Kosher Food and Drink

The Jewish holidays fall late this year which means four September weekends of beautiful weather and optimal time for getting together with friends.

We were lucky to join some close friends this weekend and as great as the wines were, the food was better. And as great as the food was, the friends were even better. So for those keeping score, wine ≤ food ≤ friends. But none of that is to shortchange the wines, which were varied and interesting.

Friday night we first opened the Shirah, Bro.Deux, 2021, the latest of the popular Bordeaux blend from the Weiss brothers of Shirah Wine Co. It’s always exciting to get the first taste of this staple wine cellar bottle. I always buy a few and then decide whether to double and triple down for aging. Don’t pay heed to those who pooh-pooh the aging potential of the Bro. In any case, I loved this new vintage. Far more elegant and French in its styling, the ’21 is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, and Petit Verdot from the vineyards of Pegasus (Cab) and Rancho Sisquoc (Malbec and PV) which are located in the Santa Maria and Santa Ynez Valleys, Santa Barbara County, Central Coast, California.

Malbec and Petit Verdot make a wonderful blend, with Malbec’s brightness up front balanced by Petit Verdot’s strong backbone. Cab adds its characteristic structure, big tannins, and depth. The trick here, as the winemakers say, is that “blending is the key.” I think the ’21 nailed it. Ripe cherry, blackberry, violet, herbal. Sweet oak, dill. Full body with bright acid and rounded tannins. Really enjoyed. Drink now, allowing to develop in glass over a long dinner until 2034. 14.6% ABV, non-mevushal.

Next we opened the Allegory, Reserve, Shartsis Vineyard, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2018. Right out of the gate you could tell this was special wine. I will write this up as a separate standalone piece, but the bottle was already in the picture, so upon writing this up, it needed to be mentioned. More on this in the near future. Stay tuned.

The Herzog, Forebearers, Zinfandel, 2019 was next up. The Forebearers line represents the first vineyard bought in the famed Napa Valley by the Herzog winery in 2018 after eight generations of winemaking. The original vineyard was planted in 1974 and was quite old at the time of its purchase, producing only super low yield harvests of Napa fruit. The Forebearers labels feature sketches of ancestors from the past three generations of the Herzog family. The Zinfandel boasts the image of Ernest Herzog, CEO of Herzog Winery before his untimely death at only 56. Ernest was the father of Joseph Herzog, who many know as the ebullient, charismatic face of Herzog operations in California.

The old vines will likely only produce the Forebearers 2018 and 2019 vintages. The wines were released as part of the Herzog wine club and retail for about $100. So quite pricey, but a nice story behind that wine. It will be very interesting to see what Herzog does with its Napa vineyards, as they have been buying up vineyards over the last decade in beginning to produce their own fruit.

There are few kosher Zinfandels on the market, so here we have a high end example. A funny story. When I sat for my WSET III exam, the Forebearers, Zin, 2018 was one of the wines we had to blind taste. I had never tasted it and honestly was not overly familiar with Zin to be able to decipher it exactly. I was a little thrown off by the bold ripeness and tannins, but essentially felt I should go with the tasting notes for a ripe, young Napa Cab. (My white wine was a dead giveaway from the moment it was poured in front of me: Goose Bay, Marlborough, Sauvignon Blanc.) Either way, my tasting note on the Zin was close enough to get me through. This 2019 is similarly big and ripe. 16.5% ABV is no misprint, the high sugar at harvest leads to these elevated numbers. Dark fruit on the nose: blackberry, plum, with pepper, earth, and wood. Concentrated full body, and dense dark fruit. A big wine lover’s delight. My suggestion on Zin is to cellar a minimum 4-5 years before enjoying. But do not sit much longer than that to enjoy in its optimal window.

To match the excellent smoked 2nd cut brisket, we opened the Les Vins de Vienne, Crozes-Hermitage, Les Chaponères, 2018 which hails from the vaunted home of Syrah, and the steep hills of the Northern Rhône, in southeast France, below Lyon, at the southern tip of Beaujolais. Crozes-Hermitage allows for more accessible land than its counterparts of Hermitage and Côte Rôtie. Crozes-Hermitage sits on the flatter land on the east bank of the Rhône river, which aids in warmth. It sports a moderate continental climate and the best vineyards face south to ripen the Syrah (and the about 10% of Roussanne and Marsanne). The common trellis system is the Échalas/teepee structures and stakes, which protect from the brutal Mistral wind. Échalas is french for “beanpole.”

Syrah is at home in this region, though this is its most northern limit due to the combination of the altitude and the Mistral.

The Les Vins de Vienne, Syrah, 2018 opens to classic notes of black fruits: blackberry, black cherry, plum, and fresh black pepper, white pepper, clove, chocolate, licorice, earth, smoke, and loads of game. Lovely. 14.5% ABV.

Bubbly is great for any course at any meal or at any time. Don’t save it for celebrations only! We decided to open this Champagne Barons de Rothschild, Brut, NV, as an apertif to accompany the post-dinner hour. This Champagne represents a 2005 “alliance between the three branches of the Rothschild Family – today represented by Baron Philippe Sereys de Rothschild (Château Mouton Rothschild), Baron Benjamin and his wife Ariane (Château Clarke – Groupe Edmond de Rothschild), Baron Eric and his daughter Saskia (Château Lafite Rothschild).” (https://www.mchapoutier.com.au/newsletter/) (Author’s note: Since this press release was written several years ago, Baron Benjamin passed away in 2021.)

Rothschild made the decision to only source the best possible grapes, including the Chardonnay used here from Cotes des Blancs, 80% of which are grand and premier cru sites. The Rothschild Brut is made mevushal. In the glass, focused bubbles, very citrusy, baker’s yeast, some green apple. Light. A touch of sweetness on the mid palate. Nice complexity, toasty, citrus backbone. Very nice and note that it is mevushal. 12% ABV.

Shabbos day brought warm temps and a change in the complexion of our wines.

Shirah has a history of focusing on Rhône varieties and recently produced its first varietal Marsanne, the Shirah, Santa Maria Valley, Laird Vineyard, Marsanne, 2022.

We again returned to a wine of Northern Rhône, where Marsanne thrives in the cooler climate. Marsanne is notable for its ability to produce age-worthy wines, and best known as a blending grape with Roussanne. Almost all of the world’s Marsanne (over 80%) is grown in France, though the grape shows great adaptability and is an easier grape to grow than Roussanne. Still, there’s not much Marsanne to be found in California. Marsanne ripens at relatively low sugar levels, which allow the finished wine to carry a lower ABV. Marsanne is heralded for the ability to show characteristic minerality from the soil it grows upon, so often is fermented in stainless steel tanks.

The Shirah Marsanne is sourced from the Laird Vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley, in Santa Barbara County, the same vineyard from which Shirah sourced its 2022 Albariño. The region is known for its Pinot and Chardonnay but is versatile. Harvested at 22.8 brix, fermented, and aged in two barrels with the remainder (which didn’t fill a barrel) in a neutral vessel. The wine was then blended and sterile-filtered, then aged for 7 months in used oak (Stockinger) to add some richness without the oakiness to the flavors. The wine did not go through malolactic in the barrel due to the acidity in the wine.

In the glass, medium to deep gold. Pronounced nose of youthful primary and secondary aromas of floral (major notes of honeysuckle, orange blossom, geranium), green fruit (quince, pear), citrus (orange, grapefruit), tropical fruit (papaya, melon), stone fruit (peach, nectarine), almond, some spice, flint, minerality, lanolin. The oak aging has provided depth of color and body, but also aromas of honeyed vanilla Greek yogurt. On the palate, dry, high, mouthwatering acidity (pH 3.55, ta 6.2 g/L, malic 3.9), a touch of tannin, medium-bodied, with loads of honey, Asian pear, tropical fruits and peach. There’s a warm and waxy mouthfeel which is balanced by the bright acidity. I think this wine has continued potential to develop. Drink now until 2030 (yep, 2030). 13.7% ABV, non-mevushal.

Ayala (Four Gates), Santa Cruz, Chardonnay, 2020: Ayala is the name legendary Four Gates winemaker Benyamin Cantz has given wines in which he does not use estate grapes. In the 2012 vintage, two deer got mistakenly trapped inside the Four Gates vineyard after Benyo repaired the boundary fence, and destroyed -among other plantings- the famed Chardonnay. He then named these offerings made from non-estate grapes “Ayala,” Hebrew for deer, in their honor.

The Ayala Chard, 2020 is far too oaky for my taste. I honestly couldn’t get past it, even with several hours of air, when some more fruit was apparent. A rare miss for me. It could be that the bottle needs a few years for the oak to integrate more fully. But I also found it flabby, with rounded acidity. It should also be said that I don’t generally care for oaked Chardonnay in the first place. 14.5% ABV, non-mevushal.

Sitting poolside on a warm Shabbos afternoon was the perfect spot for the Yaffo, Judean Hills, Pét-Nat, Chardonnay, 2023.

Pétillant Naturel (Pét-Nat for short) is an ancient method of producing sparkling wine which has gained new popularity recently. While seemingly trendy, Pét-Nat is also “méthode ancestrale,” or the ancestral method, its origin dating to a 1500s Benedictine monk who noticed fermentation occurring in sealed bottles of wine, and thus the name Pétillant Naturel, or “naturally bubbling.”

The method was repopularized in the Loire Valley in the early 1990s. Pét-Nat excludes the secondary fermentation of Champagne, and thus there is no added sugar or yeast (dosage). Many winemakers tend to the organic or biodynamic methodology of natural winemaking, using natural yeast and limiting sulfur, and the wine finishes its single fermentation in the bottle, trapping the more gentle bubbles (pressure in the bottle is usually 2.5-3 bar, relative to the 5-6 of Champagne) and often producing a cloudy (un)finished product. The ABV tends to be lower as well. Because of the lower pressure in the wine, you will find Pét-Nat bottled with a crown cork found otherwise found on beer bottles. Pét-Nat will usually have remaining sediment from the dead yeast cells, which only adds to the funky character of the flavor.

The Yaffo Pét-Nat is made with 90% Chardonnay and 10% Sauvignon Blanc (many Pét-Nat are made with aromatic grapes). I loved it. My thought is that if you tend to like aromatic sours, cider, or other fermented drinks, you will be more inclined to this style, such as I am. The wine was tropical (guava), with loads of citrus, brioche, vanilla, and tart tree fruit. I hope Pét-Nat keeps growing in popularity in Israel. 12% ABV, non-mevushal.

Not pictured: We tasted the Shiloh, Rosé, 2023, which I did not enjoy. Funny, considering I really liked the barrel sample I tasted in the winery in February. May have been a time/place issue (on either side).

Wishing everyone, and particularly those who made it this far, a productive and enjoyable week ahead.