by Patrick Ogle
CB Initiales cabernet sauvignon (2005), from Morocco's Thalvin Domaine Ouled Thaleb has a great deal to recommend it. This wine, right out of the bottle, is tannic and needs some air to open up. It also has a strange finish--no real way to put it otherwise but it seems almost like...plastic. Yet this weird finish likewise changes with some air. Is the odd plastic-y taste something to do with the tannins? I cannot say, nor can I say what it is exactly. I checked with others and asked what they thought? And their response was the same, there is a peculiar finish here but this does not ruin the wine.
It has some black fruit to it as well and nice acidity--not too overwhelming and it brings a certain balance to the wine. There is a hint of black pepper here too. After the air gets to it the wine it smooths out and it is a nice version of cab--it is arguable it is more interesting than many varietal cabs.
You might want to decant and I say this as a person who often says "I don't decant" because I want to taste the wine as it evolves with its contact with air. I recently had a conversation with a French gentleman who said all wine should be decanted and he then went on to offend virtually everyone he spoke with about how they were wrong and he was right about wine. Decant if it appeals to you and don’t if it doesn’t. You are the expert when it comes to how you drink your wine.
If you live in a hot place? This wine maybe benefits from a little time in the chiller. You don’t want it cold but you don’t want it at Miami room temperature either.
Despite the odd taste right out of the bottle this Moroccan cab is more interesting than varietal cab I’ve had from France recently (French blends with cab as a major component are another matter). I’ve wondered if the weird taste I described as “plastic” had something to do with something I’d eaten or just the fact it was late in the day. It doesn’t jibe with the rest of this wine’s qualities, especially since no herbicides or fungicides are used at the vineyard.
For the price you may be able to find cabs that are “better” (better being subjective of course) but this Moroccan wine is worth a taste.
$25-30
CB Initiales cabernet sauvignon (2005), from Morocco's Thalvin Domaine Ouled Thaleb has a great deal to recommend it. This wine, right out of the bottle, is tannic and needs some air to open up. It also has a strange finish--no real way to put it otherwise but it seems almost like...plastic. Yet this weird finish likewise changes with some air. Is the odd plastic-y taste something to do with the tannins? I cannot say, nor can I say what it is exactly. I checked with others and asked what they thought? And their response was the same, there is a peculiar finish here but this does not ruin the wine.
It has some black fruit to it as well and nice acidity--not too overwhelming and it brings a certain balance to the wine. There is a hint of black pepper here too. After the air gets to it the wine it smooths out and it is a nice version of cab--it is arguable it is more interesting than many varietal cabs.
You might want to decant and I say this as a person who often says "I don't decant" because I want to taste the wine as it evolves with its contact with air. I recently had a conversation with a French gentleman who said all wine should be decanted and he then went on to offend virtually everyone he spoke with about how they were wrong and he was right about wine. Decant if it appeals to you and don’t if it doesn’t. You are the expert when it comes to how you drink your wine.
If you live in a hot place? This wine maybe benefits from a little time in the chiller. You don’t want it cold but you don’t want it at Miami room temperature either.
Despite the odd taste right out of the bottle this Moroccan cab is more interesting than varietal cab I’ve had from France recently (French blends with cab as a major component are another matter). I’ve wondered if the weird taste I described as “plastic” had something to do with something I’d eaten or just the fact it was late in the day. It doesn’t jibe with the rest of this wine’s qualities, especially since no herbicides or fungicides are used at the vineyard.
For the price you may be able to find cabs that are “better” (better being subjective of course) but this Moroccan wine is worth a taste.
$25-30
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