Tasting 3 wines by Or Haganuz Winery

Hello Folks! I did a small tasting this morning of 3 wines from Or Haganuz, a winery founded in 2005 in the Galilee at the Chassidic Breslav village of Or Haganuz, close to Har Meron. This winery is showing constent improvement as I've noticed at IsraWinExpo last February. This winery is especially popular among the Chareidi (generally speaking, those jews wearing the black hats and suits) crowd, as it carries the Badatz HaEda HaChareidit kashrut certification, recognized by most as the strictest of all. Their Kahor style dessert red wine, Har Sinai, is very popular.

I tasted 3 wines: Kerem Marom Hilel VeDan (Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz/Cabernet Franc) 2009, Har Glili 2011 (Chardonnay/Sauvignon Blanc) and Kerem Amuka Nevoria 2011. Honestly, to say that the labels of Or Haganuz are confusing would be an understatement!

Or Haganuz, Har Glili 2011: This an unoaked, off-dry blend of Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc (the exact proportions are unknown to me though). Very pale gold in color, medium-bodied with on the nose fresh ripe grapefruit and butterscotch, followed on the palate by lemon zest, green apples and again a hint of butterscotch on the moderately long finish. Not very complex but pleasant and refreshing, should be served chilled.

Or Haganuz, Kerem Marom Hilel VeDan 2009: A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Cabernet Franc. Very dark garnet with on the nose ripe plums and blackberries, on the palate plums, blackberries and freshly cut grass, a hint of dates and sweet cedar along with some earthy notes and a light peppery spiciness with almost chewy tannins on a very long mouth-filling finish. An interesting wine indeed with quite some complexity although lacking a tiny bit of acidity for me.

Or Haganuz, Kerem Amuka Nevoria 2011: This is an off-dry Rosé, salmon pink in color, on the nose ripe peaches and apricots along with strawberries, sweet peaches on the palate along with candied cherries as well as notes of honeysuckle leading to a long finish. This is not really the kind of stuff that I like but as Rogov z.l. used to quote Lincoln in such cases, people who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like... Don't ask me what are the varieties used for this wine as I've no idea. My guess would be Merlot and Syrah.

Best,

GG

I have visited the winery last week, and here is what I learned about the labels.
Dry red wine is produced in three series: Kerem Amuka, Kerem Marom, and Kerem Namura.
Kerem Amuka is the entry level series, and has three wines: Cabernet Sauvignon (plot Idra), Merlot (plot Zuta), and Shiraz (plot Marus).
Kerem Marom is an intermediate series, and has two wines: Cabernet Sauvignon (plot Shamai) and Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc/Shiraz blend (plots Hillel and Dan).
Kerem Namura is the flagship and has only one wine: Cabernet Sauvignon.
Besides, there are strange creations of Arkadi Papikian: Elima (Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc blend, no bisulfates) and Nitzan (Cabernet Sauvignon/Pomegranate blend).

Well..

I think it must get even more off the wall from here

Wines in states by Or Haganuz =

Dovev is entry and bottom with:

Cab Franc
Cab
Cab/Merlot
Syrah
Merlot
Chard
Rose
Semi Dry White blend
Semi Dry Red blend

Or Haganuz:

Amuka - Soft easy dry Rogov gave 86 and said would age a bit too
Safsufa - Little more complex nad touch of spice
Meron - Semi Sweet Cab/Merlot Blend like a baby sudo port thing.. many like yet not WOW just fun and good.

Namura:

Cab Franc: just won some good scores and awards.. I like this one a lot
Cab
Merlot
Mevushal Blend: people like this very much
Select: like a better version of the mevushal blend

Or Haganuz Select Reserve:
Cabernet Sauvignon

Har Sinai White: Aged Dessert White blend
Har Sinai Red: Aged Port/Ice style Rich full Red Sweet

Yeah they are all over the place yet has a great following

Dear Yehoshua,

I'm afraid that your list is a mix of old and new labels. For example, Marom vineyard (Kerem Marom) is located near Safsufa, so it looks very plausible that the current Kerem Marom wines are former Safsufa wines, etc.

In any case, all dry reds that they are producing today are listed in my post above. I borrowed from the winery a brochure describing the wines and the vineyards.

Alek-
They use different labels for different markets. It's so confusing. I was there over Pesach and it seems the NY rep has designed his own labels and France or England(cant remember) has their own too. This is getting way too complicated and I am afraid it will confuse the consumer.

I am afraid it will confuse the consumer.

Will it?!

Dear Yehoshua,

I'm afraid that your list is a mix of old and new labels. For example, Marom vineyard (Kerem Marom) is located near Safsufa, so it looks very plausible that the current Kerem Marom wines are former Safsufa wines, etc.

In any case, all dry reds that they are producing today are listed in my post above. I borrowed from the winery a brochure describing the wines and the vineyards.

Well hmmm

I am looking out at the shelves and this is what I see and all are the most recent vintages.
strange..ok..maybe different from what people see in Israel...ok .. Yet it is what it is.

In the USA the Safsufa or Amuka were the names of the blends in the same level.
Meron was also a blend in that same style of labeling.

Never saw the Israeli bottles

Glad to hear these exchanges. I thought that I was the only one that was confused. I just can't keep their wines and differences between them straight.

Any more TN comments other that Gabe's at the beginning and Yehoshuah's follow-up?

Dan