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Tzora Winery continues to shine as one of the very best wineries in Israel
If one says terroir and Israel at the same time, many would snicker and laugh, but when it comes to Tzora Winery they continue to impress. I have written a few times about the Tzora Winery, it is a winery that proves that even in Israel, and even in 2010 and 2011 GREAT and controlled wines can be created.
This winery tasting was not a tasting like the previous ones on the trip, you see, we were not “officially” invited to this one. We arrived for the tail end of Nicolas Daniel Ranson and Christophe Bardeau (from Domaine Roses Camille Winery) wine tasting day. Previously to Tzora, they had gone to Flam Winery and Castel Winery, two wineries we had been to a few days earlier.
So, when we heard they were going to Tzora as well, we asked them both at the DRC tasting if we could piggy back on the tasting, and they agreed. Of course, in hindsight, in all of the enthusiasm and excitement of the DRC tasting, we forgot to ask Eran and the Tzora Winery if they were OK with it! You see, if you have been keeping up with the blog, we had braved the snow and all, and made our way to the Scala Restaurant, in the David Citadel hotel. We enjoyed the DRC wines with Messrs.’ Ranson and Bardeau. However, at the end of the tasting they were discussing where they were going the next day. We had Ella Valley on the books, but nothing else after that. Since Tzora Winery is a stone throw away Ella Valley Winery, we asked if we could piggyback and they said sure. Well, what we forgot to do was follow-up with Tzora Winery the next day. We deeply apologized for being so unprofessional, but Eran Pick, the head winemaker at Tzora Winery, and consummate professional, was so kind and was easy-going about the whole affair, and so we joined the tasting in mid run.
If you want the true history and write-up on the Tzora Winery – please go here and read it all the way through – what a winery. To me the Tzora winery is one of the five best wineries in Israel, and Mr. Pick is one of Israel’s best winemakers.
We arrived and they were working their way through the white wines, and what wines they were. The wines showed richness, layers, and ripeness all in perfect control of both fruit and oak. Sure there is oak on the wines, but the oak does not dominate and nor does the fruit feel overripe. Instead, the wines show a harmony of fruit, oak, extraction, and expression – quite unique for Israel. The 2011 and 2010 vintages have been hit and miss in the Judean Hills, where most of the wines are sourced for all of Tzora’s wines. However, these wines were neither overly sweet, uncontrolled, or just unbalanced, like many of the 2010 and 2011 wines from the Judean Hills, with a few exceptions (Flam, Tzuba, Castel, Teperberg, and Yatir).
This is not the first visit we have made to Tzora Winery, we have had a few, and most recently a few months before this visit. However, at that visit, the wines, or me, were having a bad day, and I did not think it would be correct to write about them. Even then, the wines were not out of kilter or uncontrolled, but rather they were showing lighter and with less expression.
This time, the wines, or I, or both were in the zone! The 2012 Tzora Neve Ilan was showing like a classic Burgundian Chardonnay and was killing it. Bardeau was raving about it but the one he loved the most of the two whites was the 2012 Tzora Shoresh White, a 100% Sauvignon Blanc wine which was aged in oak for 7 months and was tasting rich, layered, but tart and ripe all at the same time – wonderful. Read the rest of this entry
Tzora Winery – the founding terroir estate of the Judean Hills
Say the word terroir and most folk’s thoughts would consciously, or maybe sub-consciously jump to France, heck the word is French after all. Still, ask what does it mean, and now we are off the races. Why? Because other than its literal translation; land or sense of place, there is no real translation for terroir. I think that is fitting in a way, as the word has really just started its long and obviously complicated journey. According to the incomparable Harold McGee and Daniel Patterson, it all started in the 17th century, when used to describe a wine, in a non-complementary way. My! Fast forward to 1831, when it was first used as a compliment! From there, it has evolved over and over, like clay, or silt, or maybe rocks, in the hand of a potter, changing and evolving to meet the needs of place and/or time.
While researching this article I spent a good few hours, heck days, searching the real meaning of the word terroir. I almost felt like Indiana Jones on the search for the Ark of the Covenant. No matter how hard I searched, no matter the words I typed into the oracle of the web, all I got were old and stale answers. Finally, I fell upon the father of wine tasting, Eric Asimov’s, blog posting on the fore mentioned article, and I screamed Eureka (yeah my wife was not impressed)! On an aside, Harold McGee is my generation’s original scientific foodie, his books are the bible to many of our nowadays chef demi-gods gastronomical feats. It comes as no shock to me that he would be my knight in shining armor, remember wine may well be romantic in verse and scripture, but it is a chemical at its most base, in other words, dead center in Mr. McGee’s wheelhouse!
So, after reading more and more on this subject, it became even clearer to me, that the word may well be derived from the Latin meaning “earth”, but that is just the beginning of its true essence. Flash forward to a lovely early spring day in the Judean Hills, where my friend and I walk into the newly appointed Tzora Winery, sited on Kibbutz Tzora, and surrounded by sumptuous foliage and landscaping. Tzora Winery is the handiwork of one of Israel’s original and unique winemakers, who truly understood terroir, and saw Israel’s and the Judean Hill’s potential to become a world class wine region. In 1978, there was no Yarden winery, there was just a single Carmel Cabernet success, and Israel was just in its infancy, in terms of wine making, but to the visionary viticulturist Ronnie James, it was a path as clear as day. Mr. James was the Messiah to your average vintner. In his 30 years of service to the vine, Mr. James, will always remain the pioneer, not only at Tzora but also on the Israeli wine scene. Among Mr. James contributions were his enormous respect and passion for terroir and his insistence that his wines reflect that passion. James, known as “Dr. Terroir,” was the first to make wine from his own grapes and the first to introduce the vineyard name on a label. He recognized that the character of a wine comes from the site rather than the grape. Read the rest of this entry
A bunch of wines shared with family, Provocative Plum Chutney, and Roast Shoulder with Festive Vegetables
The start of Succot was surrounded with family in Chicago and I had the chance to cook twice; to boot! I made a rolled shoulder roast with festive vegetables, much like we did at home on Rosh Hashanah for the first meal. For the other meal, my nephew asked me to make our now patented Black Pepper Seared Salmon. To be honest, I was greatly honored to be asked by my nephew, but I am always terrified to cook in my sister-in-law’s house. She is such a wonderful cook and it is intimidating to say the least, but it is a ton of fun to cook with the family. To boot this time, my wife was there to lend a hand, and of course my brother (der Bruder) was there to lend his ever quick wit and helpful advice, including the name of the chutney and his usual fascination with figs! It was a great ball and it came out ok, but it was a truly team effort!
When making the seared cracked peppercorn salmon, we made two changes. One I used more sesame instead of more peppercorns, in order to lower the heat, which helped a bit. Also, we used a peppercorn mixture of white and black, which was easier to crack by beating on it, which is a long story in and of itself. Either way, when searing the salmon, the cracked white pepper gave off this almost rancid smell, that was not so nice. I have never smelled that particular “aroma” before, so maybe this was the first time I seared anything with cracked white pepper on it. Anyway, if anyone knows about this particular issue/subject, I would greatly appreciate it. Once the fish cooled down, the smell was greatly muted, but still gave off a bit of a bad smell, which was the only real stain on this wonderful team effort.
The last time we made this chutney/salmon combo, we used mango as the core sweetness. This time we used peeled black plums, which were very sweet indeed. This time we again started with browned white onions, along with a couple of sweet peppers as the initial base. Then we moved to ripe peeled black plums to boost the sweetness, brightness, and ripeness of the dish. The garlic was a god send, and minced to perfection by my brother’s wife. Some diced figs and the moscato to finish, and we had another hit! The salmon came out great, even though we had no oven to finish in. Again, my brother’s wife came to the rescue, she skinned the fish, and we seared both sides, which added nice color and flavor, and allowed the fish to cook through in the pan. The fish was a lovely fatty salmon; please make sure to never try searing and finishing the salmon, unless it has enough innate fat in it.
Provocative Plum Chutney
2 or 3 sweet onions
2 sweet peppers diced
5 ripe peeled black plums cubed
Few cloves of crushed garlic
5 small dried figs diced
200 ml of moscato
The wines were enjoyed in this order throughout the meals at my family, the notes follow below:
2004 Tzora Neve Ilan – Score: B++
The nose on this garnet leaning towards brown colored wine is hopping with raspberry, blackberry, plum, red fruit, crushed herbs, mint, coffee, oak, and graphite/mineral. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine was nice but lacked concentration or layers. The black fruit and tannin meld over time to become full in the mouth, along with raspberry, blackberry, plum, and slight minerality. The mid palate is balanced and acidic with more tannin, oak, and coffee. The finish is long and spicy with oak, plum, black fruit, coffee, and a nice dollop of vanilla that lingers on the palate. The wine is throwing sediment that showed in the glass and on the sides of the bottle.
2005 Monte Olivo Umbria Roso – Score: B to B+
We have tasted this before and each time we like it, but it has hit its high and ready to drink now, as the party is over. The nose on this purple colored wine is hopping with dark plum, black cherry, and raspberry to start, but shows black fruit later, with black pepper, loamy dirt, and oak. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine is nice but it and the rest of the wine fades quickly. It starts with rich black plum, dirt, black cherry, and raspberry. The mid palate is balanced with light complexity of black pepper, acid, oak, and nice tannin. The finish is medium long and spicy with black pepper, tobacco, plum, and vanilla. Drink up, no flaws but fading quickly.
2006 Casa Da Corca Reserve (Douro) – Score: B+ to A-
This wine was the last one we tasted over the weekend and it may well be the best. I was expecting NOTHING when buying this wine. What I got was a fun wine with a bit of complexity and a wine that showed itself like a four gates merlot for a bit of time. That said it is now at its peak and does not last more than a few hours, open it and watch it change in the glass. It is throwing a fair amount of sediment so watch for it. It is not showing age, so the sediment is harmless.
The nose on this dark ruby to garnet colored wine is screaming with coffee, smoky notes, black cherry, raspberry, blackberry, fig, crushed herbs, mint, and oak. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine turns full in the mouth after a bit of time, along with blackberry, plum, and dark cherry. The mid palate transition has a quick note of what I can only call a combination of green bean/fig/mint, along with acid, oak, nice tannin, and coffee. The finish is long and spicy with plum, nice oak, tannins that linger along with vanilla. This is a nice wine that should be bought once to open your mind to what the heat of Spain can bring you with its unique fruit and terroir.
2006 Rothberg Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Winemakers Reserve – Score: B- to B
Wow what a true waste of a nice wine. I cannot tell you what made the wine so acidic and off balance in the front. At first I thought it was just very bright fruit, but that was quickly proven incorrect. The fruit was initially asleep but once the fruit came out and then relaxed, the acidic front stayed on, almost to the point of being spoiled or corked. That said, the rest of the wine was very nice, but just from an academic point of view. The mevushal process on this wine is not the suspect, none of the flavors were cooked in any way. The nose on this dark ruby colored wine has blackberry, plum, fig, sweet oak, chocolate, smoky notes, and black pepper. The mouth on this medium bodied wine was a sleep for some time. Once the mouth woke up, it started with a blast of acid and followed through with sweet oak, blackberry, and plum. At one point in time, if the wine had not exhibited the initial blast of acid, I would have sworn it was a bottle of Hagafen Merlot. The mid palate has oak, more acid, chocolate, and integrated tannin. The finish is long with chocolate, black pepper, sweet oak, acid, tobacco, plum, and vanilla. It would have been such a nice wine if not for the crazy acidic front a true shame. Still it is a lighter wine that would have been expected, but would have been nice none the less, given its complexity, but alas the front killed it. The wine is throwing sediment as well, but that was not a flaw in the wine.