Recanati's French Colombard, 2011 (Sept. 9, 2012)

I met up with Recanati's Ido Lewinsohn and Vagnilia's Itay Rogozinsky at one of our favorite haunts, Habasta, to taste a wine Recanati made according to specifications by Habasta owner Maoz Alonim: a refreshing, non-pretentious, yet reasonably complex, food-friendly white. Ido claims French Colombard retains its healthy acidity at almost any yield, and can make a decent quaffer even at high yields, yet he preferred to find out how much quality he could squeeze out of it with lower yields appropriate for quality wine. There's nothing special about the vineyard, he says. It's on the coast, it's not very high and the vines aren't very old. The results aren't explosive, their charms are more down home, which means they live up to Alonim's expectations.

The nose starts off with flowers and hints of oak, and then with air shows sweet, nutty spices that don't really appeal to me. It's an okay nose, I guess, it's just that those spices are a bit vulgar, for me. But the palate really works well, especially with squid and okra, showing a great mix of sour and saline sensations.

We continued on to a wine I really should buy more, of, Grosset, Polish Hill, Riesling, 2008, which has a gorgeous nose of apples and peaches, chalk and a very developed strain of petrol, which in no way overwhelms the freshness of the fruit. The palate is fresh and very vibrant, a very joyous mode of Riesling fruit, which is probably the happiest grape in the first place. This is imported by Mersch and sold for 270 NIS.