As stated I was in Paris in May, and the first tasting I had on the trip was at the offices of Les Vin IDS. I know I said I was done with asides but this one is about wine. Remember that my QPR standard means Quality to Price Ratio! Well, the price fluctuates with currency. Most of us do not think about it but it does! We are all feeling it now with inflation but a very nice aside, at least if you are using US Dollars in Europe is that the US Dollar has almost reached parity with the Euro, and that made for a wonderful trip!

All my purchases were discounted by the Euro and that made the QPR scores a bit better but overall I stayed with either the Euro or the US dollar prices (AKA US prices). More on that below.

So, with that aside, let us get to the second part of the IDS tasting.

Tasting

The tasting was a two-part wine event. The first part featured IDS wines while the second part featured wines that Ben Sitruk of Wine Symphony brought to taste. This included wines from Ari Cohen’s new wine business Bakus, wines from Chateau Serilhan (M. Marcelis), wines from Domaine Roses Camille, some wines from Cantina Giuliano, and the Toscana from Terra di Seta. The first post focused on the Le Vins IDS and this post will cover the rest of those wines. I will start talking about the wines in the order they were tasted.

Bakus Wines

When I heard that Ari Cohen started to make some kosher wines I looked forward to the moment I got to taste them. They are from Spain and while I adore Elvi Wines, my last post was on their new wines, most of what we get from Spain has not been enjoyable. The wines tend to be overly oaked or overly ripe and not as balanced as I desire. They do work for folks who like that style but for me, they were too unbalanced to work.

They had potential, the wines were made from the Montsant region and one was from the Toro region. The varietals were varied blends, including Tempranillo, Carignan, Grenache, Macabeo, and Grenache Blanc. In the end, the wines were a bit too oak driven and too ripe for my taste.

I was having this conversation over Whatsapp with a few folks and it is truly bewildering how Spain continues to give us fewer kosher options that are enjoyable, while Italy is just blowing the doors off. An interesting thought to think about, thankfully, we still have Elvi Wines.

Cantina Giuliano

Whenever you sell Chianti you are going to be putting yourself under a microscope, as eventually, you will be compared to the original winery of the year, Terra di Seta. Cantina Giuliano has come a long way from the first time I tasted them many years ago. They are still not getting QPR WINNER scores, for their red wines, but they are getting closer.

The white and rose wines were OK, this year they were not as good as previous vintages, but still nice enough. The red wines were a OK as well, just not great, IMHO.

Chateau Serilhan

I loved the 2012 vintage of these wines and I was looking forward to tasting the 2014 and 2015 vintages. Thankfully, they are now released and they are equally enjoyable, though the 2015 Cru Ducasse does not live up to the lofty expectations I had for it after the incredible 2012 vintage blew me away. These wines are not officially here in the USA, but I hear they may make an entrance soon. The 2014 vintage was not available when I was there but I hope to taste it soon.

Domaine Roses Camille

I got the chance to taste the two new DRC wines both in San Jose and in Paris, a few weeks apart and they were absolutely the same, which is good! DRC continues to be one of the true stalwarts of Pomerol and shows the power of the right bank! The 2016 Echo de Roses Camille and the 2018 Clos Lavaud both showed very well and they both are QPR superstars!

Toscana

I finally got to taste the Terra di Seta Toscana, a wine that is not imported by Royal into the USA but is sold very well in Europe and Israel. After tasting it I can see why it is not imported but for the price, it is a very nice wine.

To the US readers, some of these wines are in the USA already, I think all the Cantina Giuliano are here. The Domaine Roses Camille will be here soon. The Bakus wines, are not available, as far as I know. The Chateau Serilhan is being worked on, but no promises, still.

My many thanks to Ben Sitruk and Ben Uzan for setting up the meeting, sharing their wines with us, and taking time out of their busy schedule to meet with us. The wine notes follow below in the order they were tasted – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:

Cantina Giuliano & Terra di Seta Toscana

2021 Cantina Giuliano Vermentino, Costa Toscana – Score: 90 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is lovely, and tropical, with Lychee, mango, tart kaffir lime, sweet green tea, and green notes. The mouth of this wine is nice, not complex, with good salinity, acidity, green notes, lemongrass, lime, Orange, and nice rock. The finish is long, green, and simple, but the tart fruit, Pomelo, Grapefruit, and saline, linger long. Nice! Drink now! (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2021 Cantina Giuliano Rosato, Costa Toscana (M) – Score: 89 (QPR: GOOD)
This wine is a blend of 85% Sangiovese and 15% Vermentino. The nose of this wine is lovely with strawberry, raspberry, peach, apricot, rooibos tea, and lychee. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice, with good acidity, raspberry, strawberry, peach from the Vermentino, rooibos tea, pomelo, and nice saline. The finish is long, tart, spicy, and nice with good acidity, saline, red fruit, a bit too ripe but nice, and flint. Nice! Drink now. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2020 Cantina Giuliano Chianti, Chianti – Score: 89 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose is ripe, nice enough, with good earth, smoke, red fruit, and funk. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is ok, but too ripe for me, with green notes of herb, dark cherry, candied almost liqueur raspberry, smoke, dirt, and loam. The finish is long, green, earthy, fruity, and with a touch of oak. Drink by 2025. (tasted May 2022) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 14.5%)

2019 Cantina Giuliano Bianco Toscano, Vernaccia, Bianco Toscano – Score: 88 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is nice enough, with honey, saline, spice, oak, herb, and quince. The mouth of this medium0bodied wine is spicy, and oaky, with quince, lemon, apple, pear, and spice. It lacks a bit of acidity but it is good enough. The finish is long, green, oaky, and spicy. Drink by 2024. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2020 Terra di Seta Toscana, Chianti – Score: 89+ (QPR: GREAT (Europe))
The nose of this wine is nice, with bright fruit, smoke, dark cherry, raspberry, and earth. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is fun, earthy, dirty, smoky, and cherry, – nice! The finish is long, with enough tannin, great acidity, and smoke. Drink by 2024. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5%)

Domaine Roses Camille

2016 Echo de Rose Camille, Pomerol – Score: 93 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is incredible, elegant, dense, rich, and layered, but also black, red, and green, with rich milk chocolate, mineral, loam, and spice, really impressive! The mouth of this full-bodied wine is dense, extracted, but also elegant, with blackberry, raspberry, sweet oak, sweet dill, rich, plush, smoky, green, graphite, mineral, and foliage, nice! The finish is long, green, dense, oaky, smoky, and rich, with dark chocolate, and elegance. Bravo!!! Drink from 2025 until 2034. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2018 Clos Lavaud, Lalande de Pomerol – Score: 93 (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is already showing beautifully and has a great approach that makes me smile. The nose of this wine starts with bramble, smoke, dirt, earth, roasted herb, forest floor, almost mushroom notes, mint, rosemary, nice red and black fruit, and bramble. The mouth of this medium to full-bodied wine is nice showing great acidity, green notes, bramble, cherry, raspberry, plum, and tart fruit, with nice mouth-coating tannin, fun Brett, nice plush mouthfeel, and good extraction, with green notes, menthol, and herbs. After tasting this again in Paris it shows richer and denser with more graphite, mineral, lovely black fruit, and elegance. Bravo! The finish is long, green, herbal, smoky, extracted, and tannic, with a nice fruit focus, scraping mineral, graphite, dark chocolate, tobacco, and smoke. Lovely! Drink from 2024 until 2031. (tasted May 2022) (in San Jose, CA & Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

Chateau Serilhan

2015 Chateau Moutinot, Saint-Estephe – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is fruity, well-balanced, and earthy, with rich loam and elegance. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is layered and rich, ripe but well made, with good acidity, salinity, blackberry, raspberry, smoky notes, plum, hints of cassis, intense graphite, scarping minerality, lovely tannin, sweet spice, nice! The finish is long, gripping, earthy, and dirty, with roasted herbs, sweet spices, lovely minerality, and sweet oak. Drink from 2024 until 2032. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2015 Chateau Cru Ducasse, Haut-Medoc – Score: 91 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is lovely with little to no green notes, rich loam, dirt, forest floor, black and red fruit, lovely mineral, and spice. With time, the green notes emerge, but they are controlled. The mouth on this medium to full-bodied is nice, with raspberry, strawberry, hints of black fruit, rich smoke, loam, dirt, and rich fruit. The finish is long, dirty, earthy, and red, with incredible acidity, smoke, and scraping mineral, graphite, and loam. Nice! Drink until 2030. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2015 Chateau Serilhan, Saint-Estephe – Score: 90.5 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is nice with green notes, jalapeno, bacon, roasted meat, elegance, balanced with black and red fruit, mineral, saline, and spice. The mouth of medium to full-bodied wine is nice, ripe, and well balanced, with raspberry, blackberry, cassis, loam, sweet spice, a bit ripe, with sweet oak, sweet spices, and roasted herbs. The finish is long, ripe, spicy, and herbal, with loam, graphite, nice extraction, and more spices, and cloves. Drink until 2030. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

Bakus Wines

2018 Terra de Vinyaters Falset Ha-Llel-Uya!, Montsant – Score: 89 (QPR: GOOD)
90% Macabeo and 10% Grenache Blanc The nose of this is smoky, earthy, and funky, with green and white fruit, pomelo, pear, apple, straw, hay, wet grass, and mineral. The mouth of this medium-full-bodied wine is nice, with good enough acidity, oak, smoke, fruit, apple, pear, funk, mineral, and hay. This is a refreshing wine given the amount of oak but I also fear the wine will not last long. So, if you like oak this wine is for you. If oak bothers you, waiting for the oak to recede will mean a dead oaky wine. The finish is long, green, earthy, smoky, and funky, really fun. Drink now! (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2018 Terra de Vinyaters Falset Ha-Llel-Uya!, Montsant – Score: 83 (QPR: EVEN)
This wine is a blend of 80% Carignan and 20% Grenache The nose of this wine is ripe, with the smell of squid ink, jasmine, overripe black and blue fruit, and oolong tea. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is ripe, too ripe for me, with good acidity, but the fruit takes over with boysenberry, blackberry, earth, intense tannin, acidity, and smoke. The finish is long, ripe, intense, and smoky, with loads of acid, mineral, and sweet spices. Drink by 2027. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5%)

2019 Frontaura Y Victoria, Toro – Score: 78 (QPR: N.A.)
The nose of this wine is wine smells of geranium, violet, and jasmine with candied plum, and raspberry. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is a flower and fruit bomb, with nice acidity, but unbalanced, with ripe fruit, candied plum, dark cherry, more floral notes, and tannin. Drink now! (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5%)