Last Thursday after ending a day’s guiding I visited Andre Suidan, owner of perhaps the best wine shop in Israel, Special Reserve in Haifa. While unable to join the weekly wine tastings due to the late hour, I enjoyed conversing with Andre about Israeli wine and winemakers. I asked Andre to recommend some interesting wines for me to purchase and I walked away with three.
Tonight I opened up one of the three wines, Alona Cabernet Franc 2010 and it was a real pleasure. Alona Winery is a small, family owned winery located in the Menahshe Hills southwest of the Carmel Winery. Although small, the winery has received recognition for its quality wines in different competitions in Israel.
The Alona CF has is a little weak in color which is a bit surprising as it has a rich fruity nose, with a bit of sweetness. In the mouth there is less of a surprise with predominate tastes of plums and dark berries with a bit of green pepper, true to variety. The Alona CF leaves a pleasant, relatively long aftertaste that begs for more.
Thank you Andre for your recommendation.
For more information on Andre Suidan’s Special Reserve visit the Facebook Page.
For more information on Alona Winery visit the Facebook Page.