenant Sauvignon Blanc, 2017 O’dwyers Sauvignon Blanc, the 2018 Goose Bay Sauvignon Blanc, and so on. Throw in the 2018 Tabor Sauvignon Blanc and the 2018 Or Haganuz Amuka Blanc Blend, and really who cares about a rose?
I was thinking about going with the title: 2018 kosher roses, thanks, but who cares? Because that is how I feel. This vintage is a massive letdown, prices are too high, quality has hit rock bottom, and overall professionalism, IMHO, has gone along with the quality. Wineries have been getting away with less and less quality for years, raising prices, and this is the worst I have seen in the rose market overall. So, yeah, who cares?
Wine Color
What is rose wine? Well, simply said, a rose is a wine that can best be defined as the wine world’s chameleon. Where white wine is a pretty simple concept – take white grapes, squeeze them, and you get clear to green colored juice. Yes, the white grape juice is clear – well so is red grape juice, but more on that in a bit. Read the rest of this entry
Israeli White and Rose wines along with a few others thrown in
As the weather starts to warm up, it is time to start enjoying the white and rose wines that come from Israel. With that said, there is a lot of buzz recently that 2018 is the new year for white and rose Israeli wines, well I can personally attest that the noise is a red herring and a gross over exaggeration.
Are there a few more wines that work in 2018 than in 2017, 2016, or 2015? Yes, but the 2018 vintage is NOTHING like the epic 2014 vintage for Israeli white and rose wines. Still, I am happy to say that there are a few wines that I have enjoyed and I am posting them here.
I had a large tasting with the Israeli/French/American wine tasting group in Jerusalem, and there were a few winners. I am posting here wines that I tasted with them, along with a few that I have tasted before and after the event. Also, since we had many wines, we did not write long notes for wines I disliked and some wines I liked elsewhere are either missing notes or I cannot find them, but I do my best to describe those as well.
Thanks to Avi Davidowitz of Kosher Wine Unfiltered, and the rest of the French wine group on Facebook for helping with the tasting, and a big shout out to Joel and his company for letting us have the tasting at his office.
Finally, as always! PLEASE only drink 2018 roses and finish them by October 2018 or so. Also, if you wish to read how rose wine is made, please read this post from last year. Same can be said for many of these simple white wines, other than where I give an actual drinking window.
The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here:
2018 Tabor Sauvignon Blanc – Score: 90
The nose on this wine is pure gooseberry, slate, mineral, lemon, and cat pee. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is nice, dry, and very good, with floral notes, of orange blossom, and lovely control with good acidity, fruit focus, and lovely passion fruit. The finish is long, green, and slate, with good salinity, and blossom. Nice!
2018 Segal Chardonnay, Wild Fermentation – Score: 80
The nose on this wine is boring and closed, with bits of peach, orange blossom, and not much else. The front and middle of this wine are flat as a crepe, with hints of hay and slate, with a bit of acidity on the end.
2018 Shiran Semillon – Score: NA
The nose is 100% apple juice, and not much else. The mouth is offensive. Candied quince with lemon juice, all over the place and nasty.
2018 Yarden Sauvignon Blanc – Score: 90
This is a nice wine, yay, it is a nice SB, nice gooseberry, passion fruit, and citrus. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is nice, really acidic, well balanced, with good fruit structure, with nice weight and structure, showing peach, hints apricot, and nice hay, and orange blossom, and orange pith, with good structure and balance. Nice! Pith, acidity, salinity, and nice ripe but balanced fruit linger long.
2018 Flam Blanc – Score: 86
The nose on this wine is boring, flat, no life, with hints of orange, blossom, and not much else. The mouth on this wine is pure lemon/lime/orange juice, and not much else, very little complexity, but nice acidity. Nice enough.
2018 Ramat Negev Sauvignon Blanc – Score: 70
This is another bummer wine, big pass. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is acidic quince juice. Boring, move on.
2018 Vitkin Gewurztraminer – Score: 91 to 92
This wine is dry and lovely pineapple, with ripe melon, and green notes and lychee galore, with funk and hints of soap, incredible aromas, white pepper, smoke, flint, and redolence. The mouth on this wine is lovely, with grapefruit, citrus, lovely pith, with apple, pith galore, followed by complexity and bitter notes of melon, yellow Apple, lovely weight, slight tannin, with sweet notes honeysuckle, sweet pineapple, and balance. The finish is long and green and sweet and mineral balanced. Bravo! Drink by 2021. Read the rest of this entry
2019 Bokobsa Sieva Wine tasting just outside of Paris
So, let’s start from the beginning. As I posted here, about the coming wine events of 2019, there were many options for you to get out and taste great wines almost across the globe. Well, recently, as you know well I have been focusing more on Europe, so I was in Paris later last year again to taste the new 2016 Bordeaux, and now I wanted to return to Bokobsa’s tasting, which is not officially part of the KFWE franchise. Avi Davidowitz, of kosher wine unfiltered, did every KFWE this year, Tel Aviv on the 4th of February, London on the 6th of February, and then on to NYC and L.A. I decided that I did not need to go to Sommelier this year and instead just focused on Bokobsa’s tasting which was on the same day as the KFWE Tel Aviv in Israel.
As I return home, Paris and London KFWE, NYC KFWE, and L.A.’s KFWE are in the rearview mirror. I will be posting on them separately, so I start with Bokobsa Paris.
To start the Bokobsa Tasting, from the company known in France as Sieva, happened in Paris (well not exactly Paris, more on the very outskirts of Paris to be exact) on Monday, Feb 4th, on the stunning grounds of the Pavillon des Princes in the 16th district. I arrived early and after taking a bunch of pictures I just relaxed and waited for the event to start. One of the issues from the tasting in past years was the wine glasses, but this year, Bokobsa had lovely glasses to truly appreciate the wines.
The ambiance and space were both far improved from the previous location, which was the basement of the Intercontinental Hotel in Paris. The table layout was far improved, it was truly a lovely event. The food was a bit mediocre, with it being essentially cold food, like Sushi and elegant salads on crackers, though they had warm chicken further along into the event.
The wines and the setting were the clear stars of the event, and with the lovely glasses, the wines did shine. My main issue with that some of the wines were the old and not showing well, which degrades the very purpose of a show/tasting like this. For example, they poured a 2013 Covenant Sauvignon Blanc and a myriad of older roses that were far over the hill and not showing well. Though at the same time, they poured some lovely Covenant Cabernet Sauvignon and Lavan, along with many of the top Royal Wines from France and Spain, and the new Champagne from Rothschild. There were a few older vintages of the French Royal wines that I do not remember now that were out of place, but they were still showing well. Read the rest of this entry
A few new and old wines this past Shabbat. 2017 Petit Guiraud, Sauternes, 2010 Terra di Seta Chianti Classico, Reserva, and 2007 Tzora Vineyards Misty Hills were the winners
This past Shabbat we had some friends over and I opened many a wine, 13 to be exact. There were a few new wines, including the new 2017 Petit Giuraud, the 2nd of three wines that will be released from Chateau Giuraud. The first one was the G of Guiraud, which is a lovely dry wine. The second was the Petit Guigaurd, a Sauternes which has recently been released, and IMHO is better than the 2016 Chateau Piada. The third will be the 2016 Chateau Guiraud, which will be the first release since the 2001 vintage was released many years ago.
Besides, the Petit Guiraud, there was a 2nd tasting of the 2016 Matar Cabernet Sauvignon. We last tasted it in Israel, and it did not show well. Here it did not show well, but it showed better. It was less fruit-forward and absurdly ripe than at the tasting in Jerusalem.
The real winner of the evening, IMHO, was the 2010 Terra di Seta along with the 2007 Tzora Vineyards Misty Hills. It was a lovely wine and shows what Israel can produce when it wants to build wines for the future and not wines for the present alone.
My many thanks to all the folks who shared the dinner with me, and may we all be blessed to enjoy more meals together!
The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here:
2014 Roc des Moulins – Score: 88
Classic nose of the cheap Bordeaux Superieur wines, mushroom, dark cherry, rose, earth, and simple notes. At open this wine is very simple, not much complexity, but has solid acid, and nice fruit. With time, it opens nicely, to show a more complex mouth, still clunky and simple, with more cherry fruit, dark currant, and herb galore, along with saline, and mounds of bitter herbs, with tobacco, and forest floor. Nice. Drink by 2021.
2014 Chateau Roquettes, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru – Score: NA
We opened this wine before Shabbat, and it tasted like the notes below. We then tasted it at the Shabbat table, and it was oxidized. The cork is fine. I am not sure if this is an issue of bottle variation or just a bad bottle.
The nose on this wine is super closed and tight to start, with mounds of tobacco, smoke, herb, red fruit, and nice mushroom, showing lovely dark and red ripe fruit. The mouth on this full bodied wine is lovely, with lovely and rich extraction, with still ripping tannin, that is rich and layered, with concentrated fruit, dark plum, forest berry, with dark raspberry, and rich earth, mushroom, and lovely terroir, and nice sweet oak. The finish is long and rich, and layered, with rich minerality, lovely saline, forest floor, foliage, with graphite, tobacco, and saline. Bravo!!
2010 Terra di Seta Chianti Classico, Reserva – Score: 92
Wow, the nose on this wine is coffee, toffee, and heavy smoke, with crazy oak, and red fruit galore, hidden in the background, is dark red fruit, and lovely brightness. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is rich and layered, and really alive, with tart fruit, showing raspberry, cherry, and lovely herb, showing rich tobacco, herb, with mint, oregano, with lovely mouth draping tannin and rich mushroom, with wet forest floor, and great chocolate. The finish is long, and green, and herbaceous, with lovely dirt, and green notes. Drink by 2022. Read the rest of this entry
Kosher wine tastings in Jerusalem
The next wines that I enjoyed on my last trip to Israel and Europe, came after I had finished tasting wonderful wines from the ever capable Yaacov Oryah (head winemaker at Psagot Winery) at one of the newest hip kosher wine bars in Jerusalem – the Red and White Wine bar – kitty-corner from the beautiful Mamilla hotel (8 Shlomo HaMelech Street at the corner of Yanai Street).
After going to see the Kotel (following the tasting at the Red and White bar), I made my way to where I was staying. It was not far from where we would be having the next two tastings, at our friend’s home DD. While, our host was fantastic, the wines were not so much. Much of that was a shocker to us all, because the wines we brought were not lightweights, they just did not show well at all.
There were some winners, a bottle of the epic Von Hovel kosher Riesling – that we will talk more about in a later post, but for now – the notes were very similar and the wine was insane. It was intoxicating (in its flavors) as much as it was intense, showing mineral, sweet notes, and acidity all at the same time.
The real winner of the night to me (other than the epic Von Hovel) was the 4 Vats red which was really nice and a solid QPR wine.
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 Yaacov Oryah Light from Darkness (Blanc de Noir) – Score: A-
This is a white wine made from Yaacov Oryah’s Rhone varietal vineyard, using Grenache, Cinsault, and Mourvedre. The juice of the grapes was pressed out of the grapes with no skin contact. The juice of red grapes is clear until it is left to macerate with its red skins.
Really a fun and unique wine never had such a wine showing red fruit notes in a white wine, showing grapefruit, sour cherry, rich mineral, yeasty notes with lovely minerality, green olives, and saline. The mouth is well integrated with lovely acid, rich peach, lemon and grapefruit with tart citrus, dried orange and more saline and slate galore, with nice pith on the long finish. Bravo! Drink by 2018.
2015 Matar Sauvignon Blanc / Semillon – Score: B+ to A-
The nose on this wine was lovely, showing ripe grapefruit, flint, spice, kiwi, and green notes. The mouth on this medium bodied wine has just enough acidity, showing nice focus with slate, saline, and nice peach, with pink grapefruit, yellow pear, and lovely acid. Drink UP!
2014 Von Hovel Hutte Oberemmel Riesling, Mosel, Gefen Hashalom – Score: A- to A
This was my initial notes for this wonderful wine, without knowing I would taste this very wine in the Von Hovel winery and bring a few home! Stay tuned for that post soon.
A nice Riesling wine, great funk, with rich petrol, honeysuckle monster, with great spice, with heather, lavender, with yellow apple, and yellow plum. The mouth is rich and layered and rich acidity that is insane, with layers of rich blossom honey, and layers of never ending oily texture that is dripping with acid and white peach, lovely funk that gives way to minerality and intense lovely saline, with the sweet notes showing instead of the ripping acid/slate that the 14 Nik showed. Bravo!
Matar made by Pelter Winery’s latest releases
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!
Matar (By Pelter) Winery – newest 2015 wines
Well, in case you have not realized it yet, I am posting for each of the wineries I visited in the two days I was actually in Israel, outside of my one day at Sommelier. Of course, I visited the wineries that I love, and so far I have visited Netofa Winery and Kishor Winery, up till this point.
After I left Kishor Winery, I made my way northeast, to Ein Zivan, another 2+ hours away from Kishor. By this point I have driven 5 hours from Tel Aviv, to my host, then to Kishor, and now to Ein Zivan. It is the farthest north I would travel. From here it is all south. The image above, was a picture I took from the side of the road up north, showing a fully snow-covered Mount Hermon! Beautiful!
The destination was Matar by pelter Winery, a winery I have written about in-depth before. In my opinion, it is a winery that I think is building the best compromise, for artistic, yet non-religious, winemakers who want kosher as an option, but also like to interact with their wines. As you know the only real issue with kosher wine, is the religious jew requirement to make wine kosher. There are a few other ones, but that is the biggest, and most difficult one on the list.
So, if you are a non-religious winemaker and you want to make kosher wine, you have two options. You either stop touching the wines or you make non-kosher wines. Pelter decided to combine those options, and by doing so, it gives Tal Pelter, the head winemaker of Pelter and Matar Winery, the ability to still interact on a very personal level with his Pelter wines, while also being able to expand his portfolio with Matar wines to the kosher market, at the same time.
Anyway, getting back on track, the 2015 vintage was not bad for Matar. While most wineries could not put out a good white wine from 2015, Matar continued its impressive run, with good Shmita wines. The Rose was of course, much like the rest of Israel, average and not inspiring, the only “miss” for Matar in 2015, so far. The red Cumulus was nice as well. So far, IMHO, 2015 has been bad at most wineries in Israel, in regards to the white wines. For reds, there is more hope, with the best wineries creating very acceptable to very good product. Read the rest of this entry
The state of aged carignan wine from Israel and many others
I have been offline for a month because of many reasons – the chief among them being that we were away for a trip through South Dakota and Montana. South Dakota was a bore, but Montana and Glacier National park are impressive, worth the insane drive.
Now on to wine, before I left we had a dinner with friends and I opened the remnants of what I had in the world of kosher Carignan (yeah there is a new one from Hajdu, I know). As of now, there really is just four main wineries in Israel making good to great Carignan. The list in order of ageability by far is Mia Luce, followed by Trio, then Recanati, and finally Jezreel Winery. Now before, you scream at me, yes, Recanati makes a lovely Carignan – but after three years it is date juice. Many of my friends love them, date and all, good for them! To me and the folks at the table that night – it was the least drunken wine of the night! The Mia Luce was slow to come around – but it was lovely. The Trio was epic from the start till the last drop. Yotam Sharon was the winemaker at Trio till 2013 and the wines he made during his short time there are indeed impressive.
The Jezreel Carignan is nice, but not in the same league as the first three – but once the Recanati turns to date juice, it is indeed better. We tasted the three Carignan from 2012 and yes – the Recanati is not fun any longer, neither was the 2011 Mia Luce (but that was a one vintage issue for Kobi). The saddest part of all of this to me is that Mia Luce is no longer making Carignan wines. The 2012 was the last available Carignan on the market. The 2013 was pre sold and by 2014 – he has gone to Syrah. Trio is now in another winemaker’s hand and it is not the same quality – maybe that will improve. The Recanati, as I have said turns too quickly – the 2009, 2010, the 11, and the 12 are all date juice. Great quality wines – structure wise, professional in nature, but still – they turn too quickly.
So, IMHO Carignan is in a perilous state if you like them aged. Otherwise, continue to enjoy the Recanati Carignan and drink it within two years – three at most. The 2014 Recanati Carignan is epic, sadly the 2015 (shmita) is not as good, and not one I would invest in.
YG reminded me correctly, that I had forgotten the 2013 Capcanes La Flor Del Flor Samso, which is 100% Carignan. It is not from Israel, and I was talking about Israel alone, but sure it is good to remind people that the capcanes is epic, and is a better option than the rest but it is also almost double the price, though the price on the Recanati Carignan has gone up a bunch as well, in the past few years – which is very sad. Also, there is the epic 2013 Elvi Clos Mesorah which is 50% Carignan. Also a top-tier wine. I have added the two scores below to be complete.
Last days of Passover – wines and all
Well I am back from Israel again, this trip was all about Passover and not wine trips. It was beautiful in Jerusalem for Passover, other than two scorching hot days. Other than them, the days were temperate, and really quite enjoyable.
The access to wine in Israel, is abundant, and when u are shooting for whites, roses, and bubbly, you really cannot go wrong. The reds were limited to the very safe options, Tzora, Netofa, and Matar.
Food wise, my in-laws did most of the cooking, but for me, it was cheese and matzah for almost every meal, along with lunches on Yom Tov. Dinners were meatballs, brisket, and fish (not in that order).
Overall, the wines were fantastic in the second round of options – better than the first round which included a dud. Sadly, the wines I enjoyed are not available here in the SUA yet – and may not even get here. Many of them are Royal’s and they are not embracing the white/rose wine revolution that is taking over Israel as much as I would have hoped. Which means I will need to hand import a few more of these beauties.
A special thanks to SB and DF for hosting us for a dinner. We brought over the two rose and we enjoyed them along with some great food and two lovely wines, which I sadly have no notes for. One was the 2011 Tzora Misty Hills – a great wine for sure. The other was the 2010 Recanati Cabernet Franc Reserve. The wine is still kicking nicely and has another year or two left in the tank.
We did not get to the 2014 Matar Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon wine – I had it at the winery and will post it here – but I did not taste it over Passover.
So, without further ado – here are the wine notes:
QPR Kosher wine options that I have been enjoying recently
In my state of kosher wine industry post – I lamented at the lack of QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) options in the kosher wine world. Now that is not to say that the options do not exist, as you can see by the number of QPR options on my top wines for Passover last year. Still, given the sheer number of wines in a kosher wine store (many hundreds) and the number of kosher wines on the open market (many thousands), we are left with a very small minority – sadly.
So, I thought I would list the most recent QPR wines I have enjoyed over the past 6 months. I wanted to catch up with wines I had not had till later last year and place them in a single easy to find place.
My hope is that people will enjoy the wines and demand more of them. For instance, the lack of many of the QPR wines from Elvi Wines on the open market. I can find them on Royal’s website and on Elvi’s website, but sadly I cannot find them at many wine stores. Thankfully, Kosherwine has gotten the Elvi Cava back along with the Gilgal Brut, but they have older vintages or no vintages of the Elvi options. Onlinekosherwine.com, also has many of the older Elvi wines. I have spoken with Moises and he says they exist here somewhere in the USA – only God knows where though!!! Sadly, the exact same can be said for Netofa wines – another QPR superstar! Where are the wines? I taste them at KFWE – but they are not at stores, online or at shops!
I hope to one day write a post about wine cellaring, but till I do, understand that certain wines are made to enjoy early, like Cava, most 2014 white wines, and lighter reds. The richer and tannic reds can use time in the cellar and that is normal. This list is not a list of wines that are meant for cellaring, though many can withstand a few years. The idea here is to enjoy these wines now while you let the long-term wines cellar and age. We all have that interest to drink interesting wines and while I agree with that, that is NO excuse to raid the cellar when u have a hunkering for a complex note or flavor. Many of these wines will scratch the itch while the beasts’ lie and settle.
Finally, some of these wines are hard to find and they may have different siblings – I will point out when an older one will be an issue or a newer vintage would not be on the list (like the 2011 Ella Valley Cabernet Franc versus the 2012). The 2012 Ella Valley Cabernet Franc would never be on this list. The 2011 is a fine wine for another year, after that I fear it will turn to date juice.
Also, many of the white/rose/bubbly wines will be repeats from the various posts I made, as most of the 2015 whites and rose are not coming to the USA as they are shmita in Israel. I tried to keep these wines under 30 dollars or so, some are more most are less and that is the point of this list. Of course, that means that for some wineries there will be one or no options, like Matar or Four Gates Winery. Though I could have thrown in the Four Gates Chard – which is a lovely wine, it is still far from my goal to add into this bucket. The same can be said for many more wineries. Also, 2015 Israeli wines are not on this list, actually no 2015 wines are on this list, though Hagafen Winery, has released their 2015, but I have yet to taste them and the 2014 Hagafen wines are the ones on the market anyway. Finally, wines that can only be found in Israel like the epic Tabor Rose of 2014 and the 2014 Reca Gris du Marselan and the yatir rose and the new 2014 Yatir Viognier – and so on. All of these wines are not on this list because they are hard to find, but they are on previous lists I have posted.
So, without further ado – here is my list of kosher QPR winners so far and if you have any more please tell me!! They are listed below without any real order.
2014 Domaine Netofa White – Score: A- (Crazy QPR)
I must say this is clearly the best Netofa white so far, and I hope they continue to impress! The wine is 100% Chenin Blanc sourced from the slopes of Mount Tabor. The nose is redolent with rich and bright quince, straw, mineral, lemongrass, and wet grass. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is lovely and rich mineral bomb, with more hay, spiced quince, now dry fresh cut grass, green apple, Asian pear, along with a crazy dry and insanely tart crab apple. The finish is long – spicy, dirty, and mineral based, with dry fruit, rich ripping acid, cloves, and nutmeg – BRAVO!!!
2013 Domaine Netofa Red – Score: A- (and more) (QPR!)
This wine is a clear step up from the 2012 Netofa Red, that is not putting the 2012 down in any way, it is just that this wine is even better! This wine is a blend of 65% Syrah and 35% Mourvedre. The nose on this wine is redolent and packed with mineral, lovely smoke, flint, ripe plum, lovely blueberry, with currants in the background. The mouth on this full bodied wine is attacks you first with lovely currants, followed by layers of blueberry, floral notes, richer and more extracted than the 2012, with great mineral, dried strawberry, all wrapped in ripping acid, and lovely tannin. The finish is long, extracted, and richly mineral in style, with blackcurrant, draping tannin, while being spiced with cloves, black pepper, sweet her, and hints of pith and lovely acid. BRAVO!!!
2012 Weinstock Cabernet Franc, Cellar Select – Score: A- (Mevushal) (QPR!)
This is not the same wine as the 2011 vintage, which was crazy and great this vintage started off closed and disjointed, but is now showing far better. The nose on this wine is mad green with red fruit notes, and herb. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is nice and round, with green notes, well balanced with good acid, raspberry, plum, earth, more bell pepper, crazy sweet dill, mouth coating tannin, and green foliage. The finish is long with nice enough acid, forest floor, nice butterscotch, good sweet tobacco, cedar, with tannin adding weight. Read the rest of this entry
