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2021 Domaine de Montille
Right before Pesach, I had the opportunity to partake in a release event for the 2021 Domaine de Montille kosher burgundies. The event was a dinner held at The David Kempinski Hotel in Tel Aviv and was organized by their Israeli importer Shmuel Gottlieb of Geshem Spirits. Just a couple of words about Shmulik and Geshem. Shmuel has put together a boutique distributorship – picking up a number of interesting productions over the years – like the La Tour Blanche, which really didn’t have a home in Israel. He also until recently was distributing all of the M & M Italian wines as well as Cantina Giuliano. I know that the M & M stuff has stopped – not sure what the future is on the Cantina Giuliano – but he has also recently picked up the rights to distribute a good part of the IDS portfolio in Israel (which is really nice as the distribution of the IDS wines in Israel for the last few years has been “iffy” at best). So he keeps things interesting and at the highest quality – and quite frankly he is a great guy, a mensch, who is super service oriented. Kudos to him for putting this all together. The Chef at the David Kempinski is Mor Cohen, who used to be the Chef at Herbert Samuel in Hertzlia – so my expectations were high, and I was not disappointed. In fact, this was the most professionally run wine tasting I have been to in Israel. The staff and service were both excellent. The room was pristine. The food was understated, yet well prepared, with a menu designed to really let the wines be the star. This was not a pairing dinner with aged wines meant to highlight the food as much as the wines. This was a release event with food meant to accompany the wines in an unobtrusive yet elegant way. Trust me, if you have read my posts about Chef Cohen’s previous wine events at Herbert Samuel in support of Vitkin or Covenant, he is certainly more than capable of executing that kind of menu – but that wasn’t the point here. In any event, I have included some pictures of the food and menu so you can get a feel for what went on. Also, while we were gathering, Shmulik had the Bonnet Ponson champagne poured, which I had not had in a while, so that was an extra added treat.
An interesting fact I learned that evening – Honest Grapes did NOT commission the kosher de Montille wines. The kosher runs were actually initiated by the winery itself. Honest Grapes in the UK is an importer that both deals with a ton of burgundy (non-kosher) AND has a kosher line that they are involved in getting produced – and as such de Montille turned to them for help in creating a match between the winery and a kosher production team. Honest Grapes also then bought the entirety of the initial kosher production (2020) and likely contracted for a significant number of subsequent productions, but they are not the negociant here. I don’t know all of the specifics (nor do I care). And none of this is a negative comment on Honest Grapes, who are really wonderful folks doing a great and professional job. But it is nice to see that the winery itself was interested in producing these wines and are intimately involved in making sure that they live up to the standards of the winery. Now on to the wines.
The de Montille 2020 wines are a tough act to follow. That was, simply put, an OUTSTANDING vintage. 2021 was perhaps not as good as far as vintages were concerned overall – and – to make things more complicated, the Chagim fell out in a way that made it challenging to say the least to produce kosher wines in Burgundy. But I knew all of that going in and so my expectations were not through the roof, and overall I was rather pleased. Also, as it happened, I was able to taste two out of the three whites and the lower end red blind prior to this tasting. The red was exactly as my previous tasting. On the whites, the Bourgogne showed a touch better and the Monthelie a touch worse – but we are talking within a half point on both. I used the higher score in both cases here as I believe that reflects the potential. Here are my notes:
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Beaune, Blanc, Bourgogne, Domaine de Montille, Les Chalumeaux, Les Duresses, Les Grands Epenots, Les Perrieres, Monthelie, Nuits-Saint-Georges, Pommard, Premier Cru, Puligny-Montrachet, VolnayNo comments on 2021 Domaine de Montille -
The 2024 Kosher Rose season is open – along with a bonus – the 2017 Yarden Rose Brut!
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California Dreaming – 2021 through 2023 vintages are showing well
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Kosher Red Wine, Kosher Rose Wine, Kosher Sparkling Wine, Kosher White Wine, Kosher Wine, Wine, Wine Tasting, Winery VisitAh-Ha, Alex Rubin, American Oak, Blanc, Brilliance, Bro Deux, Brut, Brut Cuvee, Buttery, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chalk Hill, Chardonnay, Clone Six, Covenant Winery, Dry Creek, Dry Sherry, Family Vineyard Red Blend, French Barrel, French Oak, Grenache, Hajdu Wines, Lake County, Landsman, Marciano Estate, Mayacamas, melange, Merlot, Monetin, Mount Veeder, Nebbiolo, Oh!, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir, Prix Reserve, Proprietary Red, Quartet, Riesling, Rose, Sauvignon Blanc, Shadybrooks Estates, Shirah Winery, Syrah, Terra Gratia, The Cutting Edge, Twin Suns, Zinfandel -
Seder 2024
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Flam, Forest, Gofna, Gvaot, LBV, Matar, Mony Estate Winery, Netofa, Pinot Noir, Rose, Tale of Rose, Yatir -
RCC Israel #46 – Adar Bet 5784 – 50th Birthday Celebration
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12 years, Backoushe Winery, Bennet Valley, Bourgogne Hautes-CĂ´tes de Nuits, Brut, Carte D’Or, CĂ´te de Beaune Villages, Champagne Drappier, Chateau Rollan de By, Chateau Tour Seran, Covenant Winery, Domaine D’Ardhuy, Domaine du Castel, Dor, Elvi Wines, Expressions, Flam, grand vin, Hajdu, Herenza, Jean-Philippe Marchand, Landsman, Le Parc De Faye, Medoc, Napa Valley, Netofa, Noble, Old Musketeer, Pinot Noir, Reserva, Riesling, Rioja, Semillon, Sonoma, Tempranillo, The Tailor, Vitkin, Yaacov Oryah -
France – November 2023 – Part 4 – Hotel Wines
This post will (finally) wrap up my trip with my friend David Raccah of Kosher Wine Musings to France this past November. I have to say the most fun part of each of these trips is the time that we get to spend together when we are NOT at formal tastings with other people. Its hard to find someone (outside of your spouse) whom you can tolerate let alone enjoy this much one-on-one time. But we do manage to have a lot of fun together – and when we are tasting alone that fun really is amped up. No worries about offending the host with a comment about this wine or that. We just can be ourselves. Having said that, I have tried to keep these notes as professional as I can while still keeping within the spirit of the tasting and my writing and speaking style. I do hope I achieved a balance – though I know I was not always successful (I see I called one wine a dumpster fire, another putrid swill, etc). This year, due to the time constraints, we had less time to taste in the hotel than usual. In all there are 54 wines compared with the over 80 we tasted in the hotel last year. This resulted in sometimes more abbreviated notes than usual. That’s the cost of touring a little on day one (though I do think to an extent that’s always the case with the lower end hotel wines we taste)! Hopefully I’ll be able to make up for it by coming a second time this year for another very short trip.
For now here are my notes:
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Aimé Arnoux, Alavida, Alella, Alphonse Mellot, Blanc, Blaye Cotes de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, Bourgueil, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cantine Di Ora Amicale, Chateau Bois Cardon, Chateau Clement-Pichon, Chateau du Vieux Put, Chateau Haut Perdrias, Chateau Haut-Marbuzet, Chateau La Bessane, Chateau la Garricq, Chateau L’ Haur Du Chay, Chateau Massieu Boutet, Chateau Meilhan, Chateau Merigot, Chateau Olivier, Chateau Rocher Gardat, Chateau Serilhan, Chateau Tournebrise, Chateauneuf du Pape, Château de Marmorières, Chevalier De Marmorieres, Clos Mesorah, Condrieu, Corvina Oak Aged, Cote Rotie, Cotes de Bourg, Cotes Du Rhone, Cotes Du Rhone Villages, Crianza, Crozes Hermitage, Cuvee Noir, Domaine Aimé Arnoux, Domaine Bousquet, Domaine de Corps de Loup, Domaine La Martinelle, Elvi Wines, French Blend, Fusion, Gigondas, Grand Cru Classe, Haut de Grava, Haut-Medoc, Herenza, La Chambee, La Chenaie du Bourdieu, La Clape, La Colonne, La Moussiere, La Petite Metairie, Lalande de Pomerol, Languedoc, Le Lievre, Les Achenaux, Les Amandiers, Les Chaponeres, Les Palignons, Les Vin de Vienne, Limited Edition, Maison Arnoux et Fils, Malbec, Margaux, Marquis de Pez, Marquis de Saint-Estephe, Marquis Haut-Medoc, Medoc, Mendoza, Merlot, Montagne Saint-Emilion, Moulis en Medoc, Pavillon Du Vieux Chantre, Pessac-Leognan, Philippe Paine, Puisseguin-Saint-Emilion, Reserva, Reserve, Rioja, Rose, Rosso, Sancerre, Vacqueyras, Veneto, Vieux Clocher, Vignobles Vuillemin de Valois, Vin de France, Visan, White -
The best/top kosher wines for Passover 2024 in all price ranges
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France – November 2023 – Part 3 – Wines of Christophe Bardeau and Wine Symphony
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My short but meaningful trip to Israel
As stated in a previous post, I was in Israel, in early 2024. To state that things are different yet the same would be a simplification of reality. A quick, sad, yet real note, I had not been to Israel for almost 5 years, since Passover 2019. Crazy! Also, it marked a 10th anniversary, for me, and Israel, for my last meaningful trip, when again, Israel invaded Gaza, just crazy! Just read the last post (from 2014) and compare that to my takeaway post from my time in Israel for Passover in 2019.
I will not get into gloom or the such that I felt in 2014. That was indeed a very dark time for me, personally, in regards to my trip, at that time, for many reasons. This trip was sad, of course, but I thought it uplifting, given the state of the people I met. My hotels were filled with people who had to evacuate their homes, and the hallways felt like a building in Har Nof. I was perfectly fine with what was going on but I truly felt for those in these hotels. Breakfast felt more like a school cafeteria, with kids everywhere, packing lunches and the like. Just take a moment to think about what those people must feel like, what they must be going through! There was this lovely young girl whose birthday it was, one of the days I was in the hotel, she refused to have her party, in the hotel basement, because none of her friends or even family would be there. It really helps to open your eyes and realize how spoiled we all are.
The trip revolved around spending time with my family and my Rabbi and even that was limited, sadly. In the end, it was too short, it was too crazy, and I wish I had more time. Wineries and folks did reach out when they found out I was in town, and of course, I politely refused, given the already limited time I was going to be there and the people I wanted to spend time with. That said, I did carve two evenings to spend a few hours with my friends. One night I hung out with Avi Davidowitz and his family and one night I hung out with the French clan in Jerusalem. The evening with Avi and his family was lovely and the evening with the French guys was Tu B’Shvat.
We did do a large-ish blind tasting the second night, with the French guys, and I must say, the 2023 vintage for Israeli wine is horrible! There is no other way to say it, a total disaster. There are SOME okay wines, but they are the minority and the sad truth is that 2023 will be remembered as a horrible, sad, and depressing year for Israel, and the wine, at least so far, is not making up for it.
I was going to keep this short, so my many thanks to those who hosted me and the gang. I really need to thank Avi and his wife Michal and Joel and his wife Delphine for hosting me and the gang at Joel’s! Both evenings were lovely, and the food was awesome, sadly, I cannot say the same for the wine on the 2nd night. The evening with Avi and the wines were top-notch, minus a couple, listed here. The second evening was a blind tasting and man – was it painful! REALLY! All the 2023 wines were pretty much useless. There were a couple of Shmitta wines from 2022 and a couple of reds as well. Also, many thanks to Joel for taking the pictures!
The wine notes follow below, in order of tasting – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
The first evening – none tasted blind
2021 Vitkin Riesling, Judean Hills – Score: 88 (QPR: EVEN)The nose of this nice is nice with gooseberry, honeysuckle, flowers, and rich saline, flint, peach, and slate. The mouth of this light to medium-bodied wine is boring, lacking acidity, with some fruit, and essentially nothing to grab you. Next. (tasted January 2024) (in Jerusalem, Israel) (ABV = 11.5%)
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Israel, Israeli Wine, Kosher Dessert Wine, Kosher Red Wine, Kosher Rose Wine, Kosher White Wine, Kosher Wine, Wine, Wine TastingAdar, Barbera, Bat Shlomo, Black Sheep, Blanc, carignan, Chenin Blanc, Elviwines, Fura, Gvaot Winery, Israel, Kishor Winery, Lahat Wines, Laichter, Latour, Lavan, Loureiro, Lueria Winery, Matar Winery, Matzpen, Mourvedre, Netofa Winery, Or, Peer Winery, Recanati Winery, Red, Riesling, Rosado, Rose, Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc – Semillon, Solar das Boucas, Tel Qasser, Toursyr, Tzahov, Tzora Winery, Vineyard Dance, Viognier, Vitkin Winery, Young Vines -
Kosher Wine Tasting Week 2024 comes to a close – and it was a SMASHING SUCCESS!
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