I have tried to visit Elvi a few times over the years – always combining it with work travel – but it has never worked out. Each time I was in Spain for work, the Cohen family was not available. So when in the course of planning this year’s trips with my friend David Raccah (of kosherwinemusing.com) Elvi came up as a possibility, I was thrilled – and thankfully the timing worked out for all involved.

I have written about Elvi before – so no reason to review the history here. I do want to provide a couple of updates about exciting things happening there though. First – the wineries are expanding. And yes, I said wineries. Why? Because for each of the regions that Elvi produces in, they produce in a winery on the estate. So for instance, even though they are only about five minutes from each other, Elvi maintains two separate wineries – one for EL26 (Priorat) and one for Clos Mesorah (Monsant). Herenza is made on estate in Rioja, which I unfortunately did not get a chance to visit this time around – but next time for sure! Let’s start with EL26 – the vineyards there have been greatly expanded and will include in the near future a forest vineyard – where, rather than clearing a forest and planting a vineyard, a section of the forest was left intact, and the vineyard will be planted within. In addition, the physical winery itself, named “La Saltadora,” is massive and encompasses a beautiful tasting room as well as a wine bar – all of which should formally launch in January or February of 2025. With the vineyard growth there is talk of finally letting the “EL line expand – both ways – perhaps and “EL24” – for everyday drinking and an “EL52” as an even more premium label (think Clos Mesorah Sublim but for the El line) – but this is all very preliminary. On the Clos Mesorah side, they have bought out their neighbors’ vineyards and have been able to replant. I would say the vineyards are at least four times as large as they were originally. Some of this fruit is just coming online now, though it is not all ready just yet. But this is why you can see the expansion of the Clos Mesorah line – first with the Grenaxta and continuing with a new Sublim release and also on the other side of the spectrum for this year will be the new Siblings label – more on that below. In any event, the point is that there are big things happening in terms of the vineyards and wineries themselves.

The second big update is on the personnel level. When I first got know the Elvi brand (wow – looking back, I think that was about 2012 or so in Israel) Moises was the face of the brand. Now while Moises was very involved in the vineyards with vineyard management and the whole biodynamic philosophy that Elvi adopted, what I came to learn was that he was NOT the winemaker, but rather his wife Ana was. Ana though rarely travelled and so until now I had a never had the pleasure of meeting her – but she is fascinating! She is wholly self-taught. (The Cohen’s purchased the estate as an outgrowth of Moises’ consulting work with various wineries in Spain. Ana then decided to teach herself winemaking in hopes of producing some wine for the family (as the Clos Mesorah’s label states – it was originally designated as the family wine….) And from there, things just took off. So I have to say it was an honor and a pleasure meeting Ana and sharing her wines and food. Just a stellar experience. But the update is in the next generation. As many of us who follow Elvi know, Moises and Ana’s son David has taken on the role that Moises filled previously and is now the public facing persona of the brand. You can find David promoting the wines and brands in every major kosher market and a big part of the current growth and success of the winery is due to his active involvement. The only downside is that I get to see Moises much less than I did a decade ago. But the news is on the other side of the business. Moises and Ana’s daughter Leah has moved into the assistant winemaker role at the winery. This is after having completed her Bachelor’s degree in Oenology & Viticulture at Universitat Rovira i Virgili (the first University in Spain to offer a full degree program in Oenology!), her Masters from the  University of Rioja in  Wine Technology, Management & Innovation, doing internships  in each local that the family produces (Rioja, La Mancha, Alella, Montsant, and Priorat) in addition to Santa Rita winery in the Maipo Valley, Chile and an internship at Chateau Mont Redon in Chateauneuf du Pape, Côte du Rhone! On top of that, she sits on the regional tasting panel of both Monsant and Priorat (all of that and she is only 23!) – super impressive! When you think about it, the second generation really completes the skillset required to manage a modern winery. While Moises brought the vineyard management and farming techniques side with him, Ana then moved the circle further by bringing the most important element of winemaking. David then brought in the required business knowledge to grow the business, and Leah now brings in the technical know how from a winemaking perspective to take on the massive growth, while keeping the quality at the level that the Elvi clientele have come to expect from their established brands and expanding those brands with new wines targeted at different segments. And as mentioned, there are a LOT of new wines in the pipeline. All in all, it’s a very exciting time at Elvi.

Before I move on to the wines, I really do have to take a second to describe our stay. First, and anyone who has met them even for a short time will agree, the Cohen family is just awesome. Each and every member. The sweetest most generous people you could dream of. They opened their winery and their home to us for a couple of days and couldn’t have been more gracious. David and I had lunch with Moises prior to touring the grounds and then again with the family after the tasting, which lasted until close to midnight. Really, just super warm and friendly with excellent food and even better conversation. The only downside was that David was in the US, so we missed him – but Ana, Moises and Leah were all just great. The wineries themselves are stunning, both the Clos Mesorah winery with its beautiful and one-of-a-kind barrel room, as well as the new La Saltadora, which is shaping up to be something absolutely stunning – being built with incredible attention to detail. Of course we can’t not talk about the vineyards themselves. It is clear that these are Moises’ pride and joy. Such care has gone into maintaining these vineyards and replanting the new ones – it’s hard to really put into words without actually being there. But take my word – and what you can tell from the picture – the vineyards and the wineries are absolutely stunning. It’s simply criminal for a lover of kosher wine to be in Spain and not try to arrange a visit. The amount of labor (and capital) and love required to put that all together is immense – but the payoff is in the product. And speaking of that….

Let’s get to the wines. Usually when tasting wines at a winery, the winemaker guides the tasting and presents them from lightest to fullest body – or lowest quality to highest, or grouped by variety, etc. While presenting the wines Ana had a very specific journey she wanted to take through, and so I will list them here in the order they were served: