With this post, I will be caught up on the Solar Calendar for 2025. This post is not as long as my last QPR (Quality-to-Price Ratio) post, but it still weighs in at 24 wines.

QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Wines

It has been six or so months since my last QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) post, and many people have been emailing me about unique wines I have tasted and lovely wines that are worth writing about.

Thankfully, no matter how much garbage and pain I subject myself to, we are still blessed with several excellent QPR wines.

Throughout the year, I post many QPR posts for almost all of the main categories. I will continue down this road until I find a better way to categorize and track QPR WINNERS wines. People are still asking me what a QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Wine is and what the score of WINNER denotes. Once again, those are explained here in this post.

Some things that made me stand up and take notice (AKA QPR WINNERS):

All of these wines come from the last three months of tasting in my home. All the other group tastings have been posted in other posts.

Liquid Kosher Wines

There are three wines from LiquidKosher here. The 2024 Weingut Gehring Roter Hang Riesling is solid. The 2024 Clos du Moulin Rosé and Blanc are both lovely wines. All three are QPR WINNERS. Again, these are not mind-blowing wines but they are enjoyable and they hit the mark.

Another Godin Wine Winner

We last tasted a few Godin wines last year, and now they have two new ones. One of them was a WINNER, the 2022 Godin Red Reserve, Douro, which is bright and not round. Hits the point – nice stuff!

Two Fantastic Domaine du Castel (Razi’el) Sparkling Wines

There are two sparkling wines here that are expensive, but they are also fantastic wines! Those are the N.V. Raziel Rose, Brut, and the N.V. Raziel Brut. Sadly, Yarden has taken a step back, and I think Raziel is taking their place! The Rose smells like a Burgundy red; it is shocking and glorious! The Brut smells on point and feels like what I want from a sparkling wine. Coming at these blind, they will not taste like Champagne, but they will taste very special, unique, and lovely! Bravo!

The Rest

The 2024 Shiloh Pinot Noir (NOT Mevushal) did shock me. I had it first at KWD, earlier this year, and having it in the house, to taste slowly and without the noise, allows one to appreciate what they are tasting. Still, it is/was much like what I remembered from that night, a solid Israeli option!

The 2024 Goose Bay Sauvignon Blanc is another hit from the Goose Bay label, and add to that the Pinot Noir I loved in Miami, and they are really putting together some excellent wines from 2024. This is bright, on point, and again a wine that is not overly New Zealand in nature. It has a hint of gooseberry, but not overly so, and I would think most people would not even guess it is from the tropics.

The highest-scoring wine here is the 2021 Aura di Valerie Barolo DOCG. It is an excellent wine. It tastes, smells, and acts like a Barolo, and it is really lovely! I recommend you guys go and get some before it’s all gone and you miss out! Enjoy!

The 2023 Château Puygueraud Francs is showing much better than it did the last time we had it in Paris. I think it has come into its own and is on point now.

The 2021 Chateau Pedesclaux, Pauillac, was a surprise for me. It takes a bit of time to show well, but even on opening, the minerality is shocking, and the pop is there!

The last wine is a retaste/repost with a different score. The 2022 Marchesi Fumeanelli Terso Vento Bianco, Veneto IGT, is such a wine. When we had it in September, it was an oak bomb, and while it did calm down that evening, the wine felt out of kilter to me. Tasting it again now, it does have the balance needed to join the WINNER circle.

Final Thoughts

OK, that is a wrap! I did not break out any other QPR categories beyond WINNER because the list of wines below does not really shine outside the WINNERS.

I have grouped all the QPR WINNER wines at the top. The rest of the wines are listed in the order they were tasted (AKA Timeline order). The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my quality “scores” can be found here, and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:

2021 Aura di Valerie Barolo DOCG, Barolo – Score: 93+ (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is incredible, dirty, earthy, musty, smoky, with rich red fruit, soy sauce, truffles, rich mushrooms, and dense smoke. Lovely! The mouth of this full-bodied wine takes time to open. GIVE THIS TIME, WOW, this wine is AWESOME! The fruit, the crazy acidity, the intense tannin structure, draping, elegant, smoky, dirty, with plush cherry, raspberry, and dense smoke. The finish is long, dirty, earthy, with more mushroom, soy sauce, saline, and minerality. WOW! Drink this from 2030 until 2037. (tasted November 2025) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 14.5%)

2021 Chateau Pedesclaux, Pauillac – Score: 92+ (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is a blend of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, & 3% Petit Verdot. The nose of this wine is nice, with clean notes, good pop, and floral notes of white and yellow flowers, iron shavings, loam, raspberry, and dark cherry. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is lovely, layered, tart, elegant, precise, so focused, with intense acidity, balance, great tart raspberry and dark cherry, incredible mouth-draping tannin, slight oak influence, along with scraping minerality, and lovely smoke. This is a smashing success. The finish is long, tart, and balanced, with more tannin, tart fruit, floral notes returning, charcoal, graphite, and hints of oak. The finish is long, tart, and balanced, with more tannin, tart fruit, floral notes returning, charcoal, graphite, and hints of oak.
This is a lovely, complex, intense wine without all the crazy fruit and noise. Nice! Drink from 2028 until 2034. (tasted December 2025) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 13%)

2022 Marchesi Fumeanelli Terso Vento Bianco, Veneto IGT – Score: 92+ (QPR: WINNER)
This is the second time I have enjoyed this wine, and it has changed significantly from when I tasted it in October. The nose of this wine is no longer an oak bomb. The nose shows slight sweet oak notes, along with honeysuckle, yellow flowers, star anise, lemongrass, and nice smoke. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is no longer an oak bomb; it shows a calmer side, with incredible acidity, nice weight and mouthfeel, almost plus, almost oily, with honeysuckle, apple, pear, peach, and yellow plum. This has really come around, and now it is refreshing and rich. Nice! The finish is long, oaky, smoky, and fruity. Drink by 2030 (tasted December 2025) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 14%)

N.V. Raziel Brut, Judean Hills – Score: 92+ (QPR: WINNER)
This is 100% Chardonnay, and it smells like a yeast bomb with apple and pear! The nose of this wine is glorious, yeasty, smoky, toasty, with brioche, and tart apple and pear! The notes are giving and keep coming – quite enjoyable! The mouth of this medium-bodied wine has great acidity, gower and fruit, with lovely small bubble mousse, followed by intense minerality. This is not a Champagne, but the fruit is so giving and the apple and pear and mousse never let up! It is so refreshing and enjoyable! The finish is long, tart, complex, and attacking! Bravo! Drink until 2028 (tasted December 2025) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 12%)

N.V. Raziel Rose, Brut, Judean Hills – Score: 92+ (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is a blend of 60% Pinot Noir & 40% Chardonnay. Smelling this wine, you get the sense that someone took a Bourgogne Villages wine and added bubbles. The Pinot Noir is so very present, it is shocking! The nose of this wine is lovely, maybe the best rosé Bubbly I have had in a year or two. The nose is pure cherry, raspberry, and Pinot Noir, with briche, smoke, and nice minerality. The mouth of this medium-plus bodied wine is lovely, tart, with great acidity. Fruit focus is front and center, with beautiful cherry, raspberry, rich salinity, minerality, smoke, and brioche. A true joy and so deeply refreshing! The finish is long, tart, refreshing, and richly enjoyable! Drink now until 2028. (tasted November 2025) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 12%)

2022 Godin Red Reserve, Douro – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is a blend of 35% Touriga Nacional, 35% Tinta Roriz 30% Touriga Franca.
The nose of this wine is clean, showing unique notes of red and white fruit, all in balance with great pop. The nose starts with bright fruit, showing pear, orange, raspberry, lovely floral notes of red flowers, sweet oak, and nice smoke. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is balanced with nice acidity, followed by that orange, pear, and raspberry attack, hints of oak that help round it but also get in the way, along with some spice, and nice earth. The finish is long, tart, and juicy. The Touriga Nacional is starting to show, with lovely graphite and charcoal that help lift the oak and tart fruit, blending them together better. lets see where this wine goes! Drink from 2027 until 2031. (tasted December 2025) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 13.5%)

2023 Chateau Puygueraud, Francs – Côtes de Bordeaux – Score: 91+ (QPR: WINNER)
This is the second tasting of this wine; this time, I tasted it in the USA, and it tasted far better. The nose of this wine is lovely, it has enough pop, with good fruit, nice acidity, blackberry, plum, raspberry, cacoa, and smoke. Nice! The mouth of this medium-plus bodied wine starts nicely, but slowly it shows its true colors, like what we had in Paris, with candied plum, blackberry, smoke, raspberry, good acidity, and noce mouth-draping tannin. The finish is long, ripe, a bit candied, with nice smoke, minerality, and lovely tannin. The wine starts nicely, but it slows down in terms of quality – the fruit overpowers, and while I think the wine is a bit better, it lacks what I wanted. With yet more time, the wine returns to its start and settles, and I think it is in a good place. In my mind, this wine is far more reminiscent of the 2022 vintage than that of what I have tasted from the 2023 vintage, but since this is 100% Merlot, that may be the issue in the end. This is a winner, and one I would buy! Enjoy! Drink by 2031. (tasted November 2025) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 14.5%)

2024 Goose Bay Sauvignon Blanc, South Island (M) – Score: 91+ (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is very bright and refreshing with notes of freshly cut grass, tart and bright with Meyer lemon, lemon blossom, kiwi, and great flint. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is an example of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc that even Avi would drink. The mouth is tart, with intense acidity, lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit, honeysuckle, and intense minerality. This is a lovely wine. Drink by 2027. (tasted November 2025) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 13%)

2023 Shiloh Pinot Noir, Secret Reserve, Judean Hills – Score: 91+ (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is nice, with good aromas of fruit, nice floral notes, lavender, rosehip, smoke, and loam. The best part of this wine is that it is clean, approachable, and appreciated. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine boasts excellent acidity, good fruit, lovely floral notes, dark cherry, tart raspberry, and a hint of rhubarb, all wrapped in a controlled and enjoyable fruity approach, complemented by clean tannin and floral notes. The finish is long, tart, and floral. Nice! Drink by 2027. (tasted November 2025) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 13.5%)

2024 Weingut Gehring Roter Hang Riesling, Trocken, Nierstein, Rheinhessen – Score: 91+ (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is slow to come around. It starts green and empty. With a couple of hours, the wine opens and shows a nice amount of floral notes: potpourri, rose hip, quince, honeysuckle, melon, saline, rock, and orange. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice with good weight, nice acidity, smoke, and sweet quince, orange, melon, and rock. The finish is long, tart, with good minerality, tart and sweet fruit, and rock. Nice. Drink by 2029. (tasted October 2025) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 12%)

2024 Clos du Moulin Rose, Bergerac Rose – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is beautiful, clean, with raspberry, strawberry, peach, and yellow flowers. The nose screams pop, fruit, and control. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is beautiful, lacy, with great acidity, strawberry fruit, backed by raspberry, intense, tart, and mineral in nature, and so refreshing. The finish is long, tart, and lingering with flint and minerality. Nice! drink now. (tasted December 2025) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 12%)

2024 Clos du Moulin Blanc, Bergerac Blanc – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is nice, clean, but a bit too simple, with notes of pear, apple, peach, and lovely white flowers. With more time, the nose opens further to show nice pop, smoke, flint, floral notes, and an overall enjoyable presence. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice, with great acidity, but it lacks complexity; the apple, peach, and slate are there. The crazy acidity is tart and bracing. It is refreshing, but it rolls off. With time, the wine finally opens and shows a nice mouthfeel, great punch, pop, and salinity, with nice fruit. Nice! Drink from 2026 until 2028. If you want to enjoy this now, decant it for an hour or two. (tasted December 2025) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 12%)

2024 ESSA Pinot Noir, Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge – Score: 90 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is ripe, not quite candied, with red fruit, smoke, almost Cali in nature, with rhubarb and plum. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice with great acidity, smoke, raspberry, cherry, and candied rhubarb. The finish is long, ripe, with good acidity, smoke, and lovely lanolin. Drink until 2030. (tasted November 2025) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 14.5%)

2023 Netofa Latour White, Galilee – Score: 90 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of the wine has a pop, and it shows notes of green apple, pear, lots of smoke, and white flowers. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine has good acidity, with little weight. The oak is nice, the pear, apple, and dry melon are nice as well, but the mouth, oak, and fruit seem to go against each other, as the overall appeal is missing. It is a solid wine, but it could have used a bit more fruit. The finish is nice, with more oak and some flowers. Drink by 2026. (tasted November 2025) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 12%)

2024 GRW Tsinandali, Tsinandali – Score: 83 (QPR: GOOD)
This wine is a blend of Rkatsiteli and Mtsvane grapes sourced from the Kakheti region of Georgia. The nose of this wine is bland with no pop; it has deep floral notes of potpourri, rosehip, and violet, followed by green apple, pear, and flint. The mouth of this wine has almost no acidity with apple, pear, and some green notes along with lots of flowers. Drink now. (tasted November 2025) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 12%)

2023 Clos des Menuts, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru – Score: 90 (QPR: GOOD)
Much like previous vintages, this wine is very floral and lacks the pop needed to interest me. The nose starts with red and green notes, followed by intense yellow flowers, and nice loam. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine has acidity, but it lacks fruit. It shows good acid and green notes of cucumber, bell pepper, cherry, and raspberry. The tannin in this wine is present, but the wine feels more like a Cali or a Village Burg than a Saint-Emilion Bordeaux. The finish is long, with enough powered tannin and acidity to keep you interested. Drink by 2030 (tasted November 2025) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 13%%)

2023 Cantine Leuci Fiano, Fiano del Salento (M) – Score: 88 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is interesting it has funk, flint, apple, orange, and lemongrass. But it is also a bit off and not quite in balance. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine has lovely acidity, good fruit presence, with peach, apple, orange, and pear. Simple but the acidity, funk, and fruit work well. Drink now! (tasted November 2025) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 12.5%)

2023 Larmoni, Bordeaux (M) – Score: 75 (QPR: NA)
This wine is one of the many storied Mevushal wines from France. Green, tinny, and painful. I tasted it, enough said. Next! (tasted November 2025) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 13.5%)

N.V. Koenig Cremant d’Alsace, Brut, Alsace (M) – Score: 88 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose is dry with nice quince, rose, floral notes, licorice, yellow Apple, and yeast. The mouth on this light to medium-bodied wine is lighter than expected and a bit simpler than I hoped, with a rich, small-bubble mousse, more quince, Asian pear, lovely lemon/lime, and nice acidity. The finish is long, green, and tart, with good tart fruit, mineral, and slight brioche notes. It leaves a sweet note in my mouth, very strange, like when eating one of those tart/sweet sour candies—nothing great, but a solid attempt. Drink now! (tasted November 2025) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 12%)

2024 Solar Das Boucas Pet Nat, Portugal – Score: 84 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose of this wine shows tannin, lemon, lime, cut grass, and funk, with bubbles all over the place. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine has great acidity, but the tannin overpowers the wine. At first taste, I could have sworn it was a sassion or an IPA. It is not very elegant; it is rough and edgy, and while this may be cool to many, I found it unbalanced and, while okay, not very endearing. The mouth notes follow the nose with more lemon, lime, cut grass, and bitter tannin. The finish is fine, but the bitterness and tannin really throw this wine. Drink now. (tasted November 2025) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 11.5%)

2024 GRW Saperavi, Kasher Collection, Georgia (M) – Score: 78 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose of this wine is ripe and cooked. The Mevushal process is too obvious here, and the wine is unbalanced, with cooked plum, prune, and cooked notes. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is ripe, candied, and cooked, with no acidity, painful, and too simple. Drink now. (tasted November 2025) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 12%)

2023 Capcanes Peraj Ha’abib Pinot Noir, Catalunya – Score: 86 (QPR: EVEN)
The 2023 vintage feels like a Pinot Noir, unlike the 2022 vintage. My issue here is that it feels light on life and also lacks the acidity it needs. The nose of this wine is just dead; it lacks joy. It has some red fruit, some flowers, and some dirt; that is it. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is boring; it lacks acidity, it lacks life, it lacks everything I need in a wine. The mouth shows some acidity, along with some fruit, cherry, plum, and some rosehip. Drink now. (tasted December 2025) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 14.5%)

2019 Teperberg Cabernet Sauvignon, Essence, Galilee – Score: 88 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is acceptable; the fruit hits you with bright blackcurrant, plum, cassis, and anise. The nose throws me as it is mostly fruit with no control or balance. The good thing is that the fruit is not overpowering. The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine shows some balance. The wine starts without any control, but after a day or so, the fruit calms, becomes brooding, and acidity is lacking, with smoke, loam, blackberry, dark plum, and candied blackcurrants. The fruit is still brooding, and the lack of good acidity does not help. The finish is okay, dark, brooding, and candied, with not enough acidity and lacking complexity. Drink by 2028. (tasted December 2025) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 13.5)

2022 Harkham Aziza’s Shiraz, Hunter Valley – Score: 88 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose of this wine is not overly ripe, but it is also not quite balanced with juicy strawberry, plum, boysenberry, smoke, jasmine, loam, and minerality. The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is good; the acidity is there, but the fruit outpaces it, with too much blackcurrant for me to handle, along with strawberry, smoke, and a very persistent tart cherry note that almost feels like VA. It may be VA, but most would not feel that way. The tannin is there, but it is barely present.
The finish is long, tart, and ripe, with more fruit. What I miss is any semblance of minerality, charcoal, or smoke. It almost feels like this was made without any oak. Drink by 2028. (tasted December 2025) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 14%)