This past week saw us lying low as I was wiped out from the week and almost unable to cook for the Shabbos.  So we were able to whip together a cholent, but Friday night saw us enjoying a lovely Quinoa salad that my wife whipped up, along with some really nice Baby Gouda, Medium sharp cheddar, and hard Italian cheeses.  I thought that a Cabernet would go well with the cheeses and the cholent, so I decided to test out the remaining bottle of 2007 Galil Cab that I had lying around from Passover.  As we spoke about previously the 2007 Galil Cab was not up to snuff on Passover and I had hoped that it was a bad bottle and I was not going to have a failed repeat performance.  Unfortunately, the wine did not hold up its side of the bargain, and again failed me.  I really hope the two bottles were aberrations, but I have my doubts.

The wine note follows below:

2007 Galil Mountain Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Kosher – Score: B

The nose on this electric garnet colored wine with blue halos is vibrant with cranberry, well balanced mineral notes, raspberry, and toasted herbs. The nose is as good as this wine gets, and I must really stress that the nose’s mineral notes were in perfect harmony with the nose’s fruit and herbs – really quite nice. The mouth on this medium bodied wine follows the nose with cranberry, blueberry, and raspberry, balanced well with integrated tannins. The mid palate is acidic with just enough tannins to keep your attention, but the finish is short and not so satisfying.

I must say this could have been OK (and higher), if this was the end of the story and if the finish would have extended as it opened up, as I have found in previous years. But this vintage is not as good as its predecessors. What is funny is that the bottle’s wine notes are a copy of the previous years, and they do not even closely approximate this vintage’s reality – which is a shame.

What happens to this bottle as it acquires air is that it becomes overly astringent with a mixture of acid and tannin. This has happened now to two bottles. I had hoped that the news would have changed, but no such luck! The mouth becomes astringent as I have said, and then it becomes overly unbalanced and almost totally floral as it gains even more air. Either way, this nice wine goes to pot quickly after it receives air. Maybe both of my bottles were flawed – but I doubt it.