I continue to lament the lack of QPR wines. If there was ONE thing I wanted on my year in review than anything else, it was lower prices. To be fair, this year’s list of QPR wines is longer than last year, and the scores are higher, but I also moved the QPR price bar up a bit to 40 dollars. So, what we are seeing here is price inflation for QPR, at least the higher-end QPR wines.

Once again, Royal has some crazy good wines, even from the 2017 vintage, but the prices are high. Yes, there are some nicely priced wines, but to get the 2017 Montviel or the 2017 Gazin, you will be in the 50 to 70 dollar range.

Also, in my top wines of the year, there was only ONE wine that clocked in at 95, and yeah, that wine is priced accordingly, at 140 dollars.

Netofa Wines are finally back and it shows! They are all over this QPR list. This list is not a list of wines that are meant for cellaring, though many can withstand a few years. The idea here is to enjoy these wines now while you let the long-term wines cellar and age. We all have that interest to drink interesting wines and while I agree with that, that is NO excuse to raid the cellar when u have a hunkering for a complex nose or flavor. Many of these wines will scratch the itch while the beasts’ lie and settle.

This year, the list came to a total of 26 names, and none had to dip below 90 in the scores, which is a large number and better scores overall than last year, but again, the pool from where they are culled continues to grow, and the diamonds in the rough are getting harder and harder to find.

I have added a few new things this year. The first is QPR for France, the prices for many wines there, are dirt cheap! Maybe, Avi Davidowitz, from kosher wine unfiltered, can create a list like that for Israel, this year, a bunch of wines became available there, and a proper QPR list would be worthwhile!

Finally, some of these wines are hard to find and they may have different siblings – but they are worth the effort. The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here:

The 2019 Red QRP kosher kings

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. (the price is a bit too high to make it on this list and it is not in the USA, but it is so good, I cannot ignore it)

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.

The 2019 White QRP kosher kings

2018 Ramon Cardova Albarino, Rias Baixas – Score: 92 (QPR Superstar)
The 2018 vintage of this Albarino, in its second vintage, shows less tropical and ripe than the first vintage, 2017. This bottle also had the thermal active label, and it shows up when the bottle is at the proper drinking temperature. My only REAL and serious complaint is the cork, why would Royal waste the money and my money of a real cork? Use a Diam or any other amalgamated cork, like almost everyone else is. I really hope I do not hit a bad cork for the wines I have.
The nose on this wine is better than the 2017 vintage, Lovely nose of rich mineral, with loads of straw, with which salinity, and lovely peach and dry pear, with honeysuckle, gooseberry, along with green notes galore. Lovely! The mouth on this lovely green and acid-driven wine has a more oily mouthfeel than the 2017 vintage, showing rich salinity, green olives, with lovely dry quince, green apples, more peach, green apple, but also with lovely lime and grapefruit, no sense of guava or melon-like on the 2017 vintage, with a tinge of orange notes. The overall mouth is lovely and it comes at you in layers. The finish is long, green, with gooseberry, tart fruit, with an incredible freshness, and orange pith, slate, rock, and incredible acidity lingering long. Incredible!! Bravo!! Drink until 2022.

2018 Domaine Netofa Latour, White – Score: 92+ (Super QPR)
Wow, what a lovely wine, this wine is 100% Chenin Blanc aged 10 months in oak barrels. The nose on this wine is pure heaven, but it is slow to open, once it does, the wine is lovely with loads of floral notes, yellow flowers, orange blossom, rosehip, and lovely white fruit, pear, peach, and smoke/toast. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is lovely, with great acidity, clear and present, with layers of sweet and dry fruit, with candied and toasted almonds, hazelnuts, with hay and straw, followed by floral notes, tart melon, lemongrass, citrus galore, yellow apple, quince, baked apple, and dry grass and earth, lovely! The finish is long, dry, tart, and butterscotch-laden, with toast, smoke, ginger, and marzipan, Bravo!! Drink from 2021 until 2025.

The 2019 “best priced” QRP kosher kings

2018 Chateau Les Riganes, Blanc, Bordeaux – 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 Les Riganes, Bordeaux – Score: 91 (Mevushal) (QPR)
Thankfully, the 2018 vintage continues the strong steak of QPR status for this wine, minus the 2015 and 2017 vintages which were a hard dud. Essentially, stick with the even vintages! The 2014/2016/2018 vintages have all rocked. With that said, these are NOT wines for aging. If the 2014 and 2016 wines have taught us anything – it is that Chateau Riganes is a two-year wine from the vintage, meaning drink before 2021.
The nose on this wine is heaven, pure heaven, red fruit, berries, dirt, loam, forest floor, tobacco, and herbs galore. 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 lovely controlled notes of blackberry, plum, cherry, raspberry, and cassis, with ok acidity, 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 lovely graphite. The previous vintages of Chateau Riganes have taught me to not hold these long, so, drink these before the start of 2021. Enjoy!

Rest of the top QPR Winners (in no particular order)

N.V. Gilgal Brut (Gamla in Israel) – Score: 91 (QPR)
This wine is not one for the ages like its bigger brothers, the vintage Blanc de Blanc. Still, this wine has evolved and is finally coming into its own. It is no longer lemon juice with bubbles. It is now lovely and evolved sparkling wine.
The nose on this wine is lovely with yeast and citrus, with heather, and lovely floral notes. This wine is nice, and it finally is showing complexity, with the obvious citrus now calming down, and instead, we get a balance of quince, nuts, yeast, with sweet pear, all backed by citrus, grapefruit, dried lemon, with herb, with great small bubble mousse, with a full-throat attack of fruit and mousse. The finish is long, tart, and green, with great citrus, and loads of yeast, and a nice creamy mouthfeel, nice! Drink by 2021.

2013 Yarden Rose, Brut – Score: 93 (QPR Superstar)
The nose on this wine is showing beautifully, with big bright fruit, lemon, lime Fraiche, with creamy notes of strawberry, and herb, withy loads of mineral, and rock. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is slow to open, but with time is shows searing acidity, with the elegance of dried pear, tart green apple, tart raspberry, with layers of fruit, acid, green notes, with herb, showing rich saline, melon, with layers of acidity, with grapefruit, lime, and rock. The finish is long, green, tart, with crazy acidity, and mineral, hay, and slate galore. Bravo!! Drink until 2028.

2011 Yarden Blanc de Blanc – Score: 91 to 92 (QPR)
This is less sharp than the 2010 or the 2008 vintage. This is a bit more fat but the acidity is bracing and it does come together nicely. The nose on this sparkling wine is tart and ripe, with beautiful notes of peach, apple, and citrus, with brioche. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine has a big upfront mousse of small bubbles, with lovely citrus and grapefruit, backed by apples, and gooseberry, and more citrus, with lime backing slate, more brioche, and lovely saline that lingers long, with lemongrass, and a lovely tart, refreshing mouthfeel, with lemon/lime, saline, and mousse lingering long. Bravo!! Drink by 2025.

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. (not yet here in the USA)

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. (not yet here in the USA)

2015 Terra di Seta, Riserva, Chianti Classico – Score: 92 to 93 (QPR Superstar)
The nose on this wine is pure heaven, showing floral notes, dried mint, oregano, with more herbs, mushroom heaven, forest floor, and earth, with red and black fruit galore, wow. The mouth on the beautiful full-bodied wine is what I want from all wines, a clear game plan, fruit-focus, rich acidity, clear fruit, and an overall mouthfeel that is draping, elegant, and yet breathtaking, with so much acid it will take your breath away, with blackberry, dark cherry, cassis, and hints of currants and raspberry, with loads of more mushrooms, all backed by gripping tannin that is a bit harsh to start, with smoke, and bramble. The finish is long, green, earthy, mineral-driven, and acid backed, with crazy tobacco, herb central, and coffee all working together, with green notes that linger forever. Bravo!!! Drink from 2021 until 2028.

2017 Herzog Chardonnay, Lineage – Score: 91 (Mevushal) (QPR)
I like this wine because it is a cross between those big “Kendal Jackson” style Chards and a simpler less-oak bomb Chards of today. The nose on this wine is quite nice showing peach, apple, sweet oak, and lovely melon with hints of almonds and sweet spices. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is lovely with a lovely weight of sweet fruit, but really works for it is the rich acid core and lovely fruit that all come together in a creamy mouthfeel, with oak, sweet apple marmalade in a lovely fresh baked apple pi=e, with Asian pear, and heather. The finish is long, sweet, well balanced, and toasty, with hints of smoke, nice earth, great sweet spices, cinnamon, cardamom, and sage. Bravo! Drink until 2021.

2016 Eagle’s Landing Pinot Noir, Herzog Wine Cellars – Score: 92 (QPR)
The nose on this wine is smoke, cherry, and loads of mineral, with raspberry, mushroom, and herb, lovely rose petals, and earth. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is first and foremost mushroom-driven, wow, with fruity notes, earthy, smoke, and mushroom, followed by raspberry, dark cherry, loam, and drying mouth tannin, with lovely controlled fruit, smoke, and red fruit galore, with searing acid, and forest floor, lovely! The finish is long, green, red, and toasty, with smoke, and earth, and mushroom lingering long, with floral notes, and herb. Bravo!!! Drink by 2026.

2017 Domaine Netofa Tel Qasser, White – Score: 92 to 93 (QPR Superstar)
This wine has changed, and so much more for the better, bravo as usual to Pierre! Please be careful, this wine is not ready for showtime, the acidity does not come put until at least 8 hours of bottle air time, please do not be careless with this wine! Also, do NOT drink this wine from the fridge, please let the wine come to almost room temperature, much akin to red wine.
After many hours, the nose on this wine is showing beautifully, a lovely Roussanne, showing earth, mineral, rich brightness, lovely floral notes, with straw, yellow plum, lanolin, almonds, walnuts, and apple. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is layered, rich, and nicely extracted, with piercing acidity, showing a rich oily structure, with layers of green apple, quince, lovely richness, with mineral, grass, straw, and lovely acidity showing long with flowers, and rich lemongrass. The finish is crazy good, showing lovely acidity, rich heather, hints of smoke, and loads of mineral, straw, dry grass, and quince lingering super long, with acidity, and loam!! BRAVO!!!! Drink from 2021 until 2025.

2017 Domaine Netofa, Red – Score: 91 (QPR Superstar)
This wine is now exclusively imported by Kosherwine.com and I hope they are selling well. This has really stabilized now. It is a bit fruity still, but it also has some nice old-school style and swagger. The nose on this wine is nice and smoky, with great control and roasted animal. The fruit is blue and black and lovely. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is layered and with nice blueberry, blackcurrant, great acid, and great control showing earth, raspberry, root beer, that give way to spice, vanilla, and loads of dirt. The finish is ribbons of mineral, charcoal, graphite and bitter coffee, Solid!! Drink by 2021.

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.

2016 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley, Reserve (Mevushal) (QPR Star) – Score: 92
The nose on this wine is seriously sick, pure mineral redolence, with intense notes of graphite, dark chocolate, and really fun dark and red fruit. The nose and mouth are sweet, but so was the 2014 superstar, give this time and it will calm down. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is great, it is a slight step back from the 2014 vintage, but far better than the 2015 vintage, with crazy mineral, graphite, and lovely blackberry and dark cherry, with rich cassis, and lovely blue fruit that hides behind a curtain of rich fruit, draping tannin, and crazy dark fruit, backed by great roasted herb, spices, cloves, cinnamon, with mint and lovely attack and weight with foliage galore and screaming tannin and acid. The finish is long, green, and richly herbal, with crazy tannin, tobacco, and more chocolate. Wow!! Drink from 2020 until 2028. Bravo!!

2018 Elvi Wines Herenza Rioja, Semi – Score: 90 to 91 (Mevushal) (QPR)
It is back! The 2018 vintage is very reminiscent of the 2016 vintage which essentially sold out within a few weeks. Get your hands on this ASAP! So, the nose on this wine is ripe, for sure this is a new world, but well balanced with great mineral, tar, earth galore, loam, with rich red fruit, and coffee grinds galore. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is lovely, the acidity is just fantastic, the sweet notes make an appearance, but so does the well-balanced palate, with ripe and juicy strawberry, dark cherry, red fruit, and so much dirt and extraction that is balances the sweetness very well. The finish is long, green notes, sweet ripe cherries, with mineral, graphite, smoke, tar, loam, and more red fruit, star anise, and cloves. Bravo! Drink until 2021.

2016 Chateau La Tonnelle – Score: 91 (QPR)
This wine is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, and 5% Petit Verdot. The nose on this wine is lovely, with loads of mineral, sweet fruit, with smoke, mineral galore, and roasted herb, with forest floor, funk, sweet fruit, and loam, nice! The mouth on this medium to full-bodied wine is layered, smoky, with layers of fruit, mushroom, sweet fruit, blackberry, with mouth coating tannin, blackcurrant, with dark cherry, raspberry, and green notes galore, garrigue, and earth. The finish is long, green, garrigue, screaming mineral, graphite lick, with saline, earth, mushroom, and rock, with garrigue, and mineral lingering long. Bravo!

2017 Flechas de Andes Gran Malbec – Score: 91 (QPR)
Wow, this only has an ABV of 14%, pretty low for Argentina Malbec, and it shows. There are no ripe and fruit-forward sweet notes, new-world for sure, but well controlled for such a region. The nose on this wine is ripe with lovely notes of loam, tar, earth, ripe black and blue fruit, with loads of roasted and smoked meat, followed by green notes, and forest floor. The mouth on this medium to full-bodied wine is lovely, solid control, with finesse, showing ripe blackberry and plum, followed by blueberry flowing in layers of fruit, followed by a great acid core, with lovely sweet tannins, and sweet spices. The finish is long, green, with meat, earth, tobacco galore, and sweet plum, with vanilla, and smoke lingering. Lovely! Drink until 2022.

2016 Chateau Greysac – Score: 91+ (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.

2018 Goose Bay Sauvignon Blanc – Score: 91 (Mevushal) (QPR)
Love the screw tops, we need to embrace screw tops for one-year wines. The nose is classic, with gooseberry, passion fruit, cat pee, and straw with mineral. The mouth on this wine holistic, while the group was nice but lacked this complexity and overall acid structure. The mouth on this wine is crazy fun, really bright, with rich gooseberry, citrus, grapefruit galore, with incredible bright fruit structure, that blends well with the fruit powerful not out of place, with layers of acid, tart ripe tropical fruit, with impressive lemonade and pink grapefruit candy that gives way to tart lemon, fun. The finish is long, green, and crazy tart, with slate, flint and really fun. Bravo! Drink this year.

2018 Shirah Gruner Veltliner, Tasting Room – Score: 91 (QPR)
WOW! Yes, it is back!! Lovely! This is how white wines should be, light, crisp, though this wine has a serious presence as well, with an oily and weighty feeling to boot! The nose on this wine is beautiful, showing classic notes of hay, straw, with fresh-cut white flowers, citrus, lemongrass, more mineral, with hints of melon, and loam. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is present, it shows a weight that is lovely and almost oily, with a beautiful texture, showing great acidity, lovely with nectarines, pink grapefruit, and hints of orange. The finish is long, green, with passionfruit, more citrus, hay, lemongrass, and floral notes lingering long. Bravo!! Drink until 2021.

2013 Eccelenza, Bianco Umbria – Score: 92 to 93 (QPR Superstar)
This wine is a blend of 70% Verdicchio, 30% Malvasia. WOW!!! This is a wine that was produced by Ricardo Cotarella for his own usage and usually not commercially available, yet this one is and for the first time kosher. What a wine, the nose on this thing is out of this world, so old school and old-world it is crazy. The nose is incredibly redolent with loads of peach, rich herb, mint, oregano, along with freshly peeled almond, walnut shells, with crazy wildflowers, white flowers, honeysuckle, and loads of hay and straw. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is beyond unique, it is layered, rich, and oily, almost unctuous, with sweet peach, apricot, ginger, pepper, cloves, and white cinnamon, with rich orange, mandarin, nectarines, all wrapped in a cocoon of funk, mineral, sweet yellow plum, and loads of roasted herb. The finish is long, green, sweet, herbal, oily, with saline, honey, almonds, and sweet notes lingering forever long. Bravo!!! Bravo!!! Drink now! It was still nice a day later, but it had lost its verve and tension, so drink up now to enjoy the wine at its max.

QPR Winners for France (in no particular order)

Many of the wines above are also QPR in France, but these are truly just well priced in France and great for those there.

2018 Joseph Mellot Sancerre, La Graveliere – Score: 91 – 92 (QPR for France)
The nose on this wine is pure heaven, honeysuckle, gooseberry, with crazy loads of orange blossom, passion fruit, and rich saline, lovely! The mouth on this medium-bodied wine has lovely weight, showing crazy pith, screaming grapefruit, with citrus and layers of rich slate, spice, nutmeg, and lovely lemon curd, and herbs. The finish is long, green, and mineral-driven, with loads of pith and orange blossoms lingering long Lovely! Drink by 2022.

2018 Baron David, Bordeaux – Score: 91 (Mevushal) (Crazy QPR for France)
The nose on this wine is lovely, a perfume of green, smoke, dirt, and herb, and lovely complexity, really fun! The mouth on this medium to full-bodied wine is really fun, well made, professional, showing green and dark fruit, raspberry, blackcurrants, with tar, straw, lovely dirt, really lovely dirt, nice enough complexity, with mouth-drying tannin, showing graphite and ribbons of charcoal, with lovely earth, and menthol, bravo!! The finish is long, lean, green, great acidity, with loads of earth, fun! Drink by 2023. (Available in France)

2014 Château La Motte Despujols, Graves – Score: 90 (QPR for France)
This wine threw me off for a bit, but finally, this came around to me, it has crazy floral notes of violet, rose, and hints jasmine, with loads red fruit, herbal notes, and dirt. The mouth on this wine is unique, it is bright, tart, and really nice, with loads of herb, sweet but well-balanced tart and juicy raspberry, cherry, and rhubarb, with nice mouth-coating tannin, and saline bring it all together with a bed of dirt and green notes. The finish is long, green, earthy, and smoky, with loads of tannin, earth, tobacco, and saline. This kills me. This is a lovely 12 euro wine, that we cannot even dream about having in America for less than 24 dollars. Drink by 2023. (Available in France)

2016 Chateau Bois Cardon, Haut-Medoc – Score: 91 (QPR for France)
The nose on this wine is well balanced, it is black and blue with fruit galore, with loads of menthol, lots of milk chocolate, roasted meat, and sweet spices. The mouth on this medium to full-bodied wine is really nice, layered, and rich, with good acidity, yes it is ripe with a fruit-forward profile, it is well-balanced, with rich blackberry, ripe and juicy raspberry, rich smoke, loam, fresh dirt, with mushroom, and lovely spices. The finish is long, green, sweet, and well-balanced, with lovely mouth-coating tannin, sweet spices, garrigue, sweet tobacco, and sweet green notes. Lovely! Drink by 2024. Bravo!!! (Available in France and USA)

2015 Chateau Roc de Boissac, Puisseguin Saint-Emilion – Score: 91 (QPR for France)
The nose on this wine is barnyard, floral, and herbal, with smoke, purple fruit, and violet. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is nice, showing a bit rounder than the Pavillon Du Vieux Chantre, with loads of tar, smoke, ripe and juicy boysenberry, dark raspberry, and crazy mouth-drying tannin, with a fruit structure that is incredible for the price. The finish is long, green, herbal, with loads of graphite, screaming charcoal, and sweet tobacco, that is based in acidity, tannin, leather, and sweet spices that linger long. Bravo!! Drink by 2025. (Available in France)

2017 Koenig Riesling, Alsace – Score: 90 (Mevushal) (QPR)
The nose on this nice wine shows rich floral notes, with great tension showing lemon-lime and Meyer lemon with petrol notes, lovely green notes, and rich quince. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is really tart with great acid, showing incredible grapefruit, tart lemon, with nice mineral and rich freshness, that gives way to slate and rock that are non stop with a finish that is super long and richly textured with floral notes and pith. Nice! Drink by 2021.

2018 Koenig Riesling, Alsace – Score: 90  (Mevushal) (QPR)
It is s bit closed now, but it shows more orange blossom and honeysuckle, with petrol, flint, with mineral, and earth, and gooseberry. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is really nice, it shows a heavier mouthful than 2017, along with more floral notes, with a great balance of acid, petrol, with muted mouthful but opens with time. Drink by 2022. (Not yet available will come when ready).

2018 Koenig Riesling, Grand Cru, Frankstein, Alsace – Score: 90 to 91 (NOT Mevushal) (QPR)
This wine is still a bit young and I hope it will improve. Still, this wine will not make its way to the USA, so buy them in France or Europe. The nose on this wine is pure heather, violet, orange blossom, with hints of petrol, flint, and pear. The mouth on this is lovely but very fleeting and feint with notes of gooseberry, lovely petrol, crazy lemon, honeysuckle galore and a weight that is lovely that is backed by acidity, mineral, slate, and crazy structure with Lychee and more floral notes on a long finish. Nice! (Only available in Europe)

2018 Koenig Gewurztraminer, Prestige, Alsace – Score: 91 (NOT Mevushal) (QPR)
The nose on this wine is crazy with really ripe and sweet banana, lychee, floral blossoms, honeysuckle, and melon. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is really fun, layered, ripe, sweet, and super well-balanced, with great acidity showing layers of lychee, Jasmine, and honeydew with great citrus and pith galore nice. Drink until 2024. (Only available in Europe)