Blog Archives
Kosher Syrah Tasting – Cool Weather vs. Warm Weather Syrahs
This past week I finally got the chance to put together the kosher Syrah tasting that I have been craving. I have been stockpiling Syrah for some time and now we finally had the chance to try them all at the same time. I have been at all of the kosher California wineries; Herzog Cellars, Four Gates Winery, Agua Dulce Winery, Shirah Winery, Covenant Winery and the Brobdingnagian Winery, and I have caught the bug of cool weather Syrah. This is not a myth; this is a real change in the manner of which the Syrah expresses itself.
The Syrah tasting consisted of a bunch of kosher California Syrah, along with one from Australia and Israel in the following order. The 2009 Harkham Aziza Shiraz, Preservative Free (not tasting as great as when I had it in Sydney), 2009 Shirah Power to the People, 2003 Four Gates Syrah, 2008 Syraph Syrah/Grenache, 2007 Brobdingnagian Syrah, and the 2004 Yarden Ortal Syrah. The first five are cool weather Syrah, while the Yarden Ortal is an 
example of hot weather Syrah. The 2007 Brobdingnagian was Jonathan Hajdu’s inaugural release and since than he has gone on to become the associate winemaker at Covenant Winery, while also making more of his Brob wine. The 2008 Syraph was essentially the first release by the Weiss Brothers, though they did make a smaller batch of wine in 2005 as well. The story of Jonathan and the Weiss brothers can be found in a lovely written article by Gamliel Kronemer here.
In cool weather climates, the Syrah grape is very happy to show expressions of smoked meat, black pepper, tobacco, and leather around their core of blue-black fruit. They also have nice acidity, which helps to brighten the mouth and balance out the wine’s palate. The clear note here is that the grape expresses blueberry and watermelon in ways that will astound you. The bright sweet blueberry along with rich black fruit make for a wine that is unique and truly flavorful. The blue fruit may not always appear at first, but a trademark of the cooler climates, in Australian and California, was that they all exhibited rich blueberry fruit intertwined with some lovely black and sometimes watermelon along with spice. In warm climate regions, characteristic Syrah flavors tend toward dark fruits, cherry, white pepper and earthy notes, though leather and tar are sure to also make a guest appearance.
2004 to 2007 Herzog Napa Valley Special Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Vertical
On October 20th of this year (2011), for Shemini Atzeret lunch, we crashed at our friend’s party, as we did not put up a sukkah, and one needs to eat in a sukkah (without a blessing) on Shemini Atzeret. Anyway, the meal was truly fantastic, but Benyo (from Four Gates Winery), my wife and I, were invited to taste a vertical tasting of Herzog Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Special Reserve. We have had many vertical tastings in the past, but this one was driven by our friend’s access to the wines. You see the Herzog Winery Wine Club, sent him an email asking if he wants to taste a 4 bottle vertical of Napa Valley Cabernet! Our friend bought the vertical and shared it with us all, and it was a true treat. These folks are our friends, so it is always fun to enjoy a meal with them and their lovely family.
The meal started off (Kiddush) with a bottle of 2004 Herzog Napa Valley Special Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine was killer, the nose was awesome and the mouth was smooth with lovely rich flavors. This was followed by some lovely fish and a bunch of lovely dips. We all enjoyed a glass of the wine, and then the bottle was moved to the side, to follow it through the meal. This was a really good tactical approach to a vertical wine tasting. The correct approach to a vertical wine tasting is to taste a glass of each wine one after the other, and then loop back to the first wine and do another round, until the wine is done.
Just a bit of information. The 2004 vintage was not mevushal! What? Herzog not being mevushal? Yes, in 2003 and 2004 Herzog decided to mevushalize their wines BEFORE bottling and NOT, as they do now, which is after fermentation, well before bottling.
So we tasted the 2005 Herzog Napa Valley Special Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon next. Where the 2004 was a killer wine, the 2005 was a total let down, truly sad! The wine has a lovely nose, but the mouth and finish were not enjoyable at all. I will state that the wine was starting to turn brown, but it should not have affected the wine to this significance. We then moved to the main course, which was some killer barbecue chicken, salads, and mushrooms. The next wine was the 2006 Herzog Napa Valley Special Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine was rich with clear chocolate covered cherries and then lovely fruit. The final wine we enjoyed was the 2007 Herzog Napa Valley Special Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. This was the other huge winner for the meal. When we returned to the 2004 – it was dead :-(. So clearly this is a wine you want to enjoy NOW, and do not hold and pray, this is a wine to be enjoyed now. The 2005 vintage did not improve with more air, it was equally unbalanced. The 2006 vintage was slightly improved and the 2007 vintage did improve with more air. Read the rest of this entry
Second days of Passover meals and wines…
To celebrate the end of Passover, we had friends join us for two of the four meals on the last days. We spent the entire Sunday cooking, and while it was crazy work, it was a ton of fun. We had a TON of help from our friends who were spending Passover with us, so MANY thanks to them!!
Sunday Night Menu:
Herb Encrusted Baked Gefilte Fish Loaf
Eggplant salad
Quinoa
Passover Meatballs
Kugel
Fresh Salad
Wine Menu:
Leftovers of Elvi Ness Blanco and Yarden Pinot Noir from Saturday
Monday Day Menu:
Baked Gefilte Fish Loaf
Eggplant salad
Stuffed Vegetables
Kugel
Fresh Salad
Wine Menu:
2003 Carmel Shiraz, Single Vineyard, Kayoumi – (Israel, Galilee, Upper Galilee) – Score: A-
As one peers into the inky black colored depths of this wine with purple halos you are immediately met with waves of tobacco, tar, licorice, black pepper, oak, espresso coffee, roasted meat, blackberry, cassis, plum, and herb. The mouth on this full bodied wine is rich, lovely, and concentrated with blackberry, cassis, roasted meat, plum, lovely integrated tannin, and herb. The mid palate flows off the mouth with balanced acid, oak, lovely tannin, tobacco, and tar. The finish is super long with nice tannin, oak, black fruit, black pepper, dirt, herb, and licorice.
2003 Four Gates Syrah, Special Reserve – Score: A- to A
This wine continues to impress and is keeping strong to my previous notes. The first thing that hits you when you open this bottle of wine and peer into its purple-black stare is the ripe blueberry notes that come screaming out at you, along with blackberry, cassis, plum, tobacco, chocolate, tar, and rick oak. The mouth on this full bodied, mouth filling, concentrated, and inky structured wine comes at you in layers with fruit that follows the nose, ripe blackberry, plum, cherry, blueberry, inky black tar, and oak. The mid palate is balanced with acid, oak, tobacco, and chocolate. The finish is super long, black, and spicy, with rich oak, chocolate, tobacco, tar, and blackberry. This is a truly wonderful wine that is highly structured with lovely tannins and a wine that still has a few years left under its belt. The nose is killer with the lovely ripe blueberry and blackberry, along with the oak, tar, and chocolate. It follows through with the mouth till its tantalizing finish. Quite a powerful wine that still has its sea legs beneath it and one that has a bright horizon ahead of it.
Kalamata Olive and White Bean Soup, Yellow Tail Sushi, Yarden Viognier, and some assorted Purim Wines
This past weekend we had a lovely and enjoyable double whammy! A Shabbos on Saturday and the Purim holiday on Sunday. The festivities started with a lovely bowl of Kalamata olive and white bean soup, followed by a bunch of Yellow tail, avocado, cucumber Sushi rolls. The funny thing about sushi rolls is that even if you eat a bunch of them, you end of being hungry. To meet that concern, we eat a bunch of fresh green salad topped with some Italian Vinaigrette. The fish did taste a bit metallic and that was unfortunate, almost to the point where I was not enjoying it that much. We bought the fish at 5 or so PM and ate it at 7:30 PM, so it was really not cool, that the fish was not perfect. Personally, the next time we make sushi rolls and go to the store to buy the fish, I will ask to taste the fish before I buy it. The soup was a killer hit again and one I really think it is a recipe that you MUST find and make a batch.
To pair with these dishes I chose a fun and vibrant white wine; the 2006 Yarden Viognier. It is a lovely wine that is showing more honey notes than earlier and clearly a wine that needs to be drunk up very soon. It is not actually showing age or faults; rather it is showing weaker fruit, more honey, oak, and butterscotch.
On Sunday Purim arrived and with it some chances to taste more wines that were quite nice and some that were OK. I did not take serious notes after a while, but at least some heads up are in order.
2008 Golan Heights Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Golan Kosher (Israel, Golan) – Score: B to B+
This is an OK wine but not one that really grabs you. The nose on this dark garnet colored wine has dark cherry, blackberry, vanilla, and oak. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine is soft with integrated tannin, blackberry, and cherry. The mid palate is balanced with acid, soft tannin, and light hints of oak. The finish is long and spicy with more black fruit, vanilla, and some crushed herbs.
2006 Casa Da Corca Douro Reserva (Portugal, Douro) – Score B+
I drank this wine again recently and the notes are holding well. 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.
N.V. Elvi Wines Adar Brut Cava (Spain) – Score: B+
The notes on this wine are consistent with my last tasting. The nose on this bubbly and effervescent light pink colored wine, is hopping with strawberry, lemon, and cherry. The mouth on this light to medium bodied wine is packed with small bubbles that are active and alive; they mingle well with the strawberry and cherry. The mid palate is alive with bracing acidity. The finish is medium long with core acidity, strawberry, bubbles, and a lemon burst at the very tail end. Drink UP!
2006 Yarden Viognier (Israel, Galilee, Golan Heights) – Score: B++
This wine has lost a step or two and is now on its way down. It does not taste like a lost puppy, but clearly one that is looking for its owner. The nose on this dark gold colored wine is filled with floral notes, along with petrol/gasoline flavors, toast, honey, butterscotch, melon, pear, peach, and oak. The mouth on this full bodied wine is oily in nature with almost glycerol viscosity, showing rich honey, melon, pear, and peach flavors. The mid palate is nicely balanced with acid, oak, and floral notes. The finish is long and tenacious with more floral characteristics, oak, a hint of butterscotch, and a heavy dose of honeyed mead like flavors and pear.
2006 Herzog Merlot, Special Reserve, Alexander Valley (Mevushal) – Score B++ to A-
The nose on this dark garnet to purple colored wine is packed with black fruit, blackberry, raspberry, currant, oak, cherry, chocolate, and tobacco. The mouth on this full bodied wine is soft, rich, and mouth coating from lovely integrated tannin, along with blackberry, currant, and cherry. The mid palate is balanced with acid, rich oak, lovely tannin, and tobacco. The finish is long and spicy with black fruit, raspberry, oak, and tobacco. Drink up.
I have a couple of these and will taste them again soon. For now, the wine tasted OK with clear and strong upfront black currant fruit along with cherry, crushed herbs, and raspberry. I hope to taste this again and give more data.
Four Gates Winery Syrah Vertical
On October 22, our friends invited us along with Benyamin Cantz, proprietor of Four Gates Wine, and a few other friends for a Friday Night meal that would be accompanied by a vertical tasting of all currently released Four Gates Syrah(s). A vertical tasting is what it sounds like; vintages of a similar wine from a single winery. A horizontal tasting is common wines and varietals from multiple wineries and vintages.
We had the wonderful opportunity to taste the 2003, 2004, and 2005 Four Gates Syrah in the same sitting. The meal started off with a tasting of the 2004 Four gates Chardonnay. I have had two different tasting notes about this wine, one with toasted oak and butterscotch, and one being oaky and fruity. This time the wine showed off its toasty oak, butterscotch, ripe fruit, and lemon/citrus fruit, another hit.
I want to thank our friends for hosting the wine vertical. The meal was awesome and one that paired extremely well with the wines being served.
The wine notes follow below in the order they were enjoyed:
2004 Four Gates Chardonnay – Score: A- (no change from last tasting other than color being darker)
The nose on this electric gold colored wine is filled with heavy and luscious toasted oak, a whiff of burnt oak, lemon, melon, peach, toasted almond, spice, Crème brûlée, and butterscotch. The mouth on this full bodied wine is spicy with Crème brûlée, layers of concentrated toasty 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. The oak calms down a bit with time, but the flavors are still there with tight concentration and brightness.
2005 Four Gates Syrah – Score: A-
The nose on this purple to black colored wine filled with tar, chocolate, black pepper, licorice, alcohol, oak, black plum, blackberry, and thyme. The mouth of this full bodied and layered wine is filled with mouth coating tannins, black plum, blackberry, and tar. The mid palate plays off the mouth coating palate with more tannin, acidity, oak, and chocolate. The finish is long and smoky, with tar, black pepper, plum, and acidity. Quite a nice wine that has a few more years left in it.
2004 Four Gates Syrah – Score: A- to A
The nose on this deep to brooding purple to black colored wine is screaming with inky black ripe fruit, cassis, blackberry, raspberry, plum, chocolate, tar, black pepper, and oak. The mouth on this full bodied and velvety wine is inky and dense, along with waves of cassis, blackberry, and plum. The mid palate of this wonderfully complex wine has integrating tannin, oak, acid, and tar. The finish is long with tar, oak, chocolate, cassis, plum, and black pepper.
2003 Four Gates Syrah, Special Reserve, Santa Clara Valley (same as the last tasting) – Score: A
WOW! This is a killer wine. The first thing that hits you when you open this bottle of wine and peer into its purple-black stare is the ripe blueberry notes that come screaming out at you, along with blackberry, cassis, plum, tobacco, chocolate, tar, and rick oak. The mouth on this full bodied, mouth filling, concentrated, and structured wine comes at you in layers with fruit that follows the nose, ripe blackberry, plum, blueberry, tar, and oak. The mid palate is balanced with acid, oak, tobacco, and chocolate. The finish is super long, black, and spicy, with rich oak, chocolate, tobacco, tar, leather, and blackberry. This is a truly wonderful wine that is highly structured with lovely tannins and a wine that still has a few years left under its belt. The nose is killer with the lovely ripe blueberry and blackberry, along with the oak, tar, chocolate. It follows through with the mouth till its tantalizing finish. Quite a powerful that has its sea legs beneath it and bright horizon ahead.
Rosh Hashanah 2010/5771 – First Night
RoshHashanah (literally translated “head of the year”) has come and gone again, and once more I am reminded that it is a holiday that is more about your relationship with God than your gastronomic relationship with friends and family. Yes of course it is not a fast day like Yom Kippur, of course, but still the frivolity needs to be toned down a bit, and the attention placed on the fact that we are all being judged at this time of the year. So with that frame of mind, yeah too many early morning Selichot Services kind of kill the mood, my wife and I set out to make our menu and meals.
This year we hosted the first meal. We invited friends and family and it was quite awesome! Like last year, we had the same simanim (literally translated to “signs”), except that we added sesame to this year’s lineup, for reasons I do not fully understand. The simanim are a play on words and are a very basic Jewish tradition of using word play to bring out symbolism and actual changes or good tidings. Our friends brought over two of the simanim, and we took care of the rest. The simanim are a yearly rite of passage, and one of my favorite Jewish traditions. Many of the recipes have been changed to protect the innocent. The customary recipes from my mother recipes consist of 4 basic ingredients, oil, more oil, honey, and some vegetable, and one cooking style – frying. We decided that this tradition was awesome, but that it needed to be toned down such that it could be enjoyed for years to come and not just for the few where we are vertical. So it called for some baking and less oil. We ordered the symbolic food in the order of Sephardic Jewry, and here they are:
- Dates or Figs (Tamar in Hebrew)
- The symbolism here is that God should end our enemies
- Broad Beans coated with a mixture of olive oil, cumin, and garlic (Rubya in Aramaic)
- The symbolism here is that God should increase our merits
- Leeks – prepared masterfully by our friends, sautéed in oil and spiced Italian (Karti in Aramaic)
- The symbolism here is that God should cut down our enemies
- Spinach Roll and Spinach Pastry Puff – prepared masterfully by our friends (Salka in Aramaic)
- The symbolism here is that God should remove our enemies
- Sweet Butternut Squash – sliced butternut squash, sprayed with oil and covered with honey, then baked in an oven set to 400 degrees (Kra in Aramaic)
- The symbolism here is that God should tear up our evil decrees and read before him our merits
- Pomegranate seeds (Rimon in Hebrew)
- The symbolism here is that our mitzvot (observance of the Jewish laws) be as plentiful as the pomegranate seeds
- Sweet apples dipped in honey
- The symbolism here is that God should grant us a New Year as sweet as honey
- Fish head – Salmon head poached in white wine and water
- The symbolism here is that in this New Year we should be at the head of the class and not at the tail
We always joke that we should try to bring out a head of a lamb instead of a fish head and freak out everyone there. It would be totally epic, but while it is the preferred manner of implementing the head symbolism, it would fly in the face of “behaving”. The good news is that we did FAR better than last year on the wine parade, which was not too difficult!
The rest of the meal started with some lox and simanim left over’s. The main course consisted of shoulder pot roast with festive vegetables, brown rice, and fresh vegetable salad. The festive vegetables were cooked with the roast, but at different stages of course. The shoulder roast was coated with a spice mix and flour, and then seared on all sides, and then removed. Diced onions and garlic were then placed in the hot dutch oven and were caramelized until nice and brown. The meat was returned to the pot, along with half a bottle of wine. After the meat and wine turned into a nice piece of meat, the potatoes and carrots were added. Twenty minutes later peas and green beans were added and cooked for a few minutes and then all of this was poured into a shallow pan to cool off and sleep overnight in the chill chest. After some 24 hours, the meat was removed and sliced, and then placed back in the pan with all of the juice and vegetables, where it would lie until it was warmed up the next day.
Finally, for dessert our friend once again brought us a magnificent specimen – a peach cobbler, which was consumed in totality, and it was awesome! From my family to all of yours – May God write and seal you all in the book of life, one filled with good tidings, health, and happiness.
One last pair of notes about the wines (yeah yeah – I will keep it low key). I finally had a chance to try the Syraph One Two (1-2) Punch for more than a single sip or two. I first tasted it a couple of times during the Carlebach Shabbaton at the Four Gates Winery. On Rosh Hashanah I had the chance to open another bottle and sip it slowly and it watch it open in the bottle, glass, and my senses. It was so cool to watch it truly open and express its layers and unique characteristics. We also had a chance to truly enjoy a bottle of the 2003 Four Gates Syrah – Webb Family Vineyard. That wine is kicking still and continuing to blow me away, rich, expressive, layered, and big – quite a joy.
The wine notes for the evening follow below in the order they were enjoyed:
2002 Gaston & Pierre Ravaut Ladoix (France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Ladoix) – Score: B-
The nose on this browning ruby colored wine is smoky with vanilla, coffee, strawberry, cherry, plum, herbs/mint. The mouth on this light to medium bodied wine has strawberry, plum, and cherry notes. The mid palate is acidic with fading tannins. The finish is medium long with cherry, coffee, strawberry, and mint. It is a wine well past its peak, and one that should be used up or tossed.
2008 One | Two Punch 50% Grenache & 50% Syrah (USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara) – Score: A-
The nose on this garnet-black colored wine is truly unique and very hard to pin down. Sometimes it smells like coffee and sometimes it smells like chocolate. I think it is actually a blend or maybe a mocha espresso, along with ripe blackberry, plum, vanilla, smoky, oak, along with crushed herbs. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is layered and concentrated with blackberry, vanilla, mocha espresso, nice tannin, and plum. The mid palate spikes with acid, oak, and vanilla. The finish is super long and spicy with chocolate, vanilla, black fruit, tannin, oak, and herbs. Quite a unique and fun wine. Look for the tannins to slowly calm down and add to the mouth feel along with richness.
2003 Four Gates Syrah, Special Reserve, Santa Clara Valley – Score: A- to A
WOW! This is a killer wine. The first thing that hits you when you open this bottle of wine and peer into its purple-black stare is the ripe blueberry notes that come screaming out at you, along with blackberry, cassis, plum, tobacco, chocolate, tar, and rick oak. The mouth on this full bodied, mouth filling, concentrated, and structured wine comes at you in layers with fruit that follows the nose, ripe blackberry, plum, blueberry, tar, and oak. The mid palate is balanced with acid, oak, tobacco, and chocolate. The finish is super long, black, and spicy, with rich oak, chocolate, tobacco, tar, and blackberry. This is a truly wonderful wine that is highly structured with lovely tannins and a wine that still has a few years left under its belt. The nose is killer with the lovely ripe blueberry and blackberry, along with the oak, tar, chocolate. It follows through with the mouth till its tantalizing finish. Quite a powerful that has its sea legs beneath it and bright horizon ahead.
Hanukkah Cheese and Wine party with Zinfandel, Viognier, and Bordeaux
This past Hanukkah saw my friends and family gathering around for an evening of cheese, latkes, and wine. The main issue revolves around finding kosher cheese. There are many issues that revolve around cheese for observant Jews, as listed in the link. For some time we observant Jews were left with things like Muenster cheese and American cheese – AHHH!! I am so glad to say that we now have real cheese my kosher friends! For our party we used cheese from many manufacturers. The first one hails from the state of Oregon – Tillamook Medium Cheddar Cheese. It is a nice cheddar cheese that does not taste like water. The second cheese we had was a lovely and simple Brie from the company called Les Petites Fermieres. The brie was nice and simple and not very complex or stinky, but interesting enough. The interesting part was that we had a chunk of the brie lying around in the refrigerator after the party and man did the brie turn into a nice, soft, stinky, and nutty flavored brie! So if you want the brie to get real interesting – all you need to do is unwrap the package, and leave it lying around in your fridge for a couple of weeks, and man will it turn into what I am used to when I think of brie. The third cheese we had was a simple but fun Les Petites Fermieres Monterey Jack. The Monterey Jack tastes creamy with a mild flavor, and matches well with soft wines. The rest of the cheeses we had on the table were a nice Blue Cheese and a couple of goat cheeses. I was not a huge fan of the Blue Cheese as it wrecked my palate and the goat cheeses were OK, but a bit too mild, to say the least.
For latkes we punted and served potato pancakes from Trader Joe. They were pretty good and that is all one can ask. Finally, we went with many wines – five to be exact. Three disappeared quickly, the Bordeaux was awesome a few hours after the party, and the Italian Zinfandel (Primitivo di Manduria) was quite nice as well, after it finished opening up and smoothing out later that night.
So many thanks for all the folks who came by and the wine notes can be found below:
2007 Château Haut Philippon – Score: B+
The nose on this garnet colored wine is a rich and enveloping nose of loamy soil, cherry, raspberry, cassis, and fig. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine is a nice soft wine with an enveloping mouth that is not complex in any way, but after many hours of air, the wine fills out nicely. The tannins are soft but are ever present, along with cassis, and raspberry that mingle nicely. The mid palate is balanced with core acidity and integrating tannins. The finish is long with more cassis and raspberry, rich loamy soil, and soft tannins that linger long on your palate after the wine is gone. The wine fills out with nice mouth coating tannins. This is a nice wine for the price and nice as well because it is Mevushal!
2004 Borgo Reale Primitivo di Manduria – Score: B++
The nose on this light garnet to garnet colored wine is hopping with cherry, cola, raspberry, plum, pepper, mineral, and bramble/earth/dirt. The mouth on this medium bodied wine has integrated tannins, sweet core, ripe fruit, cherry, raspberry, and plum. The mid palate is balanced with core acidity, earth and dirt, along with cola. The finish is a long earthy/dirty finish with red fruit, dirt, and nice intense pepper. A nice Zinfandel wine, that works well. It is not a wine that will fill out, drink up and enjoy.
2005 Hagafen Zinfandel – Score: A-
This wine is now close to its peak and it is opening nicely now, it was the clear winner of the evening. The nose on this purple to black colored wine is black with ripe fruit, blackberry, plum, mounds of chocolate, spice, sweet oak, and vanilla. The mouth on this full bodied wine fills out with mouth coating tannins that are integrating, but still present. The wine shows a rich, black, and full mouth with blackberry, nice tannins, and semi-sweet oak with raisins. The mid palate shows more integrated tannins vanilla, rich and sweet oak, and balanced acidity. The finish is long and supports the wine’s full mouth with more rich oak, vanilla, and bright acid that carries the rich and ripe black fruit, acting like a bow around this lovely package.
2005 Herzog Zinfandel Special Reserve – Score: A-
OK, as an honest human I must admit I hated this wine a year ago! WOW, what a difference a year makes. Man, this wine needs a ton of air, but the wine cleans up really nicely with oxygen. The nose on this light garnet to garnet colored wine has a huge and rich nose that starts with rich oak, ripe Napa fruit, chocolate, plum, raspberry, fig, intense spice, and pepper. The mouth on this full bodied wine is rich and extracted, classic ripe red berry along with rich mouth coating sweet oak tannins that are now well integrated. The mouth softens with air and becomes rich and enveloping, nice. The mid palate is soft with ever present tannins that are going to stay for a couple of years, more sweet oak, and balancing acidity. The finish is super rich and long with sweet oak, ripe fruit layered on top a few shakes of pepper, along with chocolate that is balanced by nice tannins, and more rich ripe fruit. Get a bottle within the next few months and open it and taste it, and then leave it open for a couple of hours and come back and finish it with a table of friends!
2007 Goose Bay Viognier – Score: A-
The nose of this light yet bright straw colored wine was filled with classic Viognier perfume, grapefruit, apricot and citrus aromas. The mouth of this medium bodied wine is strikingly fruity while also being infused with the perfume quality. The mid palate is strongly acidic and laced with grapefruit, lemon, and green flavors. The finish is acidic in an almost puckering way. I must say, that a nice perfumed nose and mouth while still dry, is great with heavy foods like roasted duck or turkey. But because it is so dry, it fails to stand up to spicy foods. Personally, this wine felt a bit lighter than it did before, and maybe it is coming up against the wall. So, if you have a few bottles lying around, drink one now and check out where it is for you.
Couscous Au Poulet, Boulette, Makoud, 2007 Hagafen Lodi Roussanne, 2004 Four Gates Chardonnay, N.V. Four Gates Pinot Noir, 2006 Four Gates Cabernet Franc, 2005 Herzog Special Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon/Zinfandel/Syrah
Two weeks ago saw us huddled around our shabbos table enjoying some wonderful company, friends, family, food, and wine. This past Friday Night we had my family and friends over for a classical Tunisian Friday Night dinner – Couscous Au Poulet and Boulette. Many have had couscous, which is fine, but proper boulette(s) and fluffy couscous is what makes a couscous dish work. Boulette is French for balls, which in this context mean meat balls. But if you think Italian meatballs, again, you are missing the point. My family makes boulette by frying the meatballs, and then topping them with slices of potato, obviously they are thank god all very healthy! However, being that I care for my heart and arteries, and they work far better when not stuffed with cholesterol, I go with lean meat and braise them in a pan of tomato sauce and wine. The meat sauce is a hit on the table often, though not true to the Couscous heritage. But the main ingredient to meatball heaven (other than the meat), is the Quatre Epices! WAIT! If you are wondering what the heck is going on – yeah that is the last bit of French, I hope – 🙂 . Truly, there are few things that totally metamorphosize a dish like FRESH Four Spices! What an explosion of flavor that is tempered by the sweet flavor of cinnamon. There are those who use Four Spices that is based on Ginger – but that is not what we use! The Four Spices we use is based on: Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Cloves, and Black Pepper, though the black pepper is not in equal proportions as the other three spices, but that is fine with me.
Meatballs Recipe:
2 pound of sliced onions
2 tbsp of olive oil
2 tbsp of sea salt
1 pound of finely diced onions
1 pound of finely diced zucchini
4 tbsp of Four Spices
3 pounds of meat
3 slices of thick bread soaked in rice milk
5 cans of 10oz tomato sauce (or 2 large cans of tomatoes)
Heat the wide and deep pan with olive oil, once the oil starts to shimmer, add the sliced onions and sprinkle them with salt (to help them release their water), and then sauté them until they brown nicely. In the mean time mix the rest of the ingredients (except for the tomato sauce) until the meat moves well in your hands but can keep its form. I find that the meat we order is rarely the same in terms of consistency. So at times it is really thick, while other times it moves far better. I can only guess it depends on how much fat, versus God knows what else, makes the meat more solid or more fluid. This time, we added rice milk to the mixture to make it more fluid, as after the mixture was made, it was far too thick. Roll the meat into balls that have a rough diameter of one and half inches to two inches. Once the onions are browned, add the tomato sauce to the pan, along with some basil, and pepper. Cook the sauce until it starts to reduce slightly. Then drop in the rolled meatballs and simmer them for 1 hour.
Bouillon Au Poulet (Chicken soup) Recipe:
1 chicken cut up
Cubed Carrots
Cubed Onions
Cubed Parsnip
Cubed Turnip
Cubed Sweet Potato
Cubed Potato
Cubed Zucchini
Parsley
Tons of Garlic
Saffron
Bay leafs
This all depends on the size of your pot, and I always overdo the amount that I cook, which is fine with me, but too much leftovers, becomes a hassle! So, keep the amount to a single large pot with a double boiler to cook the Couscous. This part is important, the only way you will get the correct texture and flavor in your couscous, is to boil it over the Bouillon. First drop the chicken into the pot and start browning the meat. Next throw in the hard vegetables and let them get some of the chicken fat. Once some of the chicken fat is rendered, mix the vegetables around and then remove the chicken for a bit. Place the rest of the softer vegetables in, and then place the chicken and spices on top. We do this to allow you access to the chicken for later on, when it is removed for making the Makoud. Finally fill the pot till the top with water and you are good to go. Boil the soup for an hour or two. Be careful to not overcook the sweet potato or zucchini. I normally pull them after an hour (or a bit less), and let them cool. At that same time (about an hour in), I pull the chicken meat off and then return the carcass back to the soup to help it thicken the soup more. After the soup is fully cooked, we let the soup cool and throw it into the fridge for the next day. I find the soup tastes much better after a few hours of chill on it. Normally, I cook this Thursday night for Friday night dinner – the classic Tunisian meal for Friday Night. The next day I will reheat the soup, and at that time I drop on the double boiler, wet the holes so that the couscous sticks to the pot, and then I pour in two boxes of dry couscous. Now, on an aside, the folks who make couscous from scratch need to be praised, but I have no time to do that. There is a GREAT video on how to make couscous from scratch. I guess it is a touchy issue to the real Tunisian cooks, much like dry vs. fresh pasta is to a true Italian cook. Now, once the double boiler it hot and MAKE SURE that there is a GOOD INCH at least between the boiling liquid and the bottom of the double boiler. Remember, we want steamed couscous and NOT boiled couscous. Another very important tip is that once you have poured in either the fresh or dry couscous in the double boiler make sure to create three holes in the couscous layer. By doing this you will have three circles in the couscous layer and should be able to see the double boilers holes. By making these holes into the couscous layer, you allow the soup steam to rise from out of the bottom pot and circulate inside the upper boiler. Also, start the process by ladling a few ladles of broth from the bottom into the double boiler. This will allow the top layer of couscous to not get dry off the bat.
Makoud Recipe:
This dish has been described by Ashkenazim as Potato Kugel! AHAHHH! What a shanda! No way my friends, Makoud is NOT potato kugel. It is more of a chicken potato Soufflé. Like any good potato casserole, you MUST preheat the pan with the oil, so that the potatoes and mixture get crispy underneath and on top (from the oven heat). Further, do NOT overcook the makoud! In the beginning, I was like – what we do not need all of those eggs! Wow was I wrong. The eggs of course make it a soufflé instead of a kugel!
Canola Oil
Potatoes (from the chicken soup) – just add more to the soup for the second hour
Chicken from the soup, pulled and cubed
2 eggs per pound of chicken
Salt
White or Black Pepper
Cumin`
Basil
Place the oil in the casserole dish and preheat for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. In the mean time mash the rest of the ingredients together, and place into preheated dish and then cook for 40 minutes or until crispy on top. This is simple as can be, the most difficult part is stripping down the chicken when it is still boiling hot!
That makes up the Couscous menu. There are two side dishes of sliced carrots (classic middle-eastern carrot salad) BUT without Cilantro (Cilantro is the work of the devil!), along with Marmouma (a pepper and tomato salad).
To pair with all of this lovely food, we chose a set of wines, as I wanted to taste a few of them and well, it was time to drink some of them already. So enjoy the recipes and the wine notes follow below (in the order they were drunk):
2007 Hagafen Lodi Roussanne (15% of Marsanne) – Score: B+
This was not a winner on the table, but I kind of liked it. It is deceptive in its nose and mouth. Initially, you think it is bone dry from the nose. Then you taste it and you think it is actually sweet, to only concentrate a bit more and realize that this wine is as dry as a Sancerre, but ripe with fresh fruit flavors, quite a ride. The nose on this golden straw colored wine is popping with kiwi, melon, lemon, and dry green grass. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is ripe with melon, kiwi, grapefruit, and lemon. The mid palate quickly flows from the mouth in an almost shocking manner. The fruit just ends and then there is an onslaught of bone dry green tea, flowers, and bright acidity. The finish is long with summer fruit, slight bitterness, and toasty flavors. The fruit attacks to start and is then annihilated by the bitterness and green flavors that come bright into the finish. I think the finish is what turned off the crowd. I can see this work with sweeter flavored foods, with something like maple glazed salmon, or veal. Interesting wine indeed that exhibits characteristics that are not commonly seen in the other kosher white wines. The closest that I have tasted recently, that compares to the Roussanne is this Chilean Chardonnay. It may not as good as the Roussanne; but has many commonalities, the most striking one is its green dryness.
2004 Four Gates Chardonnay – Score: A
Well, after tasting that bone dry wine, any Kosher California Chardonnay will taste sweet! Still, the 2004 vintage has a bit more residual vintage than do the 2005 or 2007 vintages. This wine has not really changed much since our last tasting. The oak is ever present, and the sweet tooth is receding, which gives rise to the acidity and the fresh fruit flavors that still abound. Thank goodness I have a few more leftover. I want to taste these soon side by side my 2005 and 2007 vintages that will be a real kick!
N.V. Four Gates Pinot Noir – Score: A-
This wine is still holding to our previous tastings, with the tannins receding further, which is allowing the dark cherry fruit to come through, while showing a bit more wood as well.
2006 Four Gates Cabernet Franc – Score: A-
What a treat, we have recently had this wine a few times, and the latest tasting is still true (which after a few weeks is almost obvious with this winery). Of course we are not complaining. Many thanks to Benyamin for bringing this wine to the dinner.
2005 Herzog Special Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon/Zinfandel/Syrah – Score: B – B+
What can I say; this is normally a wine that we love! This vintage or bottle was not a winner. Almost no one took more than a drop. The wine was overly Zinny — tasting of rose and blackberry intertwined. It may sound cool, but not great. The wine was left open in the fridge for a couple of days and the Zin flavors (31%) finally gave way to the dominantly measured Cabernet (66%) and Syrah (3%). At that point the American Oak and full body of the Cabernet were tempered by time and vanilla. Still, the wine was way off balance and overall off putting. I would recommend decanting this for a few hours in advance to give a chance for all the flavors to come out and play.
Pineapple glazed salmon with Herzog Special Reserve Russian River Chardonnay
This week found me visiting with family in Chicago and boy was it crazy cold. I did come prepared, but it was still a bit too frigid for my taste. However, I stayed indoors most of the time, and so life was quite nice, especially the time spent with my close relatives. This evening we stayed in from the cold, and I was treated to restaurant quality food, in a warm and hospitable, family ambiance. They were truly kind to share their wonderful food and wine with me. The dinner started with a bowl of warm Minestrone soup. The soup was quite nice with just the correct amount of pasta and vegetables that gave way to your bite, but stood up to the spoon, quite nice. I helped whip up a quick batch of faux Spanish rice, by sautéing some onions until they were soft and sweet. Then I sautéed the rice until the rice glistened, then I added the prescribed amount of water, brought the pot up to a boil, and then let the rice cook under low heat. In the mean time, my in-laws put the final touches on some beautiful pineapple glazed salmon. First of all, the fish was just beautiful, a lovely orange that looked real instead of dyed. Then they took this lovely fish, and created a glaze made of pineapples, vinegar, and sugar. Finally, the fish was coated with the glaze, and then roasted in the oven along with pineapple chunks that become caramelized in the oven. My hosts said that they normally barbeque the fish on the grill, but with six inches of snow covering the deck and grill, that was out of the question, and downright unhealthy. While this was going on a bottle of Herzog Chardonnay Special Reserve was chilling in the fridge. The dinner was spectacular and greatly appreciated.
The wine was quite nice. The wine stayed the same pretty much throughout the diner and then the next day as well. It is a classic California Chardonnay, with so much oak and acidity, that even if all fruit has left the building, the wine is still kicking. The wine notes follow below:
Herzog Special Reserve Russian River Chardonnay 2000 – Score: B+
I must say that when my hosts were kind enough to suggest opening the bottle, I thought we better have a backup, as this bottle has to long gone. But to my surprise, this wine is still kicking, though most of the fruit has gone stage left. The nose on this dark straw colored wine, opens with a rich almost creamy aroma of sweet oak, peach, and ripe apples. The mouth on this heady and full bodied wine starts with ripe peach and summer fruits. The mid palate is dominated by rich and almost aggressive sweet oak, but balanced with bracing acidity and citrus flavors. The finish is long with sweet oak, citrus acidity, and spice. If it were not for the acidity, this wine would be unbalanced. However, the fruit and acidity still have enough presence to counter balance the sweet oak. I would say drink up and enjoy with friends and family.
Wine Musings Blog 