On the border: Cremisan Vineyards Dabouky 2009

Cremisan Vineyards is situated near Bethlehem in the once upon a time famous monastery of Cremisan. Here a little description of the actual and rather curious location:

“Cremisan is on the border between the West Bank and Jerusalem, with the main building officially in Jerusalem and the storeroom on the other side of the parking lot in the West Bank. The long winding road to the monastery is just past one of the coordinating offices between Israel and the Palestinian Autonomy.“    
source: http://www.cremisan.org/html/history.html

The winery exists since 1885 and is still run by Christian monks of the Salesian Community. The currant winemaker is a monk from Italy. The portfolio of wines stretches from international varietals like Chardonnay, Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon – some typically Italian wines like Malvasia or Verdicchio Rosso, out to a few wines made from autochtonous Grapes. My Dabouky (sometimes called Dura) wine appeared to be one of those auto’ ones. Well and that’s my impression of the Dabouky:

The colour of the wine appeared to be almost dark yellow with some reflexes of bright orange. Actually, the nose wasn't that bad at all. Rather surprisingly fresh! I smelled stewed apples, some scnts of yellow lemons and a hint of apricot. A lot of freshness conquered my nose. The taste however seemed not as delightful as the smell did. It was husky, crude and a bit thin. Its structure lacked of strength and acid. The fruit flavours were dominated by the taste of old apples (almost rotten ones, I guess – never tried before). Beside that I got some mediterranean spices and a bit unpleasant green flavours (which I cannot describe).

Unfortunately this Dabouky wine was pretty unbalanced and a bit dull, too. For me it was a very simple and drinkable wine. Not more! Nose was nice … , Price was difficult …