As stated in my previous post, I was in Paris in June, and while it took forever to post these notes, I am happy to finally be getting to them at this point. I will note, that almost none of these wines are or will be available here in the USA. The Elvi wines will get here eventually and maybe some of the KWI roses, but who knows.

So, returning to the trip, other than hanging out with my family and doing a few tastings in-person with Menahem Israelievitch of Royal Wines Europe, Clarisse and Lionel Bokobsa of Sieva/Bokobsa Wines, and Shlomo Corcos of Guter Wein, I kept to my hotel and tasted wines I bought throughout Paris. I did have a tasting with Ari Cohen and the guys, and that will be a post soon as well.

In the end, these wines were mostly painful, they were all 2020 roses and whites from varied vintages. However, there were some good finds, especially the still unreleased Elvi Herenza Blanc wines, those were lovely! Along with the wines from Richard Winery and Maison Serela.

So, the last time I posted about roses, we had the lovely 2020 Chateau Sainte Marguerite Rose and the 2020 Chateau Sainte Marguerite, Cuvee Fantastique Rose, and I also tasted a couple of roses at the Royal tasting. With that said, I had other roses and they will not change this final set of recommendations, in regards to Roses.

I will not repost all my thoughts on roses and the such or how they are made, please read my last post for all of that information.

This will be a quick and simple post for the roses I had not yet posted to the blog.

Best rose so far in 2021

At this point, I have probably tasted all the roses that I will get to and this is my final set of roses. I probably tasted as many as I did last year, again given the logistics of life today. That will still be fewer than in 2019.

If there are two ideas you get from this post that would be great. ONE: Drink only 2020 roses now. TWO: Drink refreshing roses. A rose that feels heavy, unbalanced, and one that does not make you reach for more, is not a rose I would recommend.

So with that said, here are the best options, if you must have a rose, sadly only a couple of these are worth buying – but so far, these are the best options here in the USA:

1. 2020 Chateau Roubine Inspire Rose is the best rose I have tasted so far, by a bit, but sadly, only the one in France.
2. 2020 Chateau Sainte Marguerite Cuvee Fantastique Rose – best rose I have tasted for USA-based wines, as the 2020 Chateau Roubine Inspire Rose here is not as good here in the USA.
3. 2020 Or de la Castinelle Rose and the 2020 Domaine du Vallon Des Glauges Rose – ONLY QPR WINNERS, though there are some France-based QPR options now as well.
4. 2020 Ramon Cardova Rosado – is the best price to rose option out there now. It is not a WINNER, but it is a very nice wine and very well priced!
5. 2020 Sainte Beatrice B – is the best of the European Mevushal Rose, with the Roubine a touch behind
6. 2020 Hajdu Rose – is the best of the Cali roses (that I have tasted so far)
7. 2020 Domaine Netofa Rose/2020 Dalton Rose – nicest of the riper roses (that I have tasted so far)
8. 2020 Lahat Vignette Rose – is the best of the Israeli rose, but expensive

White Wines

There were six white wines and three of them were lovely! Two of them are Elvi Wines Herenza Blanc and the other is a lovely wine that will sadly never make it to the USA made by Maison Sarela, a wonderful wine! The kosher supervision on it is not one that some would drink, so there is also that issue. There is a nice enough Bourgogne made for the Israeli market, and it will not come here, even if you would like it.

I must state that I could NEVER have tasted these wines without the incredible help of Ari Cohen, Nathan Grandjean of yavine.fr online wine shop, and of course Moises Cohen from Elvi Wines! Ari knows all the wine shops and all the wines they sell. He was my source for tracking down far too many wines that I could never have found otherwise. Nathan sold me wines along with help on where to find some wines. Finally, Moises sent me the Elvi Wines – so thanks so much, my good friend!

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

Maison Sarela Wines

2018 Maison Sarela Vielles Vignes – Score: 91+ (QPR: WINNER (In France))
This is a lovely wine but its kosher supervision may not meet the needs of many. This wine is a blend of Grenache Blanc, Vermentino, and Roussane. It has enough fruit, minerality, and complexity to make it a QPR WINNER, throw in the wine’s price of 10 Euro, and it is a no-brainer. This is a solid, clean wine, with all the qualities you want. The nose on this lovely wine is rich with peach, apricot, heather, lavender, loam, smoke, dry hay, wet dirt, and herb. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is rich, a bit oily, with lovely peach, apricot, and floral notes, backed by a powerful sense of fruit, tannin, and rich acidity, with tension, fruit focus, and searing acid. The finish is lovely, rich, long, and tart, with intense minerality, toasted almonds, saline, olives, hay, straw, and smoke. Bravo!!! (tasted June 2021)

2018 Maison Sarela Viognier – Score: 89 (QPR: GREAT (In France))
This is a nice enough wine but its kosher supervision may not meet the needs of many. This wine is interesting but not at the same level as the Vielles Vignes. The nose on this wine is nice, with classical Viognier notes of honeysuckle, ripe peach, juicy apricot, honeyed yellow plum, and some mineral. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine has a nice enough weight, saline, apricot, peach, smoke, and a density of fruit, with honeyed stone fruit, and nice balancing acidity. The finish is long, tart, sweet, ripe, and not round, the acidity keeps the wine well balanced, but overall there is little to grab my attention, though it is well made. Drink now. (tasted June 2021)

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Elvi Wines

2020 Elvi Wines Herenza, Blanc – Score: 91+ (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is a blend of 60% Pansa Blanca & 40% Sauvignon Blanc. The nose on this wine is pure funk, dirt, smoke, mineral, with a bit of gooseberry, quince, and yellow apple. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is nice, showing rich funk, incredible acidity, with quince, grapefruit, gooseberry, lemon/lime, passion fruit, lovely straw/hay, and rich salinity. The finish is long, green, tart, with great mineral, tart yellow plum, and lovely tart passion fruit. Lovely! Drink until 2025. (tasted June 2021)

2019 Elvi Wines Herenza, Blanc – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is a blend of 60% Pansa Blanca & 40% Sauvignon Blanc. The nose on this wine is lovely, though slow to open, with funk, smoke, gooseberry, quince, lemon blossom, smoke, and lovely mineral. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine has lovely weight, with a precise focus of fruit, mineral, acidity, and freshness, while also showing lovely potential for aging. The finish is long, tart, perfectly balanced, and mineral-based with more slate, quince, orange rind, smoke, and rich salinity. Bravo!!! Drink until 2023. (tasted June 2021)

2020 Elvi Wines Rose, Vina Encina (M) – Score: 87 (QPR: GREAT)
This wine is made from 100% Merlot. The nose on this wine is green and sweet, with notes of dirt, orange blossom, cranberry, and lemon. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine could make use of a bit more acidity to make things work, it is nice but it needs more, with more citrus blossom, cranberry, strawberry, lemon/lime, and a bit of mineral. The finish is long, well balanced, and nice, with the acidity finally coming in on the long finish. (tasted June 2021)

2020 Elvi Wines Rose, Herenza – Score: 89 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose on this wine is lovely with ripe strawberry, raspberry, sweet orange blossom, quince, lemon, and smoke. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is lovely, it could also use a bit more acidity, with nice red fruit, saline, mineral, and orange notes. The finish is long, with acid now coming into the fold, slate, and nice pith, in moderation, all coming together in the end for a nice rose. (tasted June 2021)

Richard Winery

Richard Winery has many vineyards throughout Cotes de Provence. I could only find 3 of the 4 available roses. Yes, they made 4 roses in 2020.

2020 Richard Winery 14-15 Rose – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER (In France))
This wine is less round than the Heritage and that makes sense when you throw in white wine into the blend! This wine is a blend of Blend of Syrah, Grenache noir, and Grenache blanc. The nose is bright, a bit rounder, but less than the Heritage, with lemon blossom, rosehip, nice mineral, gooseberry, and strawberry. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine shows the roundness more than the nose, with lovely acidity, less than the Heritage, gooseberry, tart strawberry, ripe melon, grapefruit, cherry, and crazy saline. The finish on this wine is very nice, saline-driven, with lovely slate, more mineral, and acidity that balances out the ripeness. Bravo! Drink now. (tasted June 2021)

2020 Richard Winery Heritage Rose – Score: 90 (QPR: GREAT (In France))
This is a nice rose, having good minerality, fruit, but it is sweet and starts off round. Thankfully, quickly, the acidity comes around and helps to balance out the entire wine, nice!!. The nose on this wine is nice, showing ripe fruit, a bit off balance with the fruit, and not enough brightness, mineral, and orange blossom. The mouth on this medium-bodied rose is ripe, showing great acidity and it almost makes up for the ripeness, with orange, nectarines, strawberry and creme, grapefruit, gooseberry, guava, and lovely mineral. The finish is long, green, ripe, sweet, and lovely intense acidity, with slate, rock, and saline. Nice!! Drink now. (tasted June 2021)

2020 Chateau La Coste (Richard Winery) Rose D’une Nuit – Score: 75 (QPR: POOR)
I truly liked the roses from Richard Winery that were sourced from the Luberon region, this wine is flat and bland. The nose on this wine starts off flat with notes of red fruit, quince, and not much else. The mouth is even worse, with no acidity, pith, raspberry, mineral, slate, and again, not much else. (tasted June 2021)

Roses

2020 100 Tropez Rose (M) – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER (In France))
The nose on this wine is perfect, just what I want from a rose, bright fruit, mineral, and green notes in the background, freshness you can smell, with watermelon, tart strawberry, lemon blossom, and smoke. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is lovely, tart, refreshing, expressive, with watermelon, tart cherry, strawberry, complexity, with lovely lemon/lime, grapefruit, and lovely fruit focus. The finish is long, with green notes, fresh lemon Fraiche, strawberries and crème, slate, mineral, and more tart citrus lingering long. Lovely! Drink now. (tasted June 2021)

2020 Chateau Montaud Rose – Score: 90 (QPR: GREAT (In France))
This is a nice rose, and not as good as others out there, but the price at 10 Euro is very good. The nose on this wine is round and not as good as others, but still nice with ripe fruit, tropical hints, melon, guava, ripe strawberry, hints of orange blossom, and nectarine. The mouth on this medium-plus-bodied wine shows a bit more weight from the ripeness, with lovely acidity, loads of pith, guava, bitter almond, passion fruit, tart lemon, tart pink grapefruit, grapefruit pith, and smoke. The finish is long, pith-driven, with more round fruit, this wine moves from round to tart, back to round, with ripe fruit, tart fruit, all mixed up, right on the border, with flint, pith, and mineral. Drink now. (tasted June 2021)

2020 Domaine Bunan Bandol Rose – Score: 89 (QPR: EVEN)
A nice nose of strawberry and crème, vanilla, rose hips, juicy raspberry, and some minerality. The mouth on the medium-bodied wine is nice it has more acidity than previous vintages, the fruit is sweeter with candied strawberry, sweet raspberry, peach, pear, but balanced with slate. The finish is long, the acidity helps the sweetness, but it is still sweet, which cannot be helped and the wine is refreshing. Drink now. (tasted June 2021)

2020 Diane de Vernay Rose – Score: 80 (QPR: NA)
The nose on this wine is nice enough, with tart raspberry, strawberry and crème, flint, and green notes. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is flat, sadly, it has no acidity to make things work, raspberry, orange pith, and passion fruit. (tasted June 2021)

2020 100 Tropez Rose Reserve (M) – Score: 78 (QPR: NA)
This rose is OK, it has some acidity but not nearly enough and it is also boring, outside of some acid and pith it has nothing else that grabs your attention. The nose on this wine is flat, it lacks clear notes, some raspberry, candied strawberry, and citrus. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is ok, it has some acid, but there is not much fruit there, the quince, strawberry, and fruit are candied and the wine is heavy, while not being refreshing at all. The best part of the wine is the pith but that is over the top as well, along with the candied fruit. Nice enough if you must. (tasted June 2021)

2020 L’Excellence des Muraires Rose (M) – Score: 78 (QPR: NA)
This rose is OK, it has some acidity but not nearly enough and it is also boring, outside of some acid and pith it has nothing else that grabs your attention. The nose on this wine is flat, it lacks clear notes, some raspberry, candied strawberry, and citrus. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is ok, it has some acid, but there is not much fruit there, the quince, strawberry, and fruit are candied and the wine is heavy, while not being refreshing at all. The best part of the wine is the pith but that is over the top as well, along with the candied fruit. Nice enough if you must. If you asked me I would think this is the same wine as the 100 Tropez Reserve, it tastes the same and feels the same. (tasted June 2021)

2020 Chateau des Muraires Rose, Seduction (M) – Score: 76 (QPR: NA)
I am saddened by this wine, I am further saddened for having to pay for this wine, just sad. This wine has no life, flat, boring, and uninteresting. Maybe the Mevushal ruined it, who knows, but for me a total pass. The nose on this wine is boring, with raspberry, smoke, pith, and orange notes. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is flat, empty, it has a bit of fruit, with nectarines, lemon, orange, and grapefruit, and strawberry, but nothing else. The finish is long but empty, with no acidity to be found anywhere, just a bit of fruit, pith, and nice enough slate. (tasted June 2021)

2020 Chateau la Naude Rose – Score: 70 (QPR: NA)
I tried to be as nice as I could be when writing these notes, in the end, it is not very good, as one can see by the score. The nose is dull and the mouth is flat. It has red fruit notes, quince, dried fig, and a touch of tannin but not much else that I could appreciate. (tasted June 2021)

2020 Rambam Wines

2020 Memorias del Rambam Blanc – Score: 83 (QPR: EVEN)
This wine overall is balanced but it lacks and so it does not grab your interest. The nose has good fruit, the mouth has some weight/presence, but it is a bit hollow, it has acid, but the rest is just not inspiring. Drink now. (tasted June 2021)

2020 Memorias del Rambam Rose – Score: 81 (QPR: NA)
Sadly, this wine is worse than the white, it is flat and not there. The fruit is there a bit as is pith but otherwise, nothing grabs your attention, at all. (tasted June 2021)

White Wine

2020 M.de.Ligny Bourgogne – Score: 86 (QPR: EVEN)
This wine has Triangle-K Kosher supervision, FYI. OK, this wine could have been called a Chablis, and I would not have been surprised, calling you’re a Bourgogne surprises me! The nose on this wine is pure acid, with a bit of fruit, a drop of mineral, and not much else. The mouth on this wine is ok, again, the most interesting thing is the acidity, followed by some peach, quince, apple, and pear, and that is it. The finish is ok, nice enough wine with some acidity, a very simple quaff. (tasted June 2021)