Monday 21 September 2009

MIDDLE EAST WINE A SMALL HISTORY IN TIME…

It is Yom Kippur the jewish Day of Atonement biginning on Sept. 27 and ends at nightfall on the 28. So why not drink Israeli wines to celebrate the event. After all winemaking was referred and start before the Old Testament from Abraham to david , to the noce of cana and the resent time, but modern winemaking began in Israel in 1882. That year Baron Edmond de Rothschild start a wyneri there, then it is really in 1906 he gave back them to Israel and the Societie Cooperative Vigeronne de Grandes Caves, that Coop is still making the Carmel wine there. Using European Vitis Viniferain the area of the Sea of Galilee, the Golan Heights, the Mount Carmel area, around Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Of course the origin as I explain already in an old post was only rose and white most certainly, but was always there along the history and evolution of humanity. Kosher comes from the word "kasher", it means "fit to consume."  And old friend of mine Rafael Vivanco met some rabbis and start a kosher rioja using the fact that very stage of the winemaking process must be overseen by a rabbi, who is flown in to Rioja from Barcelona for this particular wine. To satisfy kosher requirements, the wine has been flash pasteurised, ie zapped up to 85 deg C/185 deg F for a minute and then cooled down to kill all the bacteria in it. The result VINA MIRASOL is fresh as a daisy and has lots of sweet, round, strawberry fruit, a Tempranillo grown and aged in Rioja with great balance, I call it a "rough rioja with a more softer/fruity edges", a perfect choices for this month. For those who are more lucky try a kosher wine of Israel. But there is more to middle east than kosher wine but as well the source of a number of really good and really old tradition of wine as the famous MUSAR fonded in 1930 by gaston hochar followine the path of the Phoenicians 6000 years ago, there the wine was exported from Byblos, tyre and saida and Egypt was the market of the day, of course the bible itself references to the wine of canaan, and the roman so choose Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley to build their largest temple too bacchus. The white wine is an oddity, made from the indigenous Obaideh and Merwah grapes the "real" wine from the origine of the time the peculiar blend is then aged for six months in oak, this wine live for ever and as an old arab poem says "as a women in your arms, each time changing is flavor as each sip". Not a lot of this is produced; typically 600 or so cases. But the red is the wine that we know and love. It's a blend of old French grape Cinsault and Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignan and Syrah that give that special Bordeaux or burgundy like taste depending of the vintage and the ageing. Buyt in this moment there is even more to discover a wine from the Egyptian desert should provide the optimum means to produce premium wine. Impossible? Quite the opposite is true. In the desert most of the common obstacles to viticulture do not exist. Desert sand contains no organic matter or nutrients.(
http://www.saharavineyards.com/) go and have a look. We could mention as well the wine of Tunisia, wine always was produced by French oenologists. Most of it was exported to France till the 1970s. Wine cooperatives were left and produce 80% of the wine which is served mostly to tourists. Since the privatisation of some parts of these cooperatives the international taste of wine entered the market in Tunisia. The small companies like Domaine Atlas, St. Augustin, Ceptunes etc. have successfully established the new generation of Tunisian wine. Without forgetting the wine of Algeria a good example the coteaux of Tlemcen In the 16th Century, Leon the African wrote that the town of Tlemcen was surrounded by trellises which produced grapes of a strong and delicate taste. This central position has been exploited since 1840 for producing quality wines, The vineyards form a patchwork of small plots separated by rows of cherry, apricot or prune trees. From a blend of carignan , Grenache , cinsault an excellent sometimes ripe red with strong flavor of violet but light of 12.5%. Enjoy….

No comments:

Post a Comment