When I was in Israel I had the Tishbi Malbec some three times, twice at the Ashdod Wine Tasting and once at the Tishbi winery itself (not yet blogged). The wine at the Ashdod tasting must have been a few days old or more than day, as it was highly oxidized, but richer and more layered with deep roasted animal notes and ripe black fruit. However, the other bottles have been a real joy to drink.

For dinner this Shabbos we had our steak dinner and crunchy roasted potatoes, which were perfect again. If you use the recipe, the meat will not be blue and red. Instead, the meat comes out medium rare, but that is more than fine for me. The potatoes were also quite enjoyable.

The wine turned out to be really nice again and a wine that I am happy is available here in the US and one that I really enjoyed. The wine note is below:

2009 Tishbi Malbec, Tishbi Estate, Single Vineyard – Score: B++ to A-
The wine does not show as well as by the winery, the blue notes linger for a bit and then fade away to a cacophony of dead animal notes, deep earth, and black fruit. The wine mellows over time to rich tobacco and violet, with smoke, eucalyptus, and date. The mouth is medium to full bodied, rich and layered with concentrated and tangy fruit, ripe sweet strawberry, rich black plum, blackberry, more crazy sweet tobacco, sweet cedar, candied black cherry, all controlled with little to no date, but still sweet – very Californian in style. The finish is long and sweet with butterscotch, zesty raspberry, hints of tar and loamy earth.