Teperberg-1870 “Terra range” Emerald Riesling 2009 (Semi Sweet White)

This wine has been popping up all over the place recently. I saw it in all the wine shops in Machane Yehuda this week for around NIS 60*.  Browsing the shelves of my local supermarket, I saw this Teperberg on sale for NIS 31. I wouldn’t usually have even considered buying an Emerald Riesling but as this was Teperberg and on sale for half price, I reconsidered.

Emerald Riesling (pronounced “Reezling”) is a Californian hybrid invention whose parents are the Riesling and Muscadelle grapes.

The Riesling, also known as "German Riesling" comes from the area of Germany and Austria. It is a dry grape that has traditionally needed some sweetener to make it palatable. This was either by blending it with a sweet grape or, for the cheaper wines, adding sugar.

The Muscadelle grape comes from the French region of Bordeaux. It is a sweet light grape.

At least on paper, it does make sense making a hybrid of these two contrasting grapes. In practice though, the product can suffer from a lack of body and taste and has a reputation for being a cheap wine, not to be taken that seriously. However, for some reason, this grape has met with quite a bit of success here in Israel over the years. Many Israelis it seems, have a sweet tooth when it comes to their wines.

So, despite knowing its reputation, not being a snob and having recently reviewed other Teperberg wines (as well as the incentive of the sale price) , I decided that we would give it a try for Shabbos morning Kiddush.

The first thing I noticed from the label is that this wine is from Teperberg’s cheaper range called “Terra” This is what the Teperberg Internet site has to say about it:

“The Emerald Riesling wine is conceived from white grapes, a creation of the University of California’s Dr. Harold Olmo, who cross-bred Riesling with Muscadelle grape varieties. The Muscadelle-Riesling cross yields a grape variety which is rich in acidity and aromas yet delicate in taste. Consequently, the Emerald Riesling is vastly used as a blended wine component although many wineries worldwide use these grapes to produce a superb semi-dry white wine that holds its own. Contrary to the rest of the world, the Emerald Riesling is an extremely popular grape variety in Israel and many long for its sweet, lush taste throughout the country. “

We opened the bottle. The initial aroma was one of sweet white Kiddush ("Mascati" style) grape juice and syrupy sultanas. Pouring the wine out into our Kiddush glasses, we observed a pleasant light yellow colour quite similar to a Chardonnay. Isn't an Emerald Riesling supposed to be greenish is colour? Never mind.

Let me say up front that I do not care for sweet wines and was slightly worried that this would be too sugary for me. Indeed, as I have already described,  the aroma certainly gave an indication that this would be sherry like syupy sweet but I noticed that the label states that the wine is only 75 calories/100ml which seemed to indicate that it was not that bad. A sweet wine would be 90 calories plus!

Drinking the wine brought varied opinions from my family. My wife liked the sweetness but said that it was too heavy for her taste. My kids really enjoyed it though. They described it as “fun to taste”. As for me, well, it was too sweet for my palette. However, I could see what my kids liked about it. It has a medium body with an initially delicate sweetness that turns into a slightly dryer aftertaste. This left you with the impression that it wasn’t as sweet as you at first thought.

Conclusions:

A pleasant enough wine with no nasty surprises, but without sufficient character to be taken seriously. This is only my opinion though. My kids said that they really enjoyed it and would like to drink it again. So, if you do enjoy a good semi-sweet wine, this is not a bad example of one.

Recommended for those with a sweet tooth.

* Talking of Machane Yehuda. My son and I were looking at the whisky prices in the wine stores. They had a good selection of single malts there. However, by the look of all the dust on the cartons, no one is buying them and for good reason. The prices were simply outrageous! NIS 499 for a standard “The Glenlivet 12 year old”.

This whisky is around NIS 150 for a 1 litre bottle in the “Duty Free” and probably only slightly more expensive in the British supermarkets. How about a “The Glenlivet French Oak finish 15 year old” for NIS 899?

The “Duty Free” price is around NIS 200. Exactly how much TAX is on whisky in Israel? Googling this question did not return any definite results but it seems that there is around 200% import tax on a bottle of whisky. However, the tax on Vodka is a lot less! Now, why would that be? “Ya Ne Znayu. Da”!, as they say in Russian.

Teperberg Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve and Chardonnay Reserve

Teperberg vinyard, Ella valley

Teperberg winery is situated just outside Beit Shemesh with vineyards primarily in the Ella valley. The company was founded in 1870 in Meah Shaarim by the family Teperberg under the name "Efrat Wines". For over 100 years it has produced sweet Kiddush wine for the religious market with the highest kosher certification.

But in the early 1990s they decided to experiment with more refined wines. Because of its reputation for cheap Kiddush wines, the family business decided to change its company name to Teperberg 1870 and to market itself as a small boutique vinery despite being actually one of Israel's largest wineries!

Their cheap and cheerful Efrat range is still sold under the Efrat label in Israeli supermarkets. I have already mentioned that their White Zinfandel (around NIS 30) is actually quite good. Served straight from the fridge, it has a beautiful blush colour, floral perfume aroma and deliciously light sweet refreshing taste. Their Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are what you would expect from NIS 30 wine. I'll say no more about them.

"Yayin Ismach"Wine shop on 3 Yaakov Meir Street

Last week I was taking a walk through Geula when I came across this tiny Wine shop called "Yayin Ismach" on 3 Yaakov Meir Street, one of the small turnings off of Malke Yisrael. It's actually half a shop, sharing the other half with a tie shop.

The owner is a young man named Avi who I witnessed was very patient with every customer who walked in. I was impressed that he voiced his opinion on wines that he had tried and even recommended wines that were cheaper than the wine the customer had in mind. For instance, an American was asking him about a NIS 200 bottle of wine from 2004 vintage. Avi told him that the 2005 vintage tasted nicer although this was NIS 60 cheaper! I could see that Avi's main intention was to build up a clientele who would be coming back on a regular basis to hear his latest recommendations.

I explained to Avi that I was very familiar with the Golan winery and wanted to try some other high quality wine from Eretz Yisrael. He directed me to the Teperberg shelf and showed me a Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. I told him that I wanted to say Kiddush over the wine and had not had a good experience with saying Kiddush over Cabernet Sauvignon in the past due to the rough taste of the tannin on an empty stomach. Avi replied that it was true that Cabernet Sauvignon should ideally be drunk with food but this particular wine was exceptionally smooth and would be fine for Kiddush. I decided to buy the Teperberg Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2006 (NIS 110). Next I asked Avi if he could recommend a white wine for Shabbos morning. He directed me to the Teperberg Chardonnay Reserve 2009 (NIS 60). From experience I have found that it is best to buy a Chardonnay that is slightly matured. Being a 2009 I was a bit hesitant but again Avi told me that it tasted mature well beyond its age.

Teperberg Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve

Tasting the Wine

Before leaving for shul, we took the Cabernet Sauvignon out of the fridge to warm up for a couple of hours before opening. Returning from shul we opened the wine and let it breathe during Shalom Aleichem, Eishes Chayil and the kid's brachos. The label stated that the wine had been matured in French Oak barrels for 15 months.

Indeed, pouring the wine out into glasses brought an immediate and unmistakable sweet whiff of a musky damp wine cask from a winery storehouse. Having recently been to quite a few whisky storehouses as well as the Golan Winery winery, the aroma was very recognisable and familiar to us. The colour was a beautiful deep red berry red with a good body to it.

An Old Winery Warehouse

The musky smell was so overpowering that I was slightly worried that the wine would taste of musky storehouse cask wood, brick and cobwebs in a liquid form. I nonetheless commenced Kiddush with confidence.

Initial tasting was very surprising. A deep smooth fresh taste combined with its strong aroma seemed to transport us to the winery from whence this wine came. It was like we were sitting in the warehouse, surrounded by wine barrels, drinking this wine. It tasted of freshly squashed berries served in a damp wooden bowl. A slight dry hazelnut taste on the palette and a long heavy fruity berry aftertaste.

A very enjoyable wine yet I think the pungent musky smell of the barrel was ever so slightly over done . I wonder if a younger vintage would fair better? I'll have to go back to the shop and buy a 2007 and let you know. Definitely one  to buy again.




Teperberg Chardonnay Reserve

  Shabbos day, coming back from shul on a hot day, we always look forward to a white refreshing wine to quench our thirst after not drinking the whole morning. Out of all the white wines, Chardonnay is our favourite choice so we were really looking forward to this young Teperberg Reserve 2009.

Like all white and blush wines, we took the Teperberg straight out of the fridge just before we said Kiddush. Looking at the label it states that the Chardonnay had been matured in French oak barrels for 10 months. Opening the bottle our noses were immediately hit with the same powerful aroma of musky damp sherry barrels being stored in a winery warehouse mixed with spirit alcohol. This was certainly not what we expected from what we assumed was a young wine. My kids remarked that it smelled remarkably similar to a Glen Moray (Speyside) Single malt whisky.

Our next surprise came as I began pouring the wine. A Chardonnay should be a light yellow colour. Indeed the label states that it has a golden yellow colour. What we observed was a green colour similar to a Sauvignon Blanc.

After Kiddush I took my first sip of the wine. The barrel aroma and the heaviness of the wine were quite overpowering. To say that this wine had body was an understatement. I'd say it was well overweight. My family were likewise unimpressed. Whereas we would usually take more wine, this time nobody took seconds.

The wine sat on the table for half an hour or more. I decided to give the Teperberg another try. Now that it had had a chance to warm up to room temperature its flavour came bursting through. It now had a heavy sherry like taste with layers of complexity ranging from cider apples to hazelnuts and a hint of Speyside style whisky (that has a light and sherry like spirit - light for a whisky that is).

Here was a white wine behaving more like a heavy red! At room temperature it was a lot more interesting. However if we had wanted a heavy red wine then we would have bought one. As far as I'm concerned, a white wine ought to be light to medium body with a refreshing fruity taste. A Chardonnay ought to have more body but still retain that fresh fruity taste. The Teperberg reminded us so much of Glen Moray Single malt that we moved on to the actual whisky and forgot the wine.

If you like heavy white wine then I'd suggest you try this but remember to take it out of the fridge an hour or so before you drink it. I'd even suggest you open it and let it breathe for 20 mins. Sounds like I'm talking about a dry red wine? That's exactly my point.