If you ever wondered what Kosher wine or the Mevushal process is, well I made a post these many years ago and nothing has changed about those facts, because kosher wine is kosher wine! The Mevushal process has evolved a bit over the years but the premise is still the same and the best craftsman in this space are Hagafen Cellars and Herzog Wine Cellars.

Royal Wine Europe does a good job as well, though from time to time, the white wines do not show as well after they go through the Mevushal process. The red wines are indeed done very well as I saw this past November 2023.

The whole premise for Mevushal wine is really a U.S. concept. Europe and much of Israel do not care for or need the wine to be Mevushal to serve at restaurants or events. The USA Rabbinic leaders think that there are too many issues and potential concerns at events and restaurants – given the vast number of servers being non-Jewish. As such, they demand Mevushal wines be served at the events. I have been to events where the pourers were all Shomer Shabbat Jews and that is what they do in Europe and Israel, but those are far and few between, here in the USA.

Overall, the 12 Mevushal wines scored higher than my previous post of 2021 options These scored higher without a single 91 or 91+ in the bunch! Of course, the 2021 California harvest has the majority of these wines (7 of the 12). You can find a single 2019 Rouge Bordeaux, a 2022 Blanc Loire Valley, and a 2023 White New Zealand Wine. The rest are still from the USA but from other vintages than 2021. To be clear, California makes up 9 of the 12 top-scoring Mevushal wines.

The new kid on the block is the 2021 Covenant Cabernet Sauvignon, Black Label. It is a lovely expression of Napa Valley.

Mevushal – done incorrectly absolutely does cause damage to wine, and I have had many a “cooked” Mevushal wine. However, Herzog and Hagafen do not have these issues. Royal Europe, does a good job, but not as good as the previously mentioned wineries. The new Covenant Mevushal Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, not their first entry into the Mevushal market, seems like a success, but we will need more examples to be sure.

Also, we do not have examples of Mevushal wines that scored 95 points, again, this is not a cause and effect but rather the issue that people do not yet have Mevushal Pontet-Canet! Mind you, as I stated before, it is not from a lack of desire, on behalf of Royal Wines, they would boil anything to be able to sell more Mevushal wines. Still, so far, of the top wines that I have scored, the highest-scored Mevushal wine is now the 2021 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley, Special Reserve.

More and more wines are Mevushal to meet the needs of restaurants and caterers that want high-end Mevushal wines for their venues and events. The theme of the wines here is mostly Hagafen or Herzog with some smattering of European names as well.

Here is my list of the top 12 Mevushal wines that are available here in the USA. They are listed by score and after that in no particular order. 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 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, and truly 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%)

2020 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley, Special Reserve, Alexander Valley, CA (M) – Score: 93 (QPR: WINNER)
We are back to an even year and we once again have an Alexander Valley worthy of the name! This is beautiful, though the 2019 vintage was not bad, this is just so much better! The nose is what I want, green, herbal, smoky, dirty, fruity, with impeccable balance, tart, dark chocolate, oak, mint, basil, and savory. The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is lovely, dirty, balanced, and rich, with blackberry, plum, dark cherry, and licorice, with a great fruit focus, plush, complex, showing herbal notes, mint, menthol, nice tannin, nice! The finish is long, dirty, herbal, smoky, and waxy, with tar, smoke, and ripe blackberry, nice! Bravo! Drink from 2024 until 2034. (tasted February 2023) (in Los Angeles, CA) (ABV = 14.5%)

2021 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Chalk Hills, Special Edition, Sonoma County, CA (M) – Score: 93 (QPR: WINNER)
If it is hot in your area, PLEASE chill your red wines, these big reds need to be cooled down! Twenty to twenty-five min in the fridge will do the trick! The nose of this wine is a bit ripe at the opening, but that calms, from the start the wine is big, bold, black, earthy, dirty, and mineral-driven, with green notes, licorice, smoke, toast, hints of oak, tar, ripe black and blue fruit, and lovely loam, lovely! The mouth of this full-bodied wine is lovely, rich, ripe, layered, concentrated, and nicely extracted, with great acidity, lovely and almost elegant mouth-draping tannin (right now a bit too astringent), with intense tannin, blackberry, cassis, ripe boysenberry, dark currants, plum, loam, roasted herbs, sweet oak, vanilla, hickory, sweet dill, sweet spices, and lovely minerality, Nice! The finish is long, spicy, ripe, balanced, and bold, with lovely fruit, and some green notes, while it is not jammy and fat, it is a bit ripe, this should calm more, with more tar, sweet spices, cloves, cinnamon, allspice, and some great earth. The wine does calm down and becomes plush, ample, and enjoyable. Drink from 2025 until 2033. (tasted September 2023) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 14.5%)

2021 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Special Reserve, Napa Valley, Napa Valley, CA (M) – Score: 93 (QPR: WINNER)
The 2021 vintage from California is helping wines I do not normally buy. This wine is balanced and ripe, but also tight and closed to start. The nose of this wine starts a bit closed as does the wine, it took a day to come around, showing lovely fruit, balance, black and blue fruit, nice floral notes, blue and yellow flowers, chocolate, anise, mineral, and loam, very nice! The mouth of this full-bodied wine took time to open fully, showing some tension, and verve, with black plum, blueberry, blueberry, freshness, roasted herbs, cocoa, sweet oak, all wrapped in draping and elegant tannin, and a plushness and elegance that I have never had in this wine. The finish is long, plush, elegant, and not extracted, with ribbons of graphite, floral notes, anise, smoke, and rich fruit. Bravo! Drink from 2025 until 2033. (tasted December 2023) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 14.5%)

2021 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Special Edition, Rutherford, Rutherford, CA (M) – Score: 93 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is ripe and while I had hoped it too would be balanced, sadly, it lacked that balance to start. To start it was flat and uninteresting. With time that changes and improves. The nose of this wine is ripe, with round notes of ripe fruit, chocolate, ripe black and red fruit, with some cooked notes of plum, anise, and pepper. With time the cooked and round notes do calm and show a bit more finesse. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is ripe, without enough acidity to handle this massive body, showing black plum, blackberry, raspberry, sweet cassis, cocoa liqueur, nice tannin, and some tension, but overall not as refreshing as I hoped. With time that changes to a beautiful balance, with lovely acidity and complexity, to balance the mouth and show the better features and its plushness, along with lovely sweet oak, elegance, and tart balanced fruit, impressive. The finish is long, ripe, candied, and lingering with more ripe fruit, tannin, and nice minerality on the finish. Drink until 2032. (tasted December 2023) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 14.5%)

2016 Hagafen Cabernet Sauvignon, Prix Reserve, Napa Valley (M) – Score: 92.5 (QPR: WINNER)
This was another hit – Hagafen had many of them during this visit. This was another well-balanced wine with good fruit and acidity. The nose of this wine was nice, showing bright red and black fruit, with green notes, roasted herbs, anise, saline, smoke, and tar. The mouth on this full-bodied wine was rich, layered, but well balanced, with great acidity, lovely fruit focus, blackberry, raspberry, dark cherry, and lovely green notes, menthol, nice earth, mouth-draping tannin, cacao, and smoke. The finish is long, dark, and balanced, with scraping minerality, smoky notes, anise, tar, loam, and rich dirt, really nice! Bravo! Drink until 2026. (tasted August 2023) (in Hagafen Cellars, Napa Valley, CA) (ABV = 15.2%)

2022 Domaine J. de Villebois Pouilly-Fume, Pouilly-Fume (M) – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is intense, elegant, and rich, with saline, cat pee, green notes, smoke, pear, peach, lychee, mango, and lovely minerality, it grabs you and does not let go! The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is rich, layered, and captivating, with bracing acidity, a fusion of New Zealand and Pouilly, intense minerality, crazy graphite, flint, smoke, foliage, and lovely lychee, mango, apple, pear, and great tension and fruit focus, Bravo! The finish is long, herbal, mineral-driven, and smoky, a real joy, refreshing, elegant, and one to enjoy for the next two years. Bravo! (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

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%)

2019 Chateau Rollan de By, Medoc (M) – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is a blend of 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and 10% Petit Verdot. The nose of this wine is lovely, with a bit of brett, nice fruit, smoke, earth, lovely mineral, graphite, intense tar, really nice!! The mouth of this medium to full-bodied wine is nice, ripe, and tart, with lovely acid, rich smoke, tar, minerality, blackberry, plum, tart raspberry, tar, lovely rich and draping elegant tannin. Lovely! The finish is long, dark, ripe, layered, and tannic, with beautiful minerality, smoke, and roasted herbs. Lovely!! Drink until 2027 (tasted June 2023) (in Teanek, NJ) (ABV = 13.5%)

2021 Covenant Cabernet Sauvignon, Black Label, Napa Valley, CA (M) – Score: 92 (QPR: GREAT)
WOW! This is the first Covenant Cabernet Sauvignon that is Mevushal! OK, there is a first for everything! Also, this is the first vintage of Covenant Cabernet Sauvignon using an amalgamated cork. Just wondering – I drove for this for so long, just wondering.
At the start, the wine shows riper than I was expecting and used to from Covenant Cab, but with time it calms. The nose of this wine is ripe, dense, and fruity, with ripe purple and black fruit, dense smoke, tar, anise, chili pepper, white pepper, iron shavings, and an extremely spice-driven nose. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is on the edge of balance or anarchy. On one side, is an elegant bold wine showing dense fruit, with fruit focus, herbal notes, tart/sharp chili pepper, blackberry, blueberry, smoke, roasted herbs, anise, and a dense yet elegant mouth-draping tannin. On the other side is a wine that thankfully calms and becomes what I expect. The finish is long, fruity, ripe, dense, herbal, smoky, spicy, and mineral-driven, with lovely iron, graphite, intense and elegant mouth-draping tannin, juicy boysenberry, blackberry, Asian spice, cloves, vanilla, chili pepper, and anise lingering long. Lovely! Drink until 2030. (tasted September 2023) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 14.8%)

2021 Hagafen Cabernet Franc, Napa Valley (M) – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is nice, clean, and ethereal, what I was hoping for from the Pinot Noir, professional, refreshing, smoky, green, red, and fruity, a Cali Cab Franc that shows nicely! The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is balanced, with great acidity, it does show sweet dill and sweet oak, but it is not overpowering, with nice cocoa, mouth-draping, and elegant tannin, the oak will calm with time, showing raspberry, plum, smoke, roasted herbs, foliage, and a plushness that belies its youth. The finish is long, dirty, earthy, ripe, tart, refreshing, and mouth-filling with more oak, ripe fruit, dense milk chocolate, and licorice lingering long. Nice! Drink until 2027. (tasted November 2023) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 14%)

2021 Hagafen Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley (M) – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is on point for a Napa Cab, showing anise, ripe red fruit, rich chocolate, oak, fresh and tart black fruit, all wrapped in fig and cocoa. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is rich, layered, concentrated, and not overly extracted, showing a nice expression of Napa Cabernet, with blackberry, cassis, and cocoa, balanced, tart yet ripe, expressive, elegant, with a plushness, that shows sweet oak, mouth-draping and elegant tannin, lovely acidity, and lovely anise. The finish is long, ripe, balanced, elegant, creamy, and plush, with smoke, sweet oak, chocolate-covered marzipan, and tannin that lingers long. Nice! Drink until 2027. (tasted November 2023) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 13.2%)