Although many wineries benefit from having their own vineyards, it can be restrictive if there’s a particularly challenging year. Ultimately you need to use what grapes you got, sell them or take a loss. Many winemakers shop year to year for their grapes on the open market or depend on contracts with growers. That can present its own challenges but also its own rewards if the winemaker is discriminating enough and gets involved in the vineyards early enough to help the grower sculpt the future harvest towards producing grapes designed for the wine they had in mind.
One winemaker who has proven adept at shopping grapes from growers is Ido Lewinsohn. His family winery, the Lewinsohn WInery, located in his father’s garage, in Hod HaSharon, has been producing highly sought after wine since their 2007 vintage. In that short amount of time, the winery has already entered into its third stage of evolution of wines. Just as a sailboat is more maneuverable than an aircraft carrier, a small winery can more easily change direction than a larger winery. Ido is one of the few winemakers in Israel with the perspective of both helms as he also works on the three man winemaking team of the Recanati Winery which produces close to 1 million bottles/year about 100 times the size of what he and his father Amnon produce.
In their first vintage, Ido made two single varietal reds, a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Merlot and one single varietal white, Chardonnay. Ido felt a little confined by making single varietal wines which require at least 85% of the primary grape mentioned on the front label even though his wines were gaining a cult status by those few Tel Aviv sommeliers lucky enough to secure Lewinsohn wines for their restaurant’s wine lists.
Ido would change the labels and the brand so that each vintage he would produce one white and one red wine. The white would be Garage de Papa Blanc and the red Garage de Papa Rouge. This would allow Ido to experiment with different grape varietals and blends of different percentages while still promoting a brand customers could still easily identify. Even though his reds have changed year to year, his white has remained a Chardonnay each vintage and he has indicated no desire to change from Chardonnay as long as an adequate supply of quality grapes are available.
In the winery’s second evolution, the 2008 Rouge was still dominated by the Bordeaux varietal Merlot but showed hints of what was to come with significant contributions from Syrah and Petite Sirah. By their 2009 vintage, Ido had abandoned Cabernet and Merlot altogether for Lewinsohn’s third incarnation of reds relying primarily on “Mediterranean” varietals of Syrah, Petite Sirah and “Old Vine” Carignan. One reason for the change is based upon certain philosophies Ido has about making wine. Since I’ve been following, tasting and writing about his wines for a few years now its been edifying to see how it plays out in the wines.
Previously, Ido has stated that he prefers his wines to gain their aging potential through acidity rather than tannins. For dry white wines, other than oak aging a winemaker has no other viable choice than relying on acidity. But red wines typically rely more on tannins from the skins and are enhanced by one or more years in oak. Ido consciously was picking grapes earlier seeking higher acidity rather than waiting for higher ripeness, therefore more sugar and ultimately after fermentation alcohol. With Bordeaux varietals Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or Cabernet Franc however picking early often meant the wines also exhibited greener “vegetal” characteristics that are reminiscent of green pepper or green beans from higher concentrations of methoxypyrazine that would typically dissipate in riper more mature grapes. Since Ido wanted to continue to make lower alcoholic red wines with between 13 to 14% alcohol with higher acidity playing a role in aging as well as making the wine more food friendly even as a younger wine, a switch to grapes more suitable for earlier picking that wouldn’t exhibit “pyrazine” was inevitable when he wanted his wine more linked to a style than a particular varietal.
Additionally, both his red and white wines go through sur lie aging in the barrels which allows them to gain a fuller body and a more elegant mouth feel. In the Blanc, this allows Ido to bypass a secondary malolactic fermentation which preserves more fruitiness of the Chardonnay with green apples, pears, lime, kiwi, pomelo and melons shining through. In his reds, sur lie helps make his lower alcoholic wines also fuller bodied even at a younger age so that waiting for tannins to mellow and integrate isn’t as crucial as in more traditional red wines. With the switch in grapes, red plums from the dominating Merlot give way to more black and even blue fruits of blackberries, raspberries and blueberries.
At my most recent tasting at his family’s house adjacent to the “Garage de Papa”, I was there during the Lewinsohn’s annual VIP tasting for customers, writers and valued friends. You can often judge the quality of a wine by who shows up to taste it. In this case, Assaf Margalit, the heir and current winemaker of Israel’s first quality boutique winery, Margalit, launched in 1989 was present to enjoy his former intern’s wine. Ido had spent the summer of 2003 interning with Assaf and his father, “the wine professor,” Ya’ir Margalit who is currently on sabbatical in Napa. Additionally, Eran Pick of the notable Tzora Winery was in attendance and he and Assaf didn’t leave until each had ample samplings of Garage de Papa 2011 Blanc and 2008 and 2009 Rouge. Kobi Arviv, the newest winemaker at Recanati to join Ido and senior winemaker Gil Shatsberg, also came to show his respect and has ventured down a similar path as Ido launching a micro-winery Mia Luce also producing one red and one white each vintage.
Imitation is often the most sincere form of flattery yet flattery for Ido’s wines is coming in many different forms from more and more reputable sources. Although, I take great pride in that I was the first to write about his wines in English, I surely won’t be the last as more and more writers and connoisseurs are offered his wines and proclaim them to be examples of what great wines Israel’s most innovative winemakers are delivering.
For more information about obtaining Lewinsohn wines send e-mails to: [email protected]
The Blanc retails for 140 NIS and the Rouge 150 NIS
David Rhodes can be reached at: [email protected]
