I have refrained from visiting wineries over the last couple of months out of necessity. Guidelines during this crazy period of time simply prevented most wineries from receiving visitors in person. Many if not most wineries were forced to adapt to the changing times and embraced some kind of direct to consumer delivery model to … Continue reading Netofa’s 2020 Lineup
Rosé
2 Sister Wines with the Same Bottom Line
For Shavuot I decided to splurge and try inaugural releases of two top tier rosés from sister wineries Golan Heights Winery and Galil Mountain Winery (GHW owns about 2/3 of GMW). Both of these rosés retail for about NIS 99 ($28 or so) and as such are among the most expensive Israeli rosés produced. Neither … Continue reading 2 Sister Wines with the Same Bottom Line
Seder 2020
Wine writing is something that I take pleasure in ordinarily. It allows me to crystallize my thoughts about whatever topic it is that I am writing about. If I happen to be writing about specific bottles, as opposed to a general topic, it actually helps me to commit the notes to memory - as well … Continue reading Seder 2020
RCC Israel # 34 – Tevet 5780
This month we scheduled RCC to be New Year's Eve and took the opportunity to ring in 2020 with an appropriate 20 wines. Chef on duty was Avi Katz, who did a nice job overall with the food. A couple of highlights there were the potato soup with crispy lamb bacon, which was excellent - … Continue reading RCC Israel # 34 – Tevet 5780
Netofa Winery Visit – April 2019
The slightly more relaxed pace of Chol Hamoed gives me the opportunity to catch up on a whole bunch of witting. One of the few wineries consistently putting out not only excellent wines but also providing excellent value is Netofa. Year after year Netofa appears on pretty much everyone's QPR list - and this year … Continue reading Netofa Winery Visit – April 2019
RCC Israel # 28 – Shevat 5779
Due to some very unfortunate family circumstances, I've been unable to post this past month and this month's RCC was put together at the last minute. For that reason I sort of decided to be super laid back. Uri who cooked solo this month did a Chinese Takeout theme which sort of meshed with the … Continue reading RCC Israel # 28 – Shevat 5779
RCC Israel # 27 – Tevet 5779
This was a really fun night with some interesting wines. Before we get there, a comment on the food. Uri cooked alone tonight - Bracha needed a break after doing one these dinners so recently. While some of the dishes were more rustic than usual - they were excellent and this was one of the … Continue reading RCC Israel # 27 – Tevet 5779
2017 Carmel 2 Vats Rosé
As any reader of this blog knows, I am a fan of most of Carmels' releases (outside of the Selected and Private Collection lines). I think they are usually well made and well priced - with some wines being outright QPR kings in their categories. Once such wine is the Carmel 4 Vats (a tasting … Continue reading 2017 Carmel 2 Vats Rosé
RCC Israel #21
This month Bracha cooked solo as Uri is off traveling with his lovely wife - and she did a wonderful job as usual. My favorite dish of the night was the corn gnocchi served on a puree of lamb bacon and greens topped with a sous vide egg - excellent stuff! My thanks to Andy … Continue reading RCC Israel #21
2017 Barkan Reserve Pink Muscat Rosé
After tasting the Barkan Beta Series Rosé I felt sort of hopeful that things were indeed in turnaround at Barkan which is currently the number 1 wine producer (sales wise) in Israel. Sure, conceptually I knew that the more established lines within the Barkan brand would need to take more minor shifts forward. Still, as Rosés typically … Continue reading 2017 Barkan Reserve Pink Muscat Rosé