Chateau Golan '99 Cab

Rogov, hi-

Wondering when you may have last tried this wine. Your 2008 book indicates that you give this wine a "drink up" status, which I would agree with. I had the opportunity to try this wine the other day and I was wildly surprised. Having expected a DEAD wine, I was instead treated to a wine that while clearly on its last leg was soft, possessed earthy, leather & dry fruit aromas, still had some fading red color to it and interestingly (to me) had NO SEDIMENT whatsoever.

After being open for about 3-4 hours the wine did take a decidedly bad turn towards an untimely death. But the first 2/3 - 3/4 of the bottle was quite nice.

As to no sediment, is this a result of filtration? With what I have perceived as a trend among boutiques to do minimal fining and filtration this surprised me.

Thanks & looking forward to your thoughts...

Gary, Hi......

Chateau Golan is indeed categorizable as a boutique winery but it is one with state of the art equipment and a very fine winemaker. I suspect that the 1999 wine went through minimal filtration (winemaker Uri Hetz is very much into minimal intervention) but it does not surprise me that even though now "running down" the wine is not throwing sediment.

Best
Rogov

Am I correct in suspecting that sediment and filtration (or a lack thereof) are connected?

If Uri practices minimal intervention why are you not surprised that the wine has not thrown any sediment?

I have been drinking some '99 Bustans (Cab AND Merlot) that are both very much alive (while showing their age) but throwing A LOT of sediment.

Am I correct in suspecting that sediment and filtration (or a lack thereof) are connected? ...If Uri practices minimal intervention why are you not surprised that the wine has not thrown any sediment?

Indeed wines that are unfined and unfiltered quite often throw sediment at a relatively early age. In general it is possible to say that the higher the level of filtration, the lower the possibility of throwing sediment at an early age. On the other hand, there are wines that undergo fining and then, as I suspect in the case of the Chateau Golan wines, that undergo minimal filtration and will hold throughout their lives showing minimal sedimentation.

I have been drinking some '99 Bustans (Cab AND Merlot) that are both very much alive (while showing their age) but throwing A LOT of sediment

With great respect for Bustan, indeed those wines bottled previously to 2003 will be throwing sediment and that largely because until then Ya'akov Fogler as a very small winery was not using filtration at all and was bottling by hand, the two factors coming into play to almost guarantee sedimentation. Despite which, excellent wines, as sedimentation does not necessarily impact on the quality of the wine.

Best
Rogov







I

Makes sense. Thanks D.R.!