The 2006 THE CAVE “NON-MEVUSHAL,” was a touch disjointed on opening, showing spikes of tannins and a little harshness, but it developed quite nicely with time. This wine has always been on the lighter side—never showing much mid-palate concentration or depth—but as it rounded into form, it became quite charming, rather Burgundian and very pleasing, while retaining that nice backbone. As I have noted in the past with similar comparisons, the difference between this and the non-mevushal wine might in fact be greater if this non-mevushal bottling were somewhat more distinguished. That said, and while this may not be anywhere near as impressive as its massive bottle, I did like its elegance and ideas, and it is possible that it will separate itself more from its sibling as time goes on. Drink now-2017. “The Cave” is Binyamina’s effort at a cult-y type wine, coming in a massively heavy bottle that makes it hard to find “Binyamina” on the label. It refers to a cave quarried in Mount Carmel some 250 years ago and used to store wine intermittently since the 19th Century.Importer: Royal Wine Corp., Bayonne, N.J.; tel: (718) 534-0118.

The 2006 THE CAVE “MEVUSHAL” is a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot and 2% Petit Verdot. A touch herbal, with some char and tobacco, this is silky and quite elegant, with bright, tasty fruit, and a bit of a backbone. This showed beautifully at the outset, easily outshining its non-mevushal counterpart, much to my surprise. A quick taste would, I suspect, have had most tasters picking this, which is quite a compliment for a Mevushal wine. (Mevushal is a special sub-set of Kosher laws.) As the two wines sat, though, and as I’ve seen before, the world returned to its norms as the non-mevushal version softened, evolved, became more harmonious and developed, while, as in the past, this version remained more static. It is hard to rate much more highly a wine that I think has little potential for development, but if you must have Mevushal, this is well done and in the shorter run will show very well. It has lots of charm, although it is pricey for what it is. Drink now-2015. “The Cave” is Binyamina’s effort at a cult-y type wine, coming in a massively heavy bottle that makes it hard to find “Binyamina” on the label. It refers to a cave quarried in Mount Carmel some 250 years ago and used to store wine intermittently since the 19th Century.Importer: Royal Wine Corp., Bayonne, N.J.; tel: (718) 534-0118.