Drink from release . . .

[Menachem S]

Daniel, I have noticed a trend recently in you Israeli tasting notes that more and more wines are "drink from release".

The 2005 Yatir, the 2005 Castel, etc.

Is this perhaps a shift in your view of windows?

Is it reflective of the Maturing Israeli wine industry and earlier drinkability?

Is my perception not reflective of reality?

Love to hear any and all thoughts

[Eli R]

Menachem, Hi,

I will jump in and give you my view while we both wait for Rogov's response.
I would call it a trend.
Lately I have tasted some quality Israeli wines on the release day, that I would not touch the bottle for a year or two - I think the wine in not ready yet.
In some cases it was the too short time in the bottle before release - as a result of the marketing cycle. My examples here are the 2006 CS from Margalit and Pelter
Don't forget that we see in parallel releases of three vintages 2004, 2005, and 2006 - all in the superior series.
As for the Yatir Forest, it is enjoyable directly from an opened bottle.

Eli

[Daniel Rogov]

If there is a trend, both in Israeli wines in particular and Mediterranean wines in general (Provence, southern Italy, parts of Spain, better boutique wineries of Cyprus and Greece) and as reflected in my notes, it is indeed towards somewhat earlier approachability and, at the same time with better wines, a longer overall drinking windows. Glancing over a few recent notes, for example, I do see for example with several just released wines: "....drinking nicely now but best 2010-2014". In such cases I would think that interprets as "drink now if you like your wines on the young side and don't go past 2014 with cellaring unless you like your wines on the quite mature and possibly on the decline"

Best
Rogov