As stated in my previous post, I was in Paris in November, with Avi Davidowitz, from the Kosher Wine Unfiltered blog, 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 us 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 stated, in my previous post, we kept to my hotel room for much of the trip. Even vaccinated, I was worried, and am still worried, as such we kept to ourselves, where possible. Still, we were ready to take the train down to the offices, but things could not line up and so Mr. Taieb was very kind, to once again, send the wines to our hotel. We then stayed in the 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 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 our trip was life in the hotel. Everything in Paris is masked and distanced. We had cases, upon cases of wines coming to us at the hotel, differently than last time, as this time, they all came to the hotel. Still, we thankfully had loads of room as we had the top floor suite and the space was ridiculous.

In the end, it was a wonderful outcome, short of not seeing the Taiebs, again. We had time to taste the wines at our pace, room for all the wines to sit and breathe. As stated, we missed hanging out with Mr. Taieb, and I hope he and his lovely family are doing well!

NOTE: A few of the wines seemed to be a bit off, the 2019 Pavillon du Vieux Chantre, 2019 Domaine de Grava, and 2019 Château De L’Anglais. I will not post my notes here as I need to taste them again when I go back to France or if I can get them here in the USA. There were a few Champagne as well, but none of them stood out enough for me to post them here. Finally, we have very few photos of these, apologies.

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, for those that live within Europe and London, and even a few for the USA as well! 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. While they do not make wines like Chateau Smith Haut Lafite, Chateau Malartic, or Chateau Leoville Poyferre, they do produce and distribute wines, within Europe that are of very high quality at reasonable prices, AKA, QPR WINNERS.

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 a different route by consistently producing wines, within Bordeaux, that punch well above their weight and many that shock you for the price they are selling at. 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 of QPR options, within Europe, I think of Taieb’s portfolio! 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, and most recently bringing in some of the better Bordeaux wines, as well. Further, three of these wines, posted below, are QPR WINNER, even in the USA. We need more of this!!!

In Closing

Again, the theme of very solid Taieb wines being very hard to find in the USA is a consistent issue to me. Thankfully, some of these wines are being brought in by Andrew, at Liquid Kosher, so I hope to taste at least some of these again in the USA soon.
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:

2020 Baron David, Bordeaux (M) – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER (France))
The nose on this wine shows very much like previous vintages, with good clean lines, green notes, red fruit, herb, forest floor, foliage, and loam. The mouth of this medium-plus wine is tannic, balanced, acidic, and green, with herbal notes, foliage, bell pepper, raspberry, dark cherry, roasted mint, basil, and tarragon, with a backbone that is based in fruit and acid and nice minerality. The finish is long, green, tannic, with scraping minerality, graphite, clay, and nice loam. Nice!! Drink until 2024. (tasted November 2021) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)

2020 Les Remparts de Bel Air, Bordeaux Superieur (M) – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER (France))
The nose on this wine is ripe, denser than previous vintages, with black and red fruit, loam, forest floor, moist dirt, loam, foliage, and spice. The mouth on this medium-plus bodied wine is nice, clean, with good structure, showing lovely acidity, bracing tannin, rich loam, blackberry, raspberry, dark cherry, all wrapped in red bell pepper, roasted herb, mint, and crazy scraping mineral, graphite, and dense loam. Nice! The finish is super long, dense, with more tannin, graphite, herbs, fruit, and lovely crazy acid. Drink until 2025. (tasted November 2021) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)

2020 Chateau Tour de Bellegarde, Bordeaux Superieur (M) – Score: 86 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose on this wine is ripe, with milk chocolate, sweet oak, smoke, black and red fruit, dense ripe fruit, and some green notes in the far background. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is ripe, a bit flabby, and not balanced, with sweet oak, rich tannin, green notes, and loam. Drink until 2024. (tasted November 2021) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)

2019 Domaine de Grava, Haut de Grava, Bordeaux – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER (France))
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 and November 2021) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.50%)

2019 Pavillon du Vieux Chantre, Puisseguin Saint-Emilion – NA
Need to taste again (tasted November 2021) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)

2019 Château Roquettes, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
This wine starts very slowly, it needs a few hours of air to be drinkable. The nose on this wine is ripe, with sweet oak, milk chocolate, black fruit, black olives, tar, and loads of loam. The mouth on this medium-plus bodied wine starts closed, but with time opens to show a lovely wine, with great acidity, a nice balance of black olives, saline, blackberry, tart, and juicy raspberry, ripe plum, cassis, green notes, foliage, mouth-dripping tannin, with nice elegance, but also still very tannic and oppressive, with loam, and saline. The finish is long, tannic, green, and well balanced, with more iron, graphite, loam, and rich loam. Drink from 2027 until 2034. (tasted November 2021) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)

2019 Château De L’Anglais, Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux – Score: NA
Need to taste again  (tasted November 2021) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)

2020 Château Roc de Boissac, Puisseguin Saint-Emilion – Score: 87 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose on this wine is ripe, with sweet oak, loads of milk chocolate, funk, with forest floor, garrigue, and loam. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is ripe, oaky wine, with sweet dill, dark cherry, basil, currant, sweet red berry, and loam. The finish is long, green, herbal, with more chocolate, vanilla, graphite, and loam. Drink until 2025. (tasted November 2021) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2019 Château La Naude, Bordeaux Superieur (M) – Score: 87 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose on this wine is nice, balanced, with green notes, herbal, simple, red fruit, raspberry, and mineral. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is well-balanced, with good acidity, nice mineral, nice tannin, green notes, herbs, raspberry, dark cherry, and more loam. The finish is long, green, simple, and herbal. Drink until 2024. (tasted November 2021) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)

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 & November 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 & November 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 & November 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 & November 2021)