Wine Review: Psagot M-series Cabernet Sauvignon 2013

Just a few more days until Valentines Day and Psagot has sent me this Cabernet Sauvignon that's the "ideal lush wine for seducing". Seeing as the wife is pregnant I guess I'll be using it to seduce myself. I am rather handsome. Also, I like a guy that makes me laugh and I crack myself up all the time. It's a date!

This wine is from Israel, and I've done a few reviews of Israeli / Palestinian wines before. Also Turkey, which was a great wine drinking experience. There's something about wine from the Middle East that fascinates me. It's got to be the long history of civilization, the long history of viticulture and winemaking, and the growth of alcohol oppression there in the last few hundred years. It's not a place that should be thought of as a non-traditional wine producer but yet it is. And I love tasting wine from non-traditional places.

Before I get into talking further about this wine, I must say this: Donald Trump can go eff himself with his Middle East travel and immigration ban. He can go eff himself with everything else he's done too. The one great thing to come out of all of this is to see America resist. Especially scientists in straight-up revolt against orders with refusal to be silent. Their resistance has been glorious and it gives us hope that reason and logic will overcome. Moving on...

A PSAGOT VINEYARD

Yeah, Israel has a long history of viticulture and winemaking! But Psagot is practically a newborn there, just being founded in 2003. Their vineyards are on limestone terraces and the winery is just outside of Jerusalem. When they were constructing the winery and creating a cave for barrel aging, they found a coin from the "Great Revolt" of 66-73 CE. So they made replicas of this coin and stick it to their labels. Mine actually fell off during shipping, so I taped it back on for the picture.

The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon is 100% Cab from a single vineyard in Jerusalem Hills, nine-hundred meters above sea level and a six minute drive north from Jerusalem. It was aged for thirteen months in French oak barrels and has a final ABV of 14.2%. This wine is both kosher and "mevushal". To be kosher it must be made only by observant Jews, and to still be kosher upon consumption it can only be poured by observant Jews for observant Jews. Mevushal, because it's actually cooked, can be poured by anybody to serve to an observant Jew. I'm an observant atheist and I'm pouring myself some mevushal wine. Let's do this!

The color of the wine is a dark red heading in the direction of turning brick, with a blackish dense center. I got lots of wood on the nose at first, but after some airing out that receded and made way for the other characteristics. There's aromas of blackberries, black licorice, mocha, mint and vanilla. It really does have a dark, seductive nose.

In the mouth it's medium to full bodied, lush and smooth in mouthfeel, with soft tannin and low acidity. On the palate it brightens up away from the darkness with some red currant, cranberry and red licorice. Then there's that mocha, mint and vanilla again. It finishes so smoothly and elegantly, with cranberry and cedar.

This really is a seductive Cabernet and it's of outstanding quality! I mean, forget about being phenomenal Israeli Cabernet; it's just a phenomenal Cabernet! And I'd actually like to see how it would be in a few more years of laying down because, even though it is an elegant and seductive form of Cabernet now, it will only get more elegant and seductive. High marks, great stuff!

QUALITY VS PRICE RATING

Price: $63

Rating: 4.5/5 = Recommended / Highly Recommended (what does that mean?)

The bottle used was supplied free of charge for the purpose of this unpaid review. To have your wine reviewed follow this link.