Wow! Faster than expected. And what’s to begin with? Pinot Noir of course :-)
First, I have to confess: I never had Pinot from Israel and I definitely never had Pinot from a real desert vineyard either. The grapes were cultivated in Mitzpe Ramon in the Negev Desert. Luckily at an altitude of 750m. I guess it’ll be really interesting how they produced this wine. Anyway, here is my first new tasting note on wine-zeit:
Predominantly purple reflexes and a rather dark and shiny colour.
Fragrances of wild berries, some blueberries, a bit of cassis, slight oak, a hint of smoke (which faded after a while), later some dark cherries and a hint of cinnamon.
The taste: Now I was sure! It was Pinot! Colour and fragrance did not really show 100 % very typical and classical Pinot features. The taste did. I tasted dark cherries, a bit of cassis and some wild berries as well. A gentle and very lean oak influence!?! Medium length. A very well proportionate acid and bitterness combination. Very nice fruit sweetness. At first maybe a bit too much. The rather typical, for the Middle-East, flavours of dried cherries and a bit of fig (maybe) were not missing. Before I opened this one I was a bit worried about how this typical “Middle-East-Style-Component” might work out with a Pinot. But in this case it really did well. I guess the main reason for such a coherent combination of very hot climate (especially in Negev) and the fragile habitus of Pinot was the straight forward character of a clear and clean fruit orientated wine. I assume the winemaker did not intend to produce a hyper complex or heavy Pinot. This one appeared to be rather fresh and not over alcoholised (12,5%). As far as I can see: It was the right choice. Now I am curious about a Galil Pinot from 2009. I guess this one will be very different. 15% of alcohol might be a different story. We’ll see in some months.
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