In the end, the winner of the BEST kosher wine of 2017 goes to the 2015 Chateau Leoville Poyferre, and it deserves the crown – bravo!! Overall, the night was fine, it was just not at the level I had hoped for. Pinterest. The finish is long, green, and tobacco-laden, with leather, chocolate, tar, and rich roasted herbs. So, why did EL26 win? It’s, you know, it’s not a survivor like Cabernet, which can just grow anywhere and thrive even when it’s neglected. A job opportunity brought me to California and here I am, living my American Dream in this blessed part of America. New Zealand, has really taken the lead in bringing the grape into the 21st century. First of all OMG are you kidding me!!!!! It is truly great to see the kosher wine world opening up to white wines of variety and complexity, and not just another Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc. For Passover seders, with those four cups to fill, the NV Four Gates Pinot Noir might be the choice to pair with brisket or roast chicken, or to speed you happily through the evening. You just need to click 4 at any point during the boss. The finish is long, sweet, spicy, cloves, cinnamon, and toast. Finally, some of these wines are hard to find and they may have different siblings – but they are worth the effort. The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here: This one was a no-brainer to me. In the end, as you watch that horrible movie, you quickly realize that Miles was simply projecting in a fire fueled rambling and using Pinot Noir as his conduit. I have enjoyed the 1996 and 1997 versions of Benyamin’s wines and it is because of his care and control that he has for his vineyard. However, over the past year, those have been covered, and they were a serious letdown. That said, the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes he receives from the Monte Bello Ridge shows the same care and love in the wines we have enjoyed since 2009. Drink from 2020 till 2030. Back to the glory days and I have stocked up and sadly, it will sell out quickly, if it is not already sold out! The finish is long, green, yet ripe, with great control and precision, with lovely graphite, more roasted meat, scraping minerality, saline, rich smoking tobacco, and smoke, lots of char and smoke. Drink now! Drink from 2026 until 2036. This year we have the 2016 Syrah and the 2016 Petit Sirah, along with the classics. Please enjoy this bit of respite as we wish you a happy, healthy and safe Pesach/Passover! 2015 Herzog Chardonnay, Reserve, Russian River. Also, in terms of score, it did not beat out the Von Hovel Rieslings of 2014 or the 2014 Tour Blanche Sauternes, or the 2015 Chateau Giscours, or the 2014 Chateau Smith Haute Lafitte. The Brobdingnagian was slightly riper and fruit-forward than the Four Gates, but both were quite enjoyable, with the Four Gates taking home the medal. Drink until 2021. As you all know, I am a huge fan of Four Gates Winery, and yes he is a dear friend. Wines / Spirits / Beers / Food / Games. The supreme bounty comes from the fact that Royal released the 2018 French wines a bit early! The 2013 Eccelenza, Bianco Umbria is a unique wine, one that was made in very small quantity and is a super QPR wine. Lovely nose of ripe melon, lovely lemon curd, with green and yellow apple, and spice galore. As you all know, I am a huge fan of Four Gates Winery, and yes he is a dear friend. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Cabernet Franc is a black-skinned French wine grape variety grown in most wine producing nations. Sadly, Pinot Noir to me is one of those wines that is so badly mangled in the kosher wine world, that it is no shock that most kosher oenophiles, turn face when u say Pinot Noir. In my little time spent with him Benyomin this afternoon there is truly so much I can write about .  Alas, it is time to get back to the family.  But I want to say that Benyomin is an amazing man for whom i wish fabulous things.  Making only about 400 cases in a remote area in the beautiful Santa Cruz mountains, he is living out a fantasy of mine.  He works with no distributors and his wines can just about ONLY be bought by calling him.  So should you desire an upscale (yet not absurdly priced), well made, organic, kosher California wine – Four Gates is a great bet (if he has any left for you)! There were a few exceptions, and they were all Chardonnays, but to me, the winner in that story (dry white wine that was not a German Riesling), was the 2015 Herzog Chardonnay, Reserve, Russian River. The finish is short, green, and sweet, with good acidity, but the finish and the overly sweet notes take this down a bit for me. By Joshua E. London and Lou Marmon. I was asked to wait on my post until after the sale of the wines this year. Drink until 2024. You have a 2014 Four Gates Pinot Noir, an NV Four Gates Cabernet Franc (a blend of the 2014 & 2015 vintages), the 2013 Four Gates Merlot, La Rochelle, the 2013 Four Gates Cabernet Sauvignon, Monte Bello Ridge, Betchart Vineyard, and the 2013 Four Gates Frere Robaire. Overall, many of the French Champagnes that we have in kosher have been drink-now wines. Drink until 2022. This past Purim, Benyamin Cantz from Four Gates wine swung by the home with other guys from the shul, and we tasted a few older wines. VIEW GATES… The other wines, that he creates from other sources, are sometimes wonderful, like the 2010 Four Gates Syrah that I tasted recently, and I would have sworn it was a Rhone wine, crazy minerality, acid, and backbone, with fruit NOT taking center stage, though ever so evident, the way is meant to be! Gates Services. It may be the QPR wine of the year or sometimes it will be a wine that so distinguished itself for other reasons. Almost every container is trapped as well. It has been stated that great wine starts in the vineyard, and when it comes to Four gates wine, it is so true. Bravo!!! BRAVO! This wine is purple in color and now fully integrated and perfectly balanced and mouth coating with black and red fresh fruit! To pair with his 2010 Four Gates Petit Verdot, I opened a 2010 Brognagian Petit Verdot, a wine made by Jonathan Hajdu, the first Petit Verdot he made, just like the Four Gates was also Benyo’s first Petit Verdot in 2010. Happy kosher, organic, California, hand made wine tasting! The finish is long, green, with passionfruit, more citrus, hay, lemongrass, and floral notes lingering long. Wine of the year goes to a wine that distinguished itself in ways that are beyond the normal. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is not overly extracted, but it is well extracted, with good mouth and fruit texture, with incredible acid, good fruit focus, showing dark cherry, plum, ripe and tart raspberry, strawberry, oak, vanilla, and garrigue, with green notes, and lovely mouth-draping tannin. drink NOW!!!! Now Four Gates Winery is one of the few cult wineries in the kosher wine world that releases wines every year. very close to what we tasted from the barrel, WOW, how this wine changed from when we tasted it in the barrel, Four Gates Winery’s January 2018 new releases, this post of Four Gates – that truly describes the lore of Four Gates Winery, The start of 2020 roses and whites and six QPR WINNERS, Two more 2018 French wines with a perennial QPR WINNER. Tags: Ayala, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Four Gates Winery, Frere Robaire, La Rochelle, Merlot, MPSZ, Pinot Noir. N.V. Four Gates Ayala Santa Clara Valley Red Bordeaux Blend. That said, the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes he receives from the Monte Bello Ridge shows the same care and love in the wines we have enjoyed since 2009. This wine is pure heaven, dirt, smoke, roasted animal, saline, mineral, juicy tart red, and blue fruit, with incredible precision and fruit focus – Bravo!The nose on this wine is pure fun, showing tart red fruit, incredible fresh loam, and dirt, hints of mushroom, licorice, roasted animal, a whiff of oak, sage, rosemary, with dirt, and green notes. I have posted about two large tastings with friends at Four Gates where we enjoyed some well-aged wines, here in 2014 and then again in 2015. I did the cellophane wrap trick and it mostly worked. Throw in the incredible number of kosher European wines that are coming to the USA and being sold in Europe and this was truly a year of bounty for European kosher wines. As I stated in that article, Four Gates has been blessed with land and climate that gives Benyamin Cantz grapes that are dripping with acid and terroir. Bravo!! The finish is long and earthy, with foliage, green notes, anise, earth, leather, rich sweet milk chocolate, mushroom, and loads of forest floor. The mouth on this medium+ bodied wine is layered and rich with lovely mouth coating tannin, followed by concentration of black fruit, dark cherry, cranberry, lovely green notes, sweet herb, and garrigue, with barnyard notes, all rising with sweet oak and tannin. Of course, it includes the 2014 Mourvedre, which is also being released a single varietal under the Ayala label. Episode 6: Benyamin Cantz of Four Gates Winery, Santa Cruz, CA - In this episode, we are interviewing a person who, at least for the kosher wine drinker, needs no introduction. The mouth is medium bodied with rich extraction, rich currant, red fruit, with dirt in the background, wrapped in rich and searcing tannin mouthfeel, with roasted herb, and rich tobacco that is backed by elegance and control, blackberry, plum, that gives way to dark chocolate epic control, foliage, and oregano that lingers long with graphite, pencil shavings, and rich leather. The finish is long, green, with loads of more tobacco, plum, and rich mineral, graphite, and hints of barnyard under the foliage and forest floor! Nice Drink until 2025. Bravo!! The wine is GREAT, but for 70+ dollars, not worth it. Wines from "Four Gates" (157 wines) 1 - 50 of 157 Sort order. The notes speak for themselves. As stated in the article, I truly believe the entire kosher production of the Megrez wines, following the EPIC 2014 vintage of the Pape Clement and others, to be below quality and seriously overpriced, and without value in every category, which is a true shame. This bottle was brought by Benyo, and it shows how awesome his wines age! Read the rest of this entry →, Tags: Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, Estate Bottled, Four Gates Winery, Frere Robaire, La Rochelle, Malbec, Merlot, Pinot Noir. Others, while lovely on release may well not be the everlasting kind of Four Gates wines. The mouth on this full bodied wine is crazy, rich, layered, with layer after layer of concentrated fruit, nice extraction, and intense acidic, with tannin galore, perfectly balanced, with sweet red raspberry, plum, sweet currant, black forest berry, and dark cherry. The fact that he raised prices, is a matter of basic price dynamics, and classic supply and demand. This wine is 9 years old and it looks young. This wine is a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 46% Merlot, and 3 to 4% Petit Verdot. M.S.C. The law of Supply and Demand tell you that the prices will go, even is I beg for lower prices. Hello everyone, My name is Shoshana. I have immense faith in Benyo’s wines that are sourced from his vineyard and the Monte Bello Ridge vineyard. First, you have the 2016 Four Gates Cabernet Sauvignon, followed by an N.V. It needs to be a wine that is easily available, incredible in style and flavor, and it needs to be reasonable in price. Many people have been wondering Kyaddondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine is not in town amidst the debate on the proposed amendment of Article 102 (b) of the Constitution on presidential age limit. Still, to taste them side by side, you could see the same style of the wine, but while the normal bottling was still showing very well, the newly disgorged wine was screaming in tart and very bright fruit. We grow Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Franc grapes that are certified organic by the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF).