Another week and another batch of white and rose wines to enjoy. The summer is quickly approaching and while we have yet to find a single QPR WINNER in the world of kosher 2019 roses, we have some new entries.

QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) is the non-qualitative score I have been giving to wines recently. In my last update to QPR, a week after I posted the QPR revised methodology, I defined the QPR score of WINNER. A QPR score of WINNER is defined as a wine that scores a qualitative score of 91 or more, a score I define as a wine I would buy happily while also being a wine that is cheaper than the respective median wine category.

This week we have a mix of 7 wines 3 whites and 4 roses. One of the whites I have already posted about, a winner of the QPR GREAT score, the 2018 Koenig Riesling, Alsace. The wine is lovely and well worth the effort to find it and buy it.

However, the absolute clear QPR WINNER of this week’s post is the FIRST 2019 wine that gains the QPR WINNER title! Bravo!!! The wine is the 2019 O’Dwyers Creek Sauvignon Blanc. The 2018 O’Dwyers Creek Sauvignon Blanc was not a wine I liked while the 2017 O’Dwyers Creek Sauvignon Blanc was a solid WINNER, even when we did not have the WINNER QPR category at that time.

NOTE: I state the 2019 O’Dwyers Creek Sauvignon Blanc is the FIRST 2019 WINNER because even though the 2019 Herzog Sauvignon Blanc, Lineage, I listed in my last post, it is not actually available yet.

The 2019 Domaine Netofa Rosado, Latour, is another wine that got close to WINNER status, yet sadly, it did not. A nice wine, but with the price and score it received a solid QPR score of GOOD.

In an interesting twist, the Domaine Netofa Rose, which comes in at 7 dollars below the Latour Rose price, is not as good but given its price is below the Median for rose wines it has a better QPR score. There lies the issue of cost! Either we are going to bend to the needs of higher quality at all costs or we will go with slightly lower quality for less money. Sadly, for 2019 Roses that is LITERALLY our story! There are NO QPR WINNER roses, at least so far, 2019 is one of those years. The rest is a hodgepodge of QPR scores.

I continue to stand by my opinion that 2019 is one of the very WORST vintages for white and rose wines in the last 10 years for Israeli wines. I continue to dream of the 2013/2014 vintage for Israeli whites. Some of the very best Israeli whites came from the 2013/2014 vintages. Yes, I have not had as many of the 2019 whites and roses from Israel, as I would normally have had by now, sadly, the current circumstances do not let me do that. There are many roses still in France and Israel that I have not had, but of the ones I have had from Israel so far, I am fine with my statement.

Roses, so far this year have been an absolute letdown and honestly, without a SINGLE QPR WINNER in roses and 8 QPR winners in whites, it is clear as day to me that white wines are the way to go this summer (and the 19 days from now before that)!

The wine note follows below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:

2019 O’dwyers Creek Sauvignon Blanc – Score: 91+ (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is in the 2nd quintile of quality scoring and it is below the median price line, so this wine SHOULD get a score of GREAT for QPR. However, it is ALSO one of the few white wines that score at least a 91, and that has a price that is below the median price line, so this wine gets the coveted score of WINNER for QPR. Bravo!!!
Lovely notes of passion fruit, incredible cat pee, gooseberry, and loads green notes for the cat to pee on, with incredible saline, such a wonderful and classic New Zealand nose. This is a very fruity, yet extremely well-balanced New Zeland Sauvignon Blanc, it is more tropical than the 2018 Goose Bay Sauvignon Blanc, but also more New Zeland – in nature. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is lovely. well balanced, with good acidity, extremely refreshing, with loads of grapefruit, guava, passion fruit, lemon/lime, and lovely loads of crazy tart gooseberry, and incredible slate. The finish is long, green, with lovely salt, intense saline, rock, and more citrus. Bravo! Drink until 2024.

2019 Domaine Netofa Rosado, Latour – Score: 90 (QPR: GOOD)
This is a nice wine, and with my new QPR scoring even though it is more expensive than the median price for rose wine, it garner’s a quality score that is in the 2nd quintile, so the math says the QPR score is GOOD.
This wine is made from 100% Tempranillo grapes. This wine needs a bit of time to open up, I recommend opening this wine an hour before enjoying.
The nose on this wine shows ripe strawberry and saline, with some green notes, nice pink grapefruit, floral notes, and red fruit. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine has some nice weight and good salinity and with lovely ripe strawberry, raspberry, with good rhubarb, with lovely nice green notes, grapefruit acidity, with lovely lemon and slate galore. The finish is green, sweet, and very clean lines, refreshing yet lacking the fruit focus and complexity I expect and the finish is a bit short. Drink now!

2019 Domaine Netofa Rose – Score: 89 (QPR: GREAT)
This wine is above the median quality score and it is below the median price line, so this wine gets a score of GREAT for QPR.
This wine is a blend of 50% Syrah, 30% Grenache, 20% Mourvedre. Again, I think this Netofa Rose also needs some time to open, please give this wine a solid hour of air before enjoying, yes a strange thing, but the USA version needs that time (I cannot speak for the Israeli version). This wine took a bit of time to grow on me and that is good news, I think, as maybe this wine will not die over the summer as it normally does (I heard u Ez).
Eben with time, the nose seems muddled but it is really just not there, it can be excited with absurd shaking, but even then it blows off in a second, the nose is this wine’s weakness. The nose shows muted with notes of candied cherry, dried strawberry, dry rosehip, and rhubarb. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is also muted, it is not the fruit bomb, but it is very well made, controlled, with wonderful acidity, clear strawberry, tart grapefruit, green notes, tart cherry, raspberry, and more floral notes, with acidity sourced from the grapefruit/lime tartness. The finish is long, very tart, refreshing, and IMHO fun, still its weakness is its lack of fruit vibrancy and the muted nose. Drink now.

2019 Nadiv Rose – Score: 82 (QPR: POOR)
Sadly, this wine is in the 2nd worst quintile for quality and it is less expensive than the median price, so this lands it as a POOR QPR wine.
This wine is a blend of 90% Tempranillo and 10% Viognier, another of the horses mixed with white wine, sadly, it did not help. Another disaster from the Israeli 2019 rose camp. The nose has rhubarb and dirty socks, and really not much else just muted socks and some fruit. The mouth on this light to medium-bodied wine has little to no acidity and has barely any refreshing feelings to the wine. Overall, the wine is boring and while I had hoped, it left me wishing for so much more. Drink now if you must.

2019 Ella Valley Rose, EverRose – Score: 70 (Mevushal) (QPR: NA)
This wine is below the median for price and one of the lowest in quality, but it is below the drinking score, so it gets an NA score for QPR.
This wine is a blend of 50% Grenache, 40% Petit Sirah, and 10% Merlot. The nose on this wine is sweet but its true flaw is not obvious on the nose, the nose is almost OK, it has issues with balance, showing ripe grapefruit, but fighting with green notes and strawberry, and clumps of sugar in the background. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is where things go really wrong, this wine is not a dry wine, it has very clear residual sugar and it is muddled with cooked notes and overripe fruit, showing grapefruit, sweet notes, ripe yellow apple, with crazy ripe notes of jasmine and yellow flowers that actually make the wine taste very sweet, with clear over candied guava. The finish is long, sweet, and not very refreshing. There are some who will like this as some like the Tura, I am not one of them.

2019 Ramon Cardova Rosado – Score: 60 (Mevushal) (QPR: NA)
This wine is less expensive than the median price and one of the lowest in quality, but it is below the drinking score, so it gets an NA score for QPR.
This wine is a blend of 80% Grenache and 20% Viura. The nose on this wine starts off and it does not get much better from there. The glass smells strange and the mouth is not much better, it smells like rotten eggs and really not enjoyable. The mouth on this light to medium-bodied wine is really not fun, it tastes like cooked rhubarb and while it has acidity, there is really not much else.

2018 Koenig Riesling, Alsace – Score: 90  (Mevushal) (QPR: GREAT)
This wine is above the median quality score and it is below the median price line, so this wine gets a score of GREAT for QPR. This is a MUCH better option than the horrible roses we have in 2020.
The wine has opened now, showing nice notes of orange blossom and honeysuckle, with hints of petrol, flint, peach, with mineral, 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, truly a nice and refreshing wine, even if it lacks complexity, with nice lime, Meyer lemon, and spice. Drink by 2022.

2018 Dalton Viognier, Reserve – Score: 87 (QPR: EVEN)
This wine is below the Median line for quality and it is less expensive than the median price, so this lands an EVEN QPR score.
The nose on this wine is clearly toasty and oaked, with notes of vanilla ice cream, toast, sweet oak, loads of peach, apple, quince, and allspice/nutmeg. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is flat and highly uni-dimensional, with more peach and apricots, followed by more oak, too much oak, with pith, spices, and almond paste. The wine has enough acidity to make it interesting and the pith helps but overall the wine is boring and not enough. Drink by 2022.