A Lift / WeeksEnd wine

[Harry J]

bsd
Interesting thing about the hat known as a crown;ussualy worn by a king,it sits above the head thus higher than the person, intimating a position higher than those around him.And then of course there is the self governed kingdom ruled by our intentions and desires. That crown is formed by the will.Nothing stands higher.
Have a good one; h

[Z Spigelman]

Hi Harry.
This morning we decided to skip the Recanati event and instead ate brunch at the Sofia restaurant in Jerusalem's Inbal Hotel. Not bad but we enjoyed the breakfast their more on a previous visit.
Afterwards, we finally made it to Gabriel's shop - The Wine Mill - and got to meet him and discuss a few wines. To my surprise, after several months he had still saved for me a bottle of Yarden Pinot Noir 2005 which I happily grabbed. A very good selection of quality kosher wines and since we were looking for Roses, we bought the 2 which are 100% Cabernet Franc - Eden and Flam. Looking forward to future visits when we are in Yerushalayim.
We expect to open this weekend:
Friday night - Netofa Tinto 2010 (bought at The Wine Mill);
Shabbat lunch - Galil Mt. Pinot Noir 2010.
Shabbat Shalom.
Zvi

[Isaac C]

Planning on drinking Dalton Alma Rhone Blend 2009 and also continuing to drink Zion Mihamartif.

[YoelA]

Tonight's wine will be 2004 Lost Canyon Trenton Station (Russian River) syrah.

[Andrew Breskin]

2007 Yarden El Rom and 2009 Shirah Power to the People. Both tasting great at first pour

[Gabriel Geller]

Hi Harry, shavua tov!

I found myself hesitating a lot last week as to my shabbat wines and finally went for:

Friday night: Livni Pinot Noir 2009. I'm in love with this wine, really, and all the many people at the shabbat table agreed with me.

Shabbat Lunch:

GHW, Yarden Sauvignon Blanc 2010: Pale gold with fresh flower notes on the nose together with peaches, the peaches showing also on the palate with tropical fruit such as melon and kiwi along with lightly sweet notes of caramel and a refreshingly light acidity leading to a long finish with notes of citrus fruits. Nice.

Best,

GG

[Jeff Adler]

shavua tov harry

shabbat dinner - Pacific Meritage - Finally got around to trying this wine. Generally not well received around the table. Wine was abit flat, people were expecting a bolder wine

Shabbat Lunch - Elvi Mati Rioja.

Jeff

[Stephen Weil]

I was so impressed last week with the Psagot Cab 09, that I opened another bottle.
Will it improve, I don't know but at the moment deep crimson, attack after attack of berries with hint of tobacco. Nice finish and full bodied. My style and still affordable.

[Jonathan K]

2009 Brobdignagian Syrah- In some ways this was very exciting as I have never had a wine quite like it:
Label: An elephant on a unicycle. What a great label. My sister-in-law is going to make a candlestick out of the bottle.
Extremely dark color, the nose initially showed figs, raisins, until eventually resembling a cherry cordial. Very dense on the palate with firm tannins and good acidity. Sort of reminded me of a chianti at times and at other times seemed to resemble a liqueur.
Not a particularly good match with baked chicken the first night or my brother's hot dog cholent (would anything match well with that?) the next day.

Overall an extremely interesting wine that I had a little trouble warming up to. Will probably match it with something with a red sauce if I try it again which is not where I normally go with Syrah.

Shavua Tov!!

[Pinchas L]

Hi Harry,

After sticking to a particular format when posting to Harry's thread for quite some time, I've decided to experiment with some changes. They amount to rating the wines on two counts: quality and value. I'll assign a letter grade to a wine ranging from A to D, adopting a legend very similar to that of Dale Williams on the main wine forum: A being excellent, B good, C mediocre and D highly flawed. You should expect most of my wines to straddle the B. Following a slash, there will be between one to three stars denoting the wine's value for money; one star denotes a poor deal, two stars indicate a fair deal, and three stars mean the wine is a steal. When I don't have an opinion I'll write NA, or leave it blank. When determining value, I'll exclude my cost of transporting the wine, with the knowledge that a wine that is a good buy in one locale might be a terrible one in another. I acknowledge that when purchasing imported wines at the store, the cost of delivery is already factored in, whereas when buying the wine in Israel or California and shipping myself those costs are excluded. However, since for large importers shipping by sea, that cost doesn't amount to much, yet it is substantial for an end-user purchasing directly from a winery, I felt that by omitting incidental costs I'm giving a better idea of the wine's value, making it easier to compare a wine that is self imported with one that has a local distributors. Finally, needless to say, everything I write is completely subjective.

Dalton Alma Chardonnay-Viognier 2010 - The nose shows dusty pollen, and on the palate the floral notes develop into those of chamomile and dandelion. I found it difficult to detect other distinct fruit, but if I were forced to mention some, pear and peach would be on my short list. The finish has some bitter almonds. Overall, the wine is very dry, and the floral and fruit intensity is not sufficient to give a sensation of sweetness. Had I tasted it blind, I would have guessed that it was a Roussanne. Its really just the expectations that let me down, anticipating more expressive aromatics and floral character, but getting a wine austere and stinted instead. However, the wine is quite interesting on its own. I would like to point out that the label is misleading, listing Chardonnay before Viognier, even though the blend favors Viognier by two-to-one. 13.5% AbV and ~ $23 at tops.B/**

Goose Bay East Coast Pinot Noir 2010 - In the glass the wine is a murky brick red with orange reflections, and a transparency that hints at its light body. While the wine is flat at times, its red fruit character, in the form of cherries and strawberries, is pleasantly present throughout. Overall, its a rustic wine with the elegance of a country girl going to market. 13% AbV and ~$24. B-/**

Best Regards,
-> Pinchas

[Gabriel Geller]

I like your new format Pinchas, IMHO it's more interesting to read and adds spice to the forum.

[David Raccah]

Indeed Pinchas, I too was not a big fan of the alma, as I stated here: http://kosherwinemusings.com/2012/05/06 ... d-chicken/

It took my beloved viognier and melded it with Chardonnay and in the end the parts are far less valuable than the sum. I guess that is life with marketing, maybe viognier does not sell without Chardonnay.

The goose bay was also disappointing but drinkable enough.

[Pinchas L]

Hi David,

To me the Alma is a good wine even though it is not a good expression of the Viognier. Besides, I honestly do not think that Dalton's varietal bottling of the Viognier, the one that was scratched in favor of this Alma blend, was better. In fact, I felt it lacked focus.

Best,
-> Pinchas

[David Raccah]

Wow, Pinchas I disagree but that is the joy of wine. The dalton viognier was a true joy with clear floral and sweet fruit expression. It was also greatly appreciated by Jeff Morgan and others, when I served my last bottle of the 2007 viognier.

David

[Daniel Kovnat]

rating the wines on two counts: quality and value. I'll assign a letter grade to a wine ranging from A to D, adopting a legend very similar to that of Dale Williams on the main wine forum: A being excellent, B good, C mediocre and D highly flawed. You should expect most of my wines to straddle the B. Following a slash, there will be between one to three stars denoting the wine's value for money; one star denotes a poor deal, two stars indicate a fair deal, and three stars mean the wine is a steal.

Pinchas,
This is an excellent rating system and, struggling with my own system on my israelwinetaster.com blog, you have opened a new door for me. THANK YOU Our systems are similar, using an A to D grade as in days of yore in school, but I could not figure out how to incorporate a value aspect. The *, **, and *** is just the thing I needed. There really are two aspects of ranking a wine. The first its intrinsic qualities. The second brings the system into the real world where we have to purchase the wine using something earned by our labors.

Erev Shabat, we opened a 2011 Castel Rosé which has been discussed on this forum before and I agree with every accolade given to it. It was bold and fresh with a nose bursting with all the flowers in the Garden of Eden. The glorious taste of ripe fruits including pears, cherries, and peaches mixed with cinnamon and chocolate lingers in the mouth long after the wine is gone. Even at 90 shekels/bottle when purchased by the case and picked up at the winery, it's an A+/**. L'Chaim

[Jon Tabak]

2008 Yarden El Rom Cabernet Sauvignon
2010 Brobdingnagian Eagle Point Ranche Grenache
2007 Herzog Haystack Peak Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

[Stephen Weil]

Jon Hi
2008 Yarden El Rom Cabernet Sauvignon

How was it?

Steve

[Bill Coleman]

shavua tov harry

shabbat dinner - Pacific Meritage - Finally got around to trying this wine. Generally not well received around the table. Wine was abit flat, people were expecting a bolder wine

Jeff

Drank it a couple of weeks ago, my impression as well.

[Bill Coleman]

Friday night - Barons de Rothchild Haut-Medoc 2004. Thin mouth, pleasant enough but I think it's over the hill.
Saturday lunch - Eagles Landing Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills 2010. Kind of generic.

[Shlomo R]

Cantina Gabrielle Cabernet Sauvignon and some Dalwhinnie Distiller's Edition on Friday night, switched to Elijah Craig 18 for shabbos lunch.

[Harry J]

Hi; galil mt shiraz 2009.as a point of comparison,getting better in the bottle.full shiraz spiciness.h

[Yossie Horwitz]

Castel, Grand Vin, 2004
Adir, Shiraz, 2009
Binyamina, Reserve, Late Harvest Gewurztraminer, 2009
Dalton, Fume Blanc, 2011

[Pinchas L]

rating the wines on two counts: quality and value. I'll assign a letter grade to a wine ranging from A to D, adopting a legend very similar to that of Dale Williams on the main wine forum: A being excellent, B good, C mediocre and D highly flawed. You should expect most of my wines to straddle the B. Following a slash, there will be between one to three stars denoting the wine's value for money; one star denotes a poor deal, two stars indicate a fair deal, and three stars mean the wine is a steal.

Pinchas,
This is an excellent rating system and, struggling with my own system on my israelwinetaster.com blog, you have opened a new door for me. THANK YOU Our systems are similar, using an A to D grade as in days of yore in school, but I could not figure out how to incorporate a value aspect. The *, **, and *** is just the thing I needed. There really are two aspects of ranking a wine. The first its intrinsic qualities. The second brings the system into the real world where we have to purchase the wine using something earned by our labors.

Erev Shabat, we opened a 2011 Castel Rosé which has been discussed on this forum before and I agree with every accolade given to it. It was bold and fresh with a nose bursting with all the flowers in the Garden of Eden. The glorious taste of ripe fruits including pears, cherries, and peaches mixed with cinnamon and chocolate lingers in the mouth long after the wine is gone. Even at 90 shekels/bottle when purchased by the case and picked up at the winery, it's an A+/**. L'Chaim

Hi Daniel,

Thanks. I would like to comment that even though many use a letter grade scoring system--first and foremost amongst them on this forum is David Raccah--the reason I mention Dale William's legend, is that his is truly centered around "B", whereas I find that others skew their ratings towards the upper end. To me a B is truly a good wine, and a C is mediocre--not bad, scores that would have earned me some nasty names had I used them as a teacher grading papers. Dale actually rates his wines that way, and if you read his posts you would understand that As aren't common.

Best,
-> Pinchas

[Adam M]

2011 Dalton Rose - ok
2005 Tabor Mescha - nice
2006 Yarden Tel Phares Syrah - wow