Vineyard: Gamla
Wine: Cabernet Sauvignon, 1998
Type: Dry Red

This same wine, in '96 was outstanding. The '97 also was very good. If you still have some bottles of Gamla, Cabernet Sauvignon from those years, or if you can find them, open them and enjoy them. They are better now than when first released and will not get better.

However, this year's wine, the Gamla Cabernet Sauvignon 1998, was a little disappointing at first opening. That may be because of my extremely high expectations. The wine is a blend - primarily cabernet grapes with merlot and cabernet frank added to round out the taste and mellow the harshness of the cabernet. When I first opened the wine, the bouquet was outstanding. But when I tasted it, the wine was not as smooth as I would have liked. It was not well balanced.

So I opened another bottle, and yes, the taste was just as disappointing. The track record of this wine tells me that the wine will probably improve with age. Buy it, store it and then open it in six months or several years from now and it will probably be excellent. Maybe as good as the '96 and '97.

Unfortunately, now it is simply good.

NOTE: If and when this wine does improve with age, the price will rise dramatically. So if you have a hunch that a wine will improve with age, buy it when it is still young and reap the benefits later.

Rated: 8+
Price: Moderate
Size: 750 ml
Price per bottle: NIS 60 at Mendel, 218 Ben-Yehuda St., Tel-Aviv. 03-6044672
Case: 12 bottles.