This year, life does not permit me to go on a full KFWE tour. Besides KFWE London conflicting with day one of Sommelier here in Israel, and KFWE Paris (Bokobsa really) conflicting with the second day of Sommelier, I need to be in NY the week after KFWE, which effectively rules out the rest of KFWE NY & LA. Luckily, between my trip to France a few months ago and Sommelier, I should pretty much get to taste through everything I would have at the other KFWE’s except for the Herzog Cali wines, which I will have to figure out. But, back to KFWE-TA….

As I have written over the last few years, while KFWE-TA does not get the international love from visiting oenophiles that London, NY, LA, or even Miami do, the TA show is REALLY well done. The venue at the north end of Tel Aviv Port is beautiful, the food is plentiful and well-made, and the wines are poured without reservation. The only downsides to this show in relation to the others is that there is NO VIP room with back vintages and better food and for some of the wines, older vintages are being offered in Israel than they are in NY or LA. These things really cancel each other out in a way – tasting top-end wines that are a couple of years older allows checking on their progress – plus they are just a touch more ready. I had no problem drinking the stellar 2016 Herzog Chalk Hill or Alexander Valley or the 2014 Pavillion de Leoville Poyferre or 2015 Chevalier de Lascombes or Chateau Lascombes. All great wines – and all showing even better than previously with that extra passage of time. So while I am sure there are newer vintages being shown at the other events, we didn’t exactly suffer.

The food stations were basically the same as last year with Meat & Wine the clear star, serving fall off the bone ribs (honorable mention to Skyline, who kept on switching up the dishes they were serving every hour or so). If there is one thing foodwise that needs changing, it’s the desserts that are eh. There was also a cocktail station. At the end of the night, I enjoy a nice cocktail; the drinks are inventive for the most part and a nice way to end the evening.

Now on to the wines. There was a LOT of wine. Most of the wines that were shown I have already tasted and written about. The most relevant post in this context would be from my recent trip to France, where I tasted through almost all of the current releases coming from Royal Europe, or last year’s KFWE posts, which covered the rest of the Herzog Cali wines that were shown – or my most recent RCC post, which featured the current upper-tiered Elvi Wines that were poured. In this post, I’ll stick to a couple of new wines that I haven’t written about at all – or in their final form.