Names / WeeksEnd wine

[YoelA]

Believe me, you don't want to taste a riesling that has been in oak. Many years ago a certain California winery that i shall not name was selling some riesling at an unbelievable low price. The reason - it had mistakenly been in barrels for a month or two. It tasted as if I were drinking a piece of wood. Needless to say, I didn't buy any.

[Craig Winchell]

I agree, Yoel, if you are talking new oak. Neutral oak is a different story. First of all aging Riesling in neutral oak is a historically accurate method in the production of Riesling. Secondly, I am sure that there are at least several producers in Germany who still have some Riesling aging in large ovals, and perhaps other large neutral oak. Yes, agree, 2 months in new oak could certainly put a Riesling, or for that matter, even a small Chard, into a situation of being totally overwhelmed. From a historical perspective, Hock was pretty much always aged in oak, and "old hock" was a prized beverage. No, I'm not sure it's something I would care to drink now, but it is a classic style from which the modern German whites evolved.

[Shawn Johnson]

Broke out one of my last bottle of Dalton Alma 2007. Drinking magnificently.

Tabor Adama Volcanic Merlot 2007. For those who wanted merlot.

Good week to all.

[gaston k]

No wine, but enjoyed a bottle of Affligem Noel, that living up to its label's promise of sliding in between a dubbel and tripel in taste and style. Very pleasant on a freezing weekend.

[David Raccah]

One final point on the Carmel WS, I am doing my write up on Gus Eztion Winery, and their WS is very close to the Carmel WS, excepting for the lack of the oily texture. I do NOT know what a non-kosher Riesling tastes like, but from what I read, oily is the name of the game. Carmel, to me, has it and Gush does not.

David

[Isaac C]

I had the Yarden Cabernet 2007 - this wine was outstanding. Dark garnet in color, the nose and mouth on this wine was full of sweet cherries and dark berries, with hints of chocolate and very soft tannins. The finish on this wine was long and fruity. I finished half the bottle the next day and it was still great. Every time I open the Yarden Cab it makes me wonder why I don't just stock half my cellar with it.

[Harry J]

A nice gift enabled me the ability to enjoy hagefen syrah prixe 2001. and what an enjoyable wine. fruit,spice and everything nice.h

[Yossie Horwitz]

As usual things shifted a bit and we ended up with the 2007 Four Gates Merlot, a bottle of 2007 Galil Mountain Yiron (continued reaping of the benefits of the $12 brief dumping of this wine a few months ago) with nothing changed from my last note and a bottle of Dalton's Reserve Wild Yeast Viognier.

Have a great week,
Yossie

[Bill Coleman]

Shabbos night, for kiddush and meal, we drank a perfect bottle of '97 GAN EDEN Limited Reserve Cab. We're towards the end of the usable life of the wine, so a perfect bottle doesn't happen too often. Since I'm a bit of an egoist, it's always a pleasure to see something I got right, and as of now, the only thing I have that reminds me of the meaningfulness of my career choice is that wine, the present wines being not truly under my control. So a real pleasure. There's a nice black currantiness still there, and that's the overwhelming fruit flavor present. No overt oak to speak of. The impression of balance. Mostly, the intriguing flavors which come from aging, and subtle at that. In any case, no wine for lunch. Then off to Mishnah Berurah group at a friend's house. He had '07 Hagafen Merlot and '05 Prix Melange on the table. Prix was the weightier of the two. Both had intense ripeness. The Prix was the richer of the two. But for all that, the PRix exhibited a really intense American Oak character which camoflaged any fruit flavors present. The Merlot had distinct other flavors, which I did not writed down because I couldn't, but was definitely the more complex of the two wines, and frankly, I liked the Merlot better than the Prix. I thought both were good for what they were, but I'm just not a fan of overt oak, so thumb up to the MErlot. Still, the '97 GAN EDEN was my wine of the Shabbos.

Craig, last week I read one of your old posts in which you said that your 2000 vintage wines were all undrinkable. I misunderstood and thought you meant that any PRE-2000 vintage was undrinkable, so I went down to my basement and checked my wine corner. Back when you were running your clearance sale, I bought either two or three cases of the 1997 Limited Reserve Cab. It's a very special wine for us, since we drank a bottle once every month or two and could actually taste it getting better.... until it didn't any more. After a while we opened a bottle and, after the first taste, we looked at each other and said, "Time to drink up!" So we did.

Except for three bottles. So I was cooking for shabbat and needed some wine and decided to see if the Cab was fit for cooking. I tasted it and, given what I thought you had written, was surprised to find it over-the-hill but perfectly drinkable. I decanted it and we had it with the meal. It was very pleasant and seemed to improve after an hour or so. I guess I'm going to have to force myself to open those last two bottles!

[Craig Winchell]

Why Bill, You emailed me on the 1st of January to say it was the 1990 vintage of my Cab. Or is this a different instance? I tried to email you back, but the mail kept on getting bumped back to me. Now I know I can at least mail you from this forum. In any case, thanks to you and Carole for your emails, and thanks for this post.

[Yehoshua Werth]

Shabbos Had


2007 Gush Etzion Nahal Hapirim
2005 Queent Esther Pinot Noir