As stated in my previous post, I was in Paris in May, without Avi Davidowitz, from the Kosher Wine Unfiltered blog, his lame excuse involved something about marrying off his first child, or something like that, whatever! He was missed but yeah, Mazel Tov!
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 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 I kept to myself, where possible. Mr. Taieb was very kind, to once again, send the wines to the hotel. I 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. The website is selling the 2017 Domaine Chantal Lescure and they will soon have new 2021 J.P. Marchand Burgundies! Thankfully, Andrew has some of them 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

As stated in my Paris Post, Paris was alive, not overcrowded at that time, and masks were pretty much unseen unless you were on the metro. Many in the hotel still wore them but for the most part, it was a non-event. The hotel was great and I was able to taste all the wines that were sent to me or that I bought! Thankfully, I was once again upgraded and the room had all the space I needed.

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

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, about how there were so many good QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) wines, for those that live in 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, which 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 are 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 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.

A total aside, I enjoyed my trip to Paris in May, I got to spend time with family and went to a few lovely restaurants. At one of them, I got some lovely foie gras two ways with a wonderful bottle of 2018 Chateau de Mole! The price for the 1/2 bottle was 28 euros a steal for the wine and the ability to enjoy a lovely, non-mevushal wine, at a wonderful restaurant, that is living!

I am not sure how many of these wines will make it to the USA. The roses will not come but a few of the reds will be brought in by 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. In the end, most of these wines will either not be here or be impossible to find. Still, the two QPR WINNER and some of the QPR GREAT wines will probably be here soon!

In Closing

Again, the theme of excellent 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:

2018 Pavillon Mougneau, Bordeaux (M) – Score: 85 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is a bit too green for me with notes of foliage, a bit tinny, with loam, smoke, and red fruit. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice enough, less tinny and green than others like it, with enough fruit, raspberry, dark cherry, screaming acid, gripping tannin, nice minerality, scraping graphite, and good spice. The finish is long, green, and earthy with more graphite, foliage, jalapenos, and dry mint. Drink until 2024. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2019 Les Chene de Margot, Bordeaux (M) – Score: 73 (QPR: N.A.)
This wine is not for me, green, tinny, cooked, and out there. Nice jalapenos! Move on. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2018 Le Chene de Margot/Château Bellerives Dubois, Blanc, Bordeaux (M) – Score: 87 (QPR: even)
The nose of this wine is simple but nice with yellow apple, pear, and quince. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine has nice acidity, a simple quaff with nice fruit, quince, pear, apple, and pith. The finish is long, with flint and more quince. Drink now. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12%)

2021 Rose Carat, Cotes de Provence – Score: 88.5 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is quite nice, bright, with cherry, strawberry, lime, citrus, blossom, and herb, nice! The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is tart, acidic, refreshing, a bit simple and rustic, still, and very well made, with pith, orange notes, strawberry, cherry, saline, and intense pomelo. Nice! The finish is long, tart, fruity, and pithy, with good almond paste, and flint, with the fruit and acidity bringing it all together, nice! Drink now! (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2021 Rose Carat Reserve, Cotes de Provence – Score: 89 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this rose is nice with good strawberry, pith, smoke, grapefruit, and blossom. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice, with good acidity, nice fruit focus, and more strawberry, flint, and pith. The finish is long, tart, and pithy, with saline, flint, and nice grapefruit. Drink now. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2019 Chateau de L’Anglais, Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
I am happy I got the chance to taste this wine again, a bit green, but balanced and well made. Nice! The nose of this wine is a bit green with notes of foliage, plum, raspberry, smoke, and herbs. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is balanced, acidic, and tannic, with good fruit, dark raspberry, plum, cassis, smoke, menthol, herbal notes, mint, lovely graphite, and nice loam. The finish is long, a bit green, smoky, and dirty, with scraping tannin and mineral lingering long under a bed of dark fruit and nice acidity. Nice!! Drink until 2026. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)

2020 Chateau Bois-Cardon, Medoc – Score: 89 (QPR: GREAT)
This wine starts very green but with the time that calms down. The nose of this wine is indeed a bit too green for me, at the start, but with time the dark fruit emerges, and the green fades to the background, with smoke, herbs, and nice menthol. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice enough, with good acidity, some nice green notes (after some time), blackberry, dark raspberry, plum, menthol, graphite, and nice tannin. The finish is long, green, herbal, and ripe, with black fruit, smoke, graphite, and roasted herbs. Drink until 2024. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2020 Chateau de Mole, Puisseguin Saint-Emilion – Score: 90 (QPR: GREAT)
This wine starts a bit green, but with the time that passes and the fruit emerges – the notes below are after a few hours of air. The nose of this wine shows lovely red fruit, nice smoke, sweet oak, loam, and rich anise. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine still has some green notes, but the body is nice, showing richness, scraping minerality, lovely acidity, and gripping tannin, with blackberry, plum, raspberry, smoke, loam, and dense earth. The finish is long, herbal, and grippy, with scraping tannin, scraping minerality, graphite, and nice menthol/anise lingering long. Nice! Drink by 2026. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2020 Pavillon du Vieux Chantre, Puisseguin Saint-Emilion – Score: 91.5 (QPR: WINNER)
This wine starts a bit green, but with the time that passes and the fruit emerges – the notes below are after a few hours of air. The nose of this wine is quite nice with floral notes of lavender, smoke, bell pepper, nice spices, rich mineral, anise, smoke, red and black fruit, and rich loam, very nice! The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice, with lovely acidity, plush mouthfeel, screaming tannin, good blackberry, red plum, tart cherry, loam, bell pepper, graphite, rich mineral, and menthol. The finish is long, herbal, and balanced, with scraping graphite, mineral, iron, and loam. Drink until 2028. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2020 Château Meilhan, Medoc – Score: 90 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is lovely, with rich loam, dark fruit, clay, sweet oak, mineral, and sweet spices.  The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice but lacks the punch, with ripe fruit, nice acidity,  blackberry, ripe plum, cherry, sweet oak, gripping tannin, and menthol/mint. The finish is long with ripe fruit, nice tannin, mineral, graphite, red and black fruit, and smoking tobacco. The graphite, loam, and tannin with sweet fruit linger long. Nice!!! Drink by 2025. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)