The 2007 CABERNET SAUVIGNON SINGLE VINEYARD was aged in French oak for 13 months. It comes from Psagot’s Jerusalem Mountain vineyard, 900 meters above sea level. The oak is a bit obvious on this wine, the vanilla and some licorice notes obscuring the fruit initially, but it does come into some degree of balance with air. It has many merits, including good focus and intensity on the finish, as well as a nice supporting backbone. The key difference with this and the other Psagots reviewed this issue is structure. The tannins are quite evident here, and this will be the most ageworthy of the three, although not the most charming initially. The mid-palate also has the most concentration, while remaining rather elegant, not thick. There were 4,450 bottles produced. Drink now-2018. Prices given reflect the last release reviewed, which should be fairly close—as of this writing, I was not given current USA prices. Note that in the last set of Israeli reviews, Psagot received a very poor review of an oxidized 2006 Viognier. That was retasted by the winery and it was found that there was shipping damage to USA bottles. The winery says that it was not a typical bottle, and that henceforth they are going to take additional steps to protect wines that they ship to prevent a reoccurrence of this problem. Meanwhile, it is pleasant to note with this winery as with some others (Recanati, in this report, for one) that I am seeing gradual but steady improvements in the winemaking.Importer: Royal Wine Corp., Bayonne, N.J.; tel: (718) 534-0118.

Dark garnet in color with an intense nose loaded with blackberries, cassis and sweet tobacco. The palate offers more black fruit skin notes along with coffee granules and cocoa powder, with mocha dominating the lingering finish.——L.B.(4/1/2010)—— 87