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Lemon/Honey/Pepper Roasted Chicken, Rice Pilaf, and 2004 Four Gates Chardonnay
This past week was harried and crazy coming back from New York, where we visited the Gotham Wine Event and a bit of the New York scene. Anyway, my wife was very kind to essentially make shabbos. To start she whipped up a batch of scrumptious roasted chicken, where she places the chicken in a pan and then covers the chicken with a melange of honey, red pepper flakes, lemon, and a few other spices. Along with that she made some delicious spinach kugel, brown basmati rice, and a fresh green salad. To match the food I went looking for a nice chardonnay in the cellar, and came up with a 2004 Four Gates Chardonnay. The wine has been one we have drunk before, but this wine has turned, and should start being drunk up soon. I always kid Benyo that it would be fine to add in a bit of oak to his Chardonnay. Well, maybe not, this bottle was almost a cousin to the 2007 Castel Chardonnay C, that is bright and also burnt on the nose from so much toasted oak. The Four Gates Chardonnay is not as burnt as it is oaky, and is losing its fruit. It seems to me that the oak is now overpowering what fruit is left, and so, if you like an oaky Chardonnay drink up, if not, drink up!!
Also, since I trounced it on Rogov’s forum, it is only fair to give it its due. This shabbos a friend made a lovely kiddush spread for all of the shul to enjoy. Part of that spread was a bottle of Red Label 2005 Hagafen Pinot Noir. On the forum both myself and Daniel did not find it very good at all. My only guess is that it was in a crazy dumb period. Because this morning that same bottle was lovely, with clear notes of oak, strawberry, cherry, plum, and coffee/chocolate. Very nice and very worthwhile. Probably at its peak or maybe a bit on the other side, but not brown or orange in any way. Anyway, as always full disclosure. Also, I had a drop of some 2004 Hagafen Merlot. Very nice, soft, accessible, rich with supple tannins, oak, plum, a hint of cassis, and raspberry. Nice wine, but drink up time.
The wine note follows below:
2004 Four Gates Chardonnay – Score: A-
The nose on this electric light gold to gold colored wine is filled with heavy and luscious toasted oak, starts a bit burnt to start, lemon, melon, peach, toasted almond, and butterscotch. The mouth on this full bodied wine is now overpowered by layers of concentrated spicy and toasted oak, along with butterscotch, melon, and a hint of almonds. The mid palate is packed with more oak, lemon, and bright acidity. The finish is long and spicy, with tasty oak, butterscotch, and lemon. As it sat the wine lost a bit of the burnt toast flavors, and it was awesome, but the next day, it was over. I recommend to all that it is time to drink this wine up, and enjoy it with heavy roasted fowl, light stews, and hard cheese.
Mollie Katzen’s Vegetarian Chili and the 2006 Four Gates Merlot La Rochelle
On December 18th we had a slow weekend, so we looked for a fun recipe that we really love, no matter the effort required. To meet that wish, we made Vegetarian Chili from Mollie Katzen’s Moosewood Cookbook. The cookbook is a classic organization of vegetarian dishes that take the best of their carnivorous brethren, while not leaving you yearning for the meat flavor or texture. The chili is labor intensive, but well worth it, as it has historically been consumed quickly by the both of us, so that leaves us with more work on the short horizon :-). Still it was grand fun to make and consume. I went looking in the cellar for a wine to pair with this magnificent creation, and I luckily chose the 2006 Four Gates Merlot La Rochelle, a wine that I have eyed for some time. The bottle has always been the stepchild of its bigger M.S.C. brother , but that was quickly remedied this week. The wine had its official coming out party and wow it was glorious. The wine clearly overpowered the food, but it was still worth it.
The wine note follows below:
2006 Four Gates Merlot La Rochelle – Score: A-
Wow this wine is starting to fill out and become rich, extracted, and in your face, but with a bit less complexity than its bigger brother the M.S.C. The nose on this garnet to dark garnet colored wine is hopping with rich plum, raspberry, eucalyptus, blackberry, sweet oak, spice, and chocolate. After a few hours, the nose turns darker with cassis and blackberry taking over the nose. The mouth on this full bodied wine is integrating nicely and the tannins create a caressing mouth feel that is coating, but a bit furry still in nature. The fruit carries over from the nose with plum, blackberry, and raspberry, but as it gains more air it turns blacker like the nose, with blackberry and cassis dominating the mouth. The mid palate is balanced with the usual Four Gates core acidity, oak, softening tannins, and spice. The finish is long and lingering with black fruit, raspberry, oak, chocolate, and minerals. This wine has evolved nicely.
Ella Valley Winery Visit and Wine Tasting
On a lovely Friday in August 2009, a friend and I were weaving through route 395 as it winds through the lush Judean Hills, and then descends into the valley of Route 38, which junctions into Route 375. After driving Route 375 for a few miles, we find the turn off for Netiv HaLamed-Heh, where the Ella Valley Winery is situated. This was our third trip to the winery. Our previous visit was very generously hosted by Udi Kaplan. The winery was founded in 1996 when the Adert Vineyard was first planted. Soon after, in 2001, the winery was constructed using state of the art wine making technology, that would allow Ella Valley to compete with the world’s best wineries. The winery was built from the bottom up with a desire to craft the world’s best wines, while keeping to a strict adherence of the kosher certification requirements. The winery started production with the 2002 vintage, when they produced some 100,000+ bottles of wine, to high praise and acclaim. Since then, they have succeeded with their vision and are continuing to produce more than 200,000 bottles of top quality wines, even for their non reserve lines (named Vineyard Choice).
The winery is managed by Uri Kaplan, who runs the day-to-day operations of the winery, while the wine making duties are left to the capable hands of French trained Doron Rav Hon. Doron has been part of the winery since its inception, and his handiwork is all over the wine itself. The wine’s signature flavors are clear with every sip. There is no overripe fruit, clobbering oak, or under ripe green characteristics, that dominate many of the wines in Israel and the world alike now a days. Instead, Doron’s wines are all well balanced wines that do take advantage of the sun and valley’s cool nights. He uses French oak predominately, which allows for a more subtle wine expression, and thereby giving the grapes a chance to show their true quality, without screaming it from the rooftop. When talking with critics and wine experts alike about Ella Valley, the word that comes up is consistency and elegance. The reds and whites alike are consistently elegant, while keeping to winery’s credo – of traditional elegance with a twist modernization.
So when we drove up to the winery, we were not surprised to find that very credo staring us in the face. The winery’s lovely traditional structure and facade, was quietly wrapping its modern inner workings. We were super honored to meet with Doron himself, and he was kind to show us around the winery before, sitting down to a superb wine tasting. The conversation was varied and fascinating; from discussions around kashrut to Doron’s wine making philosophy. The wine tasting was equally varied from an Unoaked Chardonnay all the way to a blockbuster Merlot and everything else in between. If you had to point to a single varietal that defines Ella Valley – it would have to be Merlot. From 2002 and on, Ella Valley’s Merlot(s) have been the top scoring and most sinewy yet refined wines in their portfolio. Nothing about our wine tasting changed that perspective, except for the fact that they continue to show exactness and gentle prodding on all of the wines in their fine portfolio. Read the rest of this entry
Yarden, Galil, and Delagrave Bordeaux Wines in the Sukkah
This past weekend saw us spending time in a Sukkah with our family in Florida. Yep, pretty hot temperature, but the Sukkah is shaded and we hooked up a pair of fans (attached to a timer), so that the fans are blowing when we are in the Sukkah. The fans are on opposite sides of the Sukkah, giving us a nice cross breeze. Further, the Sukkah walls are made of crisscrossing wood slats that have hollow parts. So the combination of cross breeze fans, open walls, and mesh roof, made the Sukkah a nice place to hunker down.
We did not cook or prepare any of the food for this family occasion, though I did help with the decorating and electrical aspects of the Sukkah. Beyond that I bought the wines. I went for a simple combination of whites and reds and I was quite happy with the outcome. Still, the clear star of the holiday was the food that was magnificently prepared by my sister in-law and a few other family members. They are always so kind and courteous, fantastic hosts, with a lovely family, and a kind soul. So, before the holiday (which started on Friday Night), we made our way to Crown Wine & Spirits. There used to be a wonderfully stocked kosher wine store, called – Corks Kosher Wine Emporium, but they are gone now — just another casualty of the economic times in which we live. The selection of kosher wines was far smaller than it had been before, because of the business that was taken away by Corks. So in the end, the economy handed a double whammy to the Boca Raton kosher wine scene, by putting Corks out of business and limiting the selection at the only other purveyor left. There is a small selection of lower quality wines at the Kosher Market Place, whose owner owned Corks, but not the stuff I was looking for. The selection may be also small at Crown, but they have a nice selection still of solid wines from Israel, France, and the USA. A nice mixture of Yarden, Galil, Herzog Reserve, Herzog (plain but good for the basic meal), Herzog Selection from France, Hagafen wines, and a smattering of Alfasi wines as well. Again, a nice mixture of quality wines at all price ranges, and the prices were very reasonable. I walked out with six quality wines for less than hundred dollars, which is OK. The prices were comparable with KosherWine.com, which I use as a barometer for pricing wines at local purveyors.
The meals were out of this world. The first evening we were served Matzah Ball soup, perfect roast, salad, moist turkey, Capon, and gobs of salads and sides, pairing lovely with some of the 2007 Yarden Odem Vineyard Chardonnay, 2005 Yarden Pinot Noir, and a blue bottle of Bartenura Moscato. The next day we were served gefilite fish, heavenly cholent, Turkey and gobs more of side dishes, paired nicely with a bit of leftover Yarden Pinot Noir, Yarden Odem Chardonnay, and some 2007 Galil Cabernet Sauvignon. For Saturday night we had Matzah ball soup, an unbelievable assortment of chicken dishes, and turkey, along with many lovely sides, pairing nicely with the Galil Cabernet Sauvignon. For the second day we were served gefilte fish, veal, turkey, gobs more of sides, and a killer Sushi salad (which mimics all the components of sushi in a nice salad). To pair with all of those flavors we had a 2004 Delagrave White Bordeaux and an overkill of a 2003 Yarden Merlot.
I would like to extend my many thanks to tour lovely hosts and the rest of the family which made our stay so comfortable. Best wishes and a happy and healthy year to all. The wine notes are listed below in the order they were consumed:
2005 Yarden Pinot Noir – Score: A-
This is a wine that Daniel Rogov rates as one of Yarden’s best Pinot Noirs ever, and I was not disappointing as much as I had higher hopes for it. The wine reminds me more of the N.V. Four Gates Pinot Noir, with a touch more tannins and attitude. The nose on this dark ruby colored wine is popping with black cherry, raspberry, black plum, rich oak, and vanilla. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine (once it opens) is layered and rich with not yet integrating tannins, black plum, black cherry, and oak. The mid palate is crisp and acidic with nice tannins and oak. The finish is long with red fruit, vanilla, oak, and spice.
2007 Yarden Odem Vineyard Chardonnay – Score: A-
The nose on this dark straw with green hues wine is popping with kiwi, papaya, lemon, peach, rich oak, and violets. The mouth on this rich and full bodied wine is almost mouth coating with fruit that follows the nose. The mid palate is tight yet balanced with bright acidity, and salt water – which threw me off! The finish is long and lovely with rich oak, tropical fruit, acidity, and a bit more salt water.
2007 Galil Cabernet Sauvignon – Score: B+
The nose on this garnet colored wine has blackberry, raspberry, plum, and roasted herbs. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is concentrated with blackberry, raspberry, and plum flavors. The mid palate is acidic with nice integrated tannins. The finish is medium long with more concentrated fruit and herbs.
2004 Herzog Selection Chateau Delagrave White (blend of Sauvignon Blanc and and Semillon) – Score: B-B+
The nose on this light straw colored wine is filled with lemon, green apples, light herbal notes, and floral notes. The mouth on this light to medium bodied wine follows the nose with green apple, tropical fruit, and lemon. The mid palate is crisp with nice tart fruit. The finish is medium long with tart flavors that linger long after the wine is gone, along with green tea, and floral notes.
2003 Yarden Merlot – Score: A-
The nose on this dark garnet to black colored wine is popping and rich with blackberry, cherry, cranberry, green herbal notes, figs, and lovely sweet oak. The mouth on this full bodied wine is rich, layered, and complex with blackberry, cranberry, and tannins that are still lightly aggressive. The mouth is complex with layers of fruit, sweet oak, and figs. The mid palate is acidic and balanced with integrated tannins. The finish is long with rich ripe black fruit, nice tannins, sweet oak, figs, and vanilla. The wine is rich and lovely and quite a treat and can easily pair with red meats, but is overkill for the basic food groups.
2009 Jerusalem Wine Festival – Pictures and Wine Notes
Our story begins in 2003 and bombs are exploding up and down the state. Residents are worried to leave the house, and the wine industry is taking a severe hit, as overall morale is down. As the state steps up, and brings its considerable weight to bear on the problem, private individuals start to wonder how to remove the malaise from among the populace. Up steps Avi Ben, an owner of a successful chain of wine stores, who comes up with an idea to kill two birds with one stone. So Avi sat down with a few local wine marketers, and organized the first Jerusalem Wine festival. In his own words, as described by Jerusalemite.net – We decided to organize a fair that would bring wine distributors to Jerusalem. We picked a great location, the Israel Museum, and once they agreed to house the festival, all the planning became easier. People loved the location, they loved the idea, and it was a huge success. Under this backdrop, my friend and I were more than happy to attend the 6th annual Jerusalem Wine festival, which was once again located in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
As we gave our tickets to the attendant (previously bought at the Nahalat Shiva Avi Ben store for 60 NIS) and slowly walked our way to the sculpture garden in the back, we could already take in the night’s air. It was filled with the smell of olive trees, pine trees, open wine bottles, and the initial sense of excitement. As we got closer to the open air arena, that hosts the 33 wineries that were presenting their wares for the evening, we were greeted by a table of glasses. The glass was ours to use during the evening, one that would be our ever present partner to the evening’s soiree, and one that we could take home after the long evening. I paused at the opening to the garden, and took in the spectacle that was in front of me. Beyond the dim lights, the 33 wineries that rimmed the garden and the center as well, essentially creating a pair of concentric circles, what was evident was the lightness of the evening. This was not going to be a wine snob event, or an event that would require heavy wine talk. Instead it was a casual affair, accentuated by the dress code of many of the attendees – shorts, tee shirt, and flip flops. But even more evident was the electricity, the life, the joy (even if alcohol fueled), that powered the evening and lit up the night’s sky. It was almost ethereal yet real, and one of the most exciting aspects of the evening.
<slight tangent about kosher issues>
Unfortunately, I must take a moment to talk about what I can only now explain as a kashrut problem surrounding the whole evening. As much as I loved the festival, those of us who are Orthodox practicing Jews, had a few problems that we faced that evening. They were:
- Shmitta wines for those of us who live in the Diaspora. The 2008 vintage is a shmitta year, and many of the wineries use a loophole called heter mechira, where they sell the grapes to non-jews. This is a not so accepted practice in the modern era, and so most Orthodox Jews do not drink those wines. The only way to know is to pick up the bottle and read the back label, where things of this nature are spelled out. The wines from Yarden, Galil, and some others, use a more accepted practice called Oztar Beit Din, and so I happily enjoy Yarden and Galil wines from the 2008 vintage.
- As lovely as the Spieglau glasses were, they were not “toveled” – ritually immersed, which Orthodox practicing Jews do, before making use of the utensil.
- 99% of the wines served that night, were non-mevushal wines. Meaning they were not pasteurized, which sounds great, because why would you want to pasteurize wine for goodness sakes, this is not milk with volatile bacteria. Well, because “mevushal” wine can be handled by non Jews, while non-mevushal wines cannot be. Furthermore, if a non Jew were to touch my wine glass or bottle, I cannot drink that wine anymore. The law is not very PC to say the least and truly requires a long post to analyze it better (which I will be doing soon God willing), but my belief system is based on faith and not one that I can turn on and off when it suits me or my friends. Now, I do not bring this up to disparage the Jewish lineage of those that were pouring the wines. Rather, I bring it up because the rules around the open bottle were lax to say the least. The open bottles, from which the wine was being poured was touched by many a passerby, and of their lineage, I have no idea.
My feeling is that the next time I go to this event; I would probably attend, but not drink any wines.
</end tangent 🙂 >
Once we were finished taking in the scene/madness that was swirling before us, we moved our way to the booth of one of Israel’s most exciting wineries – Yatir Winery. It has captured the imagination and attention of many wine lovers including myself. I have been lucky to visit the winery twice before, and each time I am in awe of their progress and continual assault at the wine world’s malaise and opinion of Israel’s wine industry. Just this past year they were awarded one of the highest scores for their flagship wine by Robert Parker and Mark Squires of the Wine Advocate. There I had what can only be described as a brain freeze, when I tasted one of the best white wines of Israel – the 2008 Yatir Sauvignon Blanc, before I realized that the wine was produced using heter mechira. I was mistaken at that time, and once more unfortunately, and is the main reason that I did not enjoy more of the whites that evening, as they were either produced by non kosher wineries, or because they were the 2008 vintage and used heter mechira. That said the 2008 Sauvignon Blanc was wonderful, but was clearly not opened long enough to get its legs under it. Still, it showed a nice tropical fruit flavor along with a bit of cut grass and some lychee. From there we moved on to the Galil Mountain Winery‘s booth, where we were hoping to be able to taste the highly acclaimed Galil Meron. Unfortunately, it was not available for tasting till 9PM, so we were “forced” to partake of their other showings until the hour passed. I was happily distracted by the Galil Pinot Noir, which is a more classical take on a French Burgundy, than those recently produced by Israeli wineries. Still, the wine has enough facets – like its soft oak and coffee flavors to throw you off the French scent. The other two wines I tasted while waiting for the grand moment, were less than enthralling. The 2008 Galil Rose, was bland and flat, and the 2007 Galil Barbera was but a glimpse of its older brother’s power and depth. Where the others disappointing, the Galil Meron did not. It was a wine well worth the wait and one that I highly recommend for those in Israel (the US allotment will not be available till 2010, probably for Passover).
We next visited the booth of Dalton Winery, where we tasted a dud of a wine and a real nice winner. The Dalton Rose, made of 100% Cabernet Sauvignon grapes was an average quaffer, with a rose petal flavored mouth and a raspberry nose. Nothing to write home about or post about. The winner was the 2007 Dalton Shiraz – WOW! A solid blockbuster of a wine and one worthy or your attention. We then weaved our way on over to the booth of the Binyamina Winery, where we took in a nice 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. While some booths had massive and expressive signs – note the Yarden Golan Heights Winery’s sign, other small wineries had zero signage. Yarden being one of the biggest wineries in Israel had a sign to match their importance and prestige. Heck, forget the sign, they had a whole platform. The sculpture garden is lovely and expansive, but the floor is rock and dirt, which while native to Israel and Jerusalem, is a bit too native for many of the folks standing and walking around for the 4 to 5 hours that the event was open for. Yarden and another winery had a lovely platform, with soft padding, great lounge chairs, a few tables, and awesome wines (which is obvious). I cannot seem to find a picture of the platform, but take my word for it :-). Anyway, we once again weaved around and through the crowd, and moseyed on over to the booth of Tzuba Winery. We have spoken before about Tzuba, and we had the extreme pleasure of visiting their lovely winery before. They are a winery with a long lineage of managing vineyards of the Judean Hills. The wines were a nice selection of the wines available from the winery, within Israel, and yet another reason for us of the Diaspora to do Aliyah! Yes, they export some wines, but the vast majority sells fine within Israel. We enjoyed a lovely 2007 Belmont (55% Sauvignon Blanc and 45% Semillon) which showed nice dirt, lychee, grapefruit, and peach. The 2006 Tel Tzuba Merlot was also quite nice. The 2006 Tel Tzuba Cabernet was a bit off, so I did not write it up, the bottle tasted over ripe or oxidized.
We were off again, and moving towards a booth with a large sign, the Tishbi Winery Booth. It was mostly a waste of a trip, this time around, except to prime the pump for a return trip later in the evening, to taste their wonderful desert wine, when my evening of tasting was done, and my evening of drinking began, but we are jumping the gun! I digress again! After the awful and overripe 2006 Tishbi Shiraz tasting, we ran into a bunch of acquaintances from Rogov’ forum. The inner circle of wine booths did not take up all the possible space, so they filled the empty space with some nice standing tables. I rolled up to the table to augment my wine notes, and as I am of to do, I struck up a conversation with the people around me. Standing there as well was Zvi and his lovely wife. He overheard the conversation I was having (which is shocking given my quiet personality), and quickly surmised that it was I that had blown him off earlier in the evening. We were supposed to meet up at the booth of Assaf Winery. Well that never happened, because we could NOT find the bloody booth! It was one of those booths that had almost no signage, and so made it a bit hard to find, given the swarms surrounding the booths. Anyway, after talking a bit, Zvi pipes up asking “did you get to taste the 2003 Magnum Yarden Merlot”? Well no I say, heck I had yet to stroll over to the booth/platform at all. Given the opportunity, I bid my adu, and head on over to the Yarden “booth”. I nicely asked for a bit of the Merlot, and was rewarded with what can only be described as a drunkard’s convention sized glass of the dark garnet gold! Keeping in the new Hebrew and non-sequitur slang the Merlot was chaval al ha zman (translated literally — it’s a waste of time” in slang — fantastic, wonderful, out of this world, great). I lingered long at the booth while I slowly enjoyed my glass of wine. The Merlot was fat yet not over ripe, red fruit, with a ton of chocolate and tobacco. It almost felt like you were drinking ripe fruit and wood, while smoking a fat cigar and inhaling boxes of dark chocolate – quite a trip to say the least – like I said – chaval al ha zman.
Once I had my chance to talk with the Yarden crowd and enjoy my wine, I found my way over to the booth of Tzora Winery. We have spoken about this winery before, and have also had the pleasure of going to their lovely winery, just before the untimely passing of their founder Ronnie James. Well, the wine has not missed a beat, with the new winemaker Eran Pick. The 2006 Neve Ilan was dirty and lovely. The 2006 Shoresh was a bit lighter, but still quite enjoyable. As I continued my trip around the inner circle, I hit upon Alexander Winery’s booth. The winemaker Yoram Shalom was pouring and his marketing agent was talking – quite a show! The wine that was pouring was the 2007 Sandro (named after Shalom’s brother). We were fortunate enough to meet Shalom the last time we visited his winery in Moshav Beit Yitzchak. The booth was abuzz with the recent award they won in a Spanish Wine Contest (missed the name – sorry) for their top star – 2005 Alexander The Great – Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2007 Sandro was overripe, as I have said before. The wines in the Golan and Upper Galilee can tend towards overripe flavors if not picked at the correct time. The Sandro is a blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot. We meandered around a bit, and we found ourselves at the Agur Winery’s booth. There I made my second faux pas, and tasted the 2008 Agur Blanca – which was also a shmitta wine and they use Heter mechira. The Blanca was really nice, though there are critics out there that do not like it as much as I did, oh well :-). I was not as impressed by the 2007 Agur Kessem (40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 20% Petit Verdot, and 10% Cabernet Franc), still a nice wine with a mix of black and red flavors, along with nice toasty oak, earth, and mouth coating tannins.
My friend disappeared by now, and I was moving around alone by now. I swung by the Yarden booth again, to get a taste of the 2004 Yarden Ortal Merlot, which was stunning (I had not tasted this one before). At this point, my palate was shot and I swung by the Tishbi booth once more, to get a taste of the stunning 2006 Jonathan Tishbi Barbera-Zinfandel Fortified Dessert Wine. I absolutely loved it and it reminded me of the Carmel Vintage – which is another desert wine that is quite impressive as well. The evening ended and I picked up some wines to go, in an outside pavilion.
My take away overall was that the festival was well run, while most of the wine purveyors were pushing some light weight wares that met the interest of the majority of the festival customers. There is nothing wrong with that, the average wine consumer likes their wine smooth and easy to drink. Given that trend, the wineries were pouring wines that met the consumer’s interests. The wineries that I highlighted were pouring wines that were quite enjoyable and highly unexpected (Galil and Yarden). Finally, ignoring the wines for a second, the festival’s attendees were all very amiable, courteous, and joyous. Yes they were imbibing alcohol, but alcohol can bring out the worst in people, and that was NOWHERE to be seen, and I stayed to the closing on Tuesday night. There is a lovely saying in Jewish Lore that goes something like this; When alcohol enters the person’s true self comes out. That was more than evident Tuesday night, under the full moon’s sky, the beauty that is Israel, was open for all to see and enjoy.
So, thank you so much to the Israel Museum, Avi Ben and all the wineries that were pouring their wares, the wine notes follow below:
2008 Yatir Sauvignon Blanc – Score: B+
The nose on this straw colored wine is filled with lychee, grapefruit, and tropical fruit, along with a strong sense of brightness, and almost clean steel smell. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is super bright with lychee, grapefruit, and tropical fruit, along with some nice balancing green flavors. The mid palate is bright which leads into a long and crisp finish of more tropical fruit. A really nice crisp Sauvignon Blanc with just a hint of roundness that comes from a bit of time in French barrels.
2007 Galil Pinot Noir – Score: B+
The nose on this dark ruby colored wine is classical in nature with nice terroir notes, along with cherry, cranberry, and raspberry. The nose was hot out of the bottle, and I did not stick around long enough to see when it dissipated. The mouth on this medium bodied wine follows the nose with more cherry, raspberry, and not yet integrated tannins. The mid palate is still tannic and hot, along with coffee and bright acidity. The finish is long and spicy with bright red fruit and an almost toasty flavor
2007 Galil Barbera – Score: B
The nose on this light garnet colored wine is filled with cranberry, plum, oak, and coffee. The mouth on this medium bodied wine has nice light and integrating tannins that work well with the mouth’s plum and cranberry. The mid palate is almost smooth with light tannins, coffee, and oak. The finish is long with bright acidity, coffee, and red fruit. This is not the winner that the 2006 vintage was, and may be too early to really tell where this wine is going.
2006 Galil Meron – Score: A-
The nose on dark garnet to black colored wine is popping with blackberry, raspberry, ripe plum, chocolate, coffee, and rich oak. The mouth on this full bodied and complex wine has layers of blackberry, tar, coffee, and rich plum. The mid palate is layered with oak and integrating tannins that come at you in layers. The finish is super long with tar, pepper, blackberry, and chocolate. This is a real winner and one that is sure to please almost anyone at the table.
2007 Dalton Shiraz Reserve – Score: A-
The nose on this dark garnet to purple colored wine is filled with ripe fruit, plum, blackberry, tar, and pepper. The mouth on this full bodied wine with complex layers hits you often with wave after wave of blackberry, ripe plum, and cassis. The mid palate is filled with tar, oak, and coffee. The finish is long and spicy, with oak, tar, blackberry, and chocolate. Quite a nice Shiraz indeed.
2006 Binyamina Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve – Score: B – B+
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine was hot out of the bottle, with ripe fruit, cranberry, blackberry, and oak. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine has cassis and blackberry flavors. The mid palate is balanced and spicy with oak and bright acidity. The finish is bright and spicy with blackberry, coffee, and oak.
2007 Tzuba White Belmont (55% Sauvignon Blanc and 45% Semillon) – Score: B+
The nose on this bright light straw colored wine has mineral qualities, along with lychee, grapefruit, peach, and an almost toast aroma. The mouth has very ripe flavored fruit that mingles nicely with earthy and mineral flavors, along with grapefruit and peach. The mid palate is tart and earthy. The finish is long with more tart fruit and clean mineral flavors.
2006 Tzuba Tel Tzuba Merlot – Score: B+
The nose on this dark ruby colored wine has nice earthy notes along with raspberry, cranberry, cherry, oak, and vegetal notes. The mouth is medium bodied with integrating tannins, cranberry, and raspberry. The mid palate is balanced with oak and acidity. The finish is accompanied by earth, spices, and round red fruit. This is a wine that can use more air in and out of the bottle and one that will serve you well.
2003 Yarden Magnum Merlot – Score: A-
The nose on this black colored wine (not showing any hint of slowing down or brown), is ripe with rich red fruit, slightly hot, plum, raspberry, cassis, rich oak, and mounds of dark chocolate. The mouth on this complex and full bodied wine was throwing sediment, and comes at you with layers of with rich plum, blackberry, and chocolate. The mid palate is bright and balanced with acidity, integrating tannins, and coffee. The finish is long with tobacco, chocolate, and nice tannins. It almost felt like you were drinking ripe fruit and wood, while smoking a fat cigar and inhaling boxes of dark chocolate, quite a treat indeed.
2006 Tzora Neve Ilan (70% Cabernet Sauvignon & 30% Merlot) – Score: B+
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine is filled with rich earth, blackberry, cranberry, oak, and coffee. The mouth on this medium bodied wine follows the nose with cranberry, raspberry, roasted oak flavors, and something akin to toffee. The mid palate has integrated tannins that flow into a long finish with spice, dirt, and red fruit.
2006 Tzora Shoresh (100% Cabernet Sauvignon) – Score: B+ – A-
The nose on this dark garnet colored wine filled with plum, raspberry, earth, and toasted coffee beans, and oak. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine is spicy with somewhat gripping tannins that have yet to integrate, plum, cassis, and raspberry. The mid palate is bright with acidity and oak, and leads into a long and earthy finish with rich oak, coffee, and nice spice.
2007 Alexander Sandro – Score: B – B+
The nose on this garnet colored wine is perfumed with almost overripe fruit, toasted oak, blackberry, and raspberry. The mouth on this full bodied wine is gripping with powerful tannins, cassis and plum. The mid palate is filled with toasted oak and balancing acidity. The finish is long with cassis and plum fruit, and chocolate.
2008 Agur Blanco (65% Viognier & 35% Riesling) – Score: B+
The nose on this electric straw colored wine is perfumed with rich and lively grapefruit, honeydew melon, and peach. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is rich and almost glycerol and oily with ripe peach and honeydew. The mid palate is balanced with bright acidity that leads into a long and rich finish of tart fruit.
Salmon, Chicken, Four Gates Merlot, Yarden Winery Pinot Noir, Yarden Winery Viognier, Galil Mountain Winery Viognier
This past weekend we were up at Benyamin’s Winery – Four Gates Winery. We came early to hook Benyamin to the internet – yes my friends Benyamin is VERY close to the digital age. Anyway, after that we enjoyed a wonderful dinner and a following Saturday day and evening, that was nonstop relaxing, food, and camaraderie.
The evening started with a lovely bottle of 1998 Four Gates Merlot/Cabernet Franc Blend (experimental blend), that was really nice, but placed to the side once the fish hit the table. The Salmon was poached perfectly in a bottle of some Chardonnay (no idea which vintage), and paired quite nicely with the first of the two Viognier that we tasted – 2006 Yarden Winery Viognier. The wine’s fullness and richness melded perfectly with the rich Salmon flavor, quite a treat. The fish was followed by roasted chicken, new potatoes (yanked early to keep them away from the pesky gophers), and a lovely fresh salad. The main course was paired with another bottle – 2004 Yarden Winery Pinot Noir. What is a shame is that for the first time that this wine has tasted good for me, that we did not get a chance to taste it with a Four Gates Pinot Noir. So many times the 2004 Yarden Pinot Noir vintage has been either cooked, oxidized, or downright undrinkable. I was almost starting to think that the bottles of the 2004 vintage shipped here to America were toasted. I tasted them in Chicago, in New York, In California, and they were all bad. I am happy that finally the wine has had a chance to show itself and when it does, I would have loved to compare it against another awesome kosher Pinot Noir producer. Anyway, the Pinot Noir was not only quite nice, it went really well with the roasted chicken, that had a fair amount of herbs encrusted all over it, which melded quite nicely with the spicy Pinot Noir.
The following day I had an early taste of the cholent I whipped together before Shabbos, made of onions, new potatoes, sweet potatoes, zucchini, and a bunch of stuff that I do not remember. It was thick, warm, and hearty with a tangy flavor that kept on going, and matched well with the left over Merlot/Cabernet Franc blend. Before lunch started Benyamin opened up a bottle of Four Gate’s first public released Merlot – the 1997 Four Gates Merlot. The wine, keeps going well, full bodied and oaky with robust fruit and an acidic backbone that is not waning. Lunch started with more poached salmon that we paired with a 2006 Galil Mountain Winery Viognier, along with some leftover 2006 Yarden Winery Viognier. The Yarden Viognier was really showing its muscle the next day, the floral and mineral flavors were bursting out of their shell, but never overpowered the ripe honeydew and pear, while the ever present oak, filled out the glass. The Galil Viognier, was not to my liking, but I am sure there are others that will love it. I missed the perfume that I associate with a Viognier, but it was still fruity and present. The meal continued with more salads, artichokes, humus and other such dips, and some lovely fresh salad.
After lunch, some of us crashed and others went for a walk, and after some folks came over, many had dinner with more wine. I however, stopped drinking after lunch, as I was driving back that night. I want to thank Benyamin for his ever open arms and warm hospitality, and for another smashing shabbos at his hideaway in the mountains.
The wine notes follow below:
2006 Yarden Winery Viognier – Score: A-
This wine is a classic Viognier that follows the lineage of its forefathers. The nose on this golden colored wine starts hot and is slow to open up until a few hours after opening. Once open the wine is popping with super rich perfume that embodies fresh and ripe pear, honeydew, violets, sweet oak, and lemon. The mouth on this full bodied and rich wine is screaming with more ripe pear, honeydew, and peach. The mid palate is bright enough with acidity to balance out the rich body. The finish is long and luxurious, perfumed and earthy with more rich fruit. This is a really nice mineral and richly perfumed Viognier that will make you believe in the power of Viognier.
2004 Yarden Winery Pinot Noir – Score: A-
I must admit that this wine has failed me at least twice in the past few times that I have tasted it. Not this time! This bottle, was not flawed in anyway. The nose on this dark garnet colored wine was crazy hot out of the bottle, but that calmed over time. The bottle needs at least three hours of air to blow off the heat and open the black fruit that lays deep within this wine’s veins, but hidden initially under a blanket of oak. This wine opens with sweet oak, blackberry, plum, and classic Pinot cherries. The mouth on this full bodied wine was velvety and mouth coating. The tannins are now well integrated and not mouth puckering and give a richness to the wine. The mouth starts with blackberry, plum, and cherry, and flows into a mid palate of more oak, some mild acidity. The finish is long with rich fruit, oak, and a bit of chocolate that rounds out the wine. This is a nice showing that will easily be around for a year or two more.
1997 Four Gates Merlot – Score: B+
This wine is still kicking and is still drinking well. The wine is very similar to our last tasting, and is a smooth, mouth coating, and full bodied wine. The nose on this soft red to black colored wine is a rich and opulent aroma of chocolate, cherry, blackberry, and oak. The mouth on this wine is full and mouth coating and is filled with chocolate, blackberry, and cherry. The mid palate is oaky, with light acid, and integrating tannins. The finish is a long and luscious walk down the oak boardwalk with a warm espresso and a shot of vanilla to boot. This lovely wine has pushed past its peak and is time to drink up.
2006 Galil Mountain Winery Viognier – Score: B+
As nice as this wine is, it was more like a Sauvignon Blanc than it was a Viognier. The nose on this light yellow with a greenish tint colored wine is ripe with apple, peach, pear, floral, and light hints of oak. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is bright with floral flavors, along with pear, and peach flavors. The mid palate is bright with acidity, light oak, and nice green flavors. The finish is long with more fruit, and a tinge of dirt flavors. Not a Viognier I would buy again, as it lacks the rich perfume that I associate and require from a nice Viognier.
Tabor Merlot and Grand Prince Bordeaux along with roasted chicken and chicken soup
This past weekend we got the chance to cook some chicken soup and roast some chicken. But the best part was cooking some Chinese and Japanese Shitake mushrooms, along with some oyster mushrooms. Sautéing the mushrooms were super easy. I cleaned them and then I sliced them thinly, while removing the stems, and then sautéed them in hot oil. The mushrooms cooked quickly and were crispy while staying meaty and nutty, really cool. We ate them all week, with rice and wheat berries.
My wife roasted some pepper and honey-roasted chicken, and I made some chicken soup. I love chicken soup, because it is so crazy easy. The way I cook my chicken soup, is to first sauté the chicken with its skin (a pound of chicken to a quart of soup), to render its fat. Once the chicken is rendered, drop in chunks of:
- Carrots
- Parsnips
- Sweet potatoes
- Potatoes
- A beet or two
- Onions
- Zucchini
- Spices and flavorings: cumin, garlic, pepper, bay leaves, sage, and lemon juice
and add water until it covers the vegetables, and cook for an hour or two. The time gives the chicken a chance to extract its goodness and share it with the rest of the vegetables into a killer soup. Anyway, the soup was awesome, and the beets gave it a red look, which was cool. Anyway, I paired it with some 2006 Tabor Merlot, which was nice for a couple of hours and then died quickly, which is unfortunate. During the day, I went to a Kiddush and they served a 2005 Grand Prince Bordeaux, which was a nice mevushal wine, but not so great overall.
Anyway, the wine notes follow below..
2006 Tabor Galil Merlot – Score: B – B+
The nose on this bright garnet colored wine is hot out of the bottle, along with raspberry, plum, cherry, and light mineral notes along with pepper. The mouth on this medium bodied wine has light coating tannins that are close to integrating with the bottle, along with cranberry, plum, and raspberry. The mid palate has light acidity with integrating tannins. The finish is nice and long with cherry and plum along with a dollop of pepper. This wine reminded me of a Four Gates Merlot for a few hours, but that ended quickly when the wine died about two to three hours after it was opened. It was nice in the beginning and got better for about two hours where it peaked, and then it crashed and burned. This wine should be drunk soon, or else you will be left with a bunch of acid and little fruit.
2005 Grand Prince Bordeaux – Score: B+
The nose on this garnet colored wine is very French with tons of mineral/earth notes, along with some black fruit, and pepper. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine starts off with soft and almost caressing tannins, but man did that change with air. The tannins exploded and they were heavy handed and far from integrating. The mouth also has blackberries, plums, and cherry. The mid palate has nice acid and tough tannins. The finish is medium long with tannin, cherry, and pepper. Not bad for a mevushal wine, and I liked it, but it is one of those classical French Bordeaux wines with little complexity and a ton of earth/mineral characteristics, that tends to overpower the fruit. In the bottle I tasted, the tannins were initially quiet, but then made their presence quite known. I think I would have given it a higher score, but its lack of balance, and limited fruit, make me pause.
Baked Gefilte Fish Loaf, Sweet and Sour Brisket, Roasted Root Vegetables, Tzora Cabernet Sauvignon Givat haChalukim, Yarden Merlot, Four Gates Merlot, Yarden Ortal Vineyard Merlot, Galil Mountain Winery Merlot
This past weekend saw us hosting one of our epic Friday night dinners. We had friends and family over and I was really looking forward to tasting the Ortal Merlot, the best Merlot made in Israel by far. We have had it a few times, but not for a couple of years now. We purposely made a triple baked fish, brisket. and roasted vegetables on Wednesday to serve at both meals, and that worked out quite nicely, go there to see the recipes.
The night was supposedly meant to be Merlot night, but when I looked into the cellar, I did not have that much Merlot. So I started with a 2005 Four Gates Merlot M.S.C. (that Benyamin brought over and still available for purchase), and threw in a Cab that I have been holding for too long, and finished with some not so spectacular Merlot bottles. The 2005 Tzora Givat Hachalukim Cabernet was awesome, and one I brought in by hand a few years ago from Israel. Well worth the effort, and one that is not available here – though the 2006 is available and really yummy.
Tzora is one of those wineries that truly appreciate terroir and a winery that is helping to define a flavor to Israeli wines. Major kudos to them, especially after the passing of Ronnie James, the founder of the winery. The first two bottles we had were really great and we thought that we were going to have one of those magical wine evenings. That all came to a screaming halt when we had the two Yarden Merlot(s), which is a real shame. I had been looking forward to tasting them and as you will see, they did not live up to the billing. I can only hope that the Ortal merlot (of which I have a few more), is not dead in my cellar.
The meal was wonderful, and even better was the chance to catch up with my family after the meal, really quite nice. The wine notes follow below, in the order they were drank:
2005 Four Gates Merlot M.S.C. – Score: A-
The nose on this almost black colored wine is packed with blackberry, cherry, plum, eucalyptus, and oak. The nose and body have a fair amount of oak, more than I remembered before, I guess the wine is in a phase where the oak is showing a bit more right now. The fruit is still very forward on this massive and brooding full bodied wine. The mouth starts with more blackberry and raspberry. It flows into a complex mid palate layered with oak, acid, tight tannins, and a nice amount of coffee. The finish is long and luxurious with more black fruit, balancing acidity, and a dollop of espresso.
2005 Tzora Givat Hachalukim Cabernet Sauvignon – Score: A-
This was a fun bottle of Cabernet. The nose on this garnet colored wine is popping with cassis, plum, blackberry, raspberry, oak, and chocolate. The mouth on this full bodied wine is velvety with tight tannins, cassis, plum, and raspberry. The mid palate is popping with acidity, tannin, and oak. It flows into a long, satisfying, and spicy finish with more black fruit, oak, and chocolate.
2003 Yarden Merlot – Score: B
The nose on this garnet to black colored wine, was fresh with cherry, blackberry, and cassis. The mouth on this full bodied wine was over ripe and almost oxidized, much like the Yarden Ortal we had the same night. The wine’s full bodied structure was able to support the oak but was overpowered by the overripe/oxidized fruit. The finish was long with fruit melding nicely with vanilla and herbs.
2001 Yarden Ortal Vineyard Merlot – Score: B+
This wine is meant to be a blockbuster, but something was wrong this night. The wine tasted almost off/oxidized or maybe extra fruity. Either way, it was not a hit. The nose on this wine was absolutely awesome, with big spicy oak, super jammy blackberry, plum, and chocolate. But once we tasted the wine all bets were off, which is a real shame, because it was a huge bodied wine with blackberry and cassis, along with a luscious mouth feel, that was totally thrown off kilter by the over jammy and/or oxidized flavors. The mouth was complex with layers of fruit that flowed into a tannic and acidic core. The finish was pure heaven with chocolate, oak, and tobacco. Real shame.
2005 Galil Mountain Winery Merlot – Score: B+
Nice wine indeed, rich and satisfying, while keeping itself in balance and check, a nice showing. The nose of this black colored wine is screaming with cranberry, raspberry, green pepper, and herbs. The mouth of this full bodied wine is velvety with raspberry and cranberry. The mid palate is bright with complex layers of fruit, acidity and terroir. The finish is long with more fruit, acidity, and herbs. Read the rest of this entry
Four Gates Winery – 2009 Wine
This past evening saw a group of us getting together to taste some wines that have yet to be released. The wines were opened at the start of the tasting and were tasted again at the end. We drank the wines in the order that they are listed below. I had tasted these wines before, but we had a chance to sit down with a few other folks and so Benyamin swung on by and we had a formal group tasting.
I want to thank Four Gates Winery for the opportunity to taste the wines, the wines notes follow below:
Four Gates Chardonnay 2007 – Score: B+ – A-
The nose on this bright light straw colored wine is filled with lemon, apple, pear, and oak. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine starts off with lemon custard pear, and apples. The mid palate starts off over acidic, but mellows down and reaches a nice balance as it airs out with core acidity and rich oak. The finish is long and spicy with more oak, and lemon tartness.
Four Gates Chardonnay 2005 – Score: A-
The nose on this straw colored wine is filled with creamy caramel, peach, pear, and oak. The mouth on this full bodied and rich wine is full in the mouth with caramel, pear, and apple. The mid palate is opulent with rich oak, acidity, and nutmeg that is in almost perfect harmony. The rich oak plays in your mouth with the core acidity in a perfect duet. The finish is long with rich oak, mild acidity, and nutmeg with sage.
Four Gates Merlot La Rochelle 2006 – Score: B+
The nose on this vibrant light garnet colored wine is hot to start, but blows off quick enough, with black cherry, cola, sweet carob, and Italian spices. The mouth of this medium to full bodied wine has a nice complex layering of cranberry and cherry. With air, the mouth turns blue, with hints of blueberry and more cranberry. The mid palate is filled with core acidity, tannins that have yet to integrate, and oak. The finish is long and spicy with more oak, tannin, and coffee.
Four Gates Merlot M.S.C. 2006 – Score: A- (not yet for sale)
The nose on this black garnet colored wine filled with candied raspberry, blackberry, anise, and intense sweet wood. The nose changes with more air to a richer nose of opulent wood and more cranberry. The mouth on this full bodied wine is full in the mouth with mouth coating tannins, and complex layers of raspberry, blackberry, and cherry. The mid palate is a balance of oak and acid that play off the full mouth. The finish is long and spicy with more sweet wood, acidity, coffee, and vanilla.
Four Gates Syrah 2005 – Score: A-
The nose on this black colored wine filled with tar, pepper, oak, black plum, eucalyptus, and thyme. The mouth of this full bodied and layered wine is filled with mouth coating tannins, black plum, and black fruits. The mid palate plays off the mouth coating palate with more tannin, acidity, and oak. The finish is long with tar, pepper, and acidity to help balance out the wine. Quite a nice brooding wine, that will age nicely over time.
Wine Musings Blog 