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 attention it required and opportunity to show itself at its best. During festivals, or winery visits RCC’s or other events where multiple wines are tasted in quick succession sometimes with food, sometimes without – the proper conditions are not present to fairly judge a wine. Too many wines often eventually overwhelm the palate, food often masks flaws,  an outdoor festival often means that wines are served at less than optimum temperatures. That all means that while I can form an opinion at what I am tasting, I just don’t feel comfortable making it 100% definitive. I have friends who have the ability to taste through 40 wines and still accurately grade – I am in awe. (This all reminds me that I have to finish a post on a massive blind tasting that I attended about a  month ago that i still haven’t had time to finish. Hopefully this week….)

In any event, Chanukah is here and like many I wanted a wine that would go well with latkes. In my family latkes are always served with apple sauce so I thought of varietals that would go well with the whole package – the oil, apples, salt and rustic earthiness of the potatoes.  Roussanne. Not sure why I never thought of it before. Right now Roussanne is having it’s time in the son. Never before have there been this many quality options. Netofa Tel Qasser is king of the heap right now  2 years running. Tavor Adama has provided a quality QPR option for years. Covenant Mensch is also nice, though a step behind. the other two. While last year’s inaugural  vintage was nice, the 2017 vintage was all around difficult white wise in Israel and Lueria’s other two 2017 releases I have tasted thus far are a mixed bag with the Unoaked Chardonnay a winner and the Pinot Grigio well ,not (both tasted at the aforementioned massive blind tasting) – so I wasn’t sure what to expect….