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Sukkot 2011 – first days…
This past Sukkot we hung out with family and enjoyed a bunch of great wine and food. It was a potluck of sorts, each one of us bringing some food, and it was a grand ball. Sukkot is one of those truly happy times of the year, all the heavy and deep inner inspection is over and now you get a chance to let loose of all of your pent up concern and angst. In its place you find joy and contentment from your efforts over the past 6 weeks, a time truly made to be shared with friends and family.
For our part, we brought the second chunk of meat that we cooked for Rosh Hashanah (and froze immediately after the holiday) and some lovely brisket. We also brought a BUNCH of wine! Hey it is a let loose holiday – right? I was in such a rush to get the wines that I went to my local wine shop and all they had were Galil and Yarden wines – so we brought Galil and Yarden wines. Many turned out really nice, and others were OK, but they were all enjoyable. In case it is not obvious, Yarden and Galil Wines source their grapes from the Galilee. This tasting was a true Israel Galilee tasting. We also went through some 6 bottles of Sara Bee Muscat. Galil is one of the top QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) wineries in the kosher market. Yarden is an OK QPR winery, especially in their basic line, but some of their upper echelon wines are so out of reach that they lose a bit of the QPR luster.
So, here are all my wine notes – enjoy and remember, wine is not just about the flavors, it is also about the happiness and memories you get to keep when you enjoy them with friends and family.
The wine notes follow below:
2005 Galil Mountain Winery Yiron – (Israel, Galilee) – Score: A-
This is a seriously lovely and opulent and redolent wine that is initially hot out of the bottle, but quickly shakes off the alcohol coat and shows super rich and ripe black plum, toasty cedar, black cherry, blackberry, vanilla, tobacco, chocolate, and herbs. The mouth on this rich and concentrated black colored wine is screaming with what initially feels like searing tannins, but then quickly your mind gives way to the true source – toasty cedar, blackberry, black cherry, and super ripe plum, all wrapped up is a velvety package that cuts through almost anything you throw at it. The mid palate is packed with black cherry, cedar, chocolate, tobacco, and nice integrated tannin. The finish is super long and very spicy with rich plum, toasty cedar, blackberry, chocolate, tobacco, black cherry, and a nice dollop of vanilla. The black cherry, vanilla, tobacco, chocolate, blackberry, and herbs linger.
2006 Yarden Syrah – (Israel, Galilee, Golan Heights) – Score: A-
The nose on this purple to black colored wine is not a classic syrah, excepting for the roasted meat, along with blackberry, ripe cassis, chocolate, plum, raspberry, cherry, and oak. This wine starts off super hot and need a good hour to open up and blow off its coat of alcohol. I must admit that I enjoyed this with friends in a house that was being used as a barbeque pit, as the outside was too wet, still, the nose showed well with the black and red fruit, along with the oak and chocolate. The mouth on this rich and muscular black wine was opulent and powerful with more blackberry, inky black, ripe and rich cassis, and plum, and tannins that are still finding their way around the house, but are slowly learning the premises. The sinews rippling on this bad boy easily handled the char broiled meats that were superb! The mid palate was balanced with acid, chocolate, nice oak, still tight tannins, and more inky black. The finish is super long and crazy spicy with a hint of leather, chocolate, blackberry, ripe plum, and more inky black density. Read the rest of this entry
Beef Bourguignon made from eye chuck roast and a plethora of Syrah wines
Well after a long hiatus I have finally been able to grab some time for myself and this blog. I have of course been writing wine notes (at cellartracker), just have had no time to get them placed here. So, I rewind us to July 29th, when we had the true joy of many of our friends sharing a meal around our table. The meal started with a lovely bottle of Four Gates Pinot, which was filled with classic CCC (Chicka Cherry Cola) and lovely bramble. The wine was lovely for the first course, which consisted of smoked salmon, spicy hummus and dips.
For the main course we made Beef Bourguignon made from eye chuck roast. I must say that this was the first time we used chuck eye roast, a more expensive cut of the chuck, but it was well worth it. The meat was well marbled, which allowed the meat to stay moist after being cooked for so many hours. I used this recipe, from Daniel Rogov’s culinary site.
Unfortunately, the recipe calls for some fatty goose to be the fat flavor booster (as pork is not kosher), but we had none of that. So, we went with some cubed sausages instead. The main trick is really to allow this dish to happen very slowly. The more time you give the ingredients to marinate, cook, and or cool the better the flavors will come together. The meat was awesome as was the dish, as we had almost no leftovers. The only thing we messed up, was not to remove more of the fat, which we will do next time.
The amount of time it takes to brown 4 pounds of cubed beef is crazy long, and that is why this is one of the easier yet long preparation dishes that we make. We paired the Beef Bourguignon with brown basmati rice, a lovely fresh green salad and some roasted green beans.
The wines we poured that matched this dish were three syrahs that I have been dying to try. The first was the 2008 Syraph One | Two Punch, which we tasted twice back in 2010. This wine did not disappoint us in any way. The wine is still kicking just fine and still has the insanely unique flavor of chocolate mocha covered espresso beans is quite fun and went very well with this hearty dish. That was followed by the 2007 Tishbi Organic Shiraz which was not tasting nearly as well as it did some 5 months ago when we tasted it in the winery. I brought this bottle back myself, and it was a slight disappointment. The nose was crazy good but the mouth was weak and not there. Finally, we had a bottle of the 2004 Yiron Syrah, which is going nowhere anytime soon. This wine is still a massive powerhouse and has at least a few more tannic years under its belt.
The meal was a hit as were most of the wines served. There were a few experimental and barrel wines served, but those notes are not listed here. The wine notes follow below:
2007 Tishbi Organic Sirah: (Israel, Galilee, Golan Heights) – Score: B++
The nose on this purple colored wine is clearly its strongest suite, it is clean, rich cedar, exploding with plum, strawberry, raspberry, black berries, roasted meat, tobacco, chocolate, a hint of tar, and vanilla. The nose is rich and full, and sadly its best feature. The mouth on this medium bodied wine does follow the nose, but has a blatant flaw,; that being is clear lack of balance. The mouth is mouth coating with nicely integrated tannin, raspberry, black plum, black berries, chocolate, and fig. The mid palate is unbalanced with what can only be called strawberry zest, black pepper, dirt, tar, and tobacco. The finish is nice and long with integrated tannin, dirt, black pepper, black plum, chocolate, rich cedar, tobacco, roasted meat, and vanilla. Cedar, tobacco, chocolate, vanilla, and plum linger long. This wine is DRINK NOW mode, please do not wait any longer.
2008 Syraph One | Two Punch 50% Grenache & 50% Syrah – (USA, San Luis Obispo Counties) – Score: A-
The nose on this purple-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, blueberry, plum, vanilla, smoky, oak, along with crushed herbs. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is layered and concentrated with blackberry, blueberry, 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. This wine has calmed a bit since last year, but the tannins are still not fully integrated.
2004 Galil Mountain Winery Syrah Yiron Kosher – (Israel, Galilee) – Score: A- to A
To start I opened this bottle because I was told it was drink now time, personally, this beast is going nowhere fast in my opinion. The nose on this purple to black colored wine is exploding with rich and concentrated aromas, rich cedar, baking chocolate, leafy tobacco, hints of tar, heaps of black pepper, smoky notes, coffee, raspberry, blackberry, cassis, plum, crushed herbs, and eucalyptus. The mouth on this super rich and concentrated wine hits you in layers upon layers of still not integrated tannin, licorice, black pepper, blackberry, plum, chocolate, and cedar. The mid palate is balanced with sweet cedar, nice acidity, more nice tannin, tobacco, and chocolate. The finish is super long and spicy with crazy rich cedar, blackberry, crushed herbs, plum, tobacco, chocolate, figs, a hint of tar, with a dollop of vanilla. Black pepper, crushed herbs, chocolate, tobacco, plum, and vanilla linger super long. This wine is in no hurray to be drunk, but is lovely now.
A Few Nice Israeli Wines that compliment wonderful Shemini Atzeret Meals
A week ago saw us enjoying meals with friends and on our own. The Jewish Holiday called Shemini Atzeret is the last part of Sukkot and the one that sometimes gets out of hand, when some mistaken souls confuse Shemini Atzeret with Purim (and think getting drunk is part of the deal). However, since we did not put up a sukkah and most folks believe that one should eat in the sukkah (without a blessing) on Shemini Atzeret, we ate out for the first two meals. On Saturday day we went to a friend’s home and were served a wonderful bounty of flavors and textures and some really fun wines. We brought a bottle of 2003 Galil Winery Yiron, while another guest brought a bottle of 2007 Lambouri Ya’in Kafrisin. later in the meal the host opened a bottle of 2006 Shiloh Cabernet Sauvignon.
Later that evening we laid low after a long Simchat Torah celebration, with a wonderful meal of meatballs, rice, and fresh green salad. The recipe for the meatballs were the same we have had before, but this time we substituted a pound of ground turkey for one of the two pounds of ground meat. The mixture was way off, as the ground turkey meat is soft and sticky, instead of firm like ground meat. To make the mixture work we added in ground almonds bit by bit until it was he correct consistency. The tomato sauce was the same and the meatballs came out soft yet firm to the fork.
The wine notes follow below:
2003 Galil Yiron – Score: B+
The nose on this garnet colored wine was hopping and screaming out of the bottle with chocolate, figs, ripe and plump blackberry, plum, and mounds of oak. The mouth on this full bodied, extra ripe, and mouth coating wine is filled with ripe plum and blackberry, rich chocolate, and sweet oak. The mid palate is balanced with acidity and soft tannins. The finish is super long with more rich fruit, chocolate, figs, and a hint of tobacco. Quite a nice wine, but would have been better a few months earlier. Clearly over the hill and on its way down – DRINK UP!!! This is a change from the previous wine note we had on this wine. This wine has become fatter and plumper and not as tight and concentrated.
2006 Tishbi Estate Pinot Noir – Score: B+
The nose on this ruby colored wine is hopping with strawberry, cherry, raspberry, and a bit of oak. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is almost mouth coating, but needs a few hours of air to show its best. The mouth is soft and lush with nice cherry and raspberry notes. The mid palate is balanced with nice acidity, soft tannins, and a hint of coffee. The finish is long with more bright fruit, light oak, and vanilla. Quite a nice balanced Pinot. On an aside, Daniel Rogov did not give this a great score, but I wonder if it was a bad bottle, or if the wine has moved past that deficiency. As usual Daniel tastes the wine a few times, so I can only guess that either the wines here in the US have gone through to another stage in their life, or we had a “good” bottle. He noted that there was too much volatile acidity, but I did not see anything like that in the bottle I tasted.
Four Gates Merlot M.S.C., Galil Mountain Winery Yiron, Carmel Cabernet Sauvignon Zarit
This past Friday night saw us invited to a friend of ours for dinner, and so we brought a bottle of wine, and so did a couple of other folks as well. Dinner was wonderful as usual. It started with Teriyaki Salmon and a really nice salad. It was followed by thick and lustrous leek/carrot/potato bisque that went along wonderfully with the killer freshly baked challah. Finally, it was followed by a killer braised black olive/carrot chicken, served alongside brown rice and almond encrusted green beans. The meal was really lovely and the wines served were quite nice as well. The host started with Benyamin’s yet to be released 2006 Four Gates Merlot M.S.C. It still needs sometime to hit its stride, as of now it is still too tightly wound, and is one of the main reasons why he has yet to release it. We put it to the side, and it opened nicely an hour or so later. That was followed by an almost smooth 2003 Galil Mountain Winery Yiron. That one has hit its stride, and is slowing down, so drink up. That was followed once more by the 2003 Carmel Cabernet Sauvignon Zarit, which is at its peak, if not a bit below it. I like a wine to have a bit of bite, so I think it is at its peak, others who like it completely smooth, would maybe want to wait a few more months. Of the three wines, we ordered them as such; Four Gates Merlot, Zarit Cabernet, and Yiron. They all received an A-, but I would order them in that manner.
We want to throw major props to the direction of our hosts and thank them profusely for their hospitality and the wonderful meal. The wine notes follow below:
2003 Carmel Cabernet Sauvignon Kerem Zarit – Score: A-
The nose on this purple to black colored wine is a classical old style Cabernet, which means more green than red or black. The nose was herbaceous and smoky with green pepper, and a hint of oak. The mouth of this full bodied wine was a complete opposite of the nose, with mounds and layers of blackberry, licorice, and plum that was solidified by nice tannins. The mid palate flows nicely with bracing acidity and tannins that flow into a long finish of spice, black fruit, and a touch of oak. This is a nice wine and is ready to drink.
2006 Four Gates Merlot M.S.C. – Score: A- (not yet for sale)
This has not changed much from the previous time that we tasted this wine, other than the plum and heat in the nose. The heat blows off quickly, and the plum completes a wonderful mouth feel, quite nice.
The nose on this black garnet colored wine filled with candied raspberry, blackberry, plum, roasted herbs, and intense sweet wood. The nose changes with more air to a richer nose of opulent wood and more plum and cranberry. The mouth on this full bodied wine is concentrated, full in the mouth with mouth coating tannins, and complex layers of plum, 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.
2003 Galil Mountain Winery Yiron – Score: A-
The nose on this black colored wine is a new world cabernet first and foremost, it is packed with blackberry, cassis, red fruit, tobacco, a touch of bell pepper, and oak. The mouth on this full bodied wine is smoky and concentrated, but utterly smooth, it has hit its stride. It starts with cassis, blackberry, and red fruit. The mid palate has just enough acid to keep this wine balanced, along with nicely integrated tannins. The finish is long and spicy with black fruit, chocolate, and rich oak. Drink up and enjoy.
This past week…
We had a few friends over and we had a few wines. Two were solid winners – while the other was passing. The meal was meatballs and rice, so we thought we would go with wines that had enough firepower (acidity, power). So Syrah was the wine of choice. These are them.
2003 Herzog Syrah Special Reserve – Score: B
This was the ‘M’ version of the wine, which means it is Mevushal (cooked). The color was a lovely purple, but the nose was non existent. All I got was wood and a bit of spice. The mouth feel of the full bodied wine was fruitless. It was a nice balanced and spicy full bodied wine. But without fruit or a good finish this wine is lacking.
Galil Mountain Winery Syrah Yiron 2004 – Score: A
The Yiron Syrah was the best of the night. It is a wine that will be best if opened two to three hours before serving. The wine’s color is a crazy purple, which shimmers with a halo of orange. The nose on this purple monster is filled with luscious ripe blackberry, cranberry, wood, and sweet notes of figs and dates. The mouthfeel on this full-bodied wine starts with a full plate of black fruit: blackberry, cassis, and plum. The middle of the mouth is filled with wood and chocolate. The finish is a long and satisfying stroll – filled with nice acidity, wood, and pepper.
This wine pairs wonderfully well with roasted lamb, thick beef stew, and rich, creamy dishes. The acidity and sheer power of the wine is able to stand up to almost any pairing. Finally, chilling the wine a bit before drinking it will add yet more to what will surely be a wonderful experience!
Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon/Zinfandel/Syrah Special Reserve 2002 – Score: B+
The wine is much like we blogged about this before, but it is going down hill. The color was a bit more brown then before. Also, there was some funk in the flavor for sometime, but when it finally did blow off, some of the good flavors left as well.
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