2006 Yatir Cabernet Merlot Shiraz

Community Tasting Notes (4) Avg Score: 89.4 points

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  11/9/2012 - raccah wrote: 86 Points

  This wine is one filled controversy because of its current state of affairs. The wine is a blend of 35% Merlot, 24% Shiraz, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Malbec, 8% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Petit Verdot. The blend itself was one of the early and fascinating blends to come out of Israel. Please remember that the classic blends of Bordeaux and to a lesser extant other regions, were built from generations of wine families building a brand because of what was best in that location. This blend and the even more non-standard blends that have recently been made in Israel are quite interesting. Australia may well have been the first to blend Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz/Syrah together, but it is still a hard feat to complete. The Bordeaux grapes (which make up 80% of this blend) have a long history of being blended together, while Australia’s blends have barely 50 years.
  
  With that said, the controversy of this wine has little to do with the blend and far more to do with its quality. For the longest time the wine has been panned as being to bitter, olive green, or plain old flat. Well the late Daniel Rogov took that as a challenge upon himself, before his passing of course, and did a tasting of the wine, one from the Yatir winery itself, one from his own stash, and one shipped to him from the USA. He felt overall that the wine was inline with his opinion, check it out for yourself. So, I tried the wine and I found it to be well – not so fun – till the wine opened. However, till that point, the wine went through two very distinct aroma and flavor profiles.
  
  At first the wine opens to a cacophony of licorice, blackcurrant, blackberry, herb, and strong and almost overpowering mineral notes. The mouth is rich and concentrated with some nice black cherry, huge amounts of saline, and eucalyptus, all wrapped in a soft sheath of mouth coating tannin and cedar that give the wine an extra bit of backbone. The finish is long and spicy with lovely tobacco, milk chocolate, and black olive bitterness that throws the wine off at the end (if the mouth’s saline was not overpowering already).
  
  Over time the wine goes from bad to worse with the salt and mineral taking back stage and an overpowering smell and taste of barnyard flavors dominating the wine. Finally, the wine gives way to a far more muted palate, but one that is free of any obvious deficiencies, outside of its more dull self. Gone are the olives, and overpowering eucalyptus and mineral. Instead the wine is filled with a lovely blackberry, cassis, black plum, graphite, tobacco, and chocolate, both on the palate and the nose. Still the wine has a bitter end with saline that though is not as offensive as at first, is still feels a bit off kilter. Drink up and maybe not with polite company.

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  5/26/2012 - SStern wrote: 91 Points

  Excellent! tobacco and cherry aromas, nice long finish.

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  6/7/2011 - SStern wrote: 91 Points

  Very good one, seemed extremely well balanced, very long finish.

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  5/20/2011 - Faknr0ll wrote: 89 Points

  Jam, round, alcoholic, elegant, could develop more, needs lamb chops :) good value ($21), fun wine!

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