After the tasting through the current portfolio of Les Vins IDS with Benjamin Uzan, we continued with other wines. I said then that I would revisit the wines that I and Elie Cohen had collected for this tasting, along with some wines that Ben Sitruk brought, that he sells on his site. I was once again joined by Elie Cohen, Ben Sitruk, and Elie Dayan, a few of the French kosher wine forum members.

To say that Victor wines are an enigma would be an understatement. They are the USA importer of some Taieb’s wines. Other Taieb wines are either imported by Royal Wine (Laurent Perrier) or Andrew Breskin’s Liquid Kosher for the Burgundies.

However, Victor Wines also makes their own wines and there are many of them. The distribution of their wines and the Taieb wines inside the USA is problematic and haphazard at best. Onlinekosherwine.com has started to sell a few. Other than that the ONLY place I have ever seen all the wines or even most of the wines in a single place is the Kosher Kingdom on Aventura BLVD in Miami/Aventura, Florida. Of course, that makes sense since Victor wine’s headquarters is in Hollywood, FL, not far from Miami or Aventura, Florida.

The family that runs Victor Wines has been the in meat and restaurant business for many years according to their website.

Ari Cohen bought a bunch of the wines, ones that were not available at the family’s restaurants. Then we bought the rest of the wines at the restaurant and we were ready to taste them. Overall, I was not impressed. The wineries where they make the wines are not that impressive but I am always looking for good news. Also, Ben brought in some wines, like the WONDERFUL 2010 Chateau Peyrat-Fourthon. Sadly, the 2010 La Demoiselle D’Haut-Peyrat, the second label of Chateau Peyrat-Fourthon, was dead. We also tasted the Chateau Gardut Haut Cluzeau, which is another name for Grand Barrail that I tasted a few times with Nathan Grandjean.

Finally, we had dinner the next night and we brought tons of wines over and there were really only a few wines that were either interesting or new to me and those are also listed below.

Many thanks to Arie Cohen and Ben Sitruk for bringing a couple of wines to taste, including the Chateau Peyrat-Fourthon wines and the Chateau Gardut Haut Cluzeau. Thanks to Jonathan Assayag for bringing a wine I have never tasted to the dinner, the 2005 Chateau Moncets, Lalande de Pomerol. The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here:

2010 La Demoiselle D’Haut-Peyrat, Haut-Medoc – Score: NA
Sadly this wine was dead

2015 Chateau Tour Blanche, Medoc – Score: 70
This wine is all over the place, just a pure mess, sad. The fruit and mouthfeel are black with hints of red notes, but besides that, the wine is really not that interesting at all. Sad.

2018 Chateau de Grand Barrail, Blaye Cotes de Bordeaux – Score: 88
2018 Chateau Gardut Haut Cluzeau, Blaye Cotes de Bordeaux (same wine different name)
This is not as exciting as the 2014 vintage was 3 years ago. The nose on this wine is simple, green, red, and hints of blue, with bramble and garrigue. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is nice enough with blackberry, plum, dark cherry, nice mouth-coating tannin, and graphite, with loads of earth, dirt, and garrigue. The finish is a bit short but nice enough, a nice simple wine that is dirt cheap in France. (This is only available in France)

2010 Chateau Peyrat-Fourthon, Haut-Medoc – Score: 93
The nose on this wine is lovely, rich, saline, black and red fruit, with a color that is shockingly still bright red, with notes of forest floor, earth, green notes, and smoke, with tar, and garrigue. The mouth on this wine is rich, layered, and really fun, so impressed by the rich layers of chocolate, mint, oregano, rosemary, and then loads of tobacco, and mushroom, all wrapped in elegance and tannin, super-rich and long with a plush mouthfeel, and incredible mushroom, and umami, wow! The finish is super long, never-ending, with mouth coating tannin, scarping graphite, rock, saline, and tar. Wow!! Drink until 2029.

2015 Chateau Rollan de By, Medoc – Score: 90 (French version, Not Mevushal)
The nose on this wine is far better than the mevushal version. The nose is ripe, but controlled, with umami, mushroom, fruity, and light, but nice. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is nice but other than the tannin, there is really not much there, the fruit is light, nice mineral, and earth. Drink by 2026

2014 Chateau Rossignol, Bordeaux – Score: NA (Mevushal)
This wine did not show well, overly ripe and just not interesting at all.

2016 Les Remparts de Bel-Air, Bordeaux Superieur – Score: 89 (Mevushal)
Another lovely simple and nice wine from Taieb. The nose is fruity, but not over the top. The mouth is simple, but the tannin, fruit structure, and earth are lovely. Drink by 2022.

2016 Chateau Camplay, Bordeaux Superieur – Score: NA (Mevushal)
Sadly, another wine that did not show well at all.

2016 Chateau Viduc, Bordeaux Superieur – Score: NA (Mevushal)
Sadly, another wine that did not show well at all.

2016 Chateau Petit Boirac, Bordeaux Superieur  – Score: 80
Another sad wine, slightly better, oak juice, with nice tannin.

2018 Chateau Jaumard, Bordeaux – Score: NA (Mevushal)
Painful, oak juice, with crazy fruit notes

2018 La Tour Pavee, Bordeaux Superieur – Score: 75 (Mevushal)
Another horrible oak juice wine, sad.

2015 Chateau Tour des Agasseaux, Lussac Saint-Emilion – Score: 82
The nose on this wine is nice, green, with red fruit, with green notes, and loads of oak. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is OK, but not much is there, showing acidity, tannin, and earth, and ripe fruit. The finish is long, green, too green, with loads of dirt, and tannin. Drink by 2024.

2016 Chateau Branda, Puisseguin-Saint-Émilion – Score: 90
The nose on this wine is not horrible, it is really ripe, with loads of oak, smoke, and black fruit, mineral, and milk chocolate. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is richly extracted, with loads of tar, earth, mouth-draping tannin, not bad, with milk chocolate, loads of sweet oak, and a crazy extracted and rich tannin structure. The finish is long, black, green, and earthy, with milk chocolate, and graphite. Drink from 2023 until 2027.

2017 Lestruelle, Medoc – Score: NA
Another wine that is really overly ripe, pushed, and not interesting at all.

2016 Chateau Cardinal Villemaurine, Saint-Emilion, Grand Cru – Score: NA
Wow, this wine is super ripe, overly fruity, and really showing far too much oak. It is wholly unbalanced, move on.

2019 Cap Riviera, South Rose – Score: 70 (Mevushal)
The nose is sweet, loads of residual sugar, so sad. The mouth on this wine is too sweet, no acidity, move on.

Tasting at the Seudat Yitro RCC Paris

2017 Razi’el, Jerusalem, Haute Judee – Score: 88
This wine is another classic over the top wine from Israel. This wine is a blend of Syrah and carignan. The nose on this wine is ripe, really ripe, pushed with blueberry, boysenberry, blackberry, and loads of smoke, but for me, the fruit is far too ripe to be interesting. The mouth is so ripe and sweet that it is painful, still, it is well made for those that like this style of wine. Showing date, ripe and candied boysenberry, blackberry liqueur, with smoke and loads of heat and smoked meat. The finish is long and extra sweet and ripe, with a fruit concentration and smoke. Drink by 2025.

2002 Chateau Haut-Piquat, Lussac-Saint-Emilion – Score: NA
Sadly, this wine is dead.

2005 Chateau Moncets, Lalande de Pomerol – Score: 92 to 93
The nose on this wine is crazy good, so old World, crazy barnyard, mushroom heaven, and loads of earth, dirt and more barnyard and forest floor. The mouth on this wine is still layered, not overly tannic but you feel the richness and layers of cherry, blackberry, and earth with graphite and green notes, followed by the crazy barnyard and lovely mineral. The finish is long, green, earthy, and incredible, bravo!! Tobacco, earth, tannin, barnyard, and graphite lingers long with dirt and tart cherry and raspberry. Drink by 2023.

2014 Chateau Trigant, Pessac-Leognan – Score: 92
This wine is a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon and 50% Merlot. The nose on this wine is lovely with green and red fruit, showing dark cherry, lovely cranberry, and raspberry, with freshly tilled earth, and forest floor. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is nice, really well made, professional, with dark chocolate, red fruit galore, cranberry, dark cherry, with herb, and lovely red currants, that give way to lovely saline and green foliage notes, all wrapped in mouth-coating tannin. The finish is long and green, with nice fruit focus, earth, dirt, lovely saline, and tobacco, with dark chocolate, and forest floor galore. Bravo!!! Drink until 2024.

2016 Chateau Rigaud, Puisseguin Saint-Emilion – Score: 88
The nose on this wine is green, with notes of heat, at 15% ABV, showing ripe black and red fruit, smoke, tar, and gravel. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is ripe, too ripe, with sweet notes, but it has nice acidity, with an elegant mouth-coating and draping texture, sadly, the sweetness sets it off balance, a nice wine for those that like it ripe. The finish is long, green, very ripe, and its uni-dimensional, with blackberry, loads of plum, tobacco, and foliage. Drink by 2024.

2016 Chateau Lafitte, Cotes de Bordeaux – Score: 91
Wow, this nose is VERY much akin to 2015, maybe a drop riper, but still very well controlled. The nose on this wine is lovely, ripe, yes, but well-controlled, with loads of roasted herb, earthy, with rich smoke, tar, and rich dirt, with black and red fruit. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is fun and ripe but controlled and young, with ripe black plum, cassis, wrapped in layers of dirt and herbs, oregano, and rosemary, with nice saline, mushroom, and tart cherry, and ripe black forest berry. That finish is long green, earth, and mineral galore with saline, scraping graphite, more roasted herbs, and tobacco and green notes. Nice, but for the price this wine is not worth it, there are far better options, IMHO. Drink until 2026.

2015 Chateau Tour Seran, Medoc – Score: 94 (Not-Mevushal)
Look, there are times where Mevushal makes sense, this is NOT one of them! This wine is a tragedy to boil. Yes, the score differential is not even a point. I get it! But scores are not everything and I have never said anything to contrary. The overall experience of this wine is NUTS. Bravo! The mouth does eventually feel the same, but with less precision and focus that the not-Mevushal version does. WOW, this wine is awesome!
This wine in its not-Mevushal format smells so much better. The nose on this wine is godly, pure heaven, mushroom, earth, and loam, all blended together, with black and red fruit, smoke, and tar. The mouth on this full-bodied wine does NOT start off sweet/ripe as the mevushal version does, another proof that it does affect the wine, this bottle starts off with a bang, it is more focused and more precise than its mevushal brother. The mouth shows layers of blackberry, cassis, with great acidity, showing mineral, graphite, with crazy loads of green notes, foliage, and scrapping and mouth coating tannin, with tart fruit focus and tension, showing a wine that is beautiful yet so very young, with bell pepper, truffle, and smoke. The finish is long, tar and tart fruit, with great control elegance and mineral and foliage that linger forever. Drink from 2024 until 2033.

2010 Roberto Cohen Hauts-Cotes de Nuits – Score: 90
When I heard this wine was still around I was shocked, but to be honest a 2010 Burg is not a thing that dies so easily. The 2010 Damien Gachot-Monot, is very hit or miss now. However, the 1er Cru or even the Nuits is still going strong. So, when Ari Cohen was super nice to get me some I was excited. In the end, the wine is nice, drink now for sure, and a bit on the other side of the hill.
The nose is classic Burg Pinot, cherry red with loads of mineral, herb, flint, and garrigue, and showing nicely with tertiary notes. The mouth on this light to medium-bodied wine is still there, round at this point and with little grip, but it still grabs your attention from its lovely green and red notes, with cherry, hints of plum,  red fruit, and loads of forest floor. The finish is long, green, red and quite nice. Drink UP! (Thanks again to Ari!).

2019 J. de Villebois Pouilly-Fume – Score: 90 to 91
This is a tasting of the wine before it is officially bottled, this is a tank sample. The nose on this wine shows lovely notes, classic flint bomb, lovely funk, with loads of fruit, showing bright citrus, mineral galore, with lovely orange blossom, with white and yellow stone fruit. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is quite lovely, it is rounder than I would have thought, though well-balanced with nice enough acidity, peach, pear, lovely grapefruit, and lemon curd, with lemongrass, and loads of funk with smoke and green notes of gooseberry in the background. Lovely! The finish is long, green, white, and flinty! Bravo! Drink until 2023.