Miami Wine Tasting round up and recap

Hi All,
In last post Elie Polterak asked about miami wine tasting which David Raccah posted (thanks!)

Where credit is due - Thank you to The River fine wines Ami Nahari, Harken Spirits James Jimnez.. for the wines, presentation, planing etc.. Thank you to AI Natrual and Kosher for the incredible cheese, Shakolad for the Chocolate and Extravaganza for the desert.. event was held and benefited Chabad Chayil founded by the late Rabbi David Bryn..

Wines tasted were:

Gush Etzion

Blessed Valley
Lone Oak Cabernet Franc
Lone Oak Syrah Reserve
Lone Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve
Lone Oak Sauvignon Blanc

The Cab franc as I mentioned is a full deal.. it hits you at the aroma, the first taste is full body and flavored and the after taste leaves nothing to be desired.. maybe a bit too strong.

The Syrah left me wanting a bit, the aroma was there but the first taste made me feel like it wasent strong enough.. ironically im drinking a day old bottle now that tastes better

Cabarnet sav was a smooth affair and not a usual cab sav drinker i enjoyed this

sav blanc.. we re-tasted this a few hours ago.. its not the muscati d'asti im flooded with.. not a white wine drinker we were surprised by the complexity and richness of this one

We tasted 2 har bracha bottles which I admit I did not get around to but will open a bottle for shabbat

Kadesh barnea.. what to say ? young wines.. and AMAZING.. true I like gush etzion more, but these wines were a shock, a friend told me "it tastes better than the gran vin du castel we had last shabbat"

Desert red & negev are extraordinary blends

I brought the leftover cab sav and merlot to my local shull and after maariv to the astonishment of some friends we had a non official wine tasting.. merlot was light and smooth!

Cheese, Natrual and kosher amazed me.. we had brie, munster, colby jack, chedar and many more.. a lot of my friends that dont keep cholov yisrael or kosher were amazed at the quality..

So, Miami's time to grow up has arrived.. I have attended wine tastings in ny, la and israel... I always felt miami deserved a turn...

Look forward to making more of these.. and hosting you folks... next up to taste ? well i'm hoping amongst others to cater Ferency, Ben porat, kinor david, hakerem and more

Kadesh barnea.. what to say ? young wines.. and AMAZING.. true I like gush etzion more, but these wines were a shock, a friend told me "it tastes better than the gran vin du castel we had last shabbat"

Now I've seen it all...

Kadesh barnea.. what to say ? young wines.. and AMAZING.. true I like gush etzion more, but these wines were a shock, a friend told me "it tastes better than the gran vin du castel we had last shabbat"

Now I've seen it all...

Was that in jest ?

Well, I must say that I'd have never pictured reading about these 2 wines in the same sentence...

Well, I must say that I'd have never pictured reading about these 2 wines in the same sentence...

My friend that drank it was hardly a wine expert, the blends are similar and who knows?

I for one think castel is a bit too much

Do you mean overrated? Expensive? That's always subjective man, not much can be done about it. There are some vintages of Petit Castel that I'm not crazy about and most the bottles of their 2009 Chardonnay were affected by reduction. Castel is now in many ways a luxury brand in the kosher wine world and having one of their wines on the table might also be used by some people to exhibit what can be considered as a status symbol. I know that as a fact with many people asking to offer a bottle of Castel as they believe it will impress their hosts/guests more than a better wine in a less luxurious bottle. But unlike clothing, cars or watches, the same high standards of quality cannot be always guaranteed when that comes to wine as it's subjected to some factors that are not in man's control. As opposed to say Chateau d'Yquem which is owned by the humongous luxury group LVMH, I'm afraid that Castel can't afford not to release one of their wines in a "bad" vintage.

Shabbat Shalom,

GG

Kadesh Barnea is shocking the people I know, gave a bottle of cab sav and desert red to a friend, when i told him the under 20$ price he was floored.. told me it was much better than expensive wines 40+

I like castel, I like yatir... i liked them off the bat without knowing the rogov scores etc.. i liked shirah immensely when I tasted it in LA.. these are good wines but im, not sure if they can justify the prices.. i need to make more $ or movve back to israel