WWM – Barkan Grand Classic 2007

This week we decided to try the new bland from Barkan. This bland is composed of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot & Shiraz.

The wine opens with a fun fruitish aroma dominated by raspberry. The pallet shows ripe red fruit that grows stronger as the wine opens up. With raspberries as the dominated flavor accompanied by a bit of oak. Overall a nice fruitish simple yet fun wine.

The wine is approachable and ready for drinking. This wine should accompany un-spiced first dishes.

June’s Wine

Pelter – Sauvignon Blanc 2008

Now this wine gives a great way to start the monthly wine picks. Good wine, excellent value for money.

The first thing I noticed was the aroma bursting out of the bottle when I popped the cork. The color is very pale straw. The nose starts with some green apple, then comes roasted coconut and some grass. On the pallet there is no mistake – crisp crisp apple with some kiwi acidity and again grassy finish that linger on the sides of your tongue long after you finished.

Very interesting Savignon Blanc – Clear, Crisp & Refreshing.

WWM (3-Jun) – Galil Mountain – Avivim 2006

Galil Mountain Winery is a medium size winery, located at the north of Israel. This winery constantly produce some very nice wine which also gives excellent value for money. By now we have tasted in our weekly wine meal 3 different wines made by the winery, all of which gave us great pleasure.

Avivim 2006 – This white wine has a very appealing color, deep Golden with Orange shading.  On the nose both pineapple and green apple were noticeable. The pallet was very refreshing, starting with some dried pineapple, and later showing some green apple and butter. Overall very compelling wine, great for a Sunny afternoon.

For Gal’s review

Horizontal Tasting of Israeli Wines – 2001 Vintage

Yesterday I had the pleasure of taking part in a horizontal wine tasting of Israeli wines from the 2001 vintage. This event took place at a lovely restaurant called “El Barrio“, This restaurant is located at the heart of Tel-Aviv right in the middle of the Na’halat Binyamin pedestrian mall.

Before I’ll go about the tasting event itself, I would like thank several people who helped putting this lovely evening together. First of all to Avi Halevi how master planned this lovely event, great work in gathering some great people and some excellent wine. Other thanks goes to Alon Gonnen, our host, the owner & chef of the El Barrio restaurant, which is a precious little spot I am sure to visit again. And last but not least to Daniel Rogov world renown wine critique. It was a pleasure tasting wine with you.

The Food – I am no food critique so I’m not going to pretend to be able to describe the food in a critique like manner. I can only say that it was wonderful, and that it gave me great pleasure. Hopefully these pictures will give you a seance of what I’m talking about.

The Wines – We had 9 wines in our tasting all from Israel all from 2001, here is the list in the same order we tasted them:

• Dalton – Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
• Benhaim – Cabernet Sauvignon Grand Reserve
• Segal – Unfiltered Cabernet Sauvignon
• Yarden – Merlot
• Yarden – Merlot Odem Vineyard
• Yarden – Cabernet Sauvignon
• Yarden – Cabernet Sauvignon Elrom Vineyard
• Castel – Grand Vin
• Zauberman – Limited Edition

And now for my notes – I believe that the wine could roughly be divided to 3 groups, the first 3, those that came after and the last group is composed of a single bottle, the Zauberman.

The First Group

These wines are all over their pick and for all of the 3 the fruit is almost gone, they show somewhat the same aromas & flavors, and they lack the charm they once possessed.

Dalton (Reserve  C.S) – Royal red in color. The nose shows some cherry or even cherry liquor and a touch of chocolate, the pallet reviles flavors that are almost the same as the nose with edition of some wood. The fruit is very short and mild.

Benhaim (Cabernet Sauvignon Grand Reserve) – This wine was very similar to the first one, almost no fruit niter on the nose nor on the pallet, definitely over its pick.

Segal (Unfiltered Cabernet Sauvignon) – This wine was the first in the bunch to show some character. The color was deep Bordeaux red with a significant amount of sediments as suitable for am unfiltered wine. The nose was of red fruit, generous tannins and combining with cherry. This one was also over the pick as well, however, unlike the first two wines this one had some fruit left in it – anyway don’t keep it any longer.

The Second Group

In this group we tasted the Yarden Merlot against the Yarden Merlot from Ortal Vineyard. Then we had the Yarden C.S vs. the Yarden C.S from Elrom Vineyard. the last one was Castel’s G.V.

Yarden (Merlot) – This was the first wine that was still alive. Ruby red in color. The nose dominated by red fruit. On the pallet firm tannins, raspberry and some cherry. Overall very nice and gave a nice competition to his sibling. ready for drinking.

Yarden (Merlot Odem Vineyard) – This wine was even more interesting, with cherry nose complimented by a bit of licorice. The wine showed medium to full body, and on the pallet velvet like feel, deep red fruit. Ready for drinking and might be good for a couple more years.

Yarden (Cabernet Sauvignon) – Royal Red in color. Generous cherry chocolate nose and full body. Full of ripe red fruit flavors, noticeable tannins and spice, with a long compelling finish. This one will be good for a little while longer.

Yarden (Cabernet Sauvignon Elrom Vineyard) – This one was a bit rounder then his sibling, with gentle tannins and a more velvet vanilla flavors. In my opinion don’t wait too long with this one.

Castel (Grand Vin) – The most noticeable thing about this wine, was its full body. This wine shows nice aging with ripe fruit acompanied by spicy choclate. This wine showed a long finish as well. Again don’t wait too long with this one.

The Third Group

This group contains only one wine – the Zauberman. Unlike any other wine we tasted in this event, this wine was on a place of its own. Diferent in both Aromas & Flavers and therefore could not be associated with the others.

Zauberman (Limited Edition) – Dark & Deep red with a nose almost spicy, strawberry and raspberry were also noticeable. On the pallet this was a fruit bomb (Some, those who did not appreciate the style, refferd to it as syrup). Chocolate, pepper, cranberries, raspberries and coffee were among the flavors that appeared in this wine. Some of the guys, more educated then me, referred to this wine as “Amarone” like. This one can enjoyed now or be put to sleep a few more years.

Conclusions

• Set aside the Zauberman, don’t wait with any of the wines, and enjoy them while you can.
• For me the star of this tasting was the Yarden C.S (Not the S.V rather the regular one), it is very nice to see an Israeli wine that holds nicely.