March 7th, 2010
Ahhh…Israeli wines. A combination of two things I most cherish (along with my wife & family of course) in this world; Israel & wine.
Working in the wine industry has afforded me many opportunities to taste wines. In recent years however it has also prevented me from participating in wine events (such as the Gotham Kosher wine Extravaganza) in the role of wine writer as I had in previous years. As such there may be wines I will write about strictly on how I remember them (probably previous vintages) or based recommendation from respected friends. And further, there may be wines that I omit, as negative feelings following a break up (professional) prevents me from speaking nicely about an Ex.
Many of my favorite Israeli wines Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Israel Wine, Israeli Wine, kosher for passover wine, Passover wine
Posted in Israel Wine, wine - kosher | 2 Comments »
March 4th, 2010
I’ve been writing this blog for about 2 1/2 years now. And the most popular post I’ve written was the Best Bet Kosher Israeli wines for Passover post in March of 2008. since that post I’ve gained 2 years of wine wisdom and there are many new kosher wines on the market. So with Passover a short 25 days away, I thought what better time to update this most popular of posts.
Though the Zionist in me is partial to Israeli wines, the reality is that there are some sub-par Israeli wines and some excellent wines being produced in other regions of the world. So we’ll expand this version to include the best kosher wines from throughout the world.
Lets start in Argentina, where Baron Benjamin Rothschild is producing Malbec under the Flechas de Los Andes label. There is a non-kosher version of this wine that is very popular and can be found in stores all over. The kosher version ($25-30) was made in much smaller quantities and is Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: kosher for Passover, kosher wine, Passover wine
Posted in wine - kosher | Comment »
February 24th, 2010
OK, I have slacked of late. Based on my blog stats it seems I slacked SO much that I have even lost some readers. I hope you will forgive me and come back for my uber compelling wine prose. I’m full of excuses. It is my busy season (50% of kosher wine is sold in the 4-8 weeks leading up to Passover). I’ve been traveling all over the place – I’m actually writing this from Logan International Airport in Boston (my flight is delayed or I would not have even had a chance to write it). And about 20 minutes into a post this past Sunday night, my computer was taken over by a nasty virus that my fabulous IT guy has not been able to fix (yet – I hope).
But you don’t want excuses. You want action. The latest wine related story of interest relates to FAKE PINOT NOIR. Huh? What is fake Pinot Noir? When I was working in Napa winemakers told me about “hiding” merlot in their Cabernet, but here it seems bulk wine producers were actually trying to pass off a merlot (blended it seems with Syrah) AS ACTUAL Pinot Noir.
The wine in question is E&J Gallo’s “Red Bicyclette”.
Apparently Gallo paid these 8 growers & bulk wine producers from the Southern France Languedoc region in excess of 7 million Euro for said fake wine. On the bulk level that amounts to…well, a lot of cheap wine. Oh, and this scam had apparently been going on for over 2 years. So if you had this wine – you might have been PINOT-ed!
Whether it is fake expensive Bordeaux, fake Brunello or fake Georges Duboeuf wine, it seems pulling the wool over unsuspecting wine drinkers is easy enough. Apparently testing wine to determine exactly what it is can be difficult, costly & inaccurate.
This makes me think more and more that if you tell consumers that a wine is highly rated or very expensive that they will (as has been scientifically proven) believe that it is a good wine. I’m not saying you can give a regular wine drinker crappy wine and expect him to believe it is a first growth Bordeaux. But I do believe that it is further proof that the line between a very good and what some call “great” wines is a very thin line indeed.
Happy who knows what the heck you are drinking wine tasting!
WTG
Tags: E&J Gallo, fake pinot noir, kosher wine, Red Bicyclette
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February 11th, 2010
A quick news story to report. University of California Davis has released the results of a story that says beer is good for your bones!
An analysis of 100 commercial varieties found that beer is a good source of dietary silicon, which is important for bone health and could help prevent diseases like osteoporosis.
“Beers containing high levels of malted barley and hops are richest in silicon,” said Charles Bamforth, the lead researcher.
“Choose the beer you enjoy. Drink it in moderation. It is contributing silicon (and more) to your good health,” Bamforth added.
Happy healthy Beer chugging!
WTG
Tags: Beer, UC Davis
Posted in Beer | Comment »
February 5th, 2010
My posts have been increasingly inconsistent of late as my new job has me working night and day representing amazing wines and helping to plan fabulous events.
This past week saw it all come together with the culmination of the 4th annual “Kosher Restaurant & Wine Experience” on Feb 1 in NYC & the 3rd annual “International Food & Wine Festival” on Feb 3rd in Oxnard, CA.
I helped out with a bit of the planning for the NYC event and have been ecstatic to hear all the positive feedback (with a dash of criticism thrown in of course).
And while I had little (OK, nothing) to do with the planning of the West Coast event, I was privileged to represent Israeli standout wineries Carmel & Yatir – whose wines also received rave reviews from the attendees.
Though high priced items such as the Yatir “Forest” attracted lots of attention, having spent MANY hours (on my feet) pouring the Carmel/Yatir wines I found that people were pleasantly surprised by the resurgence of Carmel and the new “Private Collection” (new label & no longer mevushal/flash pasteurized) & “Appellation” series wines. Though the Appellation Carignan & Petite Sirah (both old vines incidentally) have been cult favorites for years among Israeli wine lovers, other Appellation wines such as the 2007 Cab Franc (in NY) or the 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz (in CA) were also very positively received.
Though my wife makes fun of my food critiquing, I am far from a food critic (can you say Food Tasting Guy?). Yet I managed to sneak away from my post at the CA show a few times and marveled at the culinary genius of Tierra Sur Chef Todd Aaron’s creative and delectable cuisine. It was so good I reserved a precious spot to go back for dinner prior to my return flight to NY early next week. Now if I can only figure out a way to get the company to cover the tab…
Happy mind blowing-ly good KOSHER food & wine tasting!
WTG
Tags: Carmel, Kosher Restaurant & Wine Experience, KRWE, Tierra Sur restaurant, Yatir
Posted in Israel Wine, wine - kosher | Comment »
January 31st, 2010
We live at a time when there is lots of good wine on the market. Modern technology and competition have respectively both enabled and forced wineries to make wines of high quality. Even the cheap (budget) wines out there are drinkable. But what about those are just plain bad? As a wine writer and aspiring wine V-logger how do I handle the issue of reviewing a bad wine? How do the PAID wine critics face themselves after announcing to their readers that someone’s hard work is crap?
For the most part, I have tried to follow the old adage; “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”. If I thought a wine was bad, I would simply say NOTHING. Don’t write about it. And even if I thought a wine was mediocre, I might write the positives about the wine, and skip the mediocre parts. But does this hurt my credibility? Can I be taken seriously if I only have nice things to say? What of the controversial wine panning? Dare I potentially burn bridges out there? Will I piss people off if I say that I think their wine sucks?
An argument can be made for both sides. But I think the reality is that I can not play both sides of the fence. And things have gotten even murkier…I am now working within the industry for an importer/manufacturer/producer of wine. Even if I managed to somehow remain unbiased, I think my employer would be pretty pissed if I had anything bad to say about their wines. And they would have every right to feel the way they did.
Moving forward, as I figure out how to VLOG (uploading & editing video can’t be THAT hard, can it?), I will start regularly popping corks (twisting caps) on bottles that have been sent to me over the past few months. Though I am sure these people aren’t gonna thank me if I have less than complimentary things to say, it will be hard to hide my expression on video. So I guess that will keep things REAL.
And as to the wines I work with, well, I’ll try to include a disclosure of sorts as the industry is attempting to move to greater transparency & I believe I must play by the rules if I want to maintain professional credibility.
On an only somewhat related note, I would be remiss if I did not mention a big event taking place tomorrow night. I have helped out a bit in the planning of this event. It is the big KOSHER RESTAURANT & WINE EXPERIENCE. This is the 4th year this annual event is taking place. This year there will be about 20 food purveyors to go along with the 40+ wineries. The response has been tremendous. Looks like another sellout. Shoot me a message and introduce yourself if you will be there. We’ll have a drink…on me;)
Happy Wine Critic free wine tasting!
WTG
Tags: bad wine, KRWE, VLOG, wine critic, wine review
Posted in Uncategorized, Wine critiquing | Comment »
January 19th, 2010
I’m preparing to fly to KC to lead a wine tasting in a few days. But not before I head to Boston to do a wine training. I was recently asked my opinion about a wine by the CEO of a multi-million dollar wine importer. And today I was asked to be a contributing writer to a well regarded wine website. SO WHO THE HECK AM I???… Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 100 point wine, confessions of a wine blogger, wine palate
Posted in Wine STUFF, Wine critiquing | 1 Comment »
January 10th, 2010
This article was originally written for Gourmetkoshercooking.com…ENJOY!
Winter/Soup wines
It has been a cold winter of late in the Northeast and given the option I’d like to spend every evening curled up in front of the fireplace with a steaming hot bowl of rich hearty soup. Give me an “everything soup” – start with the chicken & herbs and simply throw everything you can imagine in – ahh, the best. Now you want to have a nice glass of wine in front of your fireplace with the aforementioned bowl of soup, but which wine to choose?
Pairing wine with soup can be a challenge for wine lovers; with the overpowering nature of a rich soup and the similar liquidy texture between the two. The first rule, as always, is to drink whatever wine you like. But if you want to work a little outside the box you can turn to some underappreciated wines; sparkling & fortified.
When considering sparkling wine the associations are automatically champagne & celebratory events. I’d encourage you to consider trying a sparkling wine any time and turning to those made outside of the Champagne region of France (similar to champagne but legally not allowed to be called “Champagne”), such as Cava from Spain, Prosecco from Italy, or simply sparkling wine made in places such as Israel or California. When done right, the texture of the little bubbles in a sparkling wine combined with its bracing dry acidity make sparkling wines “food neutral” – as in they compliment ANYTHING. Looking to the “old world” you can seek out the French Blanc de Blanc by Herzog, the slightly sweet Bartenura Brut Prosecco from Italy or the bone dry ELVI “Adar” Brut Cava from Spain.
Another option for fireplace sipping, also unheralded, is “Port”, a fortified wine from Portugal. Often sweet and generally fortified with a neutral grape spirit such as grappa or brandy, this wine screams warm slippers & fireplace sipper. The fortification of the wine leads to a higher alcohol level than regular table wines. And said heavier alcohol makes for a similar textural contrast as the aforementioned sparkling wines – making for a heart warming combination with soup. Try the Porto Cordovero from Portugal or Israel’s Vintage Port made by Carmel.
It’s cold outside but these underappreciated wine styles paired with that steamy bowl of soup and a crackling fireplace can ensure that you are nice and warm inside.
Happy Cold weather soup sipping and alternative wine tasting!
WTG
Tags: bartenura prosecco, carmel port, Elvi adar brut, herzog blanc de blanc, port, porto cordovero, Sparkling wine
Posted in Wine STUFF | 2 Comments »
January 5th, 2010
Wine people may often be heard saying that wine starts in the vineyard. While this may seem obvious, what is less obvious is the feeling many wine folks say – that a bad winemaker can still make good wine with good grapes although a good winemaker generally can not make a great wine with bad grapes.
Vines must stay alive from year to year as they only give off fruit once a year, in the late summer & fall – harvest time. The vines do not give much fruit the first 3 years and many winemakers don’t bother using the fruit from the first 3 years anyway. And as vines age they tend to produce better grapes for winemaking. The fruit becomes richer as an aging vine produces less fruit. And as the roots go deeper the fruit is said to gain complexities. But how is one to keep a vine alive when the elements take hold and frost sets in?
Well, pre-freeze the vines of course…
…OK, so this was something I had trouble wrapping my head around when I first heard it. But the theory (or I guess science) is quite interesting. The vines are sprayed with water just before a frost. This water then freezes, and encapsulates the vines in a protective ICE shell – keeping it safe and protecting it from the harsh environment.
I bring this up today NOT because I’m looking to play Mr. Wizard, not because it is FREEZING in NYC and not because I have ice-wine on my mind. But rather because I read an article about a problem Russian River (Sonoma, CA) growers may be facing. The water used to spray the vines and create that protective ice shell comes from local streams. These streams are home to salmon. And there is a concern that the salmon numbers are dropping as a result of lower water levels. This has led to the possibility that farmers may lose the ability to spray their vines and vineyards may be severely damaged.
Not sure how this is all going to play out, but I do hope that the vines & salmon are all saved. Hey, can’t we all get along…
Happy Salmon & wine tasting!
WTG
Tags: frozen vines
Posted in Oenology & Viticulture | 1 Comment »
December 29th, 2009
Shooting for a little subliminal New Years humor as we prepare to POP THE CORKS of bubbly or whatever alcoholic beverage you will be imbibing in this New Years.
This picture was taken while enjoying some special wines with good friends while on a business trip in Israel. Although the differences may appear to be small, it is amazing how long that cork on the right is. Though the most interesting (albeit somewhat oxidized) wine of the night was this one…
But back to corks for a quick second, these extra long corks are used so that they can absorb a LOT of wine during bottle aging and still maintain a proper seal & prevent oxidation. Though I wonder how long it would take that long cork on the right to get fully soaked & for any seepage to take place…
Remember folks, it is not the size of the ship…
Happy NEW YEARS wine tasting!
WTG
Tags: cork, seepage
Posted in Wine STUFF | Comment »
