I have had to travel to San Diego for business this year and thankfully on one of those trips I was able to connect with Andrew and hangout. Mr. Breskin is the founder of Liquid Kosher a wine curator and importer for a wide array of kosher wines, from French wines (like the famous Domaine Rose Camille to Israeli favorites). Andrew invited over a group of wine lovers and made a feast for the eyes and stomach with a wonderful array of food and wines, beautifully presented. It was great to hang with Andrew, which I normally get to do only once a year at KFWE Los Angeles.

Andrew has been the goto guy for access to French wines that are not imported into the United States by Royal or the other larger kosher wine importers. Andrew has brought us Burdungdies like Domaine Chantal Lescure, Domaine d’Ardhuy, along with the famous Domaine Roses Camille, which have been top scorers for many years now.

I had a few of these wines in France last year and they did not show as well as the last two times I have had them here in the USA. Maybe it was a bad wine in France, who knows. I recently tasted the current crop of wines from Liquid kosher and I found them to be lovely wines, which are almost ready now and which will also last for many more years.

One of the most exciting new arrivals into Breskin’s portfolio are the wines from Yaacov Oryah. I am so happy to see them here in the USA, I did not know that Andrew had imported them until he poured a couple of them at the dinner that night. I, of course, placed an order for them that week. Yaacov Oryah’s wines are beyond unique and they are wines that are lovely now but also have time to evolve.

To me, the shocker of the group is the 2015 Clos Lavaud – Lalande de Pomerol. To call a 45 dollar wine a QPR is a bit of a stretch, but to me, it is a no-brainer QPR wine. It is wonderful and a wine that you should stock up on for the price and the quality.

Many thanks to Andrew Breskin and his wife for hosting us and for sharing his time, home, and wines with us. The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here:

2014 Chateau Marquisat De Binet, Cuvee Abel – Score: 91
This wine is 100% Merlot. The nose on this wine is black, with loads of vanilla, with black and red fruit notes followed by lovely garrigue, green foliage, with nice mineral, sage, bright cranberry, and a mound of roasted herbs. The mouth on this medium to full-bodied wine is gripping, with mouth-coating/drying tannin, that gives way to screaming acid and lovely blackcurrant, plum, rich blackberry, with loads of tart and juicy raspberry, cranberry, and lovely loam, graphite, all wrapped in an elegant and gripping mouthfeel. The finish is crazy, with more gripping tannin, rich tart and juicy red and black fruit, more lovely green notes, foliage, with mushroom, and herb, with licorice and coffee lingering long. Nice! Drink until 2021.

2014 Echo de Roses Camille, Pomerol – Score: 92
The nose on this wine is not as fruit-forward as what I had last year in France, showing a nose of lovely red and black fruit, mint, and Oregano galore, tar, with forest floor, and earth. The mouth on this medium to full-bodied wine is lovely, showing a mouth that is lovely with core acidity, rich and layered, elegant and expressive fruit, blackberry, cranberry, tart pomegranate, and lovely tart and juicy red fruit of tart cherry, well balanced with freshly tilled loam that is wrapped in a mouth-coating tannin structure and layers of riper fruit that show with time and air, with salinity, more tactile tannin, and loads of mineral. The finish is long, red, green, and filled with mushroom, loam, tilled earth, and forest floor, with tobacco, and milk chocolate. Nice! Drink from 2020 until 2026.

2012 Domaine Roses Camille, Pomerol – Score: 93 to 94
Sheer elegance in a glass, this wine is almost there but still not ready. The nose is rich and earthy, with now loads of mushrooms, followed by red and green fruit, with hints of black in the background, with loads of sweet and ripe fruit, sweet dill, cedar, and rich dirt and deep fruit. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is riper than I would have wished for, but it is beautifully layered with incredibly concentrated dark fruit, with lovely extraction, showing candied strawberry, along with nice dirt, spice, more cedar, and rich layers of green foliage and ripe and juicy cassis, black cherry – that gives way to mineral, pencil, and great focus all underpinned by some nice acid, but I would have loved more acid, the other two wines that I tasted beside the big brother showed more acidity, and more mineral, all wrapped in elegant and mouth-draping tannin that is plush and elegant. The finish is long and green, with sweet notes of juicy and tart fruit, with more great acid, cocoa, tar, charcoal, and tobacco, wrapped in leather and spice. Bravo! Drink from 2020 till 2029.

2015 Clos Lavaud, Lalande de Pomerol – Score: 92 to 93 (QPR madness)
The nose on this wine is lovely, far more controlled than the 2014 vintage while also being richer and brighter, showing notes of dark fruit, followed by loads of incredible mineral, with saline, graphite, forest floor, and mushroom, with dark red fruit, and loam that goes on forever. The mouth on this wine is ripe, but in such an old-world manner, with rich loam, bright fruit, great acidity, mouth-draping tannin that is elegant, well-structured, and a focal point for the layers of elegant blackberry, smoke, blackcurrant, dark ripe cherry, wrapped in plush tannin, sweet cedar notes, with incredible saline and mineral, with a plush forest floor that will give way to mushroom madness in the future, with an elegance that is really impressive, and a wine that is now just starting to show its potential. The finish is long,m green, with garrigue, foliage, more forest floor, with a plush yet velvety structure that is vacked with core-acidity and mineral, dark chocolate, licorice, leather, and fine spices. Bravo!! Drink from 2021 until 2028.

2015 Domaine Chantal Lescure Pommard – Score: 93
Wow, what a wine! This wine starts off showing very red berry fruit, with insane mineral, rich charcoal, smoke, roasted meat, and lovely dirt. With more time the nose turns blue and red, showing more like a Syrah than a Pinot Noir, with intense smoke and animal, in the end, the wine moves back to its red fruit, but slightly darker in nature, with more mineral and dirt, and less of the smoked animal. Tons of fun. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine follows the nose and turns from red to blue and then to a darker red, with rich loam, always in full control, with incredible mouth coating tannin, that gives way to scraping mineral, with menthol, red currant, all balanced with lovely acidity and incredible elegance. The finish is long and super balanced showing epic control, lovely spices, green notes, foliage, and lovely Italian herbs. Bravo!!!! Drink from 2022 until 2028/2029.

—– Yaacov Oryah Wines ——–

2018 Yaacov Oryah Soulmate – Score: 91 (QPR)
This wine is a blend of 55% Chardonnay and 45% Chenin Blanc. The name comes from a play on how the two components truly come together to create a wine that is greater than its parts. The nose on this wine is lovely, showing more chard than Chenin, with green apple, yellow apple, and quince from the Chenin, with lovely yellow blossom, and hints of orange. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is fun, a true acid bomb, with loads of natural acid, mineral galore, with lemon/grapefruit notes, followed by lovely fruit focus and fruit structure that is quite precise and professional. The finish is long, green, and mineral-laden, with slate, saline, with green notes of gooseberry, and lime focus. Bravo!! Drink by 2021.

2018 Yaacov Oryah Light From Darkness – Score: 91
This wine is a Blanc de Noir, hence another play on words – Light from darkness. The wine is a blend of 33% Grenache Noir, 31% Cinsault, 24% Syrah, and 12% Mourvedre, a white GSM. The nose on this wine is very interesting, with slate, mineral, yellow plum, and lovely funk. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine shows currently like notes of a Chenin Blanc, with mineral, hay, and saline galore. The finish is long, green, with yellow and green apple, fun funk and mineral. WoW!! Drink by 2021.

2018 Yaacov Oryah Silent Hunter – Score: 92 to 93 (Crazy QPR)
The play here is that the Semillon “Hunter is a play on words within the play on words, as Hunter Valley, Australia is home to some of the best Semillon in the world) is silent now behind the Chenin Blanc. The wine is a blend of 60% Semillon and 40% Chenin Blanc. The nose on this wine is lovely, and very unique, with elegant funk, rich mineral, showing great smoke, flint, and slate galore. The mouth on this is lovely with more of the mineral, incredible slate, intense saline, lime, lemon Fraiche, fruit focus, backed well with piercing acidity, screaming rock, and lovely layers upon layers of mineral, grapefruit, citrus, pear, and gooseberry, with passion fruit hiding out. The finish is long, with more slate, mineral, acidic, and crazy tart citrus lingering forever! Bravo!! Drink until 2024.

2018 Yaacov Oryah Chenin Blanc, Alpha Omega – Score: 92
The nose on this wine is incredible, showing funk, smoke, hay, flint, mineral, and loads of yellow apple, with sweet spice, and pear. To my mind, it shows what I dream of when I think Chenin Blanc. The mouth on this medium+ bodied wine is lovely, layered, with mineral, more saline, orange, yellow pear, crazy hay, straw, with a rich and unctuous fruit structure, showing beautifully, with sweet tannin, acidity off the charts, smoke, orange peel, pith, and sweet notes of herb and basil, lingering long with yellow blossoms, saline, acid, and slate galore. Wow!! Drink by 2023.