2000 Yarden Merlot - Golan Heights, Israel

As many of you have seen on my website, I have a new assortment of Yarden "Library" selections that are available. One of them that I recently tried was the 2000 Merlot. Wines from cooler climate areas, like the high elevation Golan Heights in Israel, tend to have more concentrated flavors since the grapes are smaller, and have a higher skin-to-pulp ratio. This makes the wine deeper and darker, and sometimes more age-worthy. This wine is certainly at it's peak right now, with those dark flavors becoming a little lighter, and revealing some spicy complexity that comes with age. This is definately a treat to enjoy with baked chicken, lamb stew, or other spiced meats. Definately needs some time to breathe, so be patient and this wine will deliver!

2000 Yarden Merlot, Golan Heights: Almost a cross between ruby and garnet, this wine is a little cloudy from the sediment in the bottle. The wine opened with some pretty strong aromas of strawberry jam, but also had a weird curry smell that was a little intense. But, I was patient and waited a good hour or so before trying it again. After all, it's been in that bottle for 8 years, and needs some room to open up. Later on, the stink was gone, and the wine was tasting great! More strawberry flavors, a little chocolate, and a tolerable amount of eastern spice. This wine is meant to be enjoyed with food, and went really well with Baked Chicken in Apricot Sauce.

Supermarket Gems

It's always fun to visit another town and poke around the local stores, seeing what wines might turn up. I have observed that in areas where people are less likely to buy higher end wines, there is the distinct possibility that you might find some older bottles that are otherwise no longer in circulation. That's simply because when the store ordered x amount of cases of fancy wine a few years ago, no one bought it, so they never reordered it. So you end up with all kinds of interesting wines that are three or four vintages behind the current release. The problem is that with respect to long term storage, wines aren't meant to age standing up and in direct light most of the day. This can cause the wine to age a little faster than usual, which can create some weird flavors. Anyway, the positive side is that you get to try a rare bottle of wine, and the negative side is that there's no guarantee that the wine is in ideal shape (not that there ever is, but it's all relative).

Recently in Las Vegas, I found some interesting rare gems in a local grocery store. Some of them included '03 Baron Chenin Late Harvest, '03/'04 Castel Chardonnay, '01 Weinstock Cabernet, to name a few. Being a sucker for the Chenin, and having never tried the 2003, I bought a bottle and tried it. Plus, how could I resist, given that I've tried the 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007? Tasting note follows, and with that, happy hunting!

2003 Baron Herzog Chenin Blanc Late Harvest: Kind of quiet in the nose department, still very sweet with pronounced honey and pineapple flavors, little acidity and not so much spice or floral elements. I'm sure that a properly stored bottle would have been a little different. Still a pleasant bottle of wine; I would put this as number four or five out of the five vintages of this wine that I've tasted.