OK, let me start by saying Shana Tova to all and my apologies for being so late with these posts – but I will be getting all my posts up within the next 6 weeks, so get ready for a bunch of posts, God Willing. In the meantime, let’s get to the wines.

Nathan Grandjean and his partners have been producing wines for many years now, the first wines were the 2017 and 2018 Les Vins de Vienne. Since then he has added the fantastic wines from Vignobles Mayard, and now comes a slew of wines from the Languedoc and Chinon.

All of these wines can be found on Yavine.fr in Europe. Grandjean will/can ship to almost anywhere in Europe for you! For all of you USA readers, they are available but it will take some effort to find them. Israel is still in the works from what I hear.

Chateau La Baronne

Château La Baronne is a family-owned winery located in the Corbières Massif in the south of France. The estate was founded in 1890 by Louis Lignères and has been passed down through five generations of the family.

The vineyards are situated at an altitude of 100 to 200 meters on the Montagne d’Alaric, one of the highest points in the Corbières. The soils are a mix of limestone, clay, and sandstone, and the climate is Mediterranean with hot, dry summers and mild winters.

The Lignères family cultivates 35 hectares of vines, with the main grape varieties being Grenache, Syrah, Carignan, and Mourvèdre. The wines are made using traditional methods and are aged in oak barrels.

Château La Baronne is committed to sustainable viticulture and has been certified organic since 2007 and biodynamic since 2012. The estate is also a member of the Terra Vitis association, which promotes sustainable wine-growing practices.

The wines of Château La Baronne are known for their freshness, elegance, and minerality. They are made to be enjoyed young, but they can also age gracefully for many years.

The soils come from limestone, clay, and sandstone formations, mainly from the Tertiary and Quaternary periods. Fond of protecting nature, Jean and Anne are eager to make the most natural wines possible, using ancient winemaking methods (jar, cement, ceramic, eggs) as well as new ones.

There are 7 new wines made kosher and they are all GOOD to WINNER in QPR (Quality to Price Ratio).

Charles Joguet

Joguet was a visionary winemaker who was ahead of his time. He was one of the first to recognize the potential of individual plots in Chinon, and he was committed to making wines that were true to their terroir. He also pioneered the use of organic farming methods in the region.

Joguet’s wines quickly gained a reputation for their quality and finesse. He was awarded the prestigious “Winemaker of the Year” award by the magazine Wine Spectator in 1983. He died in 2008, but his legacy continues to live on through the Domaine Charles Joguet, which is now run by his daughter, Anne-Charlotte Genet.

Some of the most famous wines produced by Charles Joguet include:

• Clos du Chêne Vert: A single-vineyard wine made from Cabernet Franc, this wine is known for its elegance and complexity.
• Clos de la Dioterie: Another single-vineyard wine made from Cabernet Franc, this wine is more powerful and structured than the Clos du Chêne Vert.
• Les Charmes: A blend of Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc, this wine is fresh and fruity with hints of minerality.
• Les Petits Roches: A young, fruity wine made from Cabernet Franc, this wine is perfect for drinking on its own or with light fare.

There are 5 new wines made kosher are they are nice wines to try indeed.

Chateau Vieux Taillefer

Château Vieux Taillefer is a small family-owned winery located in the Saint-Émilion appellation of Bordeaux, France. The estate has a history dating back to the end of the 18th century, but it was acquired by the current owners, Catherine and Philippe Cohen, in 2006.

The 5-hectare estate is planted to 85% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. The vines are located on clay and limestone soils and are farmed organically. The wines are made using traditional methods and are aged in oak barrels.

Château Vieux Taillefer produces three wines:

Château Vieux Taillefer: The estate’s flagship wine, this is a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon. It is a full-bodied wine with flavors of red fruit, spice, and tobacco.

Pavillon de Taillefer: A second wine, this is made from younger vines and is less expensive than the Château Vieux Taillefer. It is a fruity and approachable wine that is perfect for everyday drinking.

Blanc du Château Vieux Taillefer: A white wine made from Merlot Blanc (yeah baby!!!), this wine is fresh and fruity with hints of citrus and white flowers. Sadly not kosher yet!

In regards to these wines, I found the Pavillon to strike a good balance while the Grand Vin was too ripe for my palate.

Tasting

This tasting happened over four days, I wanted these wines to have a chance to express themselves. Still, the wines did not show extreme changes in profile or taste, some of the overt green notes did calm with time, but overall the wines are the wines!

My thanks to Nathan Grandjean for sending me his wines for me to taste and for taking the time to answer my questions. The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:

Charles Joguet

2022 Charles Joguet Les Petites Roches, Blanc, Chinon – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
Upon opening this wine is closed, it has been recently released so give this wine some time to open in the glass. Once the wine has opened, the nose explodes with intense citrus, chamomille, kumquat, guava, lychee, green apple, hay, and sweet jasmine.
The mouth of this medium-bodied wine has nice acidity, the acidity is what hits you first, followed by a wave of peach, pear, green apple, guava, blood orange, lemon/lime, and then layers of chalk. The tension and acidity show later in the mouth than I normally expect.
The finish is long, very tart, ripe, and focused, with more chalk, flint, smoke, and a touch of roasted walnuts. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2021 Charles Joguet Les Charmes, Blanc, Chinon – Score: 92 (QPR: GREAT)
This is fun – the nose needs time to evolve and open, but when it does, the wine shows beautifully.
The nose of this wine, once it opens, is filled with roasted almonds, hazelnut, smoke, earth, flint, chalk, and dry hay, a true joy, with intense citrus, heather, lavender, and pineapple.
The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is intense, layered, expressive, and super focused, with a lovely tension, rich minerality, scraping slate, and dry hay, with intense pineapple, sweet oak, tart pomelo, mouth-drying lime acidity, and some tannin.
The finish is long, filled with tension, nice focus, and slate. hay, with minerality, lime, oak, and smoke lingering long. Drink by 2026. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2021 Charles Joguet Les Petites Roches, Rouge, Chinon – Score: 83 (QPR: POOR)
The nose of this wine shows floral notes, too many green notes, some raspberry, white pepper, spice, jalapeno, and loam.
The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is painful, I hate green thin wines, and while this has a bit more weight, thankfully, it is not green and tinny, but the green notes overpower the mouth and nose, and the rest, while nice, feels irrelevant, IMHO. Next! Drink by 2024. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12.5%)

2021 Charles Joguet Les Charmes, Rouge, Chinon – Score: 85 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose of this wine also shows too many green notes, again, it dominates the nose, while there are other nice notes, like lovely spices, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, roasted herbs, and deep loam.
The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is OK, it has great acidity, but again, it has too many green notes, with candied jalapeno, ripe bell pepper, nice enough tannin, with nice loa, but all that matters is the crazy green notes and the rest is lost.
The finish is long, spicy, green, and herbal, with menthol, bell pepper, and more Jalapeno. Drink by 2025. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12.5%)

2021 Charles Joguet Les Varennes du Grand Cru Clos, Chinon – Score: 91 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is the most balanced of the three, and while I would love it to have fewer green notes, they do not dominate the wine, with notes of jalapeno, lovely raspberry, smoke, spice, black and white pepper, nutmeg, loam, and floral notes.
The mouth of this medium-bodied-plus is spicy, with intense black pepper, nice tension, loam, earth, raspberry, dark cherry, nice green notes wrapped in mouth-coating tannin, rich saline, and floral notes. Nice!
The finish is long, smoky, dirty, earthy, spicy, and all fun! Drink from 2025 until 2030. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

Château La Baronne

2022 Château La Baronne Les Chemins, Blanc, Corbières – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is a blend of Grenache, Roussanne, and Vermentino. The nose of this wine starts with Vermentino notes, followed by Roussanne, and then Grenache, showing lovely dry peach, then lovely dry hay, loam, next you get rich violet and orange blossom, finally some garrigue and yellow flowers – quite lovely.
The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is lovely, precise, layered, and focused, with minerality at all points, with green apple, pear, lychee, white peach, smoke, slate, graphite, and rock, just a joy!
The finish is long, ripe, tart, and focused, with great tension, acidity, minerality, and a length on the finish that is impressive. Drink until 2025. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12.5%)

2022 Château La Baronne Roussanne de Las Vals, Vins de France – Score: 92.5 (QPR: WINNER)
This is a lovely Roussanne – classic with minerality, fruit, and slight reduction that blows off. Also, this is best enjoyed at 55 degrees or so, NOT fridge temp!
The nose of this wine is nice with dry straw, hay, smoke, heather, violet, lychee, Asian pear, piercing brightness, and rock.
The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is perfectly balanced, rich, and layered in the mouth, with impressive tension, lovely minerality, and great acidity, all coming together, with fruit focus, precision, smoke, Pear, apple, hay, and nice lemon/lime notes in the background.
The finish is long, tart, and balanced, covering the entire palate and then some, with minerality, acidity, hay, straw, graphite, and green notes in the background. Lovely! Drink until 2025. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2021 Château La Baronne Piece de Roche, Vin de France – Score: 93.5 (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is a Carignan from the Languedoc, but the “official” region from where it comes is the global Vin de France. It is like saying a Napa wine comes from California. But leave it to the stupidity of AOC rules. Whatever!
This wine is not to be opened, tried, or enjoyed for 5 years. If you do, it comes with an alarm that will ring in Nathan Grandjean’s office, and he will never sell you these wines again. This wine is so young, so closed, and so not ready for prime time, it is stupid, at the same time, this wine is ripe, the 14% ABV on this bottle feels, to me, more like a 15% ABV that I feel in Cali, Still, the acidity, minerality (less graphite more tar/earth/asphalt), and precision makes it work. Still, this wine needs time, and no amount of decanting this wine will help, at this time.
So, after opening this wine for a day, these are my notes: The nose of this wine, at this point, after a day of air, shows ripe notes of blackcurrant, boysenberry, roasted animal, asphalt, tar, rock, green notes, roasted herb, garrigue, and loads of smoke.
The mouth of this full-bodied wine is dense, extracted, rich, and layered, showing incredible tension, mouthfeel, almost plush, with bracing acidity, mouth-scraping minerality, tar, asphalt, and dense rock layers, that give way to blackberry, dark plum, dark cherry, boysenberry, and green notes/graphite that balances this unique wine together beautifully.
The finish is dry, tart, precise, and focused, with a sense of tension and minerality that I have not seen before. This is a very unique wine to put for 5 years, see it evolve for the next 8 years after that. Bravo! Drink from 2028 until 2033. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)

2021 Château La Baronne Les Chemins, Rouge, Corbières – Score: 91.5 (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is a blend of 50% Carignan, 40% Syrah, & 10% Grenache. The nose of this wine is the REAL WINNER, I know most could care less, and in some ways I agree, but man is this pretty, lovely minerality, bright red cherry fruit, smoke, earth, dirt, roasted animal, and a dense minerality, fun!
The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is nice, but it has a clear direction of flowers that turns me off when it becomes front and canter like this does, still, the dark cherry, roasted herb, scraping minerality, slightly sweet oak notes, and lovely focus of fruit, herbs, minerality, drying tannins, and loam turns the floral notes away.
The finish is long, green, herbal, smoky, and dirty, with roasted coffee, roasted meat, oak, and lovely charcoal, really fun! Nice! Drink until 2026. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2021 Château La Baronne Mourvedre de Las Vals, Vin de France – Score: 91 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is ripe. nice enough, with blue and red fruit, juicy cherry, and some floral notes, backed by a body of fruit and loam.
The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is OK, it has enough acidity, with a bit too much green, not enough body to excite me without enough fruit, with a single-minded focus of juicy cherry and raspberry, nice enough. With time, the wine opens nicely and shows like a true Mourvedre, with nice floral notes, dark cherry, raspberry, mouth-coating tannin, sweet juicy fruit, and a plush mouthfeel, with sweet oak and sweet dill. The finish is green, herbal, and tart.
The finish evolves with time to sweet red berries, smoke, chocolate-covered coffee, and drying tannin, with minerality. Drink by 2026, (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2021 Château La Baronne Les Lanes, Corbières – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
This is a nice, simple, yet grippy wine from the Languedoc that I think most people will enjoy both in quality and price – a clear WINNER! The nose of this wine is where it falls back, while the mouth is lovely. The nose shows notes of rich floral notes, rose, violet, and too many flowers, with some nice ripe red and blue fruit, roasted herbs, green notes, loan, and roasted herbs.
The mouth of this medium-bodied wine shows far better, still ripe, riper than I like for such a lithe body, the acidity helps, with nice tannin, smoke, green notes, roasted herbs, lovely minerality, and good loam. The finish is again dry, with saline, chalk, and tar. Nice Enough to make it under the wire. Drink until 2025. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2021 Château La Baronne Alaric, Corbières – Score: 91 (QPR: GREAT)
This wine is a blend of 50% Syrah, 35% Carignan, & 15% Grenache. Again, this wine shows riper than I would like the nose is ripe with blue, red, and black fruit, smoke, too many green notes, astringency I dislike, and nice smoke.
The mouth of this medium-bodied wine throws acidity at you first, feels less balanced in the middle, and then comes around with more ripe boysenberry, black plum, juicy strawberry, raspberry, and hints of cherry, with loam, graphite, and smoke. With time the wine calms and shows better, with less astringency, and more balance.
The finish may be the best part, dry, smoky, earthy, and showing more minerality. Drink by 2025. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

Les Vins de Vienne

2019 Les Vins de Vienne Syrah, Collines Rhodaniennes – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
While this wine feels like a pop-and-go wine, it needs a few hours to come into its own, for the intense acidity to calm, and be enjoyed. After a few hours, the nose of this wine is nice, and uncomplicated, with spice, roasted herbs, red and blue fruit, and some minerality.
The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is balanced with lovely acidity, nice blueberry, dark cherry, raspberry, savory, roasted mint, oregano, tannin, and nice smoked meat.
The finish is long, tart, nice acidity, and smokey. Nice, the acidity calms, and the fruit, savory notes, and spices come out to play. Drink until 2025. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

Vignobles Mayard

2020 Vignobles Mayard La Crau de Ma Mere, Chateauneuf-du-Pape – Score: 92.5 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is ripe, deep, black, and blue, with red fruit, sweet oak, sweet dill, perfumed, rich milk chocolate, sweet cloves, roasted meat, and anise.
The mouth on this full-bodied it is richly layered, concentrated, and dense, with good acidity, rich extraction, good fruit, and properly balanced, oak and milk chocolate currently dominate the front of the mouth, showing blackberry, juicy boysenberry, clay, mineral, mouth-draping, and drying tannin, plush and deeply fruit focused, iron, loam, mushroom, good smoke, anise, roasted meat, and lovely tar.
The finish is long, ripe, and complex, with leather, sweet spices, nutmeg, cloves, loam, mushroom, charcoal/graphite, milk chocolate, and ripe blue fruit. Drink from 2026 until 2032. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 15%)

Chateau Vieux Taillefer

2020 Chateau Vieux Taillefer Pavillon de Taillefer, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is green, with a side of oak and smoke, nice but I was hoping for more. After a day it opens to a rich, layered, and extracted black and red wine, very nice! Needs time – lots of time!
The nose of this wine shows green notes, herbs, smoke, jalapeno, ripe red and black fruit, and nice loam. With time, the nose changes totally, to show a beautiful expression of Saint-Emilion, with dark raspberry, dark cherry, black fruit, smoke, earth, loam, and brightness, with minerality, and precision.
The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is ripe, showing less balance than I hoped for, with blackberry, dark plum, aggressive chunky and mouth-drying tannin, graphite, loam, and nice smoke. With time, the mouth opens beautifully, to show its inner beauty, with notes of ripe blackberry, spiced plum liqueur, dark cherry, herbal notes, layers upon layers of sweet elegant tannin, intense minerality, graphite, scraping pencil shavings, hints of green garrigue, and lovely smoke, with roasted herbs. A complex, elegant expression that lingers long with extraction, minerality, and a rich focused body. The body is nice but a bit pushed for my tastes.
The finish is long, ripe, tart, and elegant, with leather, sweet tobacco, milk chocolate, and scraping graphite/pencil shavings lingering long with intense tannin and a lovely fruit body. Drink from 2026 until 2033. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2020 Chateau Vieux Taillefer, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru – Score: 90 (QPR: POOR)
I wanted to love a Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, sadly this wine is 100% Merlot and I find it too ripe for my tastes. I opened it for a day and it stays where it started, ripe, without enough acidity, though it shows nice minerality and texture. The nose of this wine is ripe, a bit round, and not as bright as I expect, with dense red and black fruit, hints of blue fruit, smoke, loam, graphite, tar, garrigue, and green notes. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is ripe, what shocks me is that while there is acidity, there is not enough for this much fruit, again, the 100% Merlot, does not work, here anyway, with green notes, loam, graphite, garrigue, menthol, blackberry, dark raspberry, hints of blueberry, nice tannin and a bit of tension but it would need a lot more acidity to impress. The finish is long, ripe, round, and green with nice graphite, dark chocolate, and sweet oak. Drink from 2025 until 2029. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5%)