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Le Champa Del Mar – Keep the Cava Coming
Let me start from a thought, which is not original at all – it is great to have friends (huh, wow, who would’ve even thought, right? :)). My dear friend Kfir, was taking an amazing care of me in Israel, ensuring the culinary experiences. After the great time at Norma Jean, he brought me into another one of his favorite places – Le Champa Del Mar, cava bar.
The place is more or a less a hole in a wall – you have to know where you are going in order to get there. Once inside, you will find a bar and a few tables – and lots of delicious foods in the perfect bar format – tapas. In the best traditions of the Spanish cuisine, there are lots of great choices, all in the tapas, or “small snacks” format – cheese and olives, octopus, chorizo, Serrano ham and so on and so on, all watered down with variety of Cava – a sparkling wine from Spain. 
Cava is the only wine served at Le Champa Del Mar, hence the name “Cava Bar”. There is about a dozen of varieties, starting from simple Brut and going into Reserve Cavas. The great thing about Cava in general is that while the bubbles a slightly bigger than in the classic champagnes, it typically has more life in the glass compare to the equal level of champagnes ( and a lot cheaper!). We had a Brut Nature Classic and Brut Rose Classic, coming from Vallformosa winery in Spain. While Brut Rose tasted somewhat flat, Brut Nature had a great balance of acidity and yeasty fresh bread flavours, perfectly complementing “full-bodied” tapas (in case anyone is interested in my rating, I would put Drinkability at 7). I guess the only issue was the fact that all those Cavas where way easy to drink, and therefore disappearing very quickly… But we managed to overcome this challenge quite successfully.
And to give you better idea about Le Champa Del Mar, here are few more pictures:
Tapas Selection at Le Champa Del Mar
Cava is popular at Le Champa Del mar
Smoked duck breast – very delicious!
Just to conclude – another great place for food and drink – find it and enjoy!
Daily Glass: Teperberg Malbec 2007 and Rioja Faustino 2008
First, a little confession – blogging daily is more challenging than I thought – and not even because I don’t what to write – no, simply because that there is not enough time in a day. Therefore, this blog post covers the wines I had a few days ago, while in Israel. And going forward, I will do what I can, so Daily Glass might not be all so daily. And secondly, if you are wondering what was the logic of tasting Malbec and Rioja together, the answer is very simple – there was none. Both wines happened to be at the table and here we go – two for one in this Daily Glass post.
Rioja Faustino VII 2008, Spain
I have to admit – Rioja wines are one of my favorites. Typically Rioja wines balance fresh fruit, smooth tannins and acidity, all of it paired with great ageing potential (especially in a good year). Faustino is one of the widely available Rioja wines, however looking at the Wine Spectator ratings throughout the year (I don’t have much experience with this particular brand), overall it should be classified as rather average. This was a first time I tried 2008 Rioja, so I don’t have a frame of reference yet (I do now, of course, after tasting this wine 🙂 ).
Talking about this particular Faustino VII Rioja 2008, it had a good amount of fruit, paired with good acidity. As this is young wine, tannins kicked in a bit later, but at a very powerful level, keeping the mouth plucked for a few minutes. It will be interesting to come back to this wine in a few years to see where it will evolve. Overall, it was lacking the “umph”, while still being quite drinkable. Therefore the rating is…
Drinkability: 7-
Teperberg Terra Malbec 2007, Israel
As of last 4-5 years, Israel is is very confidently taking its place in the wine world. Still not known all that much to the general wine buying public, outside of the kosher wines, of course, it is becoming quite well known among wine lovers, and prices of Israeli wines reflect it quite well.
Nevertheless, seeing Israeli Malbec was somewhat of a surprise. Until now, most of the Israeli reds I tried were made of of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah, of course in various proportions. But when it comes to Malbec, the first place which comes to mind is Argentina, despite the fact that Malbec originated in Cahors region in France (known there under a name of “cot”). Argentinean Malbecs are well known as good and very enjoyable wines – and so of course I was really curious to see how Israeli Malbec will fair.
To my surprise (as I have to admit), Teperberg Malbec exceeeded my expectations. Very bright, with great fresh fruit on the palate, raspberries and blackberries and very balanced tannins – in a blind tasting I’m sure I would put it more as California Syrah than Malbec (never mind even a glimpse of an idea that it can be Israeli wine). I was looking for a possible fault, and outside of a bit of an sharp edge in the finish, which should probably be cured with another 2-3 years of aging), there was nothing to complain about. Therefore, this wine deserves a good grade:
Drinkability: 7+
If you are lucky enough to find this Teperberg Malbec, especially in US, do it – and you will not be disappointed.
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