Posted at 22:20h in Wineries by David Rhodes 1 Comment
Wine and cheese. No pairing of food and beverage is as ubiquitous in the Western world. Whether in North or South America or along the Mediterranean, when we think of one we most often think about enjoying it with the other. As Shavuot nears in Israel, a holiday where the consumption of dairy products in place of meat is the custom, Israeli wineries traditionally release and promote their white wines to coincide with Shavuot as well as to quench the thirst for chilled beverages that the rapidly encroaching Israeli summer demands.
Teperberg 1870, Israel’s fourth largest winery, launched their summer wines recently at the Rothschild boutique hotel in Tel Aviv. With their staff decked out in white attire and tables placed in the hotel’s backyard patio, the stage was set for Teperberg to roll out their varied selection of summer friendly wines.
We were greeted with a flute of 2010 Teperberg Brut (49 NIS), a fairly recent addition to their stable of wines making Teperberg only the sixth Israeli winery to make a Brut Champagne/Cava style of wine (along with Carmel, Golan Heights, Tishbi, Tabor and Pelter). Made from 90% Chardonnay grapes, as most Blanc de Blanc Champagnes wines, it is bolstered with 10% French Colombard grapes which adds to the complexity and the crisp acidity one desires from a Brut sparkling wine. With notes of green apples and sour dough bread I can imagine having this wine with some feta cheese and a freshly diced Israeli salad with a mint vinaigrette dressing. At only 12% alcohol, it’s a lighter offering than Teperberg’s still whites though the bubbles help it also pair with heavier fare such the Salmon ceviche we were served.
Next we were poured the 2011 Teperberg Sauvignon Blanc from their Terra series (50 NIS), the winery’s 2nd tier and largest selection of wines. This Sauvignon Blanc offers the expected varietal aromas of freshly cut grass and citric zest that has made Sauvignon Blanc the most common alternative to Chardonnay worldwide. With its pronounced crispness and citric notes, it’s a great match for the plethora of white fish dishes available to Israeli diners though when I think of Sauvignon Blanc I often salivate over pairing it with sushi. The grassy herbal notes play well seaweed wrappings leaving the fish to marry well with the fruitier facets of grapefruit and kiwi. With 12.8% alcohol, it’s a medium weight white but still light in contrast to the mostly 14% and 15% Israeli reds dominating the marketplace.
Of course no line up of dry Israeli white wines would be deemed complete without a Chardonnay to try. Teperberg’s 2011 Chardonnay from their Silver series (40 NIS) is as expected a heavier wine than their Sauvignon Blanc, with 13.3% alcohol, and in contrast to their Sauv Blanc exhibits Chardonnay’s classic punch of Anjou pears and in this case I would say Golden Delicious apples. 5 months in oak also adds to the fuller mouth feel of this wine which was prevented from undergoing a secondary fermentation which is becoming more and more common in Israeli Chardonnay. Their 2009 Teperberg Chardonnay Reserve (55 NIS) is their more serious Chardonnay with 10 months of oak aging which also is a bit more rounded due to the additional aging with sur lie and the higher alcohol level of 13.8%. It’s their only Reserve white wine.
Even though their next wine, the Teperberg 2011 Gewurztraminer Terra is made in smaller quantities than most of their other offerings, currently only 10,000 bottles/year, from a winery that makes produces millions each vintage. It’s a wine making a big impact with consumers and the winery has been planting more in its vineyards to try to keep up with demand. As a semi-dry wine, and on the sweeter edge of semi-dry wines with 15 grams of sugar/liter, it’s a good match with its many of Israel’s spicier dishes. I can see someone who enjoys lots of wasabi or “spicy mayo” with their sushi enjoying a glass or three as they gobble down a spicy tuna roll or with more traditional fare a nice match with shawarma with hawaij or Moroccan fish with sweetly caramelized grilled peppers and onions. Sweet and spicy curried rice dishes also come to mind. With an intense aroma of white peaches, apricots and varietal specific lychee, Gewurztraminer is becoming a fan favorite at many tastings I’ve attended and no winery in Israel that makes a good example seems to have a problem selling this hard to pronounce yet easy to enjoy wine.
Another popular and easily accessible white is Teperberg’s 2010 Late Harvest Riesling (500ml. bottle). With 100 grams of sugar/liter and only 10.3 % alcohol it’s most certainly a dessert wine rather than a dining wine. Nothing wrong with that. Israeli wineries are more and more offering a better selection of dessert wines as their reputation for dry wine’s improve. This Riesling offers classic notes of pear, apple, peach and lime with well-integrated notes of petrol that Riesling suitors embrace and have to be patient enough to seek out as a Riesling ages. Two years have been enough for those seeds here to blossom in this wine which is sweet enough to be a dessert on its own or be paired with possibly an almond croissant, creme brulee or peach melba. Also for those who like cheese as a dessert course, very “Continental”, a syrupy white dessert wine is ideal. Think of dripping some farm sourced boutique honey on the cheese for the maximum payoff of sweet and savory sensations.
For a lighter dessert option or as a possible aperitif is the “frizzante” 2011 Teperberg Moscato White (35 NIS) (they also make a Moscato Red sourced from Red Muscat grapes). Sourced from aromatic Muscat Alexdroni white grapes, this lightly alcoholic wine is an easily quaffable wine with about the same alcohol, 5.6 %, as many beers and as one of their least expensive wines is popular with younger consumers who might otherwise buy an imported sparkling Lambrusco. With 80 grams of sugar, it’s not a shy wine but its bubbles help off set the sweetness and it’s a bit less sweet than some other Israeli Moscato’s sporting closer to 100 grams/liter. Think of this wine as a great wine to pair with schnitzel or even falafel.
Teperberg also rolled out two more wines for the summer of 2012. The (35 NIS )2011 Teperberg Rose made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. A very light salmon hued rose with only 12% alcohol is a pleasant offering for backyard barbecues or a day at the beach. At only 35 NIS/bottle it’s about 1/2 the price of many boutique roses so you can drink it with reckless abandonment. Not a wine with a lot of depth, and at that price I had no such expectations, it still engendered the pleasing sensation of ripe berries smothered in heavy cream.
Just to show summer isn’t the exclusive venue for white wines (and sales would definitely confirm that they it is not) we tasted the 2011 Teperberg Sangiovese Silver (40 NIS) . A lighter Israeli red with only 13.4% alcohol, its a 40 NIS red that is easily perceived being sweet even if technically dry and if you wanted to slightly chill a red wine, this young fruity red displaying ripe sour cherries with a hint of violet aromas would pair well with pasta or pizza as its Italian roots might relish as well as grilled burgers, kebabs or sausages.
