This is my third year tasting wines with Menahem Israelievitch in Paris and it is the first one that is not related to my visit to Bordeaux three years ago, almost to the date of this tasting (give or take two weeks). Three years ago, I was given the opportunity to taste many of the 2015 and 2016 wines from the barrel at each of the wineries in Bordeaux.

The 2014 vintage to me, was crazy fun because it is less ripe than the 2015 or 2016 vintages. They were also FAR cheaper. Then you had the 2015 wines which were more expensive and far riper than the 2014 vintage. This 2016 vintage is the best of both worlds, but it comes at a crazy high price. I warned you at that time, during the epic post of my visit to Bordeaux with Mr. Israelievitch, that you better start saving your money, sadly nothing has changed about that. The REAL shocker price-wise of the 2016 vintage was Chateau Malartic, which rose to almost 150 or more a bottle! That was close to double the 2014 vintage.

In a previous post about the most recent French wines (at that time in 2017) that were arriving on the market – I already spoke about pricing and supply, so there is no need to talk that over again in this post.

While the 2015 and 2016 vintages were ripe, the 2017 vintage is not like that at all. The 2017 vintage in Bordeaux, though this is a massive simplification and generalization of the 2017 vintage, was overall less ripe than the 2015/16 vintages and maybe even in some cases a drop less than the 2014 vintage. The 2017 vintage flowered early and then the frost came, which killed off a fair amount of the fruit from the vines (Grapevines are self-pollinating and as such the flowers are an all-or-nothing situation in regards to yield). Quality itself is not affected by the early frost which froze the flowers, while the rest of the season was mostly OK, except for the late rains that diluted some of the acidity, again this is an overall generalization, with varying degrees of difference between the Chateaus.

The Mevushal push, from Royal wines, is continuing for the USA labels. More wines are being made Mevushal and while I wonder if this is good overall for myself, it makes sense for Royal wines, which in the end, I guess is what matters to them. Will this be an issue? In the past, I have found that the mevushal work of Mr. Israelievitch is top-notch, and really just ages the wine rather than ruining it.

The Mevushal wines from France for the 2017 vintage will be, the 2017 Barons Edmond et Benjamin de Rothschild, Haut-Medoc, 2017 Chateau Greysac, 2017 Chateau Chateau de Parsac, 2017 Les Lauriers, Des Domaines Edmond de Rothschild, 2017 Chateau Le Crock, 2017 Cuvee Hautes Terres, Chateau Fourcas Dupre, along with the whites wines, the 2018 Bourgogne Les Truffieres, Chardonnay, the 2018 Les Marronniers, Chablis,  and the 2018 Chateau Les Riganes, Blanc.

Now does mevushal impede the long-term viability of aging in regards to the wine? Well, that too is not something that we have scientific proof on. I have tasted a mevushal 1999 Herzog Special Edition and it was aging beautifully! So, would I buy the mevushal versions of the wines I tasted below – absolutely! Would I age them? Yes, I would hold them for slightly fewer years.

Other than the mevushal aspect, there are no differences between the European version of the wines and the USA version of the wines. While that sounds obvious, I am just stating it here. The wines will be shipped now and the temperature issues that clearly affected Israel’s wines of old, have not been a factor here.

Tasting in Paris

I landed in Paris, got showered and the such, and then made my way to lunch with Menahem Israelievitch. This year I was not alone in my tasting, I was joined by Avi Davidowitz from the Kosher Wine Unfiltered blog. After lunch, we went to a lovely home to do the tasting. The wines were all laid out in the order for the tasting, and one by one we went through the 30 wines. There was one missing wine, the 2018 Chateau Genlaire, Bordeaux Superieur and two of the wines were bad, I did taste them later in the week and they are listed here as if I tasted them at the tasting.

My many thanks to Menahem Israelievitch for going out of his way to help me to taste all the current French wines from Royal Wines before they were publicly released. The labels on the pictures may not all have a kosher symbol, but that was because they rushed some of the bottles to Mr. Israelievitch before they were properly labeled with supervision symbols attached. My many thanks to Mr. Israelievitch, Royal Europe, and Royal Wines for making this tasting possible in the first place, and secondly, for taking the time to taste the wines with me.

The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here:

2018 Les Marronniers Chablis – Score: 93 (QPR madness) (Mevushal)
This wine is made with native yeasts and as little manipulation as possible. The nose on this wine is beautiful with orange blossom, yellow apple, and rosehip, with lemon curd, and yeasty and creamy notes. This is so much better than the 2016 or 2017 vintage, this is so much fun! The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is crazy fun, intense acidity, incredible salinity, piercing, almost painful, with lovely layers of lemon, grapefruit, with quince, and pie crust, with Anjou pear, and quince. The finish is long, crazy long, almost oily, mostly creamy, with baked pear and apple, cinnamon, nutmeg, and loads of mineral, with slate, rock, and saline. Bravo!! Drink until 2023 maybe 2024.

2018 Les Marronniers Chablis, Premier Cru, Cote de Jouan – Score: 92 to 93 (QPR)
The nose on this wine is closed, but it shows lovely notes of mineral, slate, blossom water, and loads of citrus, with apple, and smoke. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is rich, layered, and impressive, with a rich oily mouthfeel, showing a lovely weight, with yellow apple, tart citrus, Asian Pear, and beautiful acidity that is well integrated with a strong mineral core, showing Orange pith, with tart citrus and slate and yellow plum, with saline, and more earth and hints of nectarines and orange. Lovely! Drink from 2020 to 2024 may be longer.

2018 Domaine Ternynck Bourgogne, Les Truffieres – Score: 90 (Mevushal) (QPR)
The nose on this wine is pure baked goods, with night jasmine and Orange blossom, along with hints of orange and herb. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is nice, with rich salinity, herb galore, with roasted mint, oregano, and orange, and nectarine, with sweet notes but well balanced. The finish is long, sweet, ripe, and yet well balanced, with great acidity, saline, with crazy herbs, Orange pith, grapefruit, and slate, with wet rock, and earth. Nice!! Drink until 2021.

2018 Chateau Les Riganes, Blanc – Score: 92 (Mevushal) (QPR Madness)
This wine is made from 100% Sauvignon Blanc. The nose on this wine is crazy, straight New Zealand crack, with loads od saline, gooseberry, cat pee, and dirt that the pee fell on, with green notes, and passion fruit, lovely! The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is lovely, it is a bit short in the front, but wow the saline hits you over the head like a 2×4, with loads of spice, slate, grapefruit, gooseberry, and green apple, with loads of mineral, earth, rock, and loads of quince, lovely! The finish is long, green, earthy, with more saline, and orange blossom. Bravo! Drink until 2021.

2018 Chateau Gazin Rocquencourt, Blanc, Pessac-Legonan – Score: 93
This wine is made from 100% Sauvignon Blanc. The wine was made from the middle of the press, not at the start or the end. Battonage was done twice to three times a week. The nose on this wine is an oak city, with so much oak that I can barely smell fruit, under the oak you can find green apple, quince, lemon Fraiche, and loads of smoke. The mouth on this wine is nuts, with layers upon layers, of pure oak, rich extraction of oak and fruit, smoke, toast galore, with baked Anju pear, yellow apple, fresh-baked pie of lemon and creamy whipped creme, with butter-laden brioche, with loads of acidity that balances it all out. The finish is long, oaky, creamy, with quince, toast, nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, and ginger with lemongrass, and more smoke. This is certifiably nuts wine. Drink from 2023 until 2028. Wow!

2018 Domaine Ternynck Bourgogne Pinot Noir, Les Brulis – Score: 89
The nose on this wine is a bit ripe, showing better than the 2017 vintage, with clean red and green fruit, showing loads of herb, loam, and lovely minerality, with foliage, and hints of roasted meat. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is really tart, slightly out of balance with intense tart raspberry, dark cherry, with toast, smoke, and undergrowth, with light mouth-coating tannin, with tar, and more tart red fruit. The finish is long, green, with tart juicy strawberry, loam, mineral, coffee, smoke, and earth, and tart fruit lingering long. Drink by 2023.

2018 Chateau Signac, Pliocene, Cotes du Rhone – Score: 91 (QPR)
This wine is a blend of 70% Grenache and 30% Syrah, with indigenous yeats. This is a nice wine, smoky, earthy, with loads of roasted meat, strawberry, dark plum, cherry, and more mineral. The mouth on this wine medium-bodied is loaded with blackcurrant, crazy smoke, more roasted animal, with lovely saline, rich tannin structure, with graphite, mineral, and lovely floral notes, well balanced with loads of spice, nutmeg, and cumin, with fruit, and more earth. The finish is long, sweet, super balanced, with smoke, earth, licorice, and root beer. Nice! Drink until 2022.

2018 Chateau Trijet, Bordeaux – Score: 87
This is another 2018 wine and I had high hopes, it is NOT Mevushal, and sadly, it was a bit flat for me. The fruit is nice enough, but the wine overall did not show any real attention-grabbing characteristics. The acidity was low as was the fruit-structure. Drink now.

2018 Chateau Genlaire, Bordeaux Superieur – Score: 90 (QPR)
This is a fun wine another winner in the sub 20 dollar wine category, we need much more of this in the kosher wine world. This is not a homerun wine, this is a lovely and simple wine that is what we need more of. This is the kind of wine that 2018 was built for, simple wine that the 2018 vintage raises up nicely.
The nose on this wine is lovely, dirty, earthy, and smoky, with loads of green and red fruit, with hints of black fruit, followed by garrigue, and more earth, lovely. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine has a lovely acid-core, with nice mineral, it is still too young I think, it needs time to come together in the next few months, with the acid calming a bit, once that happens the wine will show nicely, with raspberry, dark cherry, and hints of blackcurrant under a bed of dark chocolate, nice mouthcoating tannin, and green notes, with foliage, mineral, and slate showing well. The finish is long, green, with red fruit, with nice tannin, forest floor, graphite, and more garrigue. Nice! Drink by 2023.

2018 Chateau Les Riganes, Bordeaux – Score: 91 (QPR) (NOT Mevushal)
This wine is very similar to the Mevushal version, except for more minerality, less fruit, and more acidity. The nose on this wine is heaven, pure heaven, red fruit, berries, dirt, loam, forest floor, tobacco, and herbs galore, showing brighter than the Mevushal version. The mouth on this medium plus bodied wine is lovely, not layered, not complex, but who cares, this wine costs 12 dollars!!! The mouth has a nice presence, with good enough fruit structure, showing nice mouth coating tannin, with even more control than the Mevushal version, with blackberry, plum, cherry, raspberry, and cassis, with better acidity than the Mevushal, backed by loads of earth, smoke, and lovely lingering tannin. The finish is a medium to long with green notes galore, foliage, and more tannin, tobacco, and more graphite than the Mevushal version. The previous vintages of Chateau Riganes have taught me to not hold these long, so, drink these before the start of 2021. Enjoy!

2017 Les Lauriers de Rothschild, Montagne Saint-Emilion – Score: 91 (Mevushal) (QPR)
The wine is a blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc. This may be the first red Lauriers wine that I really like.  The nose on this wine is violet, night flowers, with a rich perfume of red fruit, berries, forest floor, and earth galore. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine has a slight hole in the middle, with lovely layers of fruit and tannin, showing good extraction, with smoke, tobacco, toast, and loads of roasted herb, followed by cranberry, hints of pomegranate, dark cherry, and loads of roasted herb, foliage, and more green notes. The finish is long, green, herbal, with smoke, toast, lovely smoking tobacco, and nice graphite, with mineral, and herbs. Bravo! Drink until 2023.

2017 Chateau de Parsac, Montagne Saint-Emilion – Score: 89 (Mevushal)
The wine is a blend of 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc. The nose on this wine is green, foliage city, with loads of sweet tobacco, garrigue, and smoke, with raspberry, and red cherry. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is sweeter than I like, with the sweet fruit of candied raspberry, darker cherry than the Les Lauriers, with nice mineral, and ripe red fruit. The finish is long, green, with nice tannin, tobacco, charcoal/graphite galore, and smoke. Nice. Drink until 2023.

2017 Chateau Royaumont, Lalande de Pomerol – Score: 93 (QPR Superstar)
The wine is a blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc. I liked the 2016 vintage but this one may be better! The nose on this wine is pure hedonism, with incredible soy sauce, mushroom, and loads of umami, with crazy smoke, blueberry, earth, mineral galore, and black fruit, with herbs. WOW!!! The mouth on this wine carries the umami madness, with a richness in the mouth that is plush, and layered with less mushroom and more truffles, with loads of blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, smoke, mineral, all wrapped in a rich, layered, umami madness, with tobacco mineral, graphite joy, wow!! Incredible. The wine is ripe, and the voluptuous mouthfeel comes from the combination of oak, ripe fruit, mushroom, and mineral, it will be fun to see this one in three years. The finish on this wine is nuts, layered and ripe, with smoke, mushroom, and tobacco, graphite, charcoal, and more mushroom. Bravo!! Drink from 2021 until 2028. This can be drunk almost now, but it needs time to really be appreciated.

2017 Les Roches de Yon-Figeac, Saint-Emilion, Grand Cru – Score: 93 to 94 (QPR Superstar)
This is great, the Royaumont is mushroom and soy sauce and the Les Roches de Yon-Figeac is mushroom and barnyard heaven, it is insane. The nose on this wine is crazy barnyard, mushroom, forest floor, with freshly tilled earth, followed by a stick of graphite right in the eye, with crazy salinity, and loads of black fruit, wow! The mouth on this medium to full-bodied wine is really fun, layered, with squid-ink notes, with layers upon layers of plush and rich fruit structure, with incredible acidity, salinity, and graphite core, with crazy blackberry, blackcurrant, with dark berries, and smoke, with graphite taking center stage, followed by intense acid, and more mineral, with layers of earth, and lovely roasted herb, and screaming tannin structure that will last for a long time. The finish si long, green and ripe, with mineral at its core, followed by more squid ink, plushness that belies the searing tannin, and a fruit structure that lasts forever. Incredible! Bravo! Drink from 2023 until 2030.

2016 Barons Edmund Benjamin de Rothschild, Haut-Medoc – Score: 91 to 92 (Mevushal)
This is the first vintage with a new consultant team, Eric Boisssenot. This vintage is the 30th anniversary of this wine being made by Royal in conjunction with Barons de Rothschild. This wine is a blend of 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon. The nose is bright and dark, with brooding dark fruit, backed by tart red fruit, very professional in nature and stylistic of the 2016 vintage. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is lovely, well made, round, and yet complex, with layers of blackberry, dark plum, tart raspberry, with searing mouth-drying tannin, and still plush in the mouth, with a great balance of acid and tannin, with dark fruit, and earth and loam galore. The finish is long and tart and a mineral monster, with loads of black olives, nice control of foliage, tobacco, and rich salinity, with graphite, pencil shavings, and lovely dirt, and hints of the forest floor. Bravo! This may be the best Rothschild since the 2010 vintage. Drink from 2020 till 2027.

2017 Barons Edmund Benjamin de Rothschild, Haut-Medoc – Score: 89 (NOT Mevushal)
The nose on this wine is nice, showing black and blue notes with riper fruit than the 2016 vintage with freshly tilled earth, roasted herb, and smoke. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is rounded and less complex than the 2016 vintage, with a uni-dimensional approach, showing a sweeter side and a tannin structure that is all over the place, with really ripe cassis and blackcurrant. The finish is long, green, ripe, and not my cup of tea. Drink until 2024.

2016 Chateau Greysac, Medoc – Score: 91 to 92 (Mevushal) (QPR)
This wine is a blend of 65% Merlot, 29% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Petit Verdot. The wine is lovely, a step above the 2015 Greysac vintage, showing mineral galore, showing a nice elegance, with wonderful pith, rich salinity, balanced with great black and red fruit, earth galore, and tar. The nose on this wine is really the star, showing incredible tar, black and red fruit, with menthol galore, followed by hints of blue fruit, with loads of dirt, mushroom, garrigue, and forest floor. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is rich and layered, with wonderful concentration, great extraction, with blackberry, ripe dark cherry, raspberry, rich earth, and lovely mineral and crazy graphite, with searing acid, nice tannins, and lovely saline, and loads of roasted herb, Mint, Oregano, and rosemary. The finish starts off a bit short but with time it opens to show a wine that I am really impressed by, this wine is more accessible now because of the Mevushal process, but the core of what makes this wine so fun is not going anywhere any time soon. The finish has leather, more roasted herb, tobacco, and garrigue galore! Bravo!! Drink from 2020 until 2026.

2017 Cuvee Hautes Terres, Chateau Fourcas Dupre, Listrac-Medoc – Score: 89
The nose on this wine is smoke with red fruit, hints of herb and earth, and loads of mineral. The mouth on this wine is nice, showing tar and earth, and mineral, but the complexity falls off and is a bit flat, with nice tannin, and OK fruit structure, and uni-dimensional. The finish is long, green, earthy. Nice. Drink until 2023.

2017 Chateau Fourcas Dupre, Listrac-Medoc – Score: 91 to 92
The nose is tar heaven, with pencil, graphite, and red and black fruit, with a bit of mushroom, forest floor, earth, and green notes, and roasted herb. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is lovely, layered, smoky, and earthy, with layers of pencil shavings, tar, blackberry, dark cherry, red fruit, and loads of mineral, with a lovely acid core, and a tannin structure that belies its youth, with fruit, and smoke galore. The finish is long, green, earthy, and mineral-driven, with graphite, garrigue, and earth, tobacco, and tar lingering long. Bravo! Drink from 2022 until 2030.

2017 Chevalier de Lascombes, Margaux – Score: 93
This is a classic slutty Margaux, with clear notes of mushroom, earth, but upfront it is ripe, really ripe, with a classic hedonism bent, showing soy sauce, umami, and clear tar. The mouth on this wine is ripe, with clear control, lovely balance, and crazy mushroom and umami, with dark raspberry, plum, boysenberry, and hints of strawberry, with loads of juicy ripe fruit, balanced with acid, saline, mouth coating tannin, and loads of earth, incredible. The finish is long, green, and yet ripe, with more juicy ripe fruit, soy sauce, mushroom sauce, forest floor, and a tannin structure that really hurts to taste, with graphite, pencil, tar, and loads of tilled earth. Bravo!! Drink from 2023 until 2030.

2017 Chateau Giscours, Margaux – Score: 93 to 94
This is the elegant call-girl in comparison to Lascombes. The nose on this wine is black, almost purely black, with loads of blue fruit, and foliage/garrigue in the background, with black pepper, smoke, and loads of pencil shavings. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is layered, rich, plush, elegant, and so beautifully elegant, with a wonderful fruit-structure, showing a roundness that belies its mineral and acid core, which is plush, and tannin that is draping and not searing, with a presence that demands your attention and screams for focus, with a creamy texture and freshly tilled earth bringing it all together. The finish is long, green, smoky, with earth, sweet ripe fruit, with dark chocolate, tobacco, garrigue, and mineral that really is impressive. Bravo!! Drink from 2024 until 2032.

2017 Chateau Gazin Rocquencourt, Pessac-Legonan – Score: 93 (QPR shocker)
This wine is a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon and 50% Merlot. The nose on this wine is truly lovely, showing notes of pure mineral, with umami, smoke, soy sauce, milk chocolate, and mushroom notes, lovely! The mouth on this full-bodied wine is lovely, with loads of mushroom, forest floor, with blackberry, cherry, raspberry, licorice, and pepper, followed by a core of mineral and saline, with a mouth draping tannin structure and lovely fruit structure with complexity and earth. The finish is long, green, complex, mineral-driven, and tar loaded with earth, tobacco, leather, and graphite. Bravo!!! To me, this could have been Malartic 2017 and I would have said sure. Wow! Buy this up!! Drink from 2023 until 2028.

2017 Chateau Le Crock, Saint-Estephe – Score: 91 (not-Mevushal)
The nose on this wine is ripe and pushed with mineral and spice, followed by earth, and black fruit galore, with hints of red fruit, and more earth, and spice. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is ripe, really pushed and fruit-forward for me, not something that I crave, with all the other wines I have tasted today, with plush mouthfeel, with a ripeness that will shock you, followed by searing tannin, and layers of more ripe fruit. The finish is long, ripe, black, with blackberry, plum, nice acid, and still too ripe for me. Drink from 2023 until 2028.

2017 Chateau Le Crock, Saint-Estephe – Score: 91 (Mevushal)
It is clearly less ripe than the not-mevushal version, which is clearly strange, but still not a wine I crave. The wine is riper and rounder and less complex than the not-Mevushal.

2017 Chateau Moulin Riche, Saint-Julien – Score: 92
This wine is another superstar which is saying a lot for the quasi-poor 2017 vintage. Of course, the price would not tell you that 2017 was a somewhat off year, yes the wine does not show it, and I guess the price does not either.
The nose on this wine is lovely, ripe, rich, well balanced, with really fun, crazy menthol, graphite galore, black, and red fruit screaming for attention, with crazy brightness, followed, by loads of smoke, tar, licorice, and earth, lovely. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is lovely, with layers of velvet coated fruit, showing blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, all at the same time, with the complexity of fruit focus, finesse, and power, that brings with it spices, cinnamon, cloves, and earth, wrapped in mouth-draping tannin, bracing acidity, loads of roasted herb, oregano, and loads of graphite. The finish is long, green, extremely well balanced, plush and juicy, with sweet but incredible fruit, showing a rich luxurious wine, with sweet tobacco, green notes, garrigue, drying tannins, and chocolate-covered coffee beans, with sweet fruit peeking out from under the crazy acid, graphite-based wine. Impressive. Drink this wine from 2024 until 2032.

2017 Chateau Leoville Poyferre, Saint-Julien – Score: 93 to 94
The nose is beautiful and well-controlled with crazy pencil shavings, with ripe fruit, with ripe and juicy red fruit. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is closed to start with layers upon layers of red fruit, with blackberry in the background, with mouth draping tannin, crazy mineral, pencil shavings galore, and elegance that is plush, mouth-coating, yet the ripeness in the background is ripe and scary, but hedonistic and voluptuous, with layers of tar, earth, licorice, pepper, and loads of tannin galore, showing an elegance and plushness, with clear hedonistic leanings and graphite/acid core that makes it all work. The finish is long, black, green, and tannic, with plush fruit and smoke, with tobacco, chocolate, and earth galore. Bravo!! Drink from 2025 until 2033.

N.V. Drappier Rose de Saignee, Champagne – Score: 90 to 91 (Mevushal)
This Champagne is made with 100% Pinot Noir Saignee and not blended with white wine. The nose on this wine strikes you over the head with rhubarb, strawberry, cherry, pomegranate, and yeast galore, with sweet notes. The mouth on this full-bodied sparkling wine hits you over the head with fruit-forward fruit, along with an aggressive front of medium bubble mousse, with sweet notes of strawberry, dark fruit, black and brooding showing a thick mouthfeel, with fruit that overpowers, but also the mousse is super-rich, with tannin, the black fruit that is far more prevalent in this wine that the Cotes de O’r shows more like a sparkling light Pinot Noir than a sparkling wine, which is showed by the 48 to 72 hours of Saignee that has more tannin and extraction and fruit than we are used to forming a classic Champagne. The finish is long, red, and mineral-driven, with crazy acidity and the rhubarb and pear linger forever. Nice.

Chateau Rollan de By wines we tasted at the same time

2016 Chateau Rollan de By, Medoc – Score: 87 (Mevushal)
This is ripe really ripe, with juicy red fruit, followed by menthol, earth, spice, and smoke. The mouth on this Mevushal wine is cooked, sorry, it is not a fun wine, it is full-bodied but wow is it pushed, fruit-forward, and yes, has hints of date, with loads of tannin, structure, and not much else.

2016 Chateau Tour Seran, Medoc – Score: 88 (Mevushal)
Another ripe wine, I cannot handle this, better than the Rollan, but still riper than it should be, but really a red wine that is a total mess and not really worth writing more about it.

2016 Chateau La Clare, Medoc – Score: 85 (Mevushal)
This wine is an oak bomb with a hint of date and really no balance, with menthol, smoke, and not much else. This wine is worse than the other two wines and that is saying something, it has no balance, tannin all over the place and no elegance. Next.

2016 Chateau Haut Condissas, Prestige, Medoc – Score: 87
This is another miss, I have no idea what happened, the nose is ripe, hot, all over the place, and I really cannot understand what happened. So sad, move on.