This past November 2022, I was back in Paris for a week, and like last year, I was joined by Avi Davidowitz, from the Kosher Wine Unfiltered blog. The first organized wine tasting that we went to during our trip to Paris was with Bokobsa.

I must start by thanking Clarisse and Lionel Bokobsa of Sieva/Bokobsa Wines. They were so kind to host us and let us taste the lovely wines. We were also joined by Mr. Benjamin Kukurudz, sales manager at Sieva, the Mashgiach, Mendy Asseraf, and another salesperson Patricia Uzzan.

So, like our trip last year, in November 2021, we had tastings with wine producers and we also tasted wines in our hotel. Clarisse was so friendly to set up the tasting on a lovely November afternoon that we made our way to the Sieva offices, just outside of Paris.

Earlier this year, I enjoyed some lovely wines at the offices, and that was at the tail-end of the COVID madness. Thankfully, by the November timeframe, things in Paris and the USA were calmer and easier to move around. In June of this year, Bokobsa again held their wine-tasting event, which looked lovely from my Facebook feed. There was no way I was going to be able to make it then, so Clarisse and family were so nice to host me back then. My return, a few months later with Avi, was therefore doubly kind on their part, and wow were there some really lovely wines to taste that were not yet available in May.

The pricing of these wines is mostly cheaper in France than they are here in the USA, as such, some of the wines have better QPR scores in France. Also, many of these wines will not come to the USA, but overall I continue to be impressed by the quality of the wines and how Bokobsa’s selection and quality have grown from year to year.

In regards to the wines tasted, there were two sparkling wines, a Vouvray and the Champagne Demoiselle Vranken. The Vouvray continues to be fun, it is a funky sparkling wine made in a Champenoise manner and quite enjoyable. The Vranken is starting to feel a bit old, so drink up!

The true stars of the tasting were the lovely and new 2021 Anthony Girard Sancerre, L’indiscrete, Sancerre, and the “old” (already blogged about) 2017 Pascal Bouchard Chablis Premier Cru, Chablis Premier Cru. Both of them are incredible wines and crazy QPR WINNERs, sadly, at this moment neither of them is imported into the USA. The 2017 Pascal Bouchard Chablis Premier Cru was on sale for 18 euros a bottle!! In Paris shops! Like, come on!!!! Anyway, all of you in Paris and such, enjoy!!!!

The 2020 Chateau Bellegrave, Saint-Emilion, was another WINNER and was showing quite nicely. The 2021 Jean-Pierre Bailly Pouilly-Fume is lovely once more, maybe a bit riper than I like, but still a solid wine!

2020 Vintage versus 2021 Vintage in Bordeaux

So far, the sample size of 2021 wines from Bordeaux includes very few big names because they are still in the barrels. Or should be! So, the sample size of 2021 wines from Bordeaux is all simpler and of lower starting quality. Still, what is apparent, from this sample size, is that 2021 will be a very hard year. The 2020 vintage, by contrast, is hit and miss, and so far, while the hits have been solid, there are no home runs, and we have tasted most of the wines we expect to rave about from the 2020 vintage. There will be one 95-scoring wine, ONE, from all the wines we tasted on this trip. I expect even fewer exceptional wines from the 2021 vintage and I personally, will be buying far fewer of the 2020 or 2021 wines. Finally, the wine notes from the 2020 vintage should be witness to the fact that while the 2020 wines are OK to good, they are far more accessible than previous vintages. The glaring exception to that will be highlighted in a subsequent post.

Thanks

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:

2021 Jean-Pierre Bailly Pouilly-Fume, Pouilly Fume – Score: 91.5 (QPR: GREAT)
This vintage is slightly more tropical than previous vintages but perfectly balanced and lovely! The nose of this wine is lovely with notes of gooseberry, sweet passion fruit, lovely citrus, rich smoke, flint, saline, and lovely sweet pear. The mouth of this lovely wine is ripe, layered, and concentrated, with lovely complexity, lovely flint, rich salinity, ripe and juicy gooseberry, tart pear, sweet yellow plum, and screaming grapefruit, just lovely! The acidity, saline, and fruit hit you hard, lovely! The finish is long, tart, fruity, and perfectly balanced with great minerality and saline, wow! Bravo! Drink by 2026. (tasted November 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12.5%)

2021 Anthony Girard Sancerre, L’indiscrete, Sancerre – Score: 92.5 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is intensely flinty, with matchstick notes, stone fruit, mango, lovely floral notes, and honeyed notes. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is lovely and ripe, but well-balanced, with incredible minerality, and a bit of saline, but here the flint is incredible, richly focused, with intense acidity, and minerality, the mouthfeel is rich and oily, stunning, with yellow plum, pear, peach, and tart apple, lovely!! The finish is long, tart, and ripe, but the flint draws your attention, with intense minerality and nice fruit balance, Bravo!!! Drink until 2025. (tasted November 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2017 Pascal Bouchard Chablis Premier Cru, Chablis Premier Cru – Score: 92.5 (QPR: WINNER (in France))
The nose of this nose was closed on release but now the wine is absolutely beautiful, the way it should be, with intense minerality, flint, lovely control, elegant, green apple, pear, and Asian Pear. The mouth on this wine is lovely, with beautiful acidity, lovely weight, and mouthfeel, with intense minerality, lovely saline galore, slate, lovely pear, apple, hints of gooseberry, lovely searing acid with fun tart fruit. The finish is long and green and mineral-laden with saline and slate and crazy tart and elegant fruit, backed by rich fruit and a lovely oily and dense mouthfeel. Drink until 2025. (tasted November 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12.5%)

N.V. Charles Lafitte Grand Cuvee, Brut, Champagne – Score: 90 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is nice with good brioche, apple, creme Fraiche, green apple, and lovely smoke. The mouth of this wine is lovely but a bit unidimensional with good fruit, lovely acidity, lovely small bubble mousse, and a nice focus with apple, pear, and brioche. The finish is long, toasty, and shows great minerality, very nice! Drink up! (tasted November 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12.5%)

N.V. Selection Bokobsa Vouvray, Brut, Vouvray – Score: 90 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose on this wine is fun, funky, and smoky, with hay, straw, apple, and smoke. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is quite nice, with nice medium-sized mousse, not too aggressive, with lovely citrus, acidity, hay, straw, smoke, and green apple, with pear, and lemon, quite nice and refreshing! The finish is long, tart, acidic, and funky, with minerality and smoke, while the acidity and minerality linger long. Drink now! Nice! (tasted May 2022 & November 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12.5%)

2021 Domaine Caseneuve Rose, Cotes de Provence – Score: 88 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is simple, with nice rhubarb, cherry, and rosehip. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice but it shows a bit too much pith and a bit too little acidity. Still, it is a nice rose, with good focus, and enough fruit to make it enjoyable. Drink now! (tasted November 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2021 Etienne Baily Brouilly, Brouilly (M) – Score: 89
The nose of this wine is better than many of the other Gamy wines I have tasted with nice fruit, rhubarb, plum, mineral, loam, and plum. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine has good acidity, nice plum, cherry, mineral, and a nice mouthfeel with good light tannin. The finish is long, tart, and fruity, with nice acidity and tannin, drink up! (tasted November 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2020 Chateau Bellegrave, Saint-Emilion – Score: 91.5 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is lovely, rich, ripe, balanced, dense, and powerful, lovely, with minerality, forest floor, dark red and black fruit, lovely dirt, tar, asphalt, and loam. The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is lovely, ripe, dense, layered, and rich, but well-controlled, with ripe blackberry, more tar, ripe dark raspberry, charcoal, lovely licorice, loam, dirt, mint, basil, and scarping minerality. The finish is long, dense, mineral-driven, and richly enjoyable, with dark chocolate, charcoal, and rich smoke. Bravo! Drink from 2024 until 2028. (tasted November 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5%)

2021 Chateau Hauteville, Saint-Estephe – Score: 89 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine shows the concerns I have overall with the 2021 vintage, with nice minerality, good spice, and a bit too many green notes, with herbs, dirt, earth, mint, menthol, and toast. The mouth of light to medium-bodied wine is nice with good acidity, and a nice mouthfeel, but lacking a bit for me, with nice roasted herbs, dark cherry, raspberry, tart red berry, nice toasted oak, and rich minerality. The finish is long, tart, fruity, herbal, and smoky, with green notes, and scraping minerality. Nice! Drink until 2025. (tasted November 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)