BWE in Tel Aviv

[jal]

Stefan and Lucie are in town and so are MichaelP and Nalan, we were joined by local wine lover Hanan and headed to Mashya for an excellent dinner with some local wines but also obviously some good Bordeaux.
Dinner was whatever the restaurant brought, plate after plate of food for sharing, from the menu here are the dishes we received:

Fresh raw fish, labneh, mint leaves, eggplant cream & hot chili
Fresh fish sashimi, pickled roots, spinach & smoked paprika
Pumpkin "Asado", honey & Moroccan paprika glaze & crème fraiche
Cauliflower "Mafroom", chopped lamb, baharat, doha & sorrel
Raw meat "Kubaneh" with bulgur, peanuts, hot peppers, local herbs & crème fraiche
Shrimp, spinach, wild mushrooms & corn foam
Lamb neck "kattayef", spicy green paste & tahini
Moroccan Grouper cakes, Swiss chard, chickpeas & pickled lemon
Halab kebab, pistachio, tomatoes & onions, yogurt, wrapped in dough
Six hours braised oxtail terrine & Mashya's "Ras-el-hanoot"
Ricotta dumplings, mushrooms, pumpkin & sour cream


With these we had:
1996 La Lagune (no BWE dinner with Stefan and Lucie is complete without a La Lagune), classic La Lagune, great nose, perfect balance
2003 La Mission Haut Brion, easily the best wine of the evening, not overly ripe quite profound
2005 Château Croix de Labrie, full bodied, lush still needs time with a few lingering tannins
2009 Bustan Merlot, my second favorite wine, great balance, good structure, delicious and quite open.
2011 Clos de Gat Sycra Merlot, harsh finish, tries to be flamboyant and comes out as manipulated. Disappointing, doesn't help that it was served too warm.
2010 (?) Sea Horse Hemingway Blend, a CdP blend, quite good with good fruit and good balance. Restrained style

And with petits fours we had a
2001 Filhot. Excellent, as expected.

A great dinner with good wines, a lot of fun to see BWE friends while traveling. Hopefully Stefan will chime in with better notes.

[stefan]

The food was very good, as were the wines, but the company was the best. We'll get together again while we are here.

I did not take notes, but Jacques gave a good synopsis. The Bustan was really good. The Clos de Gat was much better after we had it cooled down properly, but even then suffered in comparison to the Bustan. The Bordeaux performed as expected. The La Lagune is still in its prime. It has drunk well for 15 years. The LMHB has entered its plateau of maturity while the Croix de Labrie will benefit from being Blanquitoed. The Filhot was welcomed by all, including Lucie, who rarely has seconds of Sauternes--maybe the comparative dryness of the Barsac helped to bring out the minerals she likes. Sea Horse is not one of my favorites even though as a wine the Hemingway deserves high marks. The only disappointment was the Clos de Gat, which both Jacques and I expected to be excellent. Even so, it was quite nice.

[JimHow]

Wow! Very well done indeed.
תחי BWE.

[jal]

תחי BWE.

[AKR]

Wow sounds very good. I made some quail in a ras al hanout rub with a pomegrate glaze this wknd for the Sacramento wine cadres!

That Croix de Labrie sounds good - that's one I've never seen/tried.

[jal]

Wow sounds very good. I made some quail in a ras al hanout rub with a pomegrate glaze this wknd for the Sacramento wine cadres!

The food was absolutely amazing!

That Croix de Labrie sounds good - that's one I've never seen/tried.

MichaelP brought that. You'd like it, it is right up you alley

[Blanquito]

Fun times in the Levant! Neat to have a BWE gathering half way around the world. The food sounded especially awesome.

[DavidG]

The sun never sets on BWE.
Well done!

[Nicklasss]

How come I was not invited?

Seriously, seems like great company far away in a nice spot of the World for food and good time.

I really liked the 1995 La Lagune in the past, never had the 1996 but guess it must be sublime in that vintage.

Nic

[jal]

Nic, YOU are always invited!!

[Tom In DC]

Sounds like a typical BWE night. The food sounds incredible. Gail and I will have to find our way to that part of the world soon.