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 must start by thanking Clarisse and Lionel Bokobsa of Sieva/Bokobsa Wines. They were so kind to host me and let me taste the lovely wines. I was also joined by Benjamin Kukurud, sales manager at Sieva, and the Mashiach, Mendy Asseraf.

So, returning to the trip, as stated in my previous post, I kept in my hotel room for much of the trip. Even vaccinated, I was worried, and am still worried, as such I kept to myself, where possible. However, Clarisse was so nice to setup the tasting so on a bright summer morning, I made my way to the Sieva offices, just outside of Paris.

The last time I was at a Bokobsa tasting, it was at the very early days on this insane life we now live, February, 2020. Of course, until June, 2021, no one from the United States was allowed access to France. Bokobsa, like Royal did not have a tasting in 2021. So, I was really happy to catch up with what new wines were available and to see the offices of Sieva, as I only ever see the Bokobsa family at KFWE or their own tastings.

The pricing of these wines are mostly cheaper in France than they are here in the USA, as such, some of them of the wines have better QPR scores in France. Also, many of these wines will not come to the USA, but overall I was impressed by the quality of the wines and how some of them have really improved from the first time I tasted them in 2019.

My thanks to Clarisse and Lionel Bokobsa and the rest of the Sieva/Bokobsa team for hosting me and letting us taste the wonderful wines. The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:

2019 Jean Pierre Bailly Pouilly Fume – Score: 92 (QPR: EVEN (In France: WINNER))
Another smash hit for this lovely wine, showing notes of sweet fruit, lovely orange blossom, with good fruit focus, gooseberry, melon, grapefruit, and flint galore. The mouth on this lovely medium-bodied is truly fresh, ripe, and well balanced with screaming acid, smoke, flint, gooseberry, melon, grapefruit, orange, orange blossom, and lovely screaming acid, wow! Lovely weight and mouthfeel. The finish is long, green, ripe, and well balanced, with crazy mineral, screaming acid, and lovely rock, flint, and mineral. WOW!! Drink until 2024. (tasted June 2021)

2018 Chateau Pouyanne Blanc (M) – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is a blend of 70% Semillon and 30% Sauvignon Blanc. This is fun, mineral, smoke, green and yellow apple, quince, and good funk, quite nice. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is quite nice, a fuller and sharper vintage than in the past, with nice acidity, smoke, hay, straw, quince, apple, herbs, and lovely minerality, with fun fruit-focus, but also great minerality, and saline. Nice! The finish is lovely, with great acidity, straw, and elegance. Bravo! Drink by 2024. (tasted June 2021) (not imported to USA)

2020 Domaine la Clef du Récit (Anthony Girard) Sancerre, L’indiscrete – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is on the edge of QPR WINNER in France, but it can be found for a good price, in some stores, so that helped push it to WINNER. This smells like a proper Sancerre, with classic green and white notes, crazy mineral, intensely bright fruit, lovely lemon curd, smoke, hay, straw, and stone fruit – WOW! The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is well made, well balanced, with great smoke, gooseberry, passion fruit, incredible acid, minerality, saline, wow, a fruit-focus that is nice, it starts slow but wow it really opens up with time, and lovely grapefruit, lemon/lime, and smoke, wow! The finish is long, green, with lemongrass, smoke, flint, rock, saline, and lovely acidity that carries the fruit, and holds long! Bravo!! Drink until 2023. (tasted June 2021) (not imported to USA)

2019 Le Benjamin (M) – Score: 87 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose on this wine is classic for a simple Bordeaux, with simple notes, red fruit, a bit of smoke, and earth. The mouth on this light to medium-bodied wine is nice enough, simple, but without flaw, with raspberry, dirt, loam, rosehip, and nice smoke. The weight is nice, with a good mouthfeel and nice tannin. The finish is long, green, red, and tart, well balanced, simple, but the acid and tannin open slowly and are quite enjoyable, foliage, dirt, and smoke, on the long finish. Simple but nice! Drink by 2023. (tasted June 2021) (not imported to USA)

2018 Chateau Pouyanne (M) – Score: 89 (QPR: GREAT)
This is classic Graves, showing dirt, smoke, tar, and more dirt. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is nice, well made, slightly elevated from something simple, nice mouthfeel, with good acidity, lovely tannin, raspberry, dark cherry, smoke, dirt, loam, and great tension, nice! The finish is long, green, and red, with foliage, smoke, dirt, and hints of ripeness, but well controlled with the acid making it all work well. Nice! Drink until 2024. (tasted June 2021)

2018 Chateau Terre Blanque – Score: 87 (QPR: GREAT)
This is a blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. The nose on this wine is lovely, green, red, smoke, dirt, plum, raspberry, lovely roasted herb, and good fruit focus. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is solid, a bit ripe, but fresh, alive, with dark plum, raspberry, dirt, and smoke, followed by a lovely acidity, earth, and loam, with a mouth-draping tannin structure. The finish is dark, long, and smoky, with more plum dirt, saline, mineral, graphite, and good green foliage. Nice! Drink until 2024. (tasted June 2021)

2019 Chateau Le Lescot – Score: 89 (QPR: GREAT)
This wine is a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon and 35% Merlot. The nose on this wine is solid, green notes, red fruit, with good smoke, earth, notes of ripe black fruit in the background, and roasted herb. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is dark and red with plum, tart cherry, tart blackberry, smoke, foliage, with a lovely tannic structure, acid, and great roasted herbs, but the acid is incredible. The finish is long, green, smoky, with loads of roasted herb, lovely fruit, and screaming acid, with coffee, and spice. Nice!!! Drink by 2026. (tasted June 2021)

2019 Chateau Cantelaudette, Cuvee Prestige (M) – Score: 87 (QPR: POOR)
This wine is 100% Merlot. The nose on this wine is nice with smoke, herbs, milk chocolate, sweet oak, plum, and sweet herbs. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is ripe, rich, and balanced, with focus, but it is a bit too ripe for me, and the oak does add lift but it throws me, with smoke, dark plum, raspberry, blackberry, and sweet oak, with mouth-drying tannin, a bit of acidity, and loads of roasted herbs. The finish is long, dark, and smoky, with green notes, foliage, and a nice mouthfeel. Drink by 2026. (tasted June 2021)

2017 Chateau La Tonnelle – Score: 88.5 (QPR: EVEN)
This wine is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, and 5% Petit Verdot. The nose on this wine is lovely, I thought the wine was not as good, but now the wine has gotten better, with good smoke, earth, balance, fruit, dirt, and roasted herbs. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is still not as good as the 2016 vintage, but it is still very solid, with a lovely mouthfeel of red fruit, cherry, dark raspberry, loam, lovely acid, mouth-draping tannin, elegant, with dirt, more red fruit, and lovely! The finish is long, green, with red fruit, lovely acidity, and smoke, nice!! Drink until 2024 (tasted June 2021)

2019 Chateau Lamothe-Cissac – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
This is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Petit Verdot. The nose on this wine is classic, beautiful, with elegance, roasted herb, richness, smoke, red and black fruit, spice, and lovely minerality. The mouth on this medium to full-bodied wine is richer than the 2016 vintage, it is also denser, more concentrated, layered, and yet perfectly balanced, with blackberry, cassis, raspberry, tart, and ripe fruit, a perfect balance that shows with incredible acidity, earth, mushroom, forest floor, and a mouth-coating tannin. The finish is long, ripe, balanced, and smoky, with foliage, green notes, earth, leather, dark chocolate, menthol, tar, and more green notes. Bravo!!!! Drink from 2027 until 2036. (tasted June 2021)

2017 Chateau Hauteville – Score: 91 (QPR: EVEN)
This wine is a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon and 50% Merlot. The nose on this wine is ripe, balanced, showing raspberry, black fruit, forest floor, mushroom, dirt, earth, smoke, licorice, and spice. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is quite nice, well balanced, with a good fruit focus, blackberry, tart plum, ripe cassis, great acidity, mouth-draping tannin, lovely elegance, with roasted herb, smoke, and loads of green notes, and foliage. The finish is long, green, spicy, herbal, and rich, with dark chocolate, leather, mint, oregano, crazy saline and acidity, and smoke. Bravo!! Drink from 2024 until 2032. (tasted June 2021)

2018 Chateau le Caillou – Score: 91.5 (QPR: EVEN)
This wine is a blend of 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Franc. The nose on this wine is lovely, ripe red and black fruit, perfectly balanced, with some ripeness, but acid that brings it all together perfectly. The nose on this wine is ripe, balanced, with bright red and black fruit, the added cabernet Franc really helps the sweeter and riper merlot balance, with smoke, dirt, and loads of roasted herb. Nice! The mouth of this full-bodied wine is ripe, well-balanced, with dirt, blackberry plum, roasted herb, soy sauce, umami, with dense fruit, nice concentration, a rich fruit focus, but well balanced, with mouth-drying tannin, and rich saline. The finish is long, dense, rich, and spicy, with Cabernet Franc being felt again, herb, spice, dark chocolate-covered coffee bean. Bravo!! Drink from 2027 until 2034. (tasted June 2021)

2016 Chateau la Tour du Pin Figeac Grand Cru – Score: 92.5 (QPR: WINNER)
This is the third time I have tasted this wine and now it is a very different wine than the previous tastings, now it is deeply aromatic, dense, rich, layered, and elegant, wow! The nose on this wine is rich, deep, and elegant, and filled with umami, crazy dense, while also elegant, really fun, black and red fruit, menthol, soy sauce, mushroom galore, forest floor, dirt, earth, rich smoke, and dark chocolate. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is rich, layered, elegant, dense, and concentrated, with rich saline, soy sauce, mushroom, blackberry, raspberry, cassis, iron, graphite, mineral, with crazy mouth-draping elegant tannin, with scraping minerality, smoke, foliage, roasted herb, and dense fruit, wow! The finish is super long, dense, rich, and impressive, with dark chocolate, rich leather, sweet tobacco, sweet oak, smoke, tar, and more mushroom, wow!!! Drink from 2024 until 2030. Bravo!!! (tasted June 2021)

2018 Domaine de Boissan Gigondas, Les Pierres Blanches – Score: 87 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose on this wine is dirty, soy sauce, watermelon, ripe boysenberry, smoke, blueberry, blackberry, heat, licorice, and smoke. The mouth on this wine is a bit too ripe for me, it has the balance, but it is too much, well made, with dense fruit, dense blackberry, heat, juicy boysenberry, dense, layered, and intensely concentrated, ginger, tarragon, sweet spices, and more smoke. The finish is long, sweet, ripe, dense, milk chocolate, and loam. Drink until 2025. (tasted June 2021)

2018 Domaine de Boissan Gigondas, Grand Reserve – Score: 88 (QPR: EVEN)
The wine is a blend of 80% Grenache and 20% Syrah. The nose on this wine is less ripe than the lower Gigondas, with sweet plum, watermelon, soy sauce, deep tar, crazy smoke, and rich blue fruit. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is again dense, ripe, layered, and concentrated, with ripe boysenberry, rich and dense tar, clay, smoke, and earth, licorice, with mouth-coating and draping tannin, nice. The finish is long, dense, ripe, and balanced, with lovely acidity, smoke, more soy sauce, dense earth, mushroom, and smoke galore. nice Drink until 2030. (tasted June 2021)

2017 Chateau La Tour Blanche Sauternes, 1er Cru Classe – Score: 92.5 (QPR: EVEN)
This is the third time I have had this wine and it is evolving a bit. The nose on this wine is lovely and with the crazy sweet fruit of honeyed notes, honeyed peach, clove-filled apricot, ripe melon, guava, peach, honeysuckle, sweet orange blossom, pineapple, brown sugar, with rich sweet notes and lovely funk. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is lovely and it is slowly coming around, dense, layered, concentrated, and perfectly balanced with rich acid and saline, nice mineral, graphite, dense rich funk, ripe fruit of honeyed citrus, almonds, and layers of sweet fruit that are backed by nice acidity. The finish is long, dense, rich, layered, and incredibly elegant, with good sweet fruit, mineral, lovely pith, and almond paste lingering long with sweet fig, and nicely balanced. Drink until 2030. (tasted June 2021)