Over the last few months, a number of friends have been talking to me about something that they describe as hopefully the beginning of a revolution here in Israel. Quality wine available at the supermarket – much like it is in every country in the world. The two wines that have been causing this commotion … Continue reading Israel’s Supermarket Revolution? Notes on 3 wines from Egoz-Muscat
Tasting Notes
Blind Tasting in August with a Focus on Beit El Winery
Just because I haven't been writing, it certainly doesn't mean I haven't been tasting. One of the more prolific episodes occurred near the end of August. A friend who is in the business asked if I would like to come by and blind taste a couple of wines that he was considering bringing into the … Continue reading Blind Tasting in August with a Focus on Beit El Winery
3 Wines from HaRoeh Winery
HaRoeh Winery is located on Moshav Kfar HaRoeh and is a stones through from both Vitkin and Recanati wineries just north of Netanya. It is run by winemaker Ehud Kave and is sort of at this point a large garagiste or ultra-boutique winery. The winery was started in 2010 an produced a single barrel of … Continue reading 3 Wines from HaRoeh Winery
Ya’acov Oryah 2019 Portfolio Tasting and a lot more
Note: Before I start, I just want to disclose that Ya'acov is a friend. While I don't believe that our friendship impacts my notes, I do want make sure that you kind readers have that information in hand when glancing through my scribbles. 2nd Note: Apologies in advance for the length of this post. I … Continue reading Ya’acov Oryah 2019 Portfolio Tasting and a lot more
2017 Vitkin Israeli Journey Red & Babi’s shloshim
This past month has been a little difficult personally. First and foremost, my grandmother Phoebe Davidowitz passed away. (While not at all wine related, out of respect for my grandmother you can find my hesped [eulogy] for her here). To top that off, 2 days before she died, my father while on his way to … Continue reading 2017 Vitkin Israeli Journey Red & Babi’s shloshim
2016 Petit Castel
Knowing that I would be tasting the 2016 Grand Vin on the following Sunday I decided it would be nice to spend some time with Castel's "second" wine this past shabbat, the 2016 Petit Castel. With few exceptions (I'm looking at you 2010 & 2015) , both the GV and PC are good to great … Continue reading 2016 Petit Castel
2017 Lueria Roussanne
It's been a really long time since I did a standard review formal review. That's not to say that I haven't shared my opinion on dozens of wines - but as readers know, I won't give a wine a grade unless I can spend some quality time with it alone and give it the requisite … Continue reading 2017 Lueria Roussanne
2017 Barkan Beta Series Riesling
This is the last of the Barkan Beta Series initial releases that I am tasting. You can find the previous installments here and here. I was really looking forward to this bottle as a friend of mine had already had it and liked it - in fact he liked it more than the other 2 … Continue reading 2017 Barkan Beta Series Riesling
2017 Psagot Cabernet Franc
As I've written before, when wineries change winemakers there is often an internal conflict between giving the winemaker free reign to make wines as he/she sees fit and creating a wine that fits in with the profile of previous vintages of the same bottle - especially when the previous vintages have been successful. Often times … Continue reading 2017 Psagot Cabernet Franc
2017 Barkan Beta Series Colombard
This is the second of the three new Barkan Beta Series releases that I am tasting. You can read more about the series and my notes on the Rose here. Going into this, I didn't know what to expect. My experience with Colombard is usually as part of Gewurtz based off-dry blends - I would … Continue reading 2017 Barkan Beta Series Colombard