Galil Mountain Yiron 2007
21 Sep
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Galil Mountain Yiron is a joint venture between Kibutz Yiron and the Golan Heights Winery. Yiron is the winery’s flagship blend that, in my opinion, provides tremendous quality for a relatively low price.
Galil Mountain Yiron 2007 has nearly the exact blend recipe of the 2003 vintage yet yielded a very different wine. At least two major factors play a role: the winemaker and the weather. Gaby Sadan, the founding winemaker at Galil Mountain Winery produced the 2003 vintage; Micha Vaadia replaced Gaby as head winemaker in 2006 and produced the 2007 vintage. The weather in the 2003 was optimal in the Upper Galilee: the winter was a cold and rainy, spring was warm, and summer was cooler than average, providing excellent ripening conditions through the harvest. In 2007, the winter was harsh with plenty of snowfall, spring was warm, but late summer heat waves delayed the harvest by two weeks.
In the glass, the wine is garnet in color with a lightweight almost watery appearance. The nose and palate sport bright berry notes – boysenberry, blackberry, cassis – followed by lively flavors and aromas of dried apricots, cloves, fresh mint and black pepper. A subtle note of oak hides in the shadows barely reflecting the 16 months it spent in the barrel. The wine is full bodied with a youthful display of mouth-coating tannins that grip and a long finish of rising spice, dusty oak and just a hint of mint. This wine reminiscent of a Rhone blend and is thoroughly enjoyable now, but will be better integrated in 3-6 months. Enjoy!
Read about other vintages of this wine: 2003, 2005
- KosherWino Rating: 90 points (Rating Chart)
- Region: Israel
- Color: Red
- Varietal: 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot, 7% Syrah
- Alcohol: 14.5%
- Mevushal: No
