Wine for Passover 2017
Our Seder at Home
Tasted April 15, 2017 - April 16, 2017 by Loren Sonkin with 406 views
Introduction
This past week we held a Seder at our home. This is the cultural dinner that is part of Passover. As always, we attempt to invite neighbors but also people who have never experienced Passover before. There were ten but at the last minute our daughter surprised us by coming home from college to join us. We are not super religious but we do try to follow the rules for the most part. For the last 25 years we use a Hagadah (the prayer book) called A Seder in 20 Easy steps. Works for us. It was a great evening as we celebrated the holiday, told stories, had lots of laughs and too much food.
We are vegetarians so the Seder food was all vegetarian. The Kosher wines were perhaps not as good as we hoped for. There are some good ones, but we tried some new ones this year. Still, they were good enough to drink and that didn't deter any of the enjoyment.
Flight 1 - Sparkling wine (2 notes)
Technically, not part of the Seder. While waiting for everyone to show up (from Strongsville, Bay Village, and down the street) and for Alee to surprise us, we had some roasted almonds and Kosher Sparkling wines.
White - Sparkling
2009 Golan Heights Winery Yarden Blanc de Blancs
Israel, Galilee, Golan Heights
Why is was this night different from all other nights? Because on other nights, i would have dumped this out, but on this night, my options were limited as I wanted to drink (mostly) Kosher for Passover wines. Light golden in color. A lot of froth, the cork popped loudly despite my best efforts. Bubbles were medium sized. The nose is a soapy with some minerality. On the palate there is sour green apples. Typically that would mean acidity in a wine, but not here. Its not terrible, but just barely drinkable. It certainly was not sucked down by the 10 of us and it got no "oooh, this is good comments". $27
White - Sparkling
N.V. Backsberg Brut
South Africa, Coastal Region, Paarl
This was at the local grocery store. $20 marked down to $7. Why not? It wasn't bad. Certainly the best South African Kosher Sparkling wine I have ever had. Light gold in color. A fair amount of medium bubbles.
The nose has a nice minerality. Slight melon note. On the palate, this is slightly sweet. Decent acidity. OK finish. Certainly at $7, it competes with Cava or Prosecco in that range.
Flight 2 - The Seder wine (1 note)
This was used during the Seder to bless the wine and commemorate the 10 plagues.
Red
2013 Flam Syrah Reserve
Israel, Galilee
Used for our Passover Seder. It seems a bit better than last year. Very solid Syrah. Purple in color. The nose has black raspberries, slight black pepper. some roasted meats, and some spice. On the palate, this has nice black cherry and black raspberry fruit. A slight bitterness in a good way. Good mouthfeel. Nice finish. $37, this is a very good Syrah. In style, it comes across as middle of the road. Happy to drink this anytime.
Flight 3 - White Flight (1 note)
With Homemade Matzoh Ball Soup, "Mock" Liver and Israeli Chopped Salad
White
2014 Tulip Winery White Tulip
Israel, Galilee, Upper Galilee
Light green gold in color. This is a blend of Gewrztraminer and Sauvignon Blanc. At the least, one would expect an aromatic nose. Nope. The nose has some steely notes. Bit of minerals. We opened two bottles that were consistent. Just no life to this.Not Mevushal but perhaps heavily filtered?
The palate matches the nose. Just no there there. Some minerals. Decent mouthfeel although flabby. Its drinkable but that's about it. $21.
Flight 4 - Red Flight (1 note)
With Cauliflower Schnitzel, Spinach and Onion Quiche and Vegetarian Tzimmes (kind of a mixture of Sweet potatoes, potatoes, apples, pineapple and other stuff cooked for a long time).
Red
2014 Tulip Winery Syrah Reserve
Israel, Galilee, Upper Galilee
A bit better than the white. $35. No where near the quality of the Flam though. Purple/ruby in color. The nose has some roasted fruit notes. A bit of a pepperyness. On the palate, medium bodied. Black cherry fruit. Slightly bitter. Decent acidity. Drinkable but disappointing.
Flight 5 - Dessert (1 note)
With Flourless Chocolate Tort, and Macaroons.
Red
2010 SonkinCellars Persona
USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara County
I know this is not Kosher for Passover, but we really enjoy being able to share our wines on holidays especially with non-geeks and people who have never tried it before. We are comfortable with that but understand some might not be. Our apologies. I hadn't had a 2010 in quite some time. They were shut down hard last time. I popped the corks at 8:00 am and we drank at about 9:00 pm. Deep purple in color. The nose is open showing black raspberries, white pepper, slight smoke and roasted meats. On the palate, this is drinking well with this much air. Still young and not at peak though. Maybe a late teenager? Lots of juicy black raspberry fruit. Slight blueberries. Some earthiness. Nice finish. Honestly, it my biased opinion it seemed great but that was also after some disappointing Kosher wines. :-) Anyway, I would still hold these, drink the 11's and the 9's or maybe the 12's.
Flight 6 - And a final glass (1 note)
As we opened the door for Elijah, finished up the prayers, this made for nice sipping.
Red - Fortified
2013 Teperberg Essence kosher
Israel
This is a fortified "Port" styled wine from Israel. No idea of the grapes used. Deep ruby in color. The nose has dark cherries, slight liqueur note with just a bit of craisins. On the palate, this is sweet, not cloying. Viscous. Noticeable alcohol but not outrageous. Nice finish. The kind of wine that grows on you as your throat numbs up a bit. $32 it was a nice way to end our seder.
Closing
Thanks to all for joining us. Next year in Jerusalem?
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