While researching an article about which dry wines are suggested to match best with local fare like hummus and falafel (Sauvignon Blanc, Rosé and Pinot Noir wines by the way), I had a thought about trying something that wasn’t suggested by other sommeliers or chefs. One thing about food and wine pairings is that its a journey as much as a destination.
Most people make odd food and wine pairings if they were to be scrutinized by a wine professional. It’s typical for people to pair what wine they like with what food they like even though they may or might not be classic matches. I see it all the time at dinner tables when I’m a guest and there’s countless times when I offer to bring a bottle of wine, I’m requested to bring a red wine regardless of what’s being served.
Yet for some dishes not conventionally paired with wine I can go to great lengths to find a wine that others may have not considered. When I’ve asked many Israeli winemakers what wine they have with falafel or shwarma, I often get as a response: beer!
And truth be told, a cold beer on a hot Mediterranean afternoon or evening is a refreshing accompaniment to many local ethnic dishes but there are other alternatives if you want to mix it up as well.
There are all sorts of reasons why Sauvignon Blanc, Rosés and Pinot Noirs go well with hummus and falafel and I plan to revisit that in a later article but if you like your pita spicy hot, as I do, another alternative is Moscato. Moscato is most often a slightly fizzy (Italians say “frizzante”) sweet bubbly from white Moscato Bianco grapes and it’s most famous example is Moscato d’Asti from Northwest Italy.
By strict wine classifications, it’s considered a dessert wine because it has over 45 grams of sugar per liter registering typically about 100 grams of sugar in contrast to dry wines that have up to 4 grams per liter of sugar or semi-dry wines that have up to 12 grams per liter. It is perceptibly sweet but consider that many dessert wines often have 200 to 450 grams per liter and its on the lower end of sweetness in that category.
I make this distinction because more often than not I have witnessed more people drinking Moscato with their meals than as part of dessert (though I can think of many great dessert pairings). When you compare it to dry wines, Moscato is off the charts with over 25 times as much sugar but if you compare it to another popular pairing with fast food its fares fairly well. Coca Cola which is sold at almost every falafel stand and shop I’ve been to in Israel contains 106 grams of sugar per liter so Moscato is right in that same ballpark and as a result of having so much residual sugar that wasn’t fermented into alcohol it has only about 6% alcohol comparable to another popular choice at these stands: beer.
Given that it’s the conventional pairing to match spicy food with sweeter lower alcohol wines, I think many people will find Moscato a good match the next time they load up a pita with falafel, hummus, tahina and their favorite toppings. I tried it recently with a bottle of 2012 Villa Giovanni Moscato (86 points, kosher) which is similar to the more commonly known frizzante but made “spumante” (fully bubbly similar in pressure to Champagne and Spanish Cava). It’s effervescence and acidity made it seemingly a bit more main meal friendly than many frizzante style alternatives though some frizzantes I’ve tasted were more expressive. Still at only NIS 39 or about $11 at Derech Hayine (The Wine Route) stores across Israel, its a nice wine to accompany Asian cuisine (like spicy curry or sushi with wasabi), salads with fruit or shwarma or falafel in a pita.
2010 Villa Giovanni Moscato (kosher)
If you’re the kind of consumer who likes to support Israel wineries over other alternatives then you might want to try offerings from Carmel, the Golan Heights Winery, Teperberg, Tabor or Dalton that use Muscat Alexandria or Muscat Canelli grapes. Sparkling wines aren’t typically made by boutique wineries in Israel (with the exception of Pelter who make a spectacular dry Blanc de Blanc) but the local frizzante Moscato are typically available for NIS 40 or 3/100 and I only wish their sales people would get some bottles into falafel stands for consumers to try.
Recently I attended a symposium where it was discussed how to get Israelis drinking more wine. So here’s one of my suggestions. I hope one of the five Israeli producers (or even one of the many importers of Italian Moscato ) I mentioned, pick up the gauntlet.
It sparked a revolution in Israel’s winemaking industry. Now the Golan Heights Winery is celebrating three decades of award-winning wine.
The founding of the Golan Winery in 1983 was a major factor in the transformation of Israel’s wine industry from sweet, insipid wines to award winning.
Check out ISRAEL21c’s video about the Golan Heights Winery.
Another day, another winery. It at least it feels that way sometimes. But not all of Israel’s hundreds of wineries are created equal. So its nice when there’s a new one on my radar for all of the right reasons.
Producing 18,000 bottles of their own wine and being relatively new to the industry, the Maor Winery has been located along the western base of the Golan Heights along the shores of the Sea of Galilee (the Kinneret) since moving there in 2007. So when Danny Maor descended from Kibbutz Ein Gev to Tel Aviv recently, it’s no surprise it was the first time I got a chance to talk to him about his wines.
Marinado & Maor winemaker Danny Maor
Danny, a veteran helicopter pilot who served in the IDF, comes to Tel Aviv quite often (about three times a week) as a pilot (his “day job”) shuttling locals in jets between Tel Aviv and Eilat. On this occasion he was helping promote four wines he makes for the Marinado butcher’s market and eatery which has both a kosher and non-kosher butcher’s market/eatery at Kibbutz Ein Gev and at the generally more accessable location of 56 Ahad Ha’Am in downtown Tel Aviv (near Allenby and Rothschild) and one door down from the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. 
Succulent Lamb Lollipop at Marinado Meat Market
The four wines,three single varietals and blend account for 7,000 bottles (4,000 of the blend and 1,000 each of the single varietals) and are a private label only available at the Marinado’s locations in Tel Aviv and Ein Gev. The 2011 Kerem Marinado Merlot NIS 79 (88 points) is the lightest of the three wines. Young tannins give the wine a little bite and 14% alcohol make this wine far lighter than many other Golan Height Merlots which can typically give local Cabernet Sauvignons a run for their money as big and brawny wines. Yet this Merlot is more reminiscent of some California boutique Merlot I recall. It’s food friendly acidity and light to medium body might not be the ideal wine for solo quaffing yet its tannins seem fitting for matching with fatty meats such as succulent sausages or even a fried onion garnished burger. Like all the wines in this series, the Merlot comes from Marinado’s own 10 dunams of vineyards in the Golan Heights renown Tel Phares appellation adjacent to 14 dunams owned by Maor and 1/2 kilometer from the Tel Phares vineyards put on the map by the Golan Heights Winery on their single vineyard premium Yarden Syrah. This Merlot exhibits dark plums, some dark chocolate notes and some espresso and made think I needed to seek out some Mexican molé sauce if any exists in this time zone.
Kerem Marinado’s four 2011 wines
The 2011 Kerem Marinado Cabernet Sauvignon NIS 79 (89 points) exhibits varietal specific notes of cassis and forest berries yet has some pleasant perfume fragrances accented with dark cherries and a silky creamy mouthfeel. Once again, this series shows its a better match for most connoisseurs who might want a nice pairing wine than the wine being the star but for a nice serving of entrecote, its a great supporting player. Aged for 10 months in French oak barrels (50% new oak), none of the wines are overoaked and are better food matches than many rivals by different wineries whose wines often loom closer to 15% than this series’ 14% alcohol standard.
Most rewarding from me from the four wines tasted was the 2011 Kerem Marinado “Marinado” NIS 79 (90 points) an about equal blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah (what I often refer to as an “Australian-style” blend). If you follow my writing, you might recall I’m not typically a huge fan of such blends. Typically, the Cab and Syrah (or Shiraz) seem to fight each other for primacy more than complement each other in the glass. But, this more elegant example seems to be better balanced than most and makes me optimistic that I’ll find more examples I’ll appreciate in the future. Cassis, dark and red plums, a lace of spices and cocoa powder with a sweet lingering finish of black raspberry sorbet displayed a bit more character than the other three wines and was for me the one I’d drink on its own although it paired quite well with some grilled lamb lollipops (a pairing I could have endured consuming forever).
Last, but not least, was the 2011 Kerem Marinado Syrah NIS 89 (89 points). This wine was a close second for me to Marinado blend but I have such high expectations for Syrah from the Golan Heights that it didn’t quite live up to my hopes for the “star” of the series and I would have put the blend as the star over this Syrah. But with Danny now managing the vineyards of Marinado (as of five months ago) I hope to see improvements here the most in 2013 vintages and beyond. This wine might entice fans of Northern rhone Syrahs with its strong bramble and black pepper notes but its raspberry notes were playing second fiddle to savory earthiness that possibly might be rectified (if they so desire) in the vineyard or at the winery. Even some bleeding so the intensity of the wine matches the weight might be in order but it fell short of many other Golan Syrahs I could get lost in. For the record, a few other’s I tasted this with enjoyed this the most of four wines (and I can understand why but still not agree).
Whichever wine you might enjoy of this series from Marinado, if you want to try some you’ll have to stop by at either their Tel Aviv or Ein Gev locations. Let them grill you some of their butchered fare to enjoy right there or take home some of their savory carnivorous delicacies for your own BBQ. Their Tel Aviv butcher’s market and grill (non-kosher) is open from 9am to 8PM Sunday through Thursdays and Fridays 8AM to 4PM with their Ein Gev locations (one kosher and one non-kosher) open most nights until 10PM. Now that I’ve tried what Danny Maor can do with someone’s else’s grapes under a private label, I now look forward to what he’s been putting out under his own name, from his own Tel Phares grapes, in the near future.
David Rhodes, a California trained sommelier living in Israel, has work and consulted for dozens of Israeli and American wineries and restaurants. David has written hundreds of articles about Israeli wines appearing in Israeli and international publications and websites and is frequently translated into Hebrew.
David can be reached at [email protected] or in Israel at 972-52-702-WINE (9463)
truth be told I enjoy smelling a good wine as much as drinking it
David Rhodes’ WIne Score Key
97-100 A+ 5 * Best of the Best, or One of the Best in Recent Memory
The kind of wine that opening creates a special occasion.
93-96 A 4 1/2 * Extraordinary, Great Example of What Israel does Right A Wine Worth Remembering & Drinking Again and Again
The kind of wine that’s ideal for special occasions.
