OK, so this week was the craziest one I have had both professionally and communally in a very long time, but I refuse to not post every week and hopefully more until I catch up.

So, enough about me, and Gemar Chatima Tova to you all. May you all be blessed with a year/life filled with all the good you can carry and then more, health, happiness, success, and many good wines to share with friends and family!

So, now back to wine, this post is about Elvi Wines, I have written many times about Elvi Wines, and the first post I wrote about Moises and Elvi Wines is this. Truthfully, nothing has changed about that post, in regards to Elvi Wines, other than the labels and a few wines being dropped to streamline the marketing of the wines. My next main post on Elvi Wines was when I visited the winery with my wife. The longest post, wine-wise was when I flew over for two days and we did a crazy number of verticals with Moises and Anna!
Before, in between, and after, I have been consistently posting their wines in my QPR posts, wines of the year, and so on. Why? Because they make exceptional wines at reasonable prices and they make a great selection of them under many labels. The labels have evolved, and some wines dropped, but overall, since I met Moises one day in San Francisco, tasting through the wines, I heard the story, the dream, and we have all been blessed to watch the trajectory of the winery. It continues to evolve, creating wonderful wines for a reasonable price while proving that Cabernet Sauvignon is not the only red wine that you can sell to the kosher wine buyer.

It is still harder to sell wines as diverse and different as Elvi does. There is no Cabernet, and there is no Merlot, they find their way into the EL26 blend, but overall, Elvi is an expression of Spain – not an expression of the kosher wine palate. Elvi typifies Spain to the kosher buyer more than any other option and it has continued to excel in doing it. Sadly, we have seen Capcanes, which is a 5-minute drive from Clos Mesorah, take a large step backward. They too showed the potential of Spain, as a new-world wine in old-world clothing. Sadly, they have drunk from the same fountain of fruit, that so many Israeli wineries have, and they have lost their way. Thankfully, Elvi Wines, Clos Mesorah, and Vina Encina continue to not only execute great wines they also are improving and growing with new vineyards and winery plans.

Many of these wines were sent to me by Moises in May and I tasted them in my Paris Hotel room, an absurdity I am want to do! That happens when your friends bail on you! Yeah, you know who you are!! LOL!

The wine that made me wake up, from my jetlag, and take notice was the 2017 and 2018 Elvi Wines Herenza, Reserva, Rioja. A pair of lovely wines. The 2018 outshined the older brother. We have had great Reserva wines from Elvi, but this one, the 2018, is at a different level, BRAVO!! We had it again, at the KFWE London and there I marveled at it again. Just a crazy good wine!

There are another SIX QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) WINNER wines out of 11. Bravo Moises and Anna, you guys keep raising the bar. Achieving what few can do and blessing us with wines to truly enjoy, wines that are refreshing, captivating, and enjoyed by all! There is FIVE Mevushal wine hiding in here, yes Mevushal! I know! Overall Moises does Mevushal well so that is not a big issue here. Still, thankfully, Moises is not boiling Clos Mesorah or Reserva!

In the end, a wonderful showing, and my many thanks to Moises and family for sending me the wines. They were the true WINNER of the May hotel room tasting. There were a few others, but as you will see in my next post, the good ones were thin pickings! 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 Elvi Wines Herenza, Reserva, Rioja – Score: 94.5 (QPR: WINNER)
I crave this in wine – balance, complexity, elegance, and all bottled for a price that makes it a WINNER! The nose of this wine is beautiful, balanced, and complex, showing a drop hotter than in 2017, but still bold, rich, and expressive, with soy sauce, umami, rich mushroom, loam, spices, blue and red fruit, and sweet star anise, lovely!
The mouth on this medium-plus-bodied wine is lovely, balanced, juicy, elegant, herbal, smoky, and dirty, with intense acidity, juicy and ripe boysenberry, plum, spiced raspberry, and sweet spices that give way to a mouth-draping tannin structure, plush, nicely extracted, elegant, with soy sauce, sweet nutmeg, and cinnamon, beautiful. The finish is long, and balanced, with leather, root beer, sweet baking spices, cloves, cinnamon, sweet cedar, milk chocolate, soy sauce, and lovely acidity that brings this wine all together. Bravo!! Another smash! Drink from 2025 until 2032. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5.%)

2017 Elvi Wines Herenza, Reserva, Rioja – Score: 93.5 (QPR: WINNER)
This is what I crave in wine – balance, complexity, elegance, and all bottled for a price that makes it a WINNER! This is showing a bit better than when I had it in late 2021!
The nose of this wine is beautiful, balanced, complex, and shows less oak than in 2016, but still bold, rich, and expressive, with soy sauce, umami, rich mushroom, loam, spices, blue and red fruit, and sweet anise, lovely!
The mouth on this medium-plus-bodied wine is lovely, balanced, juicy, elegant, herbal, smoky, and dirty, with intense acidity, juicy and ripe blueberry, plum, spiced raspberry, and sweet spices that give way to a mouth-draping tannin structure, plush, not overly extracted, elegant, with clay, and earth, beautiful.
The finish is long, and balanced, with leather, root beer, sweet baking spices, cloves, cinnamon, sweet cedar, dark chocolate, soy sauce, and lovely acidity that brings this wine together. Bravo!! Another smash! Drink from 2024 until 2030. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)

2020 Elvi Wines Clos Mesorah, Montsant – Score: 93 (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is ripe to start, with black and blue fruit, smoke, savory notes, herbal, soy sauce, milk chocolate, sweet oak, and intense sweet baking spices.
The mouth of this full-bodied wine is ripe, well-balanced, smoky, earthy, and savory, with milk chocolate, sweet oak, and elegance, layers of deeply riveted mineral, blackberry, dark plum, boysenberry, intense spices, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and sweet plum liqueur.
The finish is long, spicy, tart, ripe, balanced, and smoky, with sweet vanilla, sweet tobacco, great acidity, minerality, and a fruit focus that brings this all together – lovely! Drink from 2026 until 2033. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 15.5%)

2019 Elvi Wines Herenza, Crianza, Rioja – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
This is another smash hit from Elvi with a lovely balanced, ripe, earthy Rioja! The nose of this wine is ripe, with smoky, toasty cherry, candied plum, earth, licorice, vanilla, sweet oak, loam, and soft dust.
The mouth of this full-bodied wine is ripe, layered, smoky, and toasty, with sweet oak, vanilla, sweet dill, roasted herb, sweet cherry, plum, earth, and nice minerality, that all comes together with balance, acidity, and nicely refreshing.
The finish is long, tart, smoky, and toasty, with sweet tobacco, dark/milk chocolate, and nice coffee beans. Drink until 2028. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)

2021 Elvi Wines Herenza Rioja, Rioja – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is balanced, ripe, savory, and juicy, with blue and red fruit, rich smoke, herbal, and nice yellow flowers. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice, balanced, simple, and herbal, with boysenberry, juicy strawberry, raspberry, nice toast, green notes, roasted mint, oregano, soft tannins, and some minerality. The finish is long, herbal, and juicy, with more blue and red fruit, loam, and smoke. Drink by 2025. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)

N.V. ElviWines Cava, Brut, Cava – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is balanced with nice acidity, bright lemon, green apple, peach, yellow flowers, slate, and nice smoke. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice, and balanced, with good weight, intense acidity, nice yellow and green apple, lovely mousse, peach, pear, lemon, pomelo, and bright citrus. The finish is long, and fruity, with nice minerality. intense acidity, Nice! Drink by 2025. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12%)

2022 Elvi Wines Vina Encina Blanco, La Mancha (M) – Score: 90.5 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine screams like New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, cat pee, gooseberry, passion fruit, rich salinity, and nice smoke. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is lovely, tart, and juicy, with ripe gooseberry, passion fruit, grapefruit, and lime, with lovely acidity, and precision. The finish is long, green fruity, and tart with nice slate and mineral. Drink now. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12.5%)

2019 Elvi Wines Herenza Crianza, Collection, Rioja (M) – Score: 90 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is hot, to start, ripe, with notes of sweet spices, cloves, tar, blue and black fruit, earth, and rich smoke. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is ripe, and layered, with blueberry, black plum, smoke, earth, and mineral, juicier than the 2019 Crianza, but also more evolved, showing less of the minerality and earth than the normal 2019 Crianza, with nice soft tannins, sweet dill, sweet oak, great acidity, and refreshing. The finish is long, tart, and juicy, with raspberry, blueberry, dark cherry, roasted herb, sweet vanilla, and smoke. Drink until 2025. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2022 Elvi Wines Vina Encina Rosado, La Mancha (M) – Score: 86 (QPR: EVEN)
A nice simple rose, not too bitter, fruity with good acidity, strawberry, peach, and pomelo. Drink now. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5%)

2022 Elvi Wines Vina Encina Tinto, La Mancha (M) – Score: 84 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose of this wine is simple enough, with candied cherry, red fruit, herbs, and some smoke. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice enough, not too overly ripe, it shows some liqueur notes, with candied plum, dark cherry, searing acid, chunky tannin, loam, and smoke. The finish is nice, with good acidity, smoke, some green notes, and roasted herbs. Drink now. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2021 Elvi Wines Vina Encina, Tinto, La Mancha (M) – Score: 83 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose of this wine is ripe and feels stewed with notes of stewed plum, tart raspberry, green notes, and liqueur notes in the background. The nose feels all over the place. The mouth of this wine, while okay, does not help, with dark and ripe plum, candied raspberry, tart cherry, and ripe fruit. The tannin and acidity are okay, but again, the wine feels disjointed. The finish is long, tart, and ripe, with hints of green, smoke, and loam. Drink now. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)