Thankfully, Avi Davidowitz from Kosher Wine Unfiltered is now able to join me on my visits in May and November. This trip was once again very complicated, given that another late Passover occurred, and then Avi had business trip issues, but it all worked out. It never ceases to amaze me how many days the French take off in a year! Thankfully, the trip was successful; we arrived and returned home, so I would call that a success.

We did little to no wine searching, once again. Other than one store, there are very few, if any, new 2024 White or Rosé wines in Paris, anywhere. All the stores are still selling the 2022 or 2023 white and rose wines. This is the same issue that exists in the USA. Online and brick-and-mortar stores are loaded with old wines. So, yeah, not much going on right now! Furthermore, the kosher wine-buying public has all but given up on rosé. This is NOT the case in the non-Kosher market, but it is in the Kosher market. White wines are far out-selling rosés, and the difference is significant.

Additionally, I remain surprised by how little wine French people consume. It’s a declining Kosher wine demographic, for sure! Israel is drinking more kosher wine, as is the USA, but Europe, as a whole, is drinking less kosher wine. The UK is a demographic that seems to be holding its own, but this is mainly among wine enthusiasts. Visit a store in London, and you’ll typically find kosher wines that are a year or more out of date.

As on past trips, the hotel knows me by now; they are very gracious and put up with all the wine deliveries, always making sure to handle them with care. Kudos to the team! This time, we had multiple hotel shipments as Avi was there for Business the week before we hung out. It was challenging wrangling all the shipments, but we managed to get it done, and many thanks to all the wineries and producers for their assistance!

Avi was in France the week before we met for business reasons, and he stayed at a different hotel. Many of the boxes arrived there, and yet more boxes came to our shared hotel. The most amusing thing was that we had so many boxes that we lost track of them, and the hotel did too! B”H, all the wines arrived and we tasted them all. Some wines came after Avi left – but that will all be described in the Hotel Post.

The next morning, we made our way to the lovely home of Menahem Israelievitch, Managing Director and Winemaker at Royal Wine Europe. At the tasting, we enjoyed many lovely wines, and you can read the notes below. I would like to share a few thoughts on them.

• The 2024 Roses, which I have tasted, are showing better than the 2023 vintage. I found some of these wines enjoyable.
• Overall, I think Rose production is slowing down, and stores I visited in NYC and NJ said they are being very diligent about which/Roses they bring in. Further, Paris and much of Europe are still sitting on 2022 Roses. The USA has stores with 2023 Roses. As stated, we hit Peak-Rose in 2022, and we are living off the leftovers.
• We had eight WINNER White wines. Two of those wines are repeats. These are lovely wines, and they should all be available in the USA in the Mevushal status that I tasted in France

The tasting was great as always. We tasted about 31 wines, 10 of which were red. Once again, the wines have been very slow to get to the USA from France; as such, this was the first time I had a chance to taste almost any of these wines, other than the two repeated Chablis. There was a lovely new Chenin Blanc, the 2024 J. de Villebois Chenin Blanc from the Val de Loire, IGT. There was also a new port from Portugal, the N.V. Porto Cordovero Ruby Port, Porto. Other than those two wines, the rest were just new vintages of past releases.

With that said, the La Maison Bleue wine line continues to expand with yet another label and blend, the 2024 La Maison Bleue Grenache-Syrah-Mourvèdre. Nice!

Avi took all the pictures so if you have any issues blame him! Thanks, buddy!

My thanks to Menahem Israelievitch and Royal Wines for hosting us 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. The wine notes are in the order the wines were tasted:

2024 Chateau Les Riganes Rose, Bordeaux (M) – Score: 90 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine features notes of peach, flint, orange, cherry, and ripe fruit. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice; it has good acidity, nice fresh notes of orange, peach, lemon/lime, raspberry, and lovely tart fruit. The finish is long, tart, refreshing, with notes of flint and a nice finish. Drink now. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wines Tasting, France) (ABV = 12%)

2024 Rose Adasa Rose, Bordeaux (M) – Score: 90 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine shows more red fruit, fresh notes of strawberry, lemon/lime, orange, and slate. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice, with good acidity, nice peach, raspberry, and strawberry, slate, nectarine, and orange notes. The finish is long and refreshing, with a nice slate note. Drink now. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wines Tasting, France) (ABV = 12%)

2024 Roubine R de Roubine, Mediterranee – Score: 89 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is almost classic Provence, with notes of strawberry and crème, as well as nice raspberry, smoke, and floral aromas. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is less interesting than the first two Rosés; it has a bit less acidity, with strawberry, but not enough acidity to pump up the wine. The finish is long, spicy, with notes of cloves, sweet spices, and herbal elements, finishing with a hint of slate. Drink now. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wines Tasting, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2024 Roubine Hippy, Mediterranee – Score: 88 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is ripe, with strawberry, rose hip, fleur de orange, rose water, and spices. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine lacks the acidity needed to make this work, with strawberry, raspberry, and spices. The finish is a bit short, featuring notes of spices, roasted herbs, cloves, and slate. Drink now. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wine Tasting, France) (ABV = 13%)

2024 Sainte Beatrice B Rose, Cotes de Provence – Score: 89 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is classic Provence, with rich strawberry and crème, lovely slate, nice rose aromas, and citrus. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice, with almost enough acidity, but it lacks the pop, with pith, strawberry, orange notes, and grapefruit. The finish is long, not tart enough, fruit, slate, and pith. Drink now. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wine Tasting, France) (ABV = 13%)

2024 Roubine La Vie en Rose, Cotes de Provence – Score: 90+ (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is classic with strawberry and creme, less pith than B, and with more acidity, showing nice lemon/lime, nectarines, and smoke. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice, showing good acidity, nice mouthfeel, almost no pith, with strawberry and creme, nectarines, ripe orange, and nice slate. The finish is long, tart, and ripe at the same time, with good mouthfeel and nice attack. Drink now. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wine Tasting, France) (ABV = 13%)

2024 Chateau Roubine Rose, Premium, Cru Classe, Cotes de Provence – Score: 90+ (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is nice, with tart strawberry, no creme, rhubarb, rose hip, and lime. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is leaner than the others, without the weight to match the desire, with strawberry and rhubarb, with just enough acidity, though I wanted more pop. The finish is long, tart, and nice, with notes of slate and more strawberry. Drink now. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wine Tasting, France) (ABV = 12%)

2024 J. de Villebois Chenin Blanc, Val de Loire, IGT (M) – Score: 91+ (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is classic, with notes of hay, straw, subtle smoke, a hint of funk, violet, and lovely floral aromas. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice, with a drop of RS, still very nice, showing great acidity, sweet apple, peach, honeysuckle, orange, and smoke. The finish is long, tart, sweet, and refreshing. Bravo! Drink by 2027. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wine Tasting, France) (ABV = 11.5%)

2024 La Maison Bleue Chardonnay, Vin de France (M) – Score: 89 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is classic Chardonnay, with tart apple, sweet pear, hints of slate, a nice approach, and fruit on the nose. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice; it has the acidity to work with the weight of the fruit, a nice attack, with apple, pear, and some smoke. The finish is long and clean, with some nice spice and sweet fruit. Drink now. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wine Tasting, France) (ABV = 13%)

2023 Domaine Ternynck Bourgogne, Les Truffieres, Burgundy (M) – Score: 90 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is clean, not overworked or complex, with tart and sour apple, sweet vanilla, and pear. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is tart, with good acidity, showcasing Meyer lemon, intense sour apple, and pear, along with nice salinity and a nice mouthfeel. The finish is long, tart, saline, smoky, and flinty. Nice! Drink by 2026. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wine Tasting, France) (ABV = 13%)

2023 Les Marronniers Petit Chablis, Petit Chablis (M) – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
This is the third time I have enjoyed this wine, and it continues to impress for a Petit! The nose of this wine is nice, showing ripe apples, pears, and peaches, nice toast, some funk, slate, minerality, and smoke. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is quite lovely, showing great acidity, nice peach, nectarine, and pear, with ripe fruit, lovely acidity, minerality, smoke, and a long, fun, and refreshing finish. Nice! Drink by 2026. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wine Tasting, France) (ABV = 12.5%)

2023 Les Marronniers Chablis, Chablis (M) – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
This is the second time I have enjoyed this wine and it has changed gracefully. The nose of this wine is toasty, smoky, and ripe, with notes of ripe pear, apple, and peach, as well as a hint of funk. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine has changed from the last time we had it; the acidity is better, it is less one-dimensional, with nice tart and sweet apple and pear flavors, with the focus on sweet apple, pear, and peach, with nice tannin and smoke. The tension is nice. It feels riper than the petit, but in the end, they are both solid and winners! Nice! Drink by 2027. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wine Tasting, France) (ABV = 12.5%)

2023 Les Marronniers Chablis, Premier Cru, Montmains, Chablis, Premier Cru – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is lovely, ripe, yet not candied, with controlled notes of oak, funk, smoke, salinity, minerality, flint, tart apple, peach, floral notes, and yellow flowers. The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is lovely, with good acidity, smoke, toast, vanilla, and control, with good elegance, tart and sweet apple, pear, smoke, and toast – nice! The finish is long, tart, lingering with smoke, funk, earth, salinity, minerality, slate, and precision. Bravo! Drink until 2028. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wine Tasting, France) (ABV = 12.5%)

2023 Les Marronniers Chablis Valmur, Grand Cru, Chablis, Grand Cru – Score: 92+ (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is lovely; it lacks the acid and pop punch of the Premier Cru, but it shows more elegance, being more controlled, rounder, yet also deeper, with rich salinity. Lovely, elegant oak, smoke, toast, and ripe pear take center stage, accompanied by notes of apple, oolong tea, five-spice, cinnamon, cloves, and sweet spices.
The mouth of this full-bodied Chablis is beautiful and on point, lovely, with great acidity, a hint of funk, smoke, elegant sweet oak, toast, and a smoky finish that is impressive. The control and balance of oak to fruit are apparent, and the fruit is on point, featuring ripe orange, apple, and smoke. Lovely! The finish is long, tart, balanced, and toasty, with lovely smoke, oak, funk, and light hints of the mushroom to come, along with intense acidity that makes it all work. Drink by 2028. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wine Tasting, France) (ABV = 12.5%)

2024 La Maison Bleue Sauvignon Blanc, Vin de France (M) – Score: 90 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is perfect, rich with gooseberry, smoke, passion fruit, and lovely tropical notes. The mouth of this Mevushal medium-bodied wine is solid, with great acidity, nice punch, showing gooseberry, smoke, lovely passion fruit, and funk. Lovely! The finish is a bit short, with great acidity, funk, and salinity. Enjoy! Drink now. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wine Tasting, France) (ABV = 12.5%)

2024 Chateau Les Riganes Sauvignon Blanc, Bordeaux (M) – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is on point with lovely gooseberry, funk, rich salinity, passion fruit, and honeysuckle, lots of fruit and joy. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice, the acidity is lovely, tart, and fruity, with rich salinity, funk, smoke, passion fruit, gooseberry, and lovely flint. Wow! Fun stuff. The finish is long, tart, and lovely! Nice! Drink now. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wine Tasting, France) (ABV = 12.5%)

2024 J. de Villebois Touraine Sauvignon Blanc, Touraine (M) – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is solid, with almost no gooseberry notes, but plenty of citrus, salinity, funk, slate, and floral white flowers, as well as hints of honeysuckle. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is Avi-approved, with great acidity, nice floral notes, good tension, and fruit attcak, with hints of gooseberry, lemon/lime, grapefruit, funk, and salinity rules the roost. The finish is long, tart, fruity, with flint, and lovely! Drink now. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wine Tasting, France) (ABV = 11.5%)

2024 Domaine De Panquelaine Coteaux Du Giennois, Coteaux Du Giennois (M) – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is lovely, and is NOT Avi-approved, with lovely gooseberry, cat pee, smoke, flint, green notes, garrigue, and honeysuckle. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is lovely, showing great acidity; sadly, the cat pee is nowhere to be found, but the acidity is awesome, with lovely gooseberry, smoke, flint, great tension, Sumo orange, tangerine, and tart grapefruit. Nice! The finish is long, tart, and refreshing, pumped up by the flint, smoke, and sweet, sour, and tart fruit. Nice! Drink now. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wine Tasting, France) (ABV = 12.5%)

2024 J de Villebois Pouilly Fume, Pouilly Fume (M) – Score: 88 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is lacking; I want more pop, more excitement, showing notes of flint, smoke, lemon/lime, and gooseberry. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice, but it lacks the acidity it needs to make it work. It has some acidity, but the middle feels light, and the gooseberry is nice, but the mouthfeel feels light. The finish is short, with flint and fruit. Drink now. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wine Tasting, France) (ABV = 13%)

2024 J. de Villebois Sancerre, Sancerre (M) – Score: 90 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is nice, again a bit light on the pop, with honeysuckle, passion fruit, smoke, flint, ginger, and nice grapefruit. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine has some acidity, but I just wish it had more and had more pop, with nice ginger, mint, gooseberry, honeysuckle, nice flint, smoke, and sweet fruit. The finish is long, flinty, but still a bit light. Drink now. (tasted May 2025) (in Roya Wine Tasting, France) (ABV = 13%)

2024 Domaine de Panquelaine Sancerre, Sancerre (M) – Score: 90 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is pleasant, with notes of minerality, flint, orange, lemon, and honeysuckle. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice; it has the acidity, but I find it lacking the pop. It has nice fruit, honeysuckle, lemon, lime, grapefruit, and hints of gooseberry, with more orange and flint. Drink now. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wine Tasting, France) (ABV = 12.5%)

2024 Domaine Ternynck Bourgogne, Les Brulis, Pinot Noir, Bourgogne – Score: 87 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is classic, with notes of cranberry juice, dirt, rich lavender, rhubarb, and smoke. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is light, with more rhubarb, cranberry, some cherry, dirt, lavender, and intense acid. The finish is long, light, tart, and refreshing. It feels fine, but what it lacks is a story. It feels less like Pinot Noir and more like a dark rose. Drink now. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wine Tasting, France) (ABV = 12.5%)

2024 La Maison Bleue Pinot Noir, Vin de France (M) – Score: 86 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is pleasant, with clean lines, green notes, roasted herbs, cherry, loam, lavender, and earthy notes. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice, but it lacks the acidity it needs to make this work, with green notes, dark cherry, raspberry, lavender, rhubarb, and light tannin. The finish is long, smoky, ripe, and tart. Drink now. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wine Tasting, France) (ABV = 14.5%)

2024 J. de Villebois Pinot Noir, Vin de France (M) – Score: 86 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose of this wine is pleasant, with notes of cranberry, cherry, green fruit, and earth. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice enough, with good acidity, but lacks the fruit focus or precision to make this work; it feels flat even with the good acidity. Drink now. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wine Tasting, France) (ABV = 14%)

2024 La Maison Bleue Grenache – Syrah – Mourvèdre, Vin de France (M) – Score: 82 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose of this wine is reminiscent of juicy fruit bubble gum, boysenberry, and ripe red fruit. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is like juicy fruit, with boysenberry, candied fruit, accessible, and fruity. Not my kind of wine, but some will like it. Drink now. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wine Tasting, France) (ABV = 14.5%)

2024 La Maison Bleue Merlot, Vin de France (M) – Score: 81 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose of this wine is nice with cherry, lavender, rhubarb, and cooked notes. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is light and candied with cooked notes of cherry and earth. Drink now. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wine Tasting, France) (ABV = 12.5%)

2023 Chateau Trijet, Bordeaux – Score: 90 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is green, herbal, smoky, fruity, with dark cherry, black currant, lavender, and dirt. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice, showing great acidity, with nice dark cherry, plum, blackcurrant, rich loam, and smoke. The finish is long, dirty, with nice mouth-drying tannin, smoke, loam, lavender, graphite, and good dirt. Drink now. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wine Tasting, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2024 La Maison Bleue Cabernet Sauvignon, Vin de France (M) – Score: 87 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is floral, ripe, almost candied, with lovely green notes, herbal, roasted herbs, and smoke. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice, though it is still too simple, with lavender, not enough acidity, and nice tannin. The finish is long, tart, with good tannin. Drink now. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wine Tasting, France) (ABV = 12.5%)

2023 Chateau Genlaire, Bordeaux Superieur (M) – Score: 83 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is straightforward yet to the point, featuring notes of roasted herbs, smoke, cherry, blackberry, and loam. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is too ripe for me, with candied, almost cooked plum, blackberry, loam, lacking the acidity it needs to make this work, and additional herbal notes. The finish is long, ripe, candied, and out of balance. Drink now. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wine Tasting, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

2023 Chateau les Riganes Reserve, Bordeaux – Score: 85 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose of this wine is a bit too ripe for me, with candied black and blue fruit, and some candied raspberry, dirt, and floral notes. The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is ripe, with crazy blackberry, overripe and candied plum, boysenberry, smoke, clawingly ripe, without enough acidity. The tannin is nice. The finish is long, ripe, candied, and more overripe fruit. Drink by 2027. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wine Tasting, France) (ABV = 13.5%)

N.V. Porto Cordovero Ruby Port, Porto – Score: 90 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is ripe, candied, and almost smells oxidized, with notes of nuts, black and blue fruit, rich smoke, milk chocolate, and sweet sugarcane. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is intense, with loads of alcohol, candied blackberry, plum, brown sugar, and sugar-covered walnuts. The attack is massive, candid, and on point, featuring a wealth of sweet fruit, milk chocolate, and dense fruit. The finish is long, candied, intense, and ripe, with more candied dried fruit, candied nuts, and nice acidity. Drink until 2029. (tasted May 2025) (in Royal Wine Tasting, France) (ABV = 20%)