This past week saw Benyamin and I going to Los Angeles to visit the Herzog Winery’s showcase event of the year. The winery threw this event last year, and it was a major success. This year I arrived a bit earlier for the press tasting and stayed on for the public one as well. I was able to spend far more time with the three wine makers that were there this year. I spent some time with Goose Bay’s Philip Jones – Managing Director & Senior Winemaker who is the founder of the winery. I asked him how the relationship occurred between Goose Bay and Royal Wines. He explained that he had always wanted to make kosher wine – but was not in the right place and time to make that happen, until a few years ago when he contacted Royal and things just popped into place. Listening to him talk about Ph, excess acidity, malolactic fermentation, etc. really gave me an appreciation for the decisions that wine makers need to make when crafting a wine. The myriad of minute issues that pop-up are mind boggling and the stress of not really knowing what the outcome will be, can only but exasperate the issues. I want to thank Phil for taking the time to explain his wines to me and for making the event that much more special. I also had the luck to talk with Joe Hurliman and to ask him a few questions about the event and the lineup of wines that Herzog was presenting from their own winery. Of course the coming out party was for the new flagship wine from the To Kalon vineyard, but there were far more wines from Herzog that were on display and many were quite nice. I saw Eli Ben Zaken walking about and spent some time with him around the French wine table.
I arrived at 3 PM and started tasting the French wines. This year they had more verticals than they had last year, but they also had fewer French wines that were top notch than last year. Also, a few of the bottles on the French table and many more around the whole event were oxidized or corked. Either way, about 6 to 9 bottles overall had to be pulled, or were not right, which is a shame. The French wines that were not oxidized were also not knockouts. That is except for the usual French suspects of — Pontet Canet and Chateau Guiraud Sauternes. The stars of last year were either no shows or DOA.
- Yatir was a no show
- Segal was a no show
- Castel C was there, but the 2003 vintage, which is not available. Kind of makes you wonder what they thought about the 2006 vintage, if they did not want to bring it.
- Chateau Smith-Haut-Lafitte Pessac-Leognan was a no show
- Francois Labet Puligny-Montrachet 2002 – which was last year’s star, was oxidized.
- The Meursault Premeir Cru – was also oxidized or corked.
- Carmel and all of their wonderful single vineyard and appellation wines were a no show
- Finally, the 2005 Capcanes Peraj Ha’abib, Flor de Primavera tasted fine but was oxidized on the nose to the point of not being able to enjoy it. Same goes for the Binyamina Ruby Syrah – which was a major hit the last time I tasted it.
With all the misses, there were a ton of hits including the awesome food made by Todd Aarons, chef of the winery’s Tierra Sur Restaurant. The food was incredible, from pulled duck Gnocchi, to lamb bacon, to chicken mole. You name it, it was there. Essentially, the menu of the Tierra Sur restaurant was open to the guests – which was quite a treat.
So I want to thank the winery for being such gracious hosts and putting on a fabulous show. The wines were wonderful, and the food was to die for. The wine notes follow below:
2003 Chateau Leoville Poyferre Saint Julien – Score: A The nose on this garnet to black colored wine is huge with blackberry, cassis, cranberry, eucalyptus, and cloves. The mouth on this full bodied and crazy bold black wine is mouth coating with sticky tannin. The mouth starts with blackberry, cassis, figs, and anise. The mid palate is boldly tannic, with oak and coffee. The finish is long and astonishing with balance of oak, coffee, chocolate, and more tannin. This wine continues to impress and is a dense black wine with complex layers of black fruit, tannin, coffee, and chocolate. Impressive, but still too tannic.
2002 Chateau Leoville Poyferre Saint Julien – Score: B The nose on this dark garnet colored wine is hot to start but that blows off after a few hours, along with cassis, cranberry, oak, and allspice. The mouth of this full bodied wine is tannic with cranberry and cassis. The mid palate is acidic, oaky, and tannic. The finish is long with a heady mix of tannin, core acidity, and a nice balance of rich oak. A nice wine, but one I think that is either sleeping now or again a bad bottle.
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