Flam Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve was aged for 12 months in 50% new French oak. It comes in at 14% alcohol. This is a fine Reserve Cab from Flam, suave, elegant and refined. Seductively textured, it emphasizes its finesse and sensuality. As it airs out, it expands in the glass and shows off better concentration and more power. Impeccably balanced, it becomes increasingly gorgeous. It is very approachable right now. The tannins are quite ripe. This doesn't have the complexity of either the Syrah or the Noble in the lineup, but it has many virtues of its own, including some welcome understatement.
Gilad Flam described the new 2018 vintage, from which we have an example in red and white, this way: "The harvest of 2018 started earlier than usual. Winter 2018 [had] less than average precipitation (80% less than the previous year), as well as unusual occurrences of rain and hail in April and May [that] led to a substantial reduction in crop. The summer was very mild, with temperatures lower than average in high altitudes. Excellent growing season with a small production of high-quality fruit and a mild ripening season [that] contributed to rich red wines that are powerful and elegant." Regarding the others on display: The 2016 vintage, he said, "was an excellent year for our plots in Dishon & Ben Zimra. The winter was colder than average and it snowed in January in Judean Hills and the Upper Galilee mountains. January and February had little precipitation and were characteristic of a rather dry winter. April and May were rainy and it was a blessing for the harvest, water-saturated ground reduced the need for summer irrigation. Average temperatures in the summer without heatwaves allowed for...consistently ripening grapes. The climate conditions, together with closely monitoring the vines, produced exceptionally high quality." Flam said he thought the 2016 vintage was one of the best years, without spring heat waves and a mild summer. Finally, the 2017 vintage comes from a year that had a cold winter, he said, "with less than average precipitation, but the vines went through more than the average number of cold spells. This contributed to a good and even awakening of the vines in the spring. July was hotter than usual but the rest of harvest months—August and September—enjoyed a moderate climate with no untoward heat waves. In short, we had an excellent crop regarding both quality and size."
