Wine for the Beginning of the End

Today is the first day of our second to last week of class. It was our very last wine lecture, and encompassed Russia, Greece, Israel, Lebanon (wine in Lebanon...who knew?!) and Slovenia (wine in Slovenia...who knew??!!).

From here we move on to beer, whiskey, brandy and cigars. Seriously...cigars. The most disgusting-smelling things, in my opinion, ever to be lit on fire. And they just conjure up images for me of big, fat, rich, bald white dudes. Is that just me??

I'm not going to lie, today's wines, overall, were not good, but one of them really surprised me. The Yarden Cabernet Sauvignon Galilee Israel 2005 was really delicious: full and round with a lovely nose and palate of blackberry, black currant, black cherry, coffee, chocolate, tobacco and smoke. I never would have thought to get such a lovely wine from Israel. One of the students in a previous wine class was from Israel, and she said this was a pretty average wine for Israel, that there were much better out there, though they can be hard to find in the marketplace.

Nothing in my mind is a patch on good old Manischewitz. I think if you grew up Jewish in the United States, you grew up tasting Manischewitz at all the holidays, and this was your first exposure to wine. This stuff is kind of the Yoo-Hoo of wine: it's thick, sweet and grapey, and tastes great with all the classic Jewish holiday fare, from pot roast and matzoh to challah bread and gefilte fish. Boy I miss some of that food: lean corned beef on rye, knishes.

I need to find a good New York-style deli in San Francisco. If any of you know of one, let me know, and the first knish will be on me!