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 Yoni Taieb and the rest of Taieb wines for sending the wines to me to taste. In the past, I have made my way to Taieb’s office, once by myself and once with Avi Davidowitz from Kosher Wine Unfiltered.

As I stated, in my previous post, I kept to 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. Because I did not want to ride trains and automobiles with all the COVID madness, Mr. Taieb was so very kind to send them to my hotel. I then stayed in my hotel room and tasted through them.

As always, you can get these wines and much more from Taieb’s online website. They ship within Europe and to London. Sadly, they are all sold out of almost all the incredible 2019 Burgundies that I enjoyed tasting at Andrew Breskin’s house. Andrew has some of them still for sale, like the lovely 2017 Domaine Chantal Lescure and the 2019 Jean-Philippe Marchand wines – lovely!! Get them while they last!

Tasting in the hotel room

The most hilarious part of my trip was my life in the hotel. Everything there was, at that time, and I think still is, at this time, masked and distanced. I had cases, upon cases of wines coming to me, in my hotel, and to Ari Cohen’s house, and it became quite a balagan to get things moved around. My many thanks to all the guys that helped make that trip work!

In the end, it was a wonderful outcome. I had time to taste the wines at my pace, room for all the wines to sit and breathe. The A/C was running full-time but it was great and the hotel folks were very nice. Of course, I missed hanging out with Mr. Taieb, and I hope he and his lovely family are doing well!

NOTE: I bought a few wines as well and I tasted them in my room and with some friends. These wines are denoted below and they were wines I never tasted at Taieb’s offices.

QPR WINNING Wine Distributor

Since the first time I was lucky to sit down and taste through the Taieb Wine portfolio, I kept commenting to Yoni, how there were so many good QPR wines. Now, how does this happen? Well, let us talk about Taieb’s wine portfolio. They have an exclusive relationship with Laurent Perrier for producing kosher Champagne, and that is great. But, to be fair you say. they may make QPR wines but they do not make Chateau Smith Haut Lafite, Chateau Malartic, or Chateau Leoville Poyferre!

Well, let us continue with the fact that Taieb makes some of the very best Burgundy wines on the market and has been doing so for more than 10 years now! However, those wines, while wonderful, are not as much QPR as they quality/score stars! In Bordeaux, Taieb has gone long and slow with great names, many of whose latest vintages I tasted in June. They may not top out at 95 in scores, like Domaine Chantal Lescure, Domaine D’Ardhuy (almost), or J.P. Marchand, but they do choose the wineries they work with inside of Bordeaux, incredibly well, to create QPR WINNERS at a very impressive rate!

In the end, that is what differentiates Taieb from the other Kosher wine producers. Sure, Royal Wines does a great job with QPR while also having the quality superstars that are hard to fit in the QPR bucket. In my last tasting with Bokobsa, they showed high quality and good prices, in France, for a fair number of wines. Still, when I think QPR, I think Taieb, again in France! I am consistently shocked at why the folks in London do not buy Taieb wines by the cases – given the wonderful prices, the easy shipping, and the favorable exchange rate. The real Achilles Heel of Taieb Wines, IMHO, is the lack of great distribution and equally solid pricing in the USA.

Until then, you can follow what I wrote up in this post, and try to piece together some of these wines in the USA, if you can! Thankfully, we have Andrew, at Liquid Kosher, helping to drive Burgundy excellence in the USA.

In Closing

Again, the theme of very solid Taieb wines being very hard to find in the USA is a consistent issue to me and a sad one. My many thanks to Yoni Taieb and all at Moise Taieb Wines & Spirits for taking the time to send me the wines to my hotel. The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:

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2018 La Chablisienne Chablis, Chablis (M) – Score: 87 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose on this wine is too simple, I was hoping for more complexity, yellow apple, quince, pear, and mineral. The mouth on this light to medium-bodied wine is a bit lacking, it has enough acidity, but the middle is a bit hollow, pear, tart apple, smoke, and melon. The finish is long, green, with flint, more baked apple, lemon, and nice acidity lingering. Drink now. (tasted June 2021)

2018 La Chablisienne Chablis, 1er Cru, Chablis (M) – Score: 90 (QPR: POOR)
The nose on this wine is slightly more elevated with fresher notes, apple, pear, melon, more minerality, starfruit, and hints of gooseberry. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine, shows nice weight, with a lovely mouthfeel, nice acidity, mineral, tart and sweet fruit, starfruit, gooseberry, grapefruit, melon, Asian Pear, and good green foliage. The finish is long, green, tart, and richer, with saline, slate, rock, mineral, straw, and good tart acidity on the long finish. Drink by 2022. (tasted June 2021)

2019 Baron Philippe de Rothschild Mouton Cadet, Bordeaux – Score: 86 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose on this wine is a classic simple Bordeaux, showing green and tinny notes, with roasted herb, mint, oregano, black and red fruit, and some loam. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is also a bit green and simple, tinny, with simple tannin, blackberry, raspberry, smoke, and earth. The finish is long, green, earthy, and tannic, with more loam, graphite, and herbs lingering long. Drink by 2022. (tasted June 2021)

2019 Les Remparts de Bel Air, Bordeaux Superieur (M) – Score: 89 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose on this wine is simple though it has good balance and needs a bit of time to open, with dark and red fruit, earth, roasted herb, and smoke. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is ripe, layered, and dirty, but also simple, and too green, not enough overall balance to make it all work. The finish is long, green, earthy, and herbal, with nice tannin, more dirt, blackberry, raspberry, and cherry fruit. Drink until 2023. (tasted June 2021)

2016 Pavillon de la Rotonde, Bordeaux Superieur (M) – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
This is another Taieb WINNER, a not expensive wine that is much more than simple, it shows elegance and class while also be relatively inexpensive.
The nose on this wine is lovely, it takes a bit to open, but after an hour or so in the bottle, the wine opens to sweet dill, smoke, sweet oak, black and red fruit, lovely dirt, and rich mineral, nice! The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is lovely, rich, round, yet well-balanced, with good weight, a nice freshness, mouth-coating, and drying tannin, lovely fruit focus, blackberry, raspberry, dark forest berries, forest floor, and nice rich loam, with mineral. The finish is long, a bit green, nice overall, with good smoke, tannin, more black fruit, and graphite that linger very long. Bravo!! Drink until 2024. (tasted June 2021)

2018 Chateau La Naude, Bordeaux Superieur (M) – Score: 88 (QPR: GREAT)
This is another nice wine, not quite a winner, but very solid. The nose on this wine is nice, showing good red and black fruit, with nice fruit focus, but a bit tinny and/or green, with roasted herb, and dirt. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is quite nice, with good fruit, nice acidity, good tannin, and an overall pleasing wine, still, the green notes are a bit too much, with blackberry, plum, cherry, and more roasted herb. The finish is long, a bit too green, with more tannin, graphite, dirt, and herbs lingering long. Nice! Drink by 2024. (tasted June 2021)

2019 Baron David, Bordeaux (M) – Score: 90 (QPR: GREAT)
This is a slight step back from the 2018 vintage but still a nice wine. The nose on this wine is a bit green and tinny, but overall, the mouthfeel is rich enough.
The nose on this wine shows some green and tinny notes, but the fruit also shows nicely with black and red notes, a bit of dirt here, and roasted herbs. A bit more perfumed than others, nice! The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is a bit less tinny and green, more round, with enough acidity, good tannin structure, weight, smoke, blackberry, plum, roasted herbs, and graphite. The finish is long, green, foliage, showing some elegance, leather, graphite, tannin, tobacco, and more roasted herbs. Nice! With a bit of time, the green and tinny notes fall back and the wine fills out, nice! Drink until 2024. (tasted June 2021)

2019 Domaine de Grava Haut de Grava, Bordeaux – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
This is the 2nd wine from Domaine de Grava. This is another Taieb WINNER, nice! The nose on this wine is more elegant than others, with a bit of candied cherry and raspberry, rosehip, rose petals, hints of green notes, foliage, and nice dirt. The mouth on this medium-plus bodied wine is more concentrated and elegant, with good weight, great acidity, lovely mouth-draping tannin, good earth, raspberry, cherry, spiced plum, and lovely sweet tobacco, with sweet oak. The finish is long, ripe, sweet, well-balanced with beautiful acid and tannin, smoke, loam, tar, and foliage, with rich tannin lingers long. Lovely! Drink until 2024. Nice!! (tasted June 2021)

2018 Domaine de Grava, Grand Vin de Bordeaux – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
Go ahead try this wine and then guess its price – there is no way you guess 9 euro! What a crazy screaming deal for such a lovely wine. I normally do not talk price in wine notes, outside of the QPR score, but this one is so out of whack, for the positive, I had to denote it! WOW!
The nose on this wine is beautiful, dirty, earthy, rich, mineral, funk, loam, forest floor, smoke, tar, beautiful dark but well-controlled fruit, hints of dark raspberry, and roasted herbs. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is lovely, ripe, well-balanced, with a bit of heat, lovely weight, richness, good mouth-draping and elegant tannin, blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, smoke, loam, rich loam, forest floor, and searing acidity that helps hold this all together. The finish is long, black, balanced, ripe, with tannin, leather, sweet dark chocolate, and velvety texture on the long finish. BRAVO!! Drink by 2025. (tasted June 2021)

2019 La Chenaie du Bourdieu, Medoc – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
This is a slightly better wine than the 2016 vintage and this is a WINNER. The nose on this wine is lovely, ripe, balanced, black and red fruit, rich loam, mineral galore, nice spices, cloves, forest floor, and lovely tar, nice!!! The mouth on this full-bodied wine is lovely, ripe, well-balanced, smoky, dirty, earthy, a lovely weight and mouthfeel, blackberry, blueberry, nice anise, rich elegant and mouth-draping tannin, with lovely foliage, smoke, and sweet garrigue, nice!!! The finish is long, elegant, rich, with more black fruit, dark chocolate, sweet oak, sweet notes, tobacco, rich graphite, mineral, and sweet spices on a long finish. BRAVO!!! Drink by 2026. (tasted June 2021)

2019 Chateau de Mole, Puisseguin Saint-Emilion – Score: 90 (QPR: GREAT)
The Taieb WINNER train is just getting longer – bravo!!! The nose on this lovely wine is deep, with white and black pepper, hints of jalapeno, with black and red fruit, intense smoke, sweet oak, loam, and rich anise, really fun! The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is really fun, lovely mouthfeel and good weight, nice mouth-coating tannin, blackberry, dark cherry, currant, dark brooding fruit, balanced with perfect acid, rich mineral, graphite, olives, clay, and lovely green notes. The finish is long, green, tart, ripe, with more mineral, graphite, and incredible balance lingering long with sweet tobacco and green notes! Bravo!!! Drink until 2025. (tasted June 2021)

2018 Pavillon du Vieux Chantre, Puisseguin Saint-Emilion – Score: 91.5 (QPR: WINNER)
Thus nose is most unique of the Taieb tasting, so far, it has lovely green notes, with rich saline, floral notes of lavender, rich smoke, bell pepper, nice spices, rich mineral, anise, iron, smoke, red and black fruit, and rich loam, very cool! The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is lovely, plush, soft, yet balanced and not round, with nice acidity, good blackberry, red plum, tart cherry, rich loam, mouth-draping tannin, bell pepper, graphite, rich mineral, more smoke, soy sauce, and soft green garrigue. The finish is long, green, and ripe, with rich graphite, mineral, rock, nice coffee, and loam. Drink until 2025. (tasted June 2021)

2019 Château Meilhan, Medoc – Score: 90 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is the best part with dark fruit, loam, clay, iron, milk chocolate, sweet oak, and sweet spices. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is missing in the middle, with sweet fruit, ripe, balanced with good acidity, still, the hole calls your attention, showing blackberry, sweetly spiced plum, cherry, and sweet oak. The finish is a bit short, with more oak, sweet fruit, nice tannin, smoke, mineral, graphite, and red fruit. With time, the wine fills out nicely, filling the holes, showing richer fruit, and an overall nice smoky and green wine. Nice!!! Drink by 2024. (tasted June 2021)

2019 Moise Taieb Cote de Brouilly, Reserve du Fondateur, Beaujolais – Score: 85 (QPR: EVEN)
Look, I am not a fan of these wines, not that they have a flaw or any issue, I just find them too fruity and lacking in what I want, which is more austere. Still, this vintage is missing in the acidity, but the wine is very fruity, spicy, and shows nice pith, with spiced plum, blueberry, raspberry, and candied black fruit. The finish is long, sweet, and spicy, with nutmeg, cinnamon, pith, and ripe fruit lingering long. Drink by 2022. (tasted June 2021)

2019 Moise Taieb Julienas, Reserve du Fondateur, Beaujolais – Score: 82 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose on this wine is ripe and again not my kind of wine, with crazy brooding and dark blue and black fruit, showing incredible spice, loam, sweet spices, and loads of floral notes. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is sweet, without the acidity of past vintages, ripe and juicy blueberry, boysenberry, and sweet spices. Drink by 2022. (tasted June 2021)

2019 Moise Taieb La Petite Metairie Bourgueil, Loire Valley – Score: 84 (QPR: EVEN)
This wine is made from 100% Cabernet Franc. The nose on this wine is ripe, showing oregano, rosemary, mint, red to dark red fruit, the perfume of floral notes and rose. The mouth on this wine is again without enough acidity, it is a flower box, medium-bodied, with mouth coating tannin, showing lovely tart and juicy raspberry, with dark candied cherry, raspberry, and smoke. The finish is long, sweet, not enough acid, red, and smoky, with herbs, and tannin lingering. Drink until 2023. (tasted June 2021)

2019 Moise Taieb La Petite Metairie Chinon, Loire Valley – Score: 83 (QPR: EVEN)
This wine is made from 100% Cabernet Franc. This wine is again too ripe for me, the fruit is screaming here, perfumed with spices, herbs, and red and blue fruit. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is ripe, dense, and again without enough acidity, it is there if you want a simple enough Cabernet Franc. Drink by 2022. (tasted June 2021)

2018 Château du Courneau, Margaux – Score: 92 (QPR: GREAT)
This wine is a blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon & 30% Merlot. The wine’s Cabernet Sauvignon predominance helps the otherwise ripe 2018 vintage.
The nose on this wine is ripe, but balanced, with dense fruit, smoke, green notes, roasted herbs, rich mineral, blue notes, soy sauce, mushroom, rich loam, and sweet oak. The mouth on this full-bodied is a bit too oaky for me now, the sweet dill, oak, smoke, toast, blackberry, blueberry, raspberry fruit all meld together under a cloud of oak, plush mouthfeel, good acidity, rich mouth-draping tannin, and piercing green notes. The finish is long, green, oaky, with leather, spice, graphite, more oak, and more sweet fruit. This wine needs time to come together. Drink from 2026 until 2034. (tasted June 2021)

2019 Chateau Castelbruck, Margaux – Score: 92.5 (QPR: WINNER)
The wine is a blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon & 45% Merlot. The nose on this wine is nice, balanced, with good fruit, a bit ripe, but also bright, with deep black and blue fruit, oak, sweet dill, rich mineral, tar, and sweet tobacco. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is ripe, but it is well balanced with lovely and bracing acidity, searing but elegant mouth-draping tannin, blackberry, ripe boysenberry, sweet oak, ripe plum, and lovely scraping mineral, graphite, saline, and smoke. The finish is long, black, dirty, smoky, sweet tobacco, leather, rich loam, earth, and green notes in the far back. Bravo!! Drink from 2026 until 2034. (tasted June 2021)

2019 Chateau Haut-Breton Larigaudiere, Margaux – Score: 93 (QPR: WINNER)
This nose on this wine is more feminine than masculine, with sweet and ripe fruit notes, heather, rosehip, loads of dirt, earth, mushroom, milk chocolate, well-balanced, with red/blue/black fruit, sweet dill, rich garrigue, and smoke. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is layered, rich, ripe, but so well balanced, with loads of saline, green notes, foliage, blackberry, juicy boysenberry, raspberry, sweet tobacco, nice acidity, dark cherry, roasted herb, lovely sweet cedar, earth, dark currant, and graphite galore. The finish is long, sweet, well-balanced, earthy, and dirty, with mouth-coating and drying tannin, and leather, giving way to tobacco, and mineral galore. Bravo!! Drink from 2027 until 2035. (tasted June 2021)

2019 Château Tour Baladoz, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru – Score: 93 (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is a blend of 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Carmenere.
The nose on this wine is ripe, blue fruit, with lovely rich oak, sweet milk chocolate, rich dark fruit, green notes, rich minerality, and pencil shavings galore. The mouth on this medium-plus bodied wine is lovely, rich, and layered, with lovely balance, green and black fruit, giving way to sweet oak, with sweet milk chocolate, blackberry, sweet boysenberry, freshly tilled earth, lovely garrigue, mushrooms, green notes, with gripping tannin, and lovely tart/juicy raspberry, with hints of cranberry, and spice. The finish is long, green, sweet, tart, with great menthol, leather, sweet tobacco, giving way to rich concentration, good extraction, and nice elegance. Nice!! Drink from 2025 until 2034. (tasted June 2021)

——————— Moises Taieb Wines I bought because I missed tasting them ————————-

2015 Chateau de Mole, Puisseguin Saint-Emilion – Score: 90 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose on this wine is ripe, but that calms with a bit of time, showing ripe black and red fruit, good spices, nice roasted herb, sweet cedar, sweet rosehip, lavender, and nice smoke. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is nice, but it has a slight hollow in the middle that throws me, with good acidity, blackberry, dark plum, rich roasted herb, nice spices, lovely sweet tannin, mouth-drying, with good fruit focus, and nice mineral. The finish is long, green, black, and red, with more roasted herb, nice dark chocolate, showing good control, nice acidity, leather, smoke, tar, and anise lingering long, with more flowers in the background. Drink by 2025. (tasted June 2021)

2015 Château du Courneau, Margaux – Score: 92.5 (QPR: WINNER)
This is a lovely wine with good weight, mouthfeel, elegance, power, and balance. The nose on this wine is bright and ripe, with beautiful iron, graphite, mineral, hints of lavender, black and red fruit, with nice toast, sweet oak, and a nice forest floor. The mouth on this medium-plus bodied wine is dense, rich, layered, and nicely extracted, and it takes time to open, when it does the fruit is there and it is balanced well by rich acidity, lovely graphite, sweet blackberry, plum, tart raspberry, currants, and dry roasted herbs that bring this all together nicely, with the intense mouth draping and drying tannin, nice!!! The finish is long, green, black, and mineral, with nice herbs, foliage, black fruit, smoke, more tannin, leather, spice, and clean lines, really nice!!! Bravo! Drink by 2026. (tasted June 2021)

2020 Domaine du Haut-Montlong Les Hauts des Noilettes, Vieilles Vignes, Monbazillac – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose on this wine is sweet, with sweet preach, funk, brown sugar, nice mineral, orange blossom, nectarines, rich smoke, and candied melon. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is nice, not heavy, rich, but balanced, with good enough weight, nice brown sugar, sweet peach, apricot, nectarines, honeydew, honeysuckle, good weight, and enough acidity to make it work. The finish started a bit short, but after time it fills out, with good sweet fruit, more acid, mineral, slate, cinnamon, cloves, and more lovely sweet spices. Drink until 2034. (tasted June 2021)