WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10th 7pm -- The Bottle Shop is hosting a vertical tasting of Israel's first cult winery, Margalit Winery, on Wednesday, March 10th with Israeli Wine Direct's founder Richard Shaffer, Margalit's US importer. Richard's twitter feed documents his barnstorming blind tasting tours where he has put the likes of Margalit and the dozen or so other small-lot boutique wineries he imports in front of serious buyers, somms and wine geeks in L.A., NY, Philly, Houston, etc. When I found out he represented Margalit I knew I wanted to find out more. In fact one of the first times we met, we traded Cabernet Francs: Guiberteau Arbois for Margalit Cab Franc. When I found out he was a Cabernet Franc head, it only confirmed what a totally serious wine freak he is. I mean the guy tweets about Cru Beaujolais for crying out loud! 

While not particularly well known here, Yair (and his son, Asaf) are bone-fide rock star winemakers. Yair is a PhD wine chemist and UC Davis-trained enologist whose book, Winery Technology and Operations: A Handbook for Small Wineries, you will find on every small winery's book shelf. Margalit focuses on Cab and Cabernet-based blends with two vineyard sites, one in the Upper Galilee and one (mostly Cab Franc!) in Binyamina near the winery itself. In all, they produce less than 1,700 cases annually. Yes, that's small. Really small. Hand-harvested. No press juice. All free run. Exactly the same practices you'd expect to find in the toniest boutique winery in Napa. 

This all came together because Yair sent Richard a case of library wines and, though we're not sure of it, we think this might be the first public vertical of Margalit of its kind done outside of Israel. I've seen the odd bottle or two of Margalit over the years, but I've certainly never seen this kind of power lineup. 

2002 Margalit Cabernet Franc

2002, 2003, 2005, and 2006 Margalit Cabernet Sauvignon

2004, 2005 and 2006 Margalit Enigma

2006 and 2007 Margalit Special Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

$85 $50 per person or $120 $75 per couple