Like last year, I wanted to make this post short and sweet – so the criteria are simple. I could care less about price, color, or where it was made. All that matters is that it is/was available this year sometime to the public at large that I tasted it in a reliable environment, not just at a tasting, and that it scored a 93+ or higher.

We are returning with the “Wine of the Year”, “Best Wine of the Year” “Winery of the Year”, and “Best White Wine of the Year”, along with a last year’s new addition the – “Best Mevushal Wine of the Year”. Wine of the Year goes to a wine that distinguished itself in ways that are beyond the normal. It needs to be a wine that is easily available, incredible in style and flavor, and it needs to be reasonable in price. It may be the QPR wine of the year or sometimes it will be a wine that so distinguished itself for other reasons. The wines of the year are a type of wine that is severely unappreciated, though ones that have had a crazy renaissance, over the past two years. The Best Wine of the Year goes to a wine well worthy of the title.

The Mevushal wine of the year is something I dread. I understand the need for a wine that can be enjoyed at restaurants and events, but when we start seeing Château Gazin Rocquencourt and Chevalier de Lascombes go Mevushal – we know we have a problem. As I have stated in the past, if this is what needs to happen, then please sell both options as many do with Peraj Petita/Capcanes, Psagot wines, and many others. Still, it is a wine and as such, it needs a best-of-the-year moniker, so we do it once again!

This past year, I tasted more wines than I have ever, in the past. Now to be clear here, I did not taste many Israeli wines as they have proven to me over and over again, even with the much-ballyhooed 2018 vintage that they are not worth my spending my money on. Still, I did taste a large number of Israeli wines both in my home and at KFWE events. I spent a fair amount of time tasting all the French and European wines I could get my hands on and I feel that is where I added the most value, IMHO. For those who like the Israeli wine style – other writers/bloggers can point you in some direction. This past year, was a return to below-average because of the massive failure in Bordeaux and all over Europe in the 2021 vintage.

We were spoiled with the 2019 wines from Bordeaux and all over Europe, even the 2020 vintage had OK options. This year, there are FOUR wines from Royal Wine’s portfolio (really three) they are the 2017 and 2018 Elvi Herenza, Reserva, the 2021 Domaine Raymond Usseglio & Fils Chateauneuf du Pape, and the 2021 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley. Overall, 2021 from California is what I am buying from the 2021 vintage, worldwide, outside of a few wines, for vertical interests, and the CDP.

The vast majority of wines on this list are from M&M Importers and a couple from Andrew Breskin’s Liquid Kosher portfolio. This is a FIRST for me and these lists and I am truly happy to see Italy and other regions rising to the top of the lists. There are a couple of Four Gates wines as well.

There are also interesting wines below the wines of the year, think of them as runner-up wines of the year. There will be no rose wines on the list this year, none were close to this star-studded group. This year we had a crazy large number of WINNER wines, 152 in total, but the top-shelf wines were smaller with fewer.

Now, separately, I love red wines, but white wines – done correctly, are a whole other story! Sadly, in regards to whites, we still had no new wines from Germany, still. Thankfully, we have some awesome entries, from the incredible 2021 Gustave Lorentz Riesling, Grand Cru, 2020 Domaine de Chevalier, Blanc, 2020 Domaine de Montille Puligny Montrachet 1er Cru Les Chalumeaux, 2021 Chateau Olivier Blanc, Grand Cru Classe, and the 2021 Domaine Vacheron Sancerre, Grand Champs. This will be the largest number of white wines in the top wine list for any given year – I hope we have NOT hit peak White Wine! We need more options. Thankfully, there are also many good lower-priced white wine options as well in the kosher market a large shift is underway!

The wines on the list this year are all available here in the USA, and in Europe, and a few can be found in Israel, as well. The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:

The 2023 Kosher Winery of the Year

This award continues to get harder and harder each year. The sad cold, hard truth is that there are too few great kosher wineries. When I started this award, some 4 years ago I thought it would only get easier. Sadly, there are a few truths that limit my ability to give out this award.

First, as much as we have been blessed with great Kosher European wines, in the past 6 years, most of those blessings come under the auspices of single-run kosher wines. Chateau Leoville Poyferre, Château Smith Haut Lafitte, you name it, are all based upon kosher runs. What we have in Europe, kosher-winery-wise, is Terra di Seta, Cantina Giuliano, and Elvi Wines (including Clos Mesorah). Along with this year’s winner, Domaine Roses Camille. Officially, Domaine Roses Camille only became 100% kosher in 2020, but for all intent and purpose, they have been producing the vast majority of their wines in kosher, since 2011.

The requirements to receive this award are simple, the winery must be kosher, not a kosher-run, the quality must be consistent, and the wines must be readily available. The last requirement is the main reason why Four Gates Winery has yet to win the award, but at this point, it is only a matter of time, as kosher wine availability is becoming less of an issue overall, given the sheer number of cult-like kosher wineries that exist today.

This year the award goes to Covenant Winery. I have been pounding the table about the good wines coming out of there over the past two years. Yes, there are a couple of wines I do not love, but given the vast swath of wines they make, the vast majority scored a 91 or higher.

I could talk for a long time about the Morgan family, Jeff, Jodie, Zoe, and the rest of the Covenant Winery gang. I was shocked by the fact that only one wine was on this year’s list, but then again, this year’s list has the densest 94-and-up score we have had in a long time! Covenant, like Elvi Wines, does a great job of hitting the middle of the price range very well. Sure they have the Napa Valley Cabernets that are above many price ranges, but the majority of the scores I have are under 100 dollars.

Jeff and Jonathan started Covenant in the Herzog winery for a few years and then moved to Napa Valley. Their long-term partner, Leslie Rudd, passed away 6 years ago (wow how time flies), but until that time they got fruit from the Rudd Vineyards in Napa Valley. The Chardonnay was also from Napa and the surrounding areas.

Then they added in the Red C, then the Landsman line of wines, along with the Wine Club, and come on, who does not want to be a Big Macher! The Tribe line and the Mensch lines are their lower-priced wines with the Tribe being the Mevushal wines. This year they added a Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon that is quite nice and a solid option for dinners that require Mevushal.

The wines were always wonderful for a very long time and then I just lost touch with the work and while I loved the wines, I was falling in love with Europe. The work I did there, delving into the deep of what is Europe and old-world wine took me away from California for a bit.

In late 2022, I had a large tasting with Jeff and Jonathan and I was blown away by the quality and the breadth of the portfolio. The new Solomon white, made from Sauvignon Blanc, in 2020, 2021, and 2022 are beautiful expressions of that grape from California! Throw in the new Syrah from Bien Nacido Vineyard, Santa Maria Valley, and the Lnadsman Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc and you really can see what excites me so.

I know I skipped around memory lane there, but if you really want to get a good idea of Covenant Wines read my post on the Covenant Vertical tasting we did in Canada, some 9 years ago! Again, how time flies!

Like all wineries that I highlight, there will be wines I do not love but when there are so many wines I do love and buy it makes it easy to choose Covenant Winery as the Winery of the Year for 2023. Bravo to the gang in Berkeley, keep growing, from level to level!

The 2023 Kosher Kine of the Year – times two again!

Again, the Wine of the Year goes to a wine that distinguished itself in ways that are beyond the normal. It needs to be a wine that is easily available, incredible in style and flavor, and it needs to be reasonable in price. It may be the QPR wine of the year or sometimes it will be a wine that so distinguished itself for other reasons. The wines of the year are a type of wine that is severely unappreciated, though ones that have had a crazy renaissance, over the past two years. This year has seen a MASSIVE influx of QPR-winning white wines but the number of QPR-winning red wines is lower for the first time EVER, in my memory! As stated above we have had a huge influx of quality white wines that anyone can enjoy! Some are ripe, some are tart, some are a bit rounder, more fruit-forward, and the list goes on! I was sure that this year the Wine of the Year would be a white one but I could not find it for the reasons listed below.

This was extremely hard to choose this year. As stated far too many times already, 2020 and 2021 wines are not wines that excite me! As in the past, wines like the 2016 Domaine Roses Camille and the 2017 Domaine Roses Camille were nice, but their prices pushed them out of contention. The same for lovely wines like the 2019 Marciano Marciano Estate, and 2021 Covenant Cabernet Sauvigno, Lot 70, all are lovely but the price pushes them out as well. The same could be said for the 2020 Domaine de Chevalier, the 2021 Chateau Olivier, or the 2021 Gustave Lorentz Riesling, Grand Cru.

Others like the 2020 Chateau La Tour de By Cuvee Heritage, 2021 Domaine Raymond Usseglio & Fils Chateauneuf du Pape, and others are lovely and hit the price point, but they miss the score by a bit. That could be said for the 2021 or 2022 ESSA Altira, the 2021 Pescaja Solei’ Arneis, the 2022 Covenant Solomon Blanc, or the 2022 Covenant Chardonnay.

In the end, I am going with two wines that are readily available here in the USA and France, it is a repeat win for Elvi Wines, the 2017 and 2018 Elvi Herenza Rioja, Reserva.

For those in France, the Elvi Herenza is a wonderful option along with the 2021 Chateau Olivier, Blanc. This wine is not yet here in the USA and when it does come here it will be outside of the price range for this award.

Well, there you go, the two Wines of the Year for 2023 are the 2018 Elvi Herenza Rioja, Reserva, and the 2021 Chateau Olivier, Blanc.

2018 Elvi Wines Herenza Rioja, Reserva, Rioja – Score: 94+ (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 Rioja, Reserva, Rioja – Score: 93+ (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%)

2021 Chateau Olivier Blanc, Grand Cru Classe, Pessac-Leognan – Score: 94 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is stunning, captivating, redolent, and elegant, with rich fruit, grapefruit, minerality, saline, dry grass, gooseberry, and passion fruit, a beautiful wine that hits the mark! BRAVO! The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is stunning, layered, complex, plush, and concentrated with rich acidity, minerality, slate, flint, and saline wrapping the gooseberry, grapefruit, peach, orange peel, and passion fruit, showing an impressive complexity. The finish is long, mineral-driven, dense, weighty, and plush, with rich salinity, flint, wet rock, and slate, and extremely refreshing and mouthwatering. BRAVO!!! Drink by 2027. (tasted November 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

The 2023 Best Kosher Wine of the Year!

The highest-scoring wine this blog year was the 2019 Four Gates Frere Robaire but given the access to that wine, I cannot give it the award. It is still the highest score I gave out this year and as such it will be the first one below. However, the wine needs to be a bit more accessible to be given this award.

So, the four wines that scored a 95 this past year were the 2020 Domaine de Montille Pommard 1er Cru, Les Grands Epenots, 2019 Castellare I Sodi S. Niccolo, 2020 Domaine de Chevalier Rouge, and the 2020 Chateau Valandraud.

There are lots of good candidates here and all of them are available here in the USA while not so available elsewhere, other than the 2020 Domaine de Montille Pommard 1er Cru, Les Grands Epenots, which should still be available in the UK, I think, but I am not sure.

Either way, there are loads of good stories here, the 2020 Domaine de Montille Pommard 1er Cru, Les Grands Epenots was the highest-scoring Burgundy, for me anyway, since the 2019 Jean Luc et Paul Aegerter Corton-Vergennes, Grand Cru. Of course, we have the return of a Kosher Chateau Valandraud with the 2020 vintage, after a 15-year hiatus! Then we have the incredible 2019 Castellare I Sodi S. Niccolo which blew my socks off when I had it. Finally, the 2020 Domaine de Chevalier Rouge is just crazy good!

So, four wines with the same score, and great stories, it is hard to pull one and go here! So, I will have to do the best I can and go with my gut and that would be the 2019 Castellare I Sodi S. Niccolo. It blew me away the first time I ever had it and I love the approach! So yeah, any of these five could have won the award – but I am using my editorial power to choose the 2019 Castellare I Sodi S. Niccolo. Bravo to M&M Importers, Ralph Madeb, Castellare di Castellina, and Paolo Panerai. The relationship has brought us great kosher wine options indeed!

2019 Castellare di Castellina I Sodi di S. Niccolo, Toscana – Score: 95 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose is lovely with ripe blackberry, raspberry, dark cherry, soy sauce, earth, smoke, mushroom, ripe currant, menthol, and mint. The nose is intoxicating, rich, and redolent.
The mouth of this full-bodied wine is ripe, rich, layered, earthy, extracted, dense, and elegant, with rich mushroom, soy sauce, lovely blackberry, raspberry, dark cherry, smoke, and lovely smoking tobacco, with a mouth-draping curtain of elegant tannin.
The finish is long, earthy, and dirty, showing dried tobacco, soy sauce, and sweet vanilla, just lovely. Incredible! Drink from 2025 until 2033. (tasted July 2023) (in New York, New York) (ABV = 14%)

The 2023 Best Kosher White Wine(s) of the Year!

While we have four solid options, none of them reach the previous stars of the last two years. Still, the official winner is the 2020 Domaine de Chevalier, Blanc, Pessac-Leognan. It is an incredible wine. The runner-ups are equally stunning. The Vacheron Sancerre may be the best we have had since 2012, while the 2021 Gustave Lorentz Riesling, Alcase Grand Cru, Alsace may be the best kosher Riesling since Von Hovel’s work! The 2021 Chateau Olivier Blanc is already the European Wine of the Year, so I left it out here as runner-up, but it would have been ahead of these runner-ups. As stated above we had a BOUNTY of great white wines this year, both at these higher and lower price ranges.

2020 Domaine de Chevalier, Blanc, Pessac-Leognan – Score: 94+ (QPR: GREAT)
RESCORED. This wine is a blend of 75% Sauvignon Blanc & 25% Semillon. The nose of this wine is unique, ripe, smoky, earthy, dirty, and mineral-driven, with lovely and deep funk, smoke, toast, and rich apple, yellow plum, and peach. What a lovely nose! Bravo! The mouth of this full-bodied white wine is lovely with intense acidity, perfectly balanced, some will taste this and ask for more acidity, but they are wrong, this wine is perfectly balanced, with white peach, acidity, long ribbons of graphite and flint, intense spice, nutmeg, cloves, and lovely grapefruit/lime, with intense butterscotch, and minerality. The finish is long, dense, ripe, balanced, and extracted with a minerality that hurts to taste, acidity, peach, apple, sweet oak, butterscotch, and floral notes that linger long, forever, wow!! Drink until 2033. (tasted May & November 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2020 Domaine de Montille Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Chalumeaux, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru – Score: 93+ (QPR: GREAT)
The last kosher Puligny Montrachet was in 2004, so this was so much fun! This wine is not like any other Chardonnay you will have, outside of maybe another kosher Puligny Montrachet. It is not a Cali Chard, for sure, it is not a Meursault, and it is not a Chablis. It is truly unique and lovely. This wine is NOT ready, it may seem so, but it needs another 5 years before you think about touching it, AT LEAST! The nose of this wine is beautiful, tart, and precise, with lovely lanolin, and an elegance that takes time to evolve, ripe Meyer lemon, lime, almonds, honeysuckle, chamomile, lavender, roasted almonds, beautiful sweet oak, and lovely minerality. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is an acid bomb, a true carpet bombing of acidity, with intense lemon/lime Fraiche, lovely honeyed almond pie, peach, freshly baked butter-infused apple pie, roasted and smoked duck, roasted pear and apricot, honeysuckle, smoked almond, toast, sweet oak, scraping minerality, and elegance. The finish is long, tart, and acidic to the core, with peach, saline, roasted apricot, and more scraping minerality, flint, rock, wow! Drink from 2027 until 2032. (tasted January 2023) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 12%)

2021 Domaine Vacheron Sancerre, Grand Champs, Sancerre – Score: 93+ (QPR: WINNER)
RESCORED. The nose of this wine is ripe while also showing green and mineral notes, white pepper, orange, orange blossom, gooseberry, white flower, jasmine, and white oolong tea, a truly unique nose. The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is uniquely layered, and ripe, with sweet and ripe gooseberry, orange, nectarines, intense minerality, dense slate, and flint, intense acidity, expressive but the acidity takes front stage, incredible honeysuckle, honeydew, the minerality, and floral notes take over with crazy mineral and acid, what a lovely mouthfeel and fruit focus, wow! The finish is long, tart, ripe, layered, and expressive, with intense minerality, slate, and flint that goes on forever, a Sancerre like this is really unique, wow! Drink by 2030. (tasted May & November 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)

2021 Gustave Lorentz Riesling, Alcase Grand Cru, Alsace – Score: 93+ (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is a baby, the petrol will come, for now, honeysuckle, honeydew, the intense minerality of flint and rock, peach, yellow plum, gooseberry, and smoke.
The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is layered, focused, and expressive, with intense minerality, gooseberry, rock, smoke, grapefruit, lemon/lime, graphite, and sweet herbs.
The finish is long, tart, herbal, and mineral-driven, honeysuckle, and honeydew, with slate, fruit, and rock. Drink by 2030. (tasted May & November 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12.5%)

The 2023 Best Kosher Mevushal Wines of the Year!

So, as much as I dislike the need for mevushal wines there is still a market. As such, it is time to accept the inevitable and move on. No shock here, another year, and the winner is Herzog. There seems to be a massive supply of the 2021 O’Dwyers Creek Sauvignon Blanc so that has not moved to a new vintage. That does not mean it is dead, NO WAY, all it means is that it is not a wine from this blog year. There were no French options this year or really any European options this year for the top Mevushal Wine of the Year.

The 2021 vintage is a dud for Europe, at least so far, other than the saviors from M&M, but none of the Mevushal options impressed me there. The same from Elvi. If you look at the top Mevushal wine list (coming next) it is mostly the USA, with a smattering of 2022 French options.

So, the real winner this year is California! ALL OF California! We have Herzog, we have Hagafen, and we have Covenant. They all came out swinging in 2021 and they all hit dingers but the round-tripper for 2023 is the Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Reserve, and Limited Edition lineup. Yes, I get it DUH. It is Herzog but it is an Odd-numbered year, hopefully, the curse of odd-numbered vintages is dead! Still, this vintage is different. The Herzog Napa is boring normally, fat, round, and fruity, a classic Napa mess, but this year, it is lean, balanced, and focused, not to the extent of the Alexander Valley, but still, it is a lovely wine! The same can be said for the Cabernet Sauvignon, Special Edition, Rutherford. This vintage is a true gift for California!

So, We have the 2021 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Special Reserve, Alexander Valley as the pure winner, with honorable mentions to the 2021 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Special Reserve, Napa Valley, the 2021 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Special Edition, Rutherford, and the 2021 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Chalk Hills, Special Edition. We cannot throw this party without the 2021 Hagafen Reds and the 2021 Covenant Cabernet Sauvignon, Black Label. It is a 2021 California party! Still, there can only be ONE winner and the longer Mevushal list will come out! So, Bravo to the 2021 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Special Reserve, Alexander Valley, it may be the best ever! just maybe!

For your white-wine drinking pleasure, we have the 2023 Baron Edmond de Rothschild Rimapere, Marlborough, not as epic as the 2021 but a lovely wine to stock up on! So, here is the best red and white mevushal wine I have tasted this past year.

2021 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Special Reserve, Alexander Valley, Alexander Valley, CA (M) – Score: 94 (QPR: WINNER)
This may well be one of the best Alexander Valley wines in the past 10 years, better than 2014, just impressive. The 2021 vintage has been a blessing for California. The nose of this wine is ripe, it is even riper after a few hours as well, showing notes of ripe and juicy boysenberry, squid ink, black fruit, anise, white pepper, cocoa liqueur, sweet oak, milk chocolate, smoke, and nice minerality. The mouth of this ripe but balanced full-bodied wine has nice acidity, blackberry, ripe and juicy boysenberry, plush, rich, concentrated, extracted, and elegant, all at the same time, with nice tension, sweet oak, milk chocolate, elegant and draping tannin, and a plushness that helps to balance the extraction, with salinity and lovely minerality. The finish is long, ripe, extracted, balanced, and earthy, with nice loam, and smoke but the finish shines with its ribbons of graphite, saline, and tense tannin that lingers long. Bravo!! Drink until 2034. (tasted December 2023) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 14.5%)

2023 Baron Edmond de Rothschild Rimapere Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough (M) – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is the best part of it, with incredible aromas of ripe yet green/tart mango, screaming gooseberry, intense cat pee, green notes, passion fruit, ginger, lemon grass, lychee, orange blossom, and lovely honeysuckle. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is a slight step behind the nose, but still better than the 2022 vintage but not as good as the 2021, with incredible acidity, and more complexity than the 2022, showing lovely saline, lemon grass, ginger, passion fruit, gooseberry, orange, tart lychee, and fun funk. The finish is long, tart, smoky, flinty, and salty, with dense minerality, extremely refreshing, and lingering long with more saline, flint, gooseberry, passion fruit, and ginger, Nice! Drink until 2026. (tasted November 2023) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 12.5%)

The rest of the top 25 kosher wines of 2023

2019 Four Gates Frere Robaire, Santa Cruz Mountains, CA – Score: 95+ (QPR: GREAT)
This wine is a blend of 53% Merlot & 47% Cabernet Sauvignon.
The nose of this wine blend is lovely with rich smoke, anise, blackberry, plum, raspberry, cassis, and sweet spices.
The mouth of this full-bodied wine is rich, layered, ripe, concentrated, plush, and herbal, with intense mouth-draping and drying tannin, and incredible acidity, the herbaceous and tannin get elevated by the combination of these two wines, unique and wonderful. The mouth is rich with blackberry, plum, raspberry, cassis, rich salinity, lovely herbs, smoke, sweet spices, and plushness. Bravo!
The finish is long, ripe, balanced, rich, and lovely with milk chocolate, rich tobacco, salinity, smoke, roasted herbs, and rich sweet spices. Bravo! Drink from 2030 until 2038. (tasted December 2023) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 15.2%)

2020 Chateau Valandraud, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru – Score: 95 (QPR: EVEN)
The return of Chateau Valandraud is 15 years in the making! The previous 2005 vintage scored one of my highest scores of all time, an A, in those days. The nose of this wine is too ripe for me, much like most of the 2020 vintage, still, very professional, with notes of burnt sage, herbal notes of mint, iron shavings, menthol, tar, loam, earth, black and red fruit, and loads of smoke. The mouth of this full-bodied wine shows nice acidity but is also beautifully balanced with ripe blackberry, dark plum, cassis, rich salinity, sweet oak, sweet dill, and nice garrigue, all wrapped in mouth-draping tannin. The finish is long, ripe, deeply concentrated, not overly extracted, a bit too much for elegance, but dark, controlled brooding, intense minerality, impressive tension, drying mouthing-draping tannin, green sweet tobacco, great saline, rich focused pencil shavings, scraping graphite, and smoke. Bravo! This wine, like much of 2020 from Bordeaux, is too “accessible”, but that is a massive mistake. This is a big boy wine, a wine that will appeal to all, it is big and bold for those who crave it while also being balanced. What I dream of is richness with more control, still, it is lovely, dense, and fruit-focused with classic terroir. Bravo! Drink from 2025 until 2040. (tasted January 2024) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 15%)

2020 Domaine de Chevalier, Pessac-Leognan – Score: 95 (QPR: GREAT)
RESCORED. This wine is a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, & 5% Petit Verdot.
What a wine, still, like all 2020 scary approachable, tasting side-by-side with so many great wines, this wine is really impressive, with black and red fruit, graphite, dirt, herbal notes, plum, and dense smoke. Bravo!
The mouth of this full-bodied wine is perfectly balanced, with crazy acidity, mouth-draping tannin, so plush, so elegant, showing rich blackberry, plum, cassis, and sweet jammy raspberry, intense and layered and concentrated, with intense graphite and smoke. Bravo!!!
The finish is long, scarping, and dirty, with lovely precision, fruit focus, iron shavings, graphite, pencil shavings, intense acidity, and dense fruit, wow!!! Drink from 2025 until 2035. (tasted May & November 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2020 Domaine de Montille Pommard 1er Cru, Les Grands Epenots, Pommard 1er Cru – Score: 95 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is ripe but a bit more balanced than the Volnay with ripe black and red fruit, and hints of blue fruit in the background, with even more minerality, sweet spices, brighter fruit, freshly baked boysenberry pie, sweet oak, rose, and violet, just incredible, a truly controlled fruit and mineral beast. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is incredible, layered, dark, brooding, controlled, and elegant, I am running out of words to express beauty, with a rich acid core, followed by rich minerality, my mouth salivates as I taste it, incredible, with black oolong tea, dense blackberry, plum, tamarind, blackcurrant, dark cherry somewhere back there, and mouth-draping tannin, just incredible! The finish is long, dense, elegant, concentrated, and smokey with coffee, dark chocolate, tea, sweet spices, anise, cloves, tannin, and minerality. WOW!! Drink from 2028 until 2036. (tasted January 2023) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 13%)

2016 Domaine Roses Camille, Pomerol – Score: 94+ (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is intense, young, bright fruit, rich mushroom, saline, earth, loam, with tar, ink, pencil shavings, say sauce, black and blue fruit, iron shavings, just lovely! The mouth of this full-bodied wine is rich, layered, dense, and elegant, with rich mushrooms, blackberry, raspberry, ripe cassis, pencil shavings, smoke, loam, dirt, and rich earth, just lovely!! BRAVO! The finish is long, ripe, layered, elegant, and focused, with mushroom, earth, loam, green notes, tobacco, and espresso coffee. WOW! Drink from 2024 until 2034. (tasted January 2023) (in San Diego, CA) (ABV = 15%)

2017 Domaine Roses Camille, Pomerol – Score: 94 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is not as ripe as the previous vintages with rosehip, floral notes, rich salinity, smoke, blue and red fruit, roasted animal, tar, and earth. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is ripe, but floral, with lovely red fruit, raspberry, currants, cherry, boysenberry, rich mouth-draping tannin, rich saline, elegant, smokey, dirty, earthy, and graphite. The finish is long, floral, and dirty, with smoke, and rosehip. earth and scraping minerality, truly elegant, red fruit, menthol, smoke, roasted meat, and dirt linger long. Drink until 2033. (tasted January 2023) (in San Diego, CA) (ABV = 13%)

2016 Tassi Brunello di Montalcino, Bettina Cuvee, Franci Riserva, Brunello di Montalcino – Score: 94 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is incredible, ripe, balanced, and mineral-driven, but equally floral, with dense underbrush, mushroom, violet, blue flowers, stone, and rock, all wrapped in red and black fruit, intoxicating and refreshing.
The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is shockingly accessible at this point, which is different from the Tassi 2016, with grippy yet mouth-draping tannin, showing a ripeness I was not expecting, with sour cherry, raspberry, black plum, citrus, intense acidity, and elegance that belies its youth but also tells a story of its future. What a lovely wine, plush, dense, elegant, smoky, and concentrated without being an overbearing beast. Really impressive!
The finish is long, tart, screaming with minerality, scraping graphite, earth, loam, mushroom, intense acidity, and a sense that this wine is ready but also still holding back. Drink until 2032. Bravo!!! (tasted March 2023) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 14.5%)

2019 Four Gates Gidon, Santa Cruz Mountains, CA – Score: 94 (QPR: GOOD)
This wine is a blend of 57% Cabernet Franc & 43% Merlot.
The nose of this wine is lovely, after a bit of time, showing ripe raspberry coulis, black fruit, rich salinity, smoke, ripe fruit, milk chocolate, sweet herbs, iron shavings, and loam.
The mouth of this full-bodied wine is ripe, on the edge for a Benyo wine, with intense ripeness, blackberry, plum, raspberry, mouth-draping tannin, smoky, and ripe, with rich plush mouthfeel, and lovely minerality. With time, the ripeness calms, and the fear I had goes away and shows the power of acidity and Benyo fruit! Bravo!
The finish is long, ripe, and smoky, with milk chocolate, smoke, rich plush fruit, on the edge but balanced, funk, with loads of loam, sweet spices, and rich minerality, WOW! Drink from 2028 until 2037. (tasted December 2023) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 15.2%)

2019 Four Gates Merlot, Santa Cruz, CA – Score: 94 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is ripe, with rich milk chocolate, rich plum, blackberry, smoke, sweet spices, black pepper, sweet tobacco, elegance, and lovely sweet oak. It is very slow to open and a total loss to open one now.
The mouth of this full-bodied beast is ripe, but the incredible acidity and minerality save it, with rich loam, blackberry, dark plum, raspberry, sweet oak, all wrapped in mouth-draping and elegant sweet tannin and a plushness that is impressive.
The finish is long, ripe, almost candied, with rich salinity, milk chocolate, black pepper, graphite, and lovely smoke. Bravo! Drink from 2030 until 2037. (tasted December 2023) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 15.2%)

2019 Four Gates Cabernet Sauvignon, Santa Cruz, CA – Score: 94 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is ripe, and well balanced, with plum, blackberry, and cassis, it is screaming with classic Cabernet Sauvignon characteristics, ripe, but tart and balanced, with anise, pepper, smoke, and garrigue.
The mouth of this full-bodied wine is lovely, layered, concentrated, rich, and yet elegant, plush, and smoky, with great acidity, blackberry, plum, cassis, cocoa, intense tension, and ripeness that is balanced by its mineral and acidity, with roasted herbs, smoke, loam, and graphite, WOW!
The finish is long, ripe, plush, elegant, layered, and concentrated with cocoa, blackcurrant, rich smoke, dark tobacco, anise, and sweet spices. Drink from 2028 until 2034. (tasted December 2023) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 14.5%)

2018 Tassi Aqua Bona, Bettina Cuvee, Montalcino – Score: 93+ (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is lovely, bright, tart, and very expressive, with notes of bramble, dirt, loam, graphite, bright red sour cherry, dark red berry, rosehip, rose petals, rich and very expressive toasted cedar, sandalwood, mushroom, and more minerality. Lovely!! The nose is so expressive from the opening and only gets better with time, impressive! The umami-centric nose is incredible with soy sauce, mushroom, and cedar notes that really take your breath away.
The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is lovely, dirty, earthy, smoky, and precise, with good fruit focus, nice dark cherry, raspberry, tart plum, scraping minerality, loam, dirt, rose petals, and lovely mushroom. With time it opens to a rich toasted cedar expression and it overtakes the mouth with beautiful fruit, intense mushrooms, forest floor, plush body, and intense dirt and minerality. Lovely! With even more time the lovely cedar calms down and the ripe fruit, intense acidity, mushroom, and smoke linger long on this full-bodied wine.
The finish is long, tart, bright, and layered, with rich minerality, intense graphite, lovely soy sauce, umami notes, loam, lovely truffle, and mushroom, loam, and dirt linger long. BRAVO! Drink from 2025 until 2033. (tasted February 2023) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 13.5%)

2020 Domaine de Montille Volnay, 1er Cru Les Brouillards, Volnay 1er Cru – Score: 93+ (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is a fruit beast, rich, ripe, aggressive, but incredibly controlled, with big ripe, and bright boysenberry, blackberry, smoke, heritage rose petals, earth, loam, smoked meat, and incredible minerality. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is ripe, with lovely acidity, lanolin, and mouth-draping tannin, with blackcurrant, blackberry, juicy raspberry, and boysenberry, ripe, precise, and truly focused, with intense minerality, sweet oak, iron shavings, rose notes, coffee, and rich smoke. The finish is long, ripe, dense, and beautiful, with more boysenberry, minerality that jumps out at you, graphite, iron rock, iron shavings, rock, smoke, and lovely milk-covered coffee beans. Just a lovely expression of Volnay! Drink from 2027 until 2035. (tasted January 2023) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 13%)

2020 Chateau Fayat, Pomerol – Score: 93+ (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is well balanced, with roasted herbs, smoke, licorice, tar, mint, intense graphite, rosehip, savory herbs, and black and red fruit. The mouth of this medium plus-bodied wine is lovely, layered, plush, and extracted, while being elegant, smoky, dirty, and herbal, with loam, and rich saline, all coming together beautifully with sweet oak, dark raspberry, dark cherry, plum, draping elegant tannin, and roasted herb, beautiful! BRAVO! The finish is long, herbal, smoky, tart, and beautiful, with dark chocolate, scraping graphite, and more loam, mushroom, and rich smoke. BRAVO! Drink by 2035. (tasted February 2023) (in New York, NY, and San Jose, CA) (ABV = 14%)

2021 Domaine Raymond Usseglio & Fils Chateauneuf du Pape, Vieilles Vignes, Chateauneuf du Pape – Score: 93+ (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is lovely, with intense soy sauce, hoisin sauce, mushrooms, sweet spices, black and blue fruit, licorice, tar, cholate-covered coffee, and smoke. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is ripe, layered, concentrated, and elegant, with intense acidity, great balance, power, and elegance, with graphite, charcoal, sour cherry, blackberry, boysenberry, dark cherry, juniper berry, with an elegant mouth-draping tannin. Bravo! The finish is long, balanced, smoky, herbal, and rich, with espresso beans, tar, smoked meat, and tart acidity/fruit that linger forever! Bravo! Drink from 2027 until 2035. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)

2021 Château La Baronne Piece de Roche, Vin de France – Score: 93+ (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%)