Category Archives: Kosher Rose Wine
California Dreaming – 2021 through 2023 vintages are showing well
It has been a long time since my last post and I am a good 100 wines behind, at this point, so these next few posts will be short and to the point.
Before Passover and after it, as well, I got into my car and drove to Covenant Winery, Hajdu Winery, Hagafen Winery, Marciano Estates, and Shadybrook Estates to get a bottle of kosher wine they made called Monetin. I also had many wines shipped to me from Herzog and Mayacamas. Finally, I had dinner with Gabriel Weiss and Alex Rubin and I tasted their wines as well. So, yeah this is a full California tasting. This is NOT a list and scores of each of these winery’s wines, but rather a set of tastings of what I have not yet had from these wineries.
The plan here is to list the wineries and their wines in the order I tasted them (mostly as I did taste some of the wines more than once).
My many thanks to each and every winery here for putting up with me and sharing their wonderful wines.
Marciano Estates (Feburary 2024)
Elk was in town that week and I drove through the pouring rain to pick him up, that was the craziest day of driving since my trip to Northern Israel in a carwash of rain on those mountainous hills, just nuts! Thankfully, we arrived at Marciano Estates, quite alive, almost on time, I will leave that part of the story for another time! However I must state that Elk should never be allowed to travel without his gear working. My hearing is still recovering! We were met by Michael McMillan, the General Manager at Marciano, and we were given the wines to open. The three wines were the 2022 Marciano Estates Blanc, the 2021 Marciano Terra Gratia, and the 2021 Marciano Estates. They were all stunning wines, and while the prices are high for these kosher wines, so is the cost of land, fruit, production, and so on in Napa Valley.
As always the time spent in Marciano Estates is always fantastic, the estate is stunning, as is the wine and the surrounding area. My many thanks to the entire Marciano team for putting up with us, along with the frequent time changes, and so on. The wines and the scores speak for themselves, I personally bought a few of the Marciano Blanc, the 2022 and 2021 vintages. The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
2022 Marciano Estates Blanc, Napa Valley, CA – Score: 93 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is lovely, and bready, with smoke, oak, brioche, peach, apricot, yellow plum, and orange blossom. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is really lovely and ripe, with intense acidity, lovely mouthfeel, plush-styled, a beautiful expression of French white, with intense peach, complexity, sweet oak, apricot, sweet yellow plum, intense loam, verve, and beautifully tense, with sweet tannin, grapefruit, lemon/lime, really lovely! The finish is long, intense, layered, concentrated, and richly extracted, with incredible sweet blossom, and sweet vanilla, on the long finish. Incredible! Drink from 2028 until 2034. (tasted February 2024) (in Napa Valley, CA) (ABV = 14.1%)
2021 Marciano Terra Gratia, Napa Valley, CA – Score: 93 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is lovely, balanced, ripe, and rich, with raspberry, strawberry, blackcurrant, plum, iron shavings, squid ink, rich minerality, loam, sweet spices, roasted herbs, and sweet oak, impressive. The mouth of this full-bodied Napa Cab blend is ripe, layered, extracted, and balanced with great acidity, and concentration, with lovely blackberry, cassis, raspberry, ripe strawberry, milk chocolate, rich tension, nice extraction, lovely plushness, a theme throughout the three wines we tasted today. Lovely! The finish is long, ripe, rich, extracted, and tense, with freshness, sweet oak, sweet tobacco, and sweet vanilla. This wine is incredibly accessible but please stay away from it for at least 3 years. Drink from 2026 until 2032 (tasted February 2024) (in Napa Valley, CA) (ABV = 14.8%)
2021 Marciano Estates Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, CA – Score: 94 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is incredible, purer than the Gratia, rich, expressive, but far more elegant, showing ripe, milk chocolate, milky, with blackberry, plum, raspberry, tar, smoke, and rich sweet spices. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is ripe, layered, and extracted, with great acidity, lovely tension, sweet tannin, blackberry, plum, sweet oak, sweet vanilla, raspberry, strawberry, juicy strawberry/raspberry, sweet spices, nutmeg, sweet earth, plum, and sweet loam. The finish is long, dirty, earthy, ripe, and elegant, with juicy and ripe strawberries, sweet oak, vanilla, and sweet tobacco. Drink from 2027 until 2033. (tasted February 2024) (in Napa Valley, CA) (ABV = 14.8%)
The best/top kosher wines for Passover 2024 in all price ranges
As I have stated many times in the past, this list started from folks asking me to come up with a cumulative list. This year there have been many such events, I went to three of them, back-to-back-to-back. After that, there were a few smaller ones as well, all in the NY/NJ area, and one in Miami.
A few caveats first, this is MY list! This is not a list that will make many happy. These wines are the wines that make me happy. No wines here would be considered overripe, over-sweet, or all over the place. The wines here are listed in the order of cost. That said, the top-line wines – what I call Top-Flight wines, are not defined by cost at all. In that list, you can find a 2018 Elvi Wines Herenza Rioja, Reserva. At the same time, the list includes some of the best high-end kosher wines I have ever tasted. In the end, price does not define your place on the Top-Flight Wines, nor does QPR (Quality to Price Ratio), only pure quality gets you on this list. The list of Top-Flight wines is ALL wines that I would buy without hesitation, no matter the cost (if I can afford it of course).
Passover is a time of year when Jews buy the most wine, along with Rosh Hashanah, and the American New Year. That is why all the kosher wine events, normally, happen a month or two before the Passover festival. It gives the wineries and distributors a chance to showcase all their wines that each appeal to different market segments. So, no there are no sweet or semi-sweet baseline wines here. There are many very good 25 or lower-dollar bottles of wine, that can be bought at Skyview Wines, Gotham Wines, Suhag Wine, Liquid Kosher, onlinekosherwine.com, kosherwine.com, and now Elk is live with his website, for those of you who live in the Miami area or are going there for Passover, or any other time of the year! Of course, those and others exist, support your local merchants! I have no real options, so I use the ones to the right of this blog, when viewed on the web (as always I NEVER make money from them and I never know or care what people buy, the list is whom I buy wines from and so I can recommend them to others).
Also, the amount of money you spend does not define the value or quality of the wine. Take for example the 16-dollar 2020/2021 Elvi Herenza Rioja, the 2022 Chateau Les Riganes, Blanc, and some others. These are nice wines and the great price is only an added benefit. However, many low-priced wines are not on this list, as they lack the quality required, IMHO.
Seeing the list and checking it twice (could not help myself), I am sure there will be a question – what defines a wine as a Top-Flight wine, and why are there wines that are not on it? The Top-Flight wines are wines that impressed me when tasting them. That does not mean that the 2020 Chateau Clement-Pichon, as nice as it may or may not be, can compare to another wine on the Top-Flight Wine list. What it does mean was that when I tasted one of these Top-Flight wines, I was wowed, and I said this is a wine that everyone should get – no matter the price. In the end, the Top-Flight Wines is my way to whittle down the list of wines that I enjoyed from a set of thousands of kosher wines available here in America. In hindsight, I am sure I will have missed some wines. If you do not see a wine you love and it scored a 91 or higher on this blog somewhere, then I can assure you that it was probably an oversight on my part.
Also, this is a PSA – please do not buy 2021 or 2022 rose wines! PLEASE! They are muted and a waste of your hard-earned money. Thankfully, there are a lot of 2023 roses out there.
Arba Kosot (The Four cups of Passover)
Finally, it is the Jewish custom to drink four cups of wine on Passover, but to gulp down these wines is far too hard for me (the concept here is to drink the base quantity of wine to fulfill your requirement – which is a Revi’it, within a certain period). In the past, I was drinking red, Israeli wines that were simple to drink, not complex or impressive. However, with time, I found a better option, drink the majority of a small cup that fulfills the Revi’it quantity of wine. This way, I can drink an Israeli, not Mevushal, red wine – like a Netofa wine. This is explained more below. As has been my approach over these past many years, I think I will go with Yarden Rose Brut Sparkling wine, again. It is Israeli, not Mevushal, “red”, a lovely wine, and an acid BOMB!
For the main course, I am happy to open a Top-Flight wine and enjoy that at a calm and enjoyable pace. Another option is to get some of these great glasses from Stolzle, that fulfill the official four-cup requirements in terms of volume and respect, according to most Rabbis. The glasses hold 3.5 fluid ounces of wine, which according to almost every source fulfills the concept of Revi’it.
It does not fulfill Chazon Ish’s requirements of 5.1 ounces, but if you wish to meet that requirement use these glasses by Libby’s. Also, remember that you should drink the entirety of the cups, which is why I recommend the smaller cups. If you cannot, some allow the idea of drinking the majority of the cup, but that is not the best approach. Finally, the LAST CUP, should be drunk in totality, as that is the ONLY cup upon which you say an “After Bracha (Blessing)”, and as such you must have drunk at least 3.3 ounces to say the last blessing.
NOTE: Again, I make nothing from these Amazon links, they do not have sponsor links or whatever. I do not have that and never will. These are just suggestions – buy what you want. They are only there for ideas.
Four Cup Options
Like much of what I do on this blog, I was recently asked to come up with some 4 cup options for people. I am not big on pounding good wines for the 4 cups. My Rabbi mixes wine and grape juice and pounds that. No rabbi says you must use the best wines for the 4 cups. I know that sounds horrible, but honestly, the point of the 4 cups is to drink wine in their Halachic format, not to drink great wines slowly, in their non-Halachic format. The priority is drinking red wine quickly and according to the proper shiur (assigned minimum liquid intake). Still, while I will be doing my 4 cups on the Yarden Rose Brut, I have a list of other options here. ALL OF THESE wines are available here in the USA and are at/below 13.7% ABV (VERY HARD By the way!!!):
All White wines (non-Top-Flight Wines) – Sauvignon Blanc:
- 2021 O’Dwyers Creek Sauvignon Blanc
- 2023 Covenant Sauvignon Blanc, Red C
- 2022 Domaine J. de Villebois Pouilly-Fume
- 2021 Jean-Pierre Bailly Pouilly Fume
All White Wines (non-Top-Flight Wines) – Various:
- 2022 Shirah Marsanne
- 2021 Philippe Le Hardi Mercurey Blanc
- 2021/2022 Pescaja Solei’ Arneis
- 2022 Hajdu Pinot Blanc
My short but meaningful trip to Israel
As stated in a previous post, I was in Israel, in early 2024. To state that things are different yet the same would be a simplification of reality. A quick, sad, yet real note, I had not been to Israel for almost 5 years, since Passover 2019. Crazy! Also, it marked a 10th anniversary, for me, and Israel, for my last meaningful trip, when again, Israel invaded Gaza, just crazy! Just read the last post (from 2014) and compare that to my takeaway post from my time in Israel for Passover in 2019.
I will not get into gloom or the such that I felt in 2014. That was indeed a very dark time for me, personally, in regards to my trip, at that time, for many reasons. This trip was sad, of course, but I thought it uplifting, given the state of the people I met. My hotels were filled with people who had to evacuate their homes, and the hallways felt like a building in Har Nof. I was perfectly fine with what was going on but I truly felt for those in these hotels. Breakfast felt more like a school cafeteria, with kids everywhere, packing lunches and the like. Just take a moment to think about what those people must feel like, what they must be going through! There was this lovely young girl whose birthday it was, one of the days I was in the hotel, she refused to have her party, in the hotel basement, because none of her friends or even family would be there. It really helps to open your eyes and realize how spoiled we all are.
The trip revolved around spending time with my family and my Rabbi and even that was limited, sadly. In the end, it was too short, it was too crazy, and I wish I had more time. Wineries and folks did reach out when they found out I was in town, and of course, I politely refused, given the already limited time I was going to be there and the people I wanted to spend time with. That said, I did carve two evenings to spend a few hours with my friends. One night I hung out with Avi Davidowitz and his family and one night I hung out with the French clan in Jerusalem. The evening with Avi and his family was lovely and the evening with the French guys was Tu B’Shvat.
We did do a large-ish blind tasting the second night, with the French guys, and I must say, the 2023 vintage for Israeli wine is horrible! There is no other way to say it, a total disaster. There are SOME okay wines, but they are the minority and the sad truth is that 2023 will be remembered as a horrible, sad, and depressing year for Israel, and the wine, at least so far, is not making up for it.
I was going to keep this short, so my many thanks to those who hosted me and the gang. I really need to thank Avi and his wife Michal and Joel and his wife Delphine for hosting me and the gang at Joel’s! Both evenings were lovely, and the food was awesome, sadly, I cannot say the same for the wine on the 2nd night. The evening with Avi and the wines were top-notch, minus a couple, listed here. The second evening was a blind tasting and man – was it painful! REALLY! All the 2023 wines were pretty much useless. There were a couple of Shmitta wines from 2022 and a couple of reds as well. Also, many thanks to Joel for taking the pictures!
The wine notes follow below, in order of tasting – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
The first evening – none tasted blind
2021 Vitkin Riesling, Judean Hills – Score: 88 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose of this nice is nice with gooseberry, honeysuckle, flowers, and rich saline, flint, peach, and slate. The mouth of this light to medium-bodied wine is boring, lacking acidity, with some fruit, and essentially nothing to grab you. Next. (tasted January 2024) (in Jerusalem, Israel) (ABV = 11.5%)
Four Gates Winery’s January 2024 new releases
As you all know, I am a huge fan of Four Gates Winery, and yes Benyamin Cantz is a dear friend. So, as is my custom, as many ask me what wines I like of the new releases, here are my notes on the new wines.
I have written many times about Four Gates Winery and its winemaker/Vigneron Benyamin Cantz. Read the post and all the subsequent posts about Four Gates wine releases, especially this post of Four Gates – that truly describes the lore of Four Gates Winery.
Other than maybe Yarden and Yatir (which are off my buying lists – other than their whites and bubblies), very few if any release wines later than Four Gates. The slowest releaser may well be Domaine Roses Camille.
Four Gates grapes versus bought grapes
It has been stated that great wine starts in the vineyard, and when it comes to Four Gates wine, it is so true. I have enjoyed the 1996 and 1997 versions of Benyamin’s wines and it is because of the care and control that he has for his vineyard. That said, the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes he receives from Monte Bello Ridge show the same care and love in the wines we have enjoyed since 2009.
I have immense faith in Benyo’s wines which are sourced from his vineyard and the Monte Bello Ridge vineyard. The other wines, that he creates from other sources, are sometimes wonderful, like the 2010 Four Gates Syrah that I tasted recently. I would have sworn it was a Rhone wine, crazy minerality, acid, and backbone, with fruit NOT taking center stage, though ever so evident, the way it is meant to be! Others, while lovely on release may well not be the everlasting kind of Four Gates wines.
Two new wines
This year Benyo decided a Rose was a good idea, well, I mean last year! Yeah, he held the wine for a year! I have no idea why, it is just classic Benyo! The 2022 Rose is called Rosalinda and the fruit is Grenache from the Santa Clara Valley, CA.
OK, once we move on from the outlier, we come to a new wine in the Four Gates lineup, it is called Gidon. It is a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc. That blend has been consistent now for a couple of years, and Gidon is a wine that is here to stay.
The rest are returnees from previous vintages. The 2021 Petit Verdot from the Santa Clara Valley AVA, and a 2021 Malbec, also from Santa Clara Valley, CA. I will say that while I normally do not care for the Malbec or Petit Verdot, they are wines crafted for the “average man”. However, this year, they are controlled and ones I would have bought if I had more space to store them. They are good to go right now but for that price, I have other things I need space for.
We have another vintage of the classic Four Gates fruit. The Chardonnay is from 2022. The Pinot Noir is from 2021. The Cabernet Franc is from 2021. The rest are from 2019, the Gidon, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Frere Robaire. The 2019 wines are stunning and are babies, please do not open these wines for a decade each. I am not sure about the Pinot Noir, it is such a lightweight but also so ethereal, so I am not 100% sure about that one. The Chardonnay is another wine to leave for 10 years.
Prices and Quantities
I have heard it over and over again. That I and others caused Benyo to raise his prices. First of all that is a flat-out lie. I never asked for higher prices, but when asked about the value of his wines, the real answer I could give was more than 26 dollars.
Let us be clear, all of us who got used to 18/26 dollar prices and stocked up on his wines in those days should be happy. The fact that he raised prices, is a matter of basic price dynamics, and classic supply and demand. Four Gates has been seeing more demand for wines while the quantity of what is being made is slowing down.
The law of Supply and Demand tells you that the prices will go up, even if you beg for lower prices.
Four Gates Winery is one of the few cult wineries in the kosher wine world that releases wines every year. Sure there have been crazy cult wines, like the 2005 and 2006 DRC wines, or some other such rarities. His wines are in a class of their own, especially when it is his grapes, and there is less of it out there.
This year, the prices reached their highest Zenith, again, and while the majority of the wines sold out within minutes the last two are still available as they were the wines that he had the most of and the highest-priced wines as well. Still, the crazy prices people paid for the Auction wines that he had last year show the high demand for the wines. These are wines for the long haul, other than the Rose, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.
My thanks to Michel and Sima Rynderman for hosting the tasting and for putting up with me and Benyo crashing their home. This year we did it earlier in the day so we did not keep them up! My apologies for not getting pictures, I got used to Avi taking the pictures!
The notes speak for themselves. Again, this year, I did not buy the Rosalinda, Malbec, or Petit Verdot. The wine notes follow below, in the order, they were tasted – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
2022 Four Gates Rosalinda, Santa Clara Valley, CA – Score: 90 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose of this wine has changed a lot over the year, I had the wine in early 2023, but Benyo held out on releasing it.
The nose shows notes of peach, lemon, orange, orange blossom, and nice minerality.
The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is eh, what a lovely wine this was last year, sadly now, this is a nice and acidic wine with orange, peach, and lemon rind, but it is uni-dimensional. Drink now! (tasted December 2023) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 12.9%)
IDS tasting of current releases in Paris – a second time – in Nov 2023
As stated in my previous post Avi Davidowitz, from the Kosher Wine Unfiltered blog, and I went to Paris and had three organized tastings. This was the second organized tasting of the trip and it was with IDS. IDS is officially called Les Vins IDS and IDS stands for International Distribution Service. On a lovely Wednesday afternoon, Avi and I jumped in an Uber and went to see Ben Uzan at IDS’s offices.
Le Vin IDS Wines
Many of the wines I tasted that day were wines I had tasted 6 months earlier in May 2023. There were two wines that I had not tasted earlier, the 2022 Chateau Sainte Marguerite Cuvee Fantastique Blanc. In May it was the 2021 vintage. The other new wine was the 2020 Chateau Trianon, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru. We got the chance to taste the 2018, 2019, and 2020 vintages side-by-side, which was very cool!
Ben was so kind to have aired out the office room before we came in, as the smell of tobacco ash is always insufferable. I understand France is one of the few advanced nations in the world where smoking is still a thing. I have never tolerated it, the smell makes me retch, so Ben is always so kind to air out the room before we begin tasting his wonderful wines.
Once that was done I took in the room and I realized this was going to be an awesome tasting. I was not expecting a full replay of the May tasting, it was a true treat, and my many thanks. The full outlay was not for me, this was a very kind gesture by Ben for Avi and Ben’s other guests/friends, I was just a lucky recipient. It also gave me the time to take in this tasting in a far less rushed approach, as the wines were mostly tasting the same as they were 6 months ago. However, and this is important, it did give me a chance to better appreciate some of the wines. So, you will see some scores and note changes from the previous tasting. I will note those by RESCORED at the start of the notes.
This tasting was beyond comprehensive, this tasting was essentially the entire current wine portfolio of IDS. If IDS sold the wine it was at the tasting. There will be new 2021 wines released soon, if not already, in France, but the wines in this tasting are all available in France unless they are sold out. For example, maybe the 2019 Chateau Smith Haut-Lafite, but again, I have no idea of IDS inventory stocks!
In regards to whether these wines are here in the USA, the vast majority of them are indeed imported by M&M Importers and should be available in the NYC area.
White and Roses
The first 8 wines we tasted were the current whites and roses from Les Vin IDS. One of them is a favorite of mine, the 2018 Clos des Lunes Lune D’Argent – a lovely white Bordeaux that started a bit slow for me in 2019 but it has blossomed recently and I love it!
We started with the lovely 2022 Chateau Sainte Marguerite Cuvee Fantastique Rose, Cotes de Provence, followed by the 2022 Chateau Sainte Marguerite Cuvee Fantastique Blanc, Cru Classe, Cotes de Provence. There is only one rose and white this year, the Cuvee Fantastique.
Then came the lovely 2018 Clos des Lunes Lune D’Argent, it continues to impress, improve, and show its age-ability. I have been so badly burned with poor aging white wines, even from France/Europe, that I pull back hard on my DW. I would rather enjoy than curse at my wines! This is one of the RESCORED notes.
Then came a wine, the lovely 2021 Gustave Lorentz Riesling, Grand Cru, Alsace, a baby of a wine from Alsace made in the way I love, dry, and screaming with acidity and minerality. The Petrol joy will come later!
Ben did not pour the Gewurtztraminer, as Avi had it earlier, it is a nice wine but the off-dry approach is one I have a hard time with. Still professionally made and a real wine that may come around for me in a few years.
Then came the 2021 Jean Luc et Paul Aegerter Pouilly Fuisse, Premier Cru, Vers Cras, Pouilly Fuisse. It is a wine we have not had in Kosher for a long time now. A lovely mineral bomb! I am not sure of the exact vintage of the last one, but it has been a while!
Then came a lovely Sancerre, the 2021 Domaine Vacheron Sancerre, Grand Champs. Lots of fun! This is one of the wines that I did do a RESCORED on. It has truly moved along since May.
Followed by the 2021 Tokaj-Hetszolo Sarga Muskotaly, Tokaji, a unique and fun wine.
Finally, there was the beautiful 2020 Domaine de Chevalier, Blanc, Pessac-Leognan. This is a famous white wine and it was a joy to taste. In the non-kosher market, the white Chevalier is more expensive than the red, as in this kosher production as well! This too, is one of the wines that I did do a RESCORED on.
Red Wines
The next 23 wines – yes TWENTY-THREE wines were all red. I had tasted them all before in May and other times before that, other than one, the 2020 Chateau Trianon.
We started with a run of Burgundy wines. I can hear it now, 2021 red Burgundies, they must have all been horrible! As I stated in May, I was not expecting much, even now after only 6 months, but they were exactly the same as they were 6 months earlier. They are all well-made, balanced, and enjoyable. In the end, nice wines indeed! There are three 1er Cru wines and 2 Village wines.
That was followed by the red Cotes de Provence, a blend of Grenache and Syrah, the 2021 Chateau Sainte Marguerite Cuvee Fantastique, Rouge, Cru Classe. A nice, tart, refreshing red wine.
Read the rest of this entry
Another round of QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Hits and Misses, Twelve QPR WINNERS – Dec 2023
First off, this is not the largest roundup I have written – there is a larger one from October 2021. Sadly, that one only had 6 QPR WINNERs. My last QPR post had a lot of wines as well, and it had 19 QPR WINNERs!
Also, we have a shockingly high number/percentage of EVEN QPR score wines, 26 to be exact. Either the price or the quality pushed them to this level. So, without further ado, the 50 wines I tasted over the past few months.
QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Wines
It has been seven months since my last QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) post and many people have been emailing me about some unique wines I have tasted and some 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 wonderful QPR wines out there. This post differs though, as we are back to having a large number of POOR/BAD/N.A. QPR wines. We have 12 QPR WINNER scores and 14 GOOD/GREAT scores. The rest, 24 out of the 50 wines tasted here fall into the EVEN/POOR/BAD/N.A. categories, which is unfortunate.
We have a SOLID list of QPR WINNERS:
- 2019 Chateau Teyssier, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru – Stunning wine especially for the price some of us paid, not yet available
- 2019 Tenuta Monchiero Barolo, Barolo _ lovely wine!
- 2021 Castellare di Castellina Chianti Classico
- 2021 Chateau Montviel, Pomerol – One of the two best mid-range Bordeaux
- 2022 ESSA Cabernet Franc, Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge
- 2023 Baron Edmond de Rothschild Rimapere, Marlborough
- 2022 ESSA Altira, Cape South Coast
- 2021 Chateau Royaumont (M) – One of the two best mid-range Bordeaux
- 2021 Capcanes La Flor Del Flor De Primavera, Montsant (M)
- 2001 Chateau Bel Air Gallier, Graves
- 2021 Lovatelli Barbera d’Asti
- 2021 Hans Wirsching Silvaner, Iphofer
There were also a few wines that were a slight step behind with a GREAT or GOOD QPR score:
- 2021 Chateau Moulin Riche, Saint-Julien
- 2022 Chateau Les Riganes Cabernet Franc, Bordeaux (M)
- 2022 Chateau Les Riganes Cabernet Sauvignon, Bordeaux (M)
- 2020 Binah Chambourcin, Reserve, Pennsylvania
- 2021 Chateau de Parsac, Montagne Saint-Emilion (M)
- 2021 Le Nardian, Bordeaux – lovely wine, but at 110 it is a GOOD
- 2020 Capcanes La Flor Del Flor De Primavera, Montsant
- 2021 Pavillon de Leoville Poyferre, Saint-Julien (M)
- 2020 Ramon Cardova Garnacha, Rioja (M)
- 2022 ESSA Malbec, Stellenbosch
- 2022 ESSA Cabernet Sauvignon, Franschhoek
- 2021 Pescaja Barbara D’asti (M)
- 2022 Chateau Les Riganes Merlot, Bordeaux (M)
- 2021 Binah Gruner Veltliner, Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania
California Dreaming – 2021 is quite the vintage
The 2020 fire-riddled vintage in much of Northern California has thankfully given way to a stunning vintage of 2021! After suffering drought, fire, and extreme temperature swings, Cali has been gifted a vintage that while low on yields, in some locals, is high on quality.
Tasting through much of Herzog Wine Cellars (it is really difficult at times to get wine), Covenant Wine, and Hagafen Wine Cellars, along with some Four Gates Wine as well, it is clear to see that 2021 is a true gift. The alcohol levels are all down, the acidity is brighter and the wines all show less oak and more balance. Herzog’s new winemaker, David Galzignato, has been championing different oak regiments but the vintage overall cannot be summed up with just the use of different oak. That can be said for all the wineries. The acidity shines and the fruit is balanced.
You can read more about the fabulous vintage here and here. Ok, on to the wine notes!
Wines in this post
The 2021 Herzog Napa wines were the best I have had in a long time. The Napa and the Rutherford wines were both lovely and I have never scored them this high. The 2021 Alexander Valley may well be the best one in a very long time, yes a bit better than 2014 and 2016.
Since I am posting about some 2021 California wines I thought I should also post the other wines I tasted at different wineries at the same time. Further, some of these wines were tasted at the wineries (like Hagafen and Covenant) and some were tasted at my home. The location is stated in the notes.
The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
Hajdu Wines
2022 Hajdu Zinfandel, Ancient Vines, Califonia – Score: 90 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is ripe, with a bit of heat, nice fruit, strawberry, raspberry, good dirt, loam, and floral notes. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is ripe, layered, and a bit over the top, but controlled enough, with classic strawberry, cherry cola, smoke, black plum jam, rich tannin, mouth-filling, almost refreshing, with lovely acidity. The finish is long, ripe, layered, and jammy, nice! Drink until 2027. (tasted August 2023) (in Berkeley, CA) (ABV = 14.5%)
2022 Hajdu Grenache, Califonia – Score: 90 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is lovely, controlled, spicy, earthy, and smoky, with watermelon, root beer, and lovely red fruit. Nice! The mouth of this medium-plus bodied wine is ripe, layered, and not overly concentrated, with nice extraction, and good enough acidity, with lovely raspberry, cranberry, strawberry, ripe Kirsche cherry, mouth-draping tannin, and nice coffee. The finish is long, ripe, and controlled, with enough acidity, coffee, sweet tobacco, sweet spices, cinnamon, and cloves. Drink until 2027. (tasted August 2023) (in Berkeley, CA) (ABV = 14.5%)
2022 Hajdu Aglianico, Califonia – Score: 90 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is ripe, fruity, smoky, and spicy, with raspberry, Red Oolong tea, root beer, red floral notes, and smoke. The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is ripe, with enough acidity, red floral notes, dark raspberry, intense tannin, strawberry, and raspberry jam, with plum, candied berry, and sweet spices. The finish is long, spicy, ripe, and floral, with sweet tobacco, and sweet spices. Drink until 2027. (tasted August 2023) (in Berkeley, CA) (ABV = 14.5%)
Covenant Wines
2022 Covenant Chardonnay Lavan, Sonoma Mountain, Sonoma County – Score: 92.5 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this Chardonnay is lovely, showing melon, ripe peach, apricot, yellow apple, brioche, and bright fruit under a veil of smoke, oak, and sweet spices. Lovely! The mouth of this full-bodied wine is nice, with enough acidity, baked apple, smoke, brioche, elegance, smokey, and grippy, with a refreshing and captivating mouthfeel, rich, layered, and expressive, showing peach, melon, citrus, and sweet oak that lifts the wine and helps round out the lovely acidity, nice!! The wine is lush, balanced, elegant, round, yet acidic, tart, yet accessible, WOW! The finish is long, ripe, layered, and spicy, with sweet oak, more fruit, candied citrus, chamomille, and cinnamon/cloves. Nice!! Drink by 2027. (tasted August 2023) (in Berkeley, CA) (ABV = 13.9%)
2021 Covenant Solomon Cabernet Sauvignon, Lot 70, Napa Valley, CA – Score: 93 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is lovely, ripe, controlled, elegant, and new-world, with intense minerality, iron shavings, graphite, and black and red fruit, lovely! The mouth of this full-bodied wine is ripe, layered, elegant, and balanced, with lovely acidity, minerality, blackberry, cassis, plum, earth, smoke, and dense, with layers of concentration, extraction, and rich smoke. Bravo!! The finish is long, dense, ripe, elegant, mineral-driven, and smoky, wow! With scraping minerality, sweet tobacco, dark chocolate, leather, and sweet spices/smoke. BRAVO!! Drink until 2033. (tasted August 2023) (in Berkeley, CA) (ABV = 14.5%)
2022 Covenant Solomon Blanc, Bennett Valley, Sonoma County, CA – Score: 92 (QPR: GREAT)
This is the 3rd year of this lovely wine, I think this one sits right between the 21 and 20 vintages, which means this is another WINNER. Bravo! The nose of this lovely wine is impressive with intense bright fruit, bright acid, tart lemon/lime, sweet orange blossom, lanolin, sweet bright pear, sweet Honeydew melon, and lovely oak influence. The mouth of this medium-plus bodied wine is intense, layered, and complex, with rich layers of tart orange, lemon/lime, melon, Asian pear, yellow apple, and piercing acidity, with an impressive expression, of fruit and oak, sweet oak, smoke, sweet mint, and sweet fruit. Bravo! Though I liked the wine at the start it felt a bit lacking with time. It may turn into what I hope, for now, a solid wine! The finish is long, tart, ripe, and fruity, with some oak influence, and hints of vanilla, but really the finish is a focus of acidity, melon, orange, and lemon, all wrapped up beautifully! Bravo!! Drink until 2030. (tasted September 2023) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 13.4%)
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%)
With a heavy heart – we must try to push on…
In my last post, I was clear that Israeli wine is the best option for us to support Israel. In many ways that is still the case, as it supports our brothers and sisters who are in desperate need of support in Israel. With only one airline flying to Israel, and hundreds of thousands of men and women on the front lines or in supporting roles, the economy of Israel is suffering. The families of those brave protectors are bearing the brunt of the load to support and manage their own lives. The entire country seems to be both at a standstill and also thriving to keep their country moving. It feels from afar like a story of two lives. Those in the war or near it and those who know people in the war. Companies are trying to stay afloat with their employees on the front or supporting them. My brother was there and the stories are gut-wrenching.
From afar, we see the stories of the war, we see the terror and the suffering, we see the strength and resilience. What we continue to see is a story of the Jewish people, sadness and strength, happiness and sadness. One of my dearest friends lost his father half a world away just a day after his grandson was born in Israel. How does a person even come to grips with that? How does a family get their heads around such a tragedy and such happiness? Getting a ticket into Israel last minute is not as easy as it used to be and yet the airport is practically empty. The pictures of Lod Airport are both depressing and yet exhilarating as those who come are always bringing more and more support to those who are suffering.
I am not posting this to be depressing, my purpose is to show that while I am reeling from the suffering and sadness, I am also living a world away. The readers, mostly, are also a world away. While I still feel that posting anything would seem like a slight to those who are suffering, we can bifurcate our lives as Jews. We can feel the suffering and we can also feel the happiness that one gets from friends and family. So, with a heavy heart, I will start to catch up on the hundreds of notes that people have been asking for. I am not proud of myself at this moment, I still feel I am letting people down, but I also feel that I am helping others. With that, let’s try to put some words together about the wines.
I am months behind on posting
At this point, I am 6 to 7 months behind – which is a world away from where I want to be. Most of that is still on me and the last two months. I wish I could try to give some of these wines a bit more background but I am also very cognizant of the number of posts I need to do to get anywhere near where I want to be. So, to be blunt, these next few posts will essentially be without a theme. I will throw in a couple of Winery-themed posts, here and there. They will essentially be wine note dumps, in order of the tasting dates. There are many great wines in each of these upcoming dumps but they will still be just that. I will order them as always, in regards to their scores, the QPR scores will not be an ordering mechanism.
The sad part, aside from the world within which we live at this moment, is that I never got to do a Rose post this year. Rose wines will be posted over these next posts. My overall take on the 2022 roses is that they improved from the past vintages but the overall appetite for them from the public is waning, it feels like 2021 was the peak Rose and we are now on the downhill, the end of fad. Time will tell.
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Final Tasting from my trip to Paris – May 2023
As stated in my previous post, I was in Paris in May, without Avi Davidowitz, from the Kosher Wine Unfiltered blog, his lame excuse this time was not even a good one, like marrying off a daughter! Nope, I will not say something like a four-letter word on this blog! Whatever, you were missed buddy! Mostly for the IDS and Royal tasting! This part you missed nothing!
I kept to my hotel room for much of the trip. All these wines were tasted in my room. There were very few Roses available and what I could find, at that time, I have posted here.
White & Roses
After tasting roses from IDS and Royal I had a few more that I found around town. They were all very poor. I got to taste more roses in NYC, which was later in June, I will post those after this last Paris post.
Two red wines from Bakus Wines
Ari Cohen has a startup wine company called Bakus Wines. He shared two wines with me and this year’s vintages are solid! No issues with being over-oaked or overripe. Solid wines. Nice!
Two Chateau Peyrat Fourthon wines
This was the first big boy that I tasted from the 2021 vintage and scares me what these wineries will do with all the stock. These wines will not move quickly, short of drastic pricing, or just dumping. They are not the only ones sitting on palates of 2021 Grand Cru wines. Some wineries will weather the vintage and feel the satisfaction of the killing they will be making from the 2022 vintage. However, some wineries, like Chateau Peyrat Fourthon make very large batches of kosher wines and will be sitting on these for a long time and that makes me sad!
Understand that Chateau Peyrat Fourthonis one of the very few wineries that make the kosher wine by themselves and they therefore do not have the large “kosher stamp markup”. They sell the wine for a few more euros than the non-kosher sells for in France and Europe. It will be sad if the 2021 vintage stops them or slows them down from this approach. Here is hoping for another few years from Chateau Peyrat Fourthon!
Mercier Wines
I tasted two wonderful wines from the Mercier group and two basic ones that are okay. The 2021 Chateau Saint-Martin Rouge and 2021 Domaine Lebrun Pouilly-Fume! There were also some simple wines, three 2022 Le Grand Castellan and two L’enclos de Zeide Reserve wines.
The Rest
The rest were okay, though the lovely 2018 Ribeauville Riesling, Rosacker, Alsace Grand Cru is a wine that should be imported into the USA! Like its brother the 2018 Cave de Ribeauville Riesling, Vendanges Manuelles (which I have tasted two times in France – great wine!).
Thoughts on this tasting
Overall, most of these wines are not available in the USA, but you are missing nothing other than the Ribeauville and the Terra de Vinyaters. The rest are in the USA, including the Mercier wines and the Chateau Peyrat Fourthon 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:
2021 Chateau Saint-Martin Rouge, Cotes de Provence – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER (France))
This wine is a blend of 25% Grenache, 25% Syrah, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, & 25% Mourvedre.
The nose of this wine is ripe and juicy with floral notes, violet, blue, and red fruit, smoke, graphite, and roasted meat. With time, the more savory, earthy, dirty notes come out as well and add complexity and depth to the wine.
The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is fun, floral, juicy, and tart, with boysenberry, plum, dark cherry, herbs, graphite, searing acidity, nice mouthfeel, and a good fruity, balanced expression. The savory notes come out after a few hours and add complexity, Bravo!
The finish is long, tart, and juicy, with nice acidity, graphite, roasted herbs, and red/blue fruit. Drink by 2025. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)
2021 Domaine Lebrun Pouilly-Fume, Pouilly-Fume – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER (France))
This wine is stunning, concentrated, focused, mineral-laden, and so tart/juicy, that my palate was salivating long after I spit the wine out. Nice!!
The nose of this wine is lovely, showing notes of sweet fruit, lovely orange blossom, intense minerality, honeysuckle, honeyed peach, honeydew, and intense smoke/flint.
The mouth on this lovely medium-plus-bodied is truly fresh, ripe, and well-balanced with screaming acid, smoke, flint, gooseberry, cat pee, grapefruit, orange, lovely screaming acid, and layers upon layers of flint/slate! Showing a lovely weight and mouthfeel.
The finish is long, green, ripe, and well balanced, with crazy mineral, screaming acid, and lovely rock, flint, and mineral. WOW!! Drink until 2024. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)
Another awesome list of Elvi Wines
OK, so this week was the craziest one I have had both professionally and communally in a very long time, but I refuse to not post every week and hopefully more until I catch up.
So, enough about me, and Gemar Chatima Tova to you all. May you all be blessed with a year/life filled with all the good you can carry and then more, health, happiness, success, and many good wines to share with friends and family!
So, now back to wine, this post is about Elvi Wines, I have written many times about Elvi Wines, and the first post I wrote about Moises and Elvi Wines is this. Truthfully, nothing has changed about that post, in regards to Elvi Wines, other than the labels and a few wines being dropped to streamline the marketing of the wines. My next main post on Elvi Wines was when I visited the winery with my wife. The longest post, wine-wise was when I flew over for two days and we did a crazy number of verticals with Moises and Anna!
Before, in between, and after, I have been consistently posting their wines in my QPR posts, wines of the year, and so on. Why? Because they make exceptional wines at reasonable prices and they make a great selection of them under many labels. The labels have evolved, and some wines dropped, but overall, since I met Moises one day in San Francisco, tasting through the wines, I heard the story, the dream, and we have all been blessed to watch the trajectory of the winery. It continues to evolve, creating wonderful wines for a reasonable price while proving that Cabernet Sauvignon is not the only red wine that you can sell to the kosher wine buyer.
It is still harder to sell wines as diverse and different as Elvi does. There is no Cabernet, and there is no Merlot, they find their way into the EL26 blend, but overall, Elvi is an expression of Spain – not an expression of the kosher wine palate. Elvi typifies Spain to the kosher buyer more than any other option and it has continued to excel in doing it. Sadly, we have seen Capcanes, which is a 5-minute drive from Clos Mesorah, take a large step backward. They too showed the potential of Spain, as a new-world wine in old-world clothing. Sadly, they have drunk from the same fountain of fruit, that so many Israeli wineries have, and they have lost their way. Thankfully, Elvi Wines, Clos Mesorah, and Vina Encina continue to not only execute great wines they also are improving and growing with new vineyards and winery plans.
Many of these wines were sent to me by Moises in May and I tasted them in my Paris Hotel room, an absurdity I am want to do! That happens when your friends bail on you! Yeah, you know who you are!! LOL!
The wine that made me wake up, from my jetlag, and take notice was the 2017 and 2018 Elvi Wines Herenza, Reserva, Rioja. A pair of lovely wines. The 2018 outshined the older brother. We have had great Reserva wines from Elvi, but this one, the 2018, is at a different level, BRAVO!! We had it again, at the KFWE London and there I marveled at it again. Just a crazy good wine!
There are another SIX QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) WINNER wines out of 11. Bravo Moises and Anna, you guys keep raising the bar. Achieving what few can do and blessing us with wines to truly enjoy, wines that are refreshing, captivating, and enjoyed by all! There is FIVE Mevushal wine hiding in here, yes Mevushal! I know! Overall Moises does Mevushal well so that is not a big issue here. Still, thankfully, Moises is not boiling Clos Mesorah or Reserva!
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Wine Musings Blog 