Wine Spectator scores a gaggle of Israeli Wines..

[David Raccah]

Wine spectator scored a bunch of Israeli wines in the June magazine:

http://kosherwinemusings.com/2012/06/05 ... eli-wines/

David

[Gabriel Geller]

Well said Dave, I couldn't agree more with your write up!

[Andrew Breskin]

Good report. WS and other publications will not give generous drinking windows to wines from "newer" or up and coming regions, so the narrower window on the '07 Cave wouldn't surprise me. Furthermore, it still is a 2007, while many comparable red wines have current vintages of 2009 or 2010.

[David Raccah]

Like I said Andrew the cave's drink by date was ok, but the yiron is a bit on the early side. the best score to me was the segal chard! 89 points, mevushal, a drink-by date of 2017! and great notes to boot, the drink by and notes were better than the Yarden Chard, which is not mevu!

I was impressed by the fact that Allied got some wine in there along with of course Yarden and Royal. The Dalton Alma (Bordeaux blend) has nice score and notes.

[Gabriel Geller]

Now I'd like to compare the prices of these wines with other wines of the same types (oaked chard with oaked chard, Bordeaux blend with Bordeaux blend etc) of the same vintage but not kosher and from other regions. E.g. The Alma red '09 got an 88, how big is the difference in price with another '09 Bordeaux blend (from Bordeaux or elsewhere) that got an 88 as well?

[Elie Poltorak]

I wish Allied had submitted the Rhone blend Alma--a spectacular wine far superior IMHO to the very good but run-of-the-mill Bordeaux blend. Would be interesting to see how that would rate. As David pointed out, the wines rated are almost all second-tier, which is a pity.

[Shawn Johnson]

Elie,

I did a search on the spectator's site and saw that the Alma Rhone blend got an 87.

[Yehoshua Werth]

A thought on these scores.

As mentioned maybe a distributor in America maybe did not give a wine for tasting. Hmmm

If they go to Israel to do the tastings or bottles are sent over; might be important for the wineries themselves to work on a relationship(With big rating people and magazines) so as they grow in scores flights and entire label spectrum's of the wines can be looked at and scored because of overall interest.

Just a thought

[Elie Poltorak]

Elie,

I did a search on the spectator's site and saw that the Alma Rhone blend got an 87.

Shawn:
I just did the same search and only found the Alma Bordeaux blend. I think the Rhone blend would (certainly should!) score much higher. I would score it a 92.

[Shawn Johnson]

From the Spectator's site

DALTÔN
Shiraz-Mourvèdre-Viognier Galilee Alam 2009
Score: 87

Ripe, with a nice richness to the zesty dark fruit flavors that are flanked by plenty of spice and hints of smoke. Supple finish.

[Elie Poltorak]

From the Spectator's site

DALTÔN
Shiraz-Mourvèdre-Viognier Galilee Alam 2009
Score: 87

Ripe, with a nice richness to the zesty dark fruit flavors that are flanked by plenty of spice and hints of smoke. Supple finish.

OK, I guess you need a subscription to see that. In any event, I think it's underrated. I absolutely love this wine. It's also very accessible. Whenever I serve it to shabbos guests it's a huge hit--with both the sophisticated wine connoisseurs and the occasional kiddush drinkers.

[Samuel A]

From the Spectator's site

DALTÔN
Shiraz-Mourvèdre-Viognier Galilee Alam 2009
Score: 87

Ripe, with a nice richness to the zesty dark fruit flavors that are flanked by plenty of spice and hints of smoke. Supple finish.

I didn't taste the richness in this wine. Thought it was mediocre at best.

[Elie Poltorak]

From the Spectator's site

DALTÔN
Shiraz-Mourvèdre-Viognier Galilee Alam 2009
Score: 87

Ripe, with a nice richness to the zesty dark fruit flavors that are flanked by plenty of spice and hints of smoke. Supple finish.

I didn't taste the richness in this wine. Thought it was mediocre at best.

You must've had a bad bottle.

[Shawn Johnson]

I agree with Elie. It's definitely there.

[David Raccah]

Well - the beat goes on and Kim Marcus has released some more scores for Israeli wines in the latest Wine Spectator, of which two were not kosher, from Clos du Gat.

also, he scored the 2009 Castel Chardonnay a 90!

http://kosherwinemusings.com/2012/08/17 ... eli-wines/

David