Category Archives: Kosher Semi Sweet Wine
IDS tasting of current releases in Paris – May 2023
As stated I was in Paris in May, and the second tasting I had on the trip was at the offices of Les Vin IDS. I was hoping for a blind tasting like we had in May 2022, sadly, it was not in the cards for me. Hopefully, the next trip will include an IDS blind tasting! I am looking at you Ben my man!!! This post, like so many of the other Parisian posts, that are NOT yet posted, is horribly behind. My sincere apologies to Ben and the IDS team. So, without further ado – the tasting!
Le Vin IDS Wines
Thankfully, many of the supply and wine bottling issues of 2022 are gone and all the wines were available and ready to taste in May of 2023! As stated there were many wines and they would have been perfect for a blind tasting but extenuating circumstances did not allow for that on this trip.
As is customary, I ask Ben to open the windows to air out the room, as soon as I enter, 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. There were tons of new wines and wines I had never seen yet. Since then, many of those wines have made their way to the USA.
White and Roses
The first 9 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 which 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 2021 Chateau Sainte Marguerite Cuvee Symphonie Blanc, Cru Classe, Cotes de Provence. There is only one rose this year, the Cuvee Fantastique.
Then came a wine I have not seen in many a year! The wine was the 2021 Jean Luc et Paul Aegerter Pouilly Fuisse, Premier Cru, Vers Cras, Pouilly Fuisse. 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! Followed by the 2021 Tokaj-Hetszolo Sarga Muskotaly, Tokaji, a unique and fun wine.
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! Finally, there was a Gewurtztraminer, that was nice 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.
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!
Red Wines
The next 18 wines – yes EIGHTEEN wines were all red. There were five of them that I had before, but the vast majority of them were new to me and everyone else at the table.
We started with a run of Burgundy wines. I can hear it now, 2021 red Burgundies, they must have all been horrible! I had ZERO expectations that I would like these wines. Still, with each of them that I tasted, I found no issues that I disliked. They were 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 a nice 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.
After that, we moved to Bordeaux country! Starting with a simple 2020 Chateau Larrivaux. The wine was balanced and approachable. Next came one of my eternal QPR WINNER wines from IDS, the 2020 Chateau La Tour de By. There were two other Chateau Tour de By wines, one was the Heritage and the other was the Cuvee Cabernet Sauvignon. All three are QPR WINNER.
The 2020 Chateau Leydet-Valentin, Saint-Emilion, Grand Cru, is a wine that I sadly cannot come to love, it is always a bit too ripe for me, maybe it would be great to taste further evolved, but such is life! The 2020 Chateau de Valois, Pomerol, is another wine I normally find too ripe, for me, even evolved ones that I have had the chance to taste. However, this vintage was more controlled and more balanced, IMHO, WINNER!
Then came a few wines we have had before, the 2020 Chateau Labegorce, a lovely QPR WINNER. Next, was the 2018 Virginie de Valendraud, another of those wines that I have a hard time with. Next came the 2019 Chateau Marquis d’Alesme Becker, a lovely, QPR WINNER, in France for sure, and a GREAT QPR in the USA.
Then came three epic wines, all back-to-back, the 2020 Chateau Lafon-Rochet, 2020 Domaine de Chevalier, Pessac-Leognan, and then the 2019 Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte.
All three of those wines are incredible. The Lafon Rochet pricing in France is really good and it is a clear WINNER in France. The last two wines, while not QPR WINNER, given the comparative pricing and quality landscape, are still GREAT QPR wines and should be in your cellar if pricing and life permits!
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Another round of QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Hits and Misses, Nineteen QPR WINNERS – May 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 WINNER. This post has 19! 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 62 wines I tasted over the past few months.
QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Wines
It has been four 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 quite a few wonderful QPR wines out there. This post differs though, this is the first time I have seen so few N.A. or POOR/BAD QPR scores! This is not because things are getting better as much as I am selectively picking wines to taste recently. Still, many of these notes are from KFWE in Los Angeles, so it does represent a proper distribution, IMHO. We have 19 WINNER scores and a few GOOD/GREAT scores. A shockingly large number of EVEN scores, which could have snuck into POOR/BAD, and only 8 POOR/BAD.
Thoughts on the wines
Harkham is back!!!
My interest and love for all things Harkham is well known. I loved discovering the Aziza in Australia, some 13 years ago! I missed Richie that day, but I made up for that many times afterward. I thought the two Shiraz, imported by Kosherwine.com, were solid entries into the Kosher US market. The 2021 vintage was tough in Australia and these wines show Richie’s drive and passion! Looking forward to even more stuff!!
Missed Bordeaux Wines
Between my Royal Wine tasting and the rest of the wines that Avi and I tasted, we covered most of the 2020 vintage in Paris, in Nov 2022. However, we missed the 2020 Chateau Fayat and the 2020 Chateau Meyney. That has now been rectified. The Fayat is an AWESOME WINNER, while the Meyney may come around, otherwise, it is still a solid wine.
Invei Wines
Michael Kaye continues to strive to make wines that are unique while also interesting. Some are hits and some are close but either way, he continues to impress. Hopefully, as he scales up production, the cool and refreshing wines will continue to roll! His website is up and running – Invei WInes.
ESSA Wines
My dear friend Josh Rynderman continues to pump out great wines. The rose and Emunah are prime examples. I liked the rose, it is refreshing and puts a smile on my face. The Emunah is nice, not as balanced as in the past, but a solid next play. I hear more fun stuff is coming soon. Looking forward!
Hajdu Wines
A couple of weeks ago, I was at Covenant Winery to taste the Hajdu wines with my friend Elk. Elk eventually showed up, but either way, it was great hanging out with Jonathan Hajdu and seeing Elk, eventually! The wines that I tasted were all balanced, refreshing, and enjoyable. The rose and Pinot Blanc were lovely wines. The reds were balanced as well.
Herzog Wines
I tasted these wines at the KFWE in Los Angeles and also some were sent to my home to taste. Overall, I was shocked by how good the 2021 Baron Herzog Pinot Grigio and Gewurztraminer were. Balanced, tart, and refreshing, and for the price! WOW! The 2020 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley is a hit as always, on even vintages. 2019 was not bad, but not this good!
Roundup
Overall another nice list of QPR WINNERS. I can always look at these kinds of lists and say there are only 19 wines I would want to buy from this entire list, but that would be a defeatist attitude. The correct way to classify this list is we have 19 more wines available to us and in the end, as I have stated many times now, I cannot buy all the WINNER wines even if I wanted to. There are just too many good wines out there and that is what we should be focused on!
The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
We have a nice list of QPR WINNERS:
- 2020 Chateau Fayat, Pomerol – Stunning wine! Enough said
- 2020 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley, Special Reserve – Great wine!
- 2021 Hajdu Proprietary Red, Napa Valley, CA – Big and bold wine, but balanced
- 2020 Chateau Meyney, Saint-Estephe – This wine scares me but it may eventually come around
- 2020 Terra Di Seta Guiduccio, Toscana – Same with this one, it scares me but should come around
- 2020 Elvi Wines El26, Priorat – Big, bold, but far more balanced than others here
- 2021 Hajdu Menagarie, California – Nice wine
- 2021 Harkham Hark Angel Shiraz – Harkham is back in the States! Lovely wine!
- 2021 Hajdu Barbera, Sierra Foothills – Nice, tart, and balanced wine
- 2020 Hagafen Rose, Brut, Napa Valley, CA – Nice bubbles!
- 2022 Invei Gewurztraminer, Dry, Clarksburg, CA – Huge ABV but you do not feel it – loved it!
- 2020 Chateau D’Arveyers, Bordeaux Superieur – Great Mevushal Winner!
- 2022 ESSA Liv & Luv Rose, Durbanville – Not bracing with acidity, but balanced and refreshing.
- 2021 Dalton Sauvignon Blanc, Reserve, Galilee – A nice Sauv Blanc – enjoy!
- 2021 Baron Herzog Gewurztraminer, California (M) – Impressed by this wine, refreshing
- 2022 Hajdu Pinot Blanc, Anderson Valley, CA – Floral and joyous
- 2022 Hajdu Rose, California – Nice, and refreshing
- 2021 Baron Herzog Pinot Grigio, California (M) – Another impressive Herzog Baron that is tart and refreshing
- 2022 Goose Bay Pinot Grigio, South Island (M) – One of their best Pinot Grigio, tart and refreshing
Paris tasting with Shlomo Corcos (Guter Wein) – June 2021
As stated in my previous post, I was in Paris in June, and while it took forever to post these notes, I am happy to finally be getting to them at this point. I must start by thanking Shlomo Corcos (Guter Wein) and Yoel Kassabi from YayinKosher. They were so kind to host me and allow me to taste the lovely wines. I was also joined by Ari Cohen.
So, returning to the trip, as stated in my previous post, I kept to my hotel room for much of the trip. Even vaccinated, I was worried, and am still worried, as such I kept to myself, where possible. However, Messrs Corcos and Kassabi were super busy the entire week and the only time they had was a lovely Friday morning, so we met to taste through the wines then. Corcos has been the mashgiach behind many wines, including Falesco and some IDS wines, along with his own Guter Wein wines.
It was a short tasting, but there were some interesting and unique wines. Including a lovely and very unique 2013 Falesco Innocence, Blanco, a wine I would love to drink every day, sadly, it is not available here in the USA. All of the wines I tasted are available on Mr. Kassabi website YayinKosher. We also tasted the incredible QPR WINNER, for France, of 2012 Plaisir de Siaurac – which sells for 12 euros! Sure, it is a drink now wine, but how often can you get a lovely QPR WINNER, aged to perfection, ready to drink, and dirty/filthy as all-get-out! Just lovely and crazy great price!
There were also three very unique Bulgarian wines. Along with another lovely Italian Verdeto. Along with a few new Bordeaux wines that we did not get the chance to taste the last time we had a tasting with Messrs Corcos and Kassabi. The 2016 Chateau Saint Eugene Martillac, QPR WINNER 2016 Chateau Haut-Bacalan, and the lovely 2018 Chateau Kirwan Grand Cru Classe.
In regards to whether these wines will be available in the USA, I suppose that would matter on import and other such issues. For now, they are all in France/Europe.
My many thanks to Messrs Corcos and Kassabi for setting up the meeting, sharing the wines with us, and for taking time out of their incredibly busy schedule to meet with us. The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
2013 Falesco Innocence, Blanco, Umbria – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
This is a blend of 55% Chardonnay and 45% Semillon. The nose on this wine is lovely with sweet oak, crazy funk, rich straw, hay, and lovely smoke, with fresh bright apple, quince, and mineral, wow! The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is lovely, rich, layered, ripe, but acidic, with great fruit focus, showing funk, mineral, saline, earth, dirt, sweet melon, apple, quince, and crazy funk, wow! The finish is lovely, bright, tart, with lemon/lime, smoke, graphite, hay, and sweet spices. WOW!!! Drink until 2024. WOW! (tasted June 2021)
Five new kosher Hungarian wines with some QPR potential
There are a few lovely old and pretty good Hungarian sweet wines from the old days, the last time I had them, they were nice, now they are dead. However, there are some new ones out, recently released which have yet to get to the USA. I tasted them by Andrew Breskin’s house – the founder of Liquid Kosher, along with Gabriel Geller, and he was tasting them to understand their potential here in the USA.
For full disclosure, these wines do not have an OU or OK, or such, they have off-brand supervision. I checked into it and I found it OK for ME, you need to do your research before trying them, IMHO.
There are a total of 5 of these new Hungarian wines, four of them are off-dry to sweet and one is a stunning dry wine, which in the USA will not garner a WINNER as the costs to get them here will evade the QPR price. However, the dry Furmint is awesome and exactly what I crave in a dry white wine.
Of the 4 off-dry to sweet sweet wines I tasted three of them, and I would only buy one of them. The five wines are:
- 2019 Tischler & Halpern Reserve Tokaji Dry Furmint (Dry)
- 2015 Tischler & Halpern Reserve Furmint Tokaji Félédes (Semi-Sweet) (NOT TASTED Yet)
- 2015 Tischler & Halpern Reserve Tokaji Late Harvest (Semi-Sweet)
- 2015 Tischler & Halpern Reserve Tokaji Szamorodni Édes (Sweet)
- 2015 Tischler & Halpern Reserve Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos (Sweet)
The wines have not yet been imported in by Liquid Kosher, but they are available in Europe, my buddy Ari got some, and they are priced perfectly well for the European market. The Dry Furmint is a screaming WINNER there along with the 5 Puttonyos. The other two that I tasted are reasonable, for the price paid in Europe, but not worth the trouble. I have not yet tasted the Feledes.
The 5 Puttonyos is nice now, but I think it will evolve, even more, it has the fruit and the acidity to go to the next level. The Dry Furmint will be good for a year or so, but why wait – the wine is beautiful as it is – right now!
The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here:
2019 Disznoko Tischler & Halpern Furmint Reserve, Dry Tokaji – Score: 91.5 (QPR: EVEN – USA, WINNER – EUR)
The nose on this wine is lovely, with beautiful floral notes of lemon blossom, honeydew, honeyed notes of Meyer lemon, wax, straw, lavender, and flint, lovely! The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is lovely, showing straw, Meyer lemon, green apple, incredible acidity, lovely tannin, ginger, with weight and density, showing rich saline, mineral, straw, and peppercorn. The finish is long, spicy, tart, with white pepper, ginger, smoke, flint, and mineral, wow! Bravo! Drink until 2023 (maybe more). (tasted April 2021)
2015 Disznoko Tischler & Halpern Tokaji Aszu, 5 Puttonyos – Score: 92.5 (QPR: GREAT – USA, WINNER – EUR)
While I think this wine is nice enough it is not as good as the previous vintages and it hits the point but this is missing a few steps. The nose on this wine is nice showing rich funk, brown sugar, sweet notes, guava, candied peach, apricot, candied ginger, lemon, and lemon zest. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is nice, with good enough acidity, lovely funk, good mouthfeel, plush, rich, concentrated, unctuous, with more citrus, lemon, mineral, and clay, nice and while I like it the wine lacks the punch, but still very nice, with intense pith, zest, funk, and acid lingering long. Very nice – Drink until 2030. (tasted April 2021)
2015 Disznoko Tischler & Halpern Tokaj, Late Harvest Furmint – Score: 90 (QPR: POOR – USA, EVEN – EUR)
This wine is fascinating as it has common notes to the dry younger wine. The nose on this is nice is off-dry, with wax, Meyer lemon, honeysuckle, sweet brown sugar, good enough acidity, and while I like it I want more acid. Drink by 2025. (tasted April 2021)
2015 Disznoko Tischler & Halpern Tokaji Szamorodni – Score: 90 (QPR: POOR – USA, EVEN – EUR)
Szamorodni, which takes its name from the Polish word ‘Samorodno’ meaning ‘as it comes’, is made from whole bunches that combine the treasured noble rot grapes and the healthy ones.
The nose on this wine starts with hints of funk with good saline, but after a few minutes, it explodes with pure funk, lovely socks, peach, guava, candied apricot, and Meyer lemon. It does show a nice blend of funk and fruit, but it has issues in the middle that may calm over time. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is rich, layered, but still showing a hollow with nice ripe and candied fruit, with good acidity, after a few minutes, and nice enough fruit, but it lacks the punch I crave. The finish is long and sweet with more acid, saline, mineral, slate, and lots of tannin and wax. Drink by 2025. (tasted April 2021)
The best/top kosher wines for Passover 2021 in all price ranges
Thankfully, the world is slowly coming alive, and while life has not returned to the days of old, the most recent CDC statement allowing people who have received the Covid Vaccine to hang out with other Vaccinated people is truly heartwarming and gives us hope for the future and maybe even a Passover together. Last year, I was extremely tentative about writing this yearly post, but I am happy that many found it useful and enjoyable, even in those extremely early bleak times. I hope this year the post finds you and your families well, and your lives beginning to find a rhythm that is more of the old than the current! Happy Passover to you all!
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 2014 Yarden Blanc de Blanc or the 2014 Yarden Brut Rose, both are great sparkling wines. 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 15 or so dollar bottles of wine, that can be bought at Skyview Wines, Gotham Wines, Suhag Wine, Liquid Kosher, onlinekosherwine.com, kosherwine.com, and a new store I have been buying from kosherwinedirect.com (they also ship for free if you buy a case), along with the other wine stores I have listed on the right-hand side of this blog (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 13 of so dollar 2019 Chateau Riganes Bordeaux, red, or the slightly more expensive Herenza Crianza, or the Terra di Seta Chianti Classico, and many others. These are great 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 2019 Chateau Riganes Bordeaux, as nice as it is 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 90 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 2019 rose wines! PLEASE! They are muted and a waste of your hard-earned money. Sadly, so far, the 2020 roses I have tasted, are also a waste of your money! The best of them are just arriving and I wanted to get this list out ASAP! I will post about them after I taste them soon.
Arba Kosot (The Four cups of Passover)
Finally, it the Jewish custom to drink four cups of wine on Passover, but to power down these wines are 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. This year, 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 cups 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.
NOTE! This year all 4 cups are NOT a D’oraysa, but rather a rabbinic requirement. Therefore, you can stay at 3.5 ounces. The only day you will need to go to the 4.42-ounce sized cup would be Shabbat night.
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Tasting of Royal Wine’s 2018 and some 2019 French wines in California
Well, it is official, 2020 continues to take, and though my annoyances are minor in comparison to the pain others are feeling, it still has impacted my routine, which I guess is the story of 2020. For the past three years, I have been tasting Royal’s latest wines with the man in France for Royal, Menahem Israelievitch. Sadly, this year, no matter how much I planned and tried, it is a no go. So, for the first time, in a long time, the tasting will be here in Cali and it will only be a small part of the 2018 and 2019 wines, such is life.
So, no there will not be a picture with all the wines, and some of the wines from last year are still not here right now! But, I will post here what I did taste so far, and my overall feeling of the 2018 and 2019 vintages.
In a previous post about the most recent French wines (at that time in 2017) that were arriving on the market – I already spoke about pricing and supply, so there is no need to talk that over again in this post.
While the 2015 and 2016 vintages were ripe, and the 2017 vintage was not ripe at all, the 2018 vintage makes the 2015 ripeness look tame! Now that is a very broad-stroke statement that cannot be used uniformly, but for the most part, go with it!
I see no reason to repeat what Decanter did – so please read this and I will repeat a few highlights below.
For a start, the drought came later in 2018,’ says Marchal, pointing out that early July saw less rain in 2016. ‘But when it came in 2018, it was more abrupt, with the green growth stopping across the whole region at pretty much the same time’. He sees it closer to 2009, but with more density to the fruit. … and high alcohols!
Alcohols will be highest on cooler soils that needed a long time to ripen, so the Côtes, the Satellites, and the cooler parts of St-Emilion have alcohols at 14.5-15%abv and more. I heard of one Cabernet Franc coming in at 16.5%abv, but that is an exception. In earlier-ripening areas, such as Pessac-Léognan and Pomerol, alcohols are likely to be more balanced at 13.5% or 14%abv, as they will have reached full phenolic ripeness earlier.
‘Pessac-Léognan did the best perhaps because it’s an early ripening site,’ said Marie-Laurence Porte of Enosens, ‘so they were able to get grapes in before over-concentration. If you had to wait for phenolic ripeness, that is where things could get difficult’.
The final averages per grape, according to Fabien Faget of Enosens, are Sauvignon Blanc 13.5%abv, Sémillon 12.5%abv, Merlot 14.5%abv, and Cabernet Sauvignon 14%abv’.
The Mevushal push, from Royal wines, is continuing for the USA labels, a fact I wonder about more and more. Look, if you are going to force Mevushal wine down our throats, why not import BOTH? If you look at the numbers for wines like we will taste in the post, the majority of the buyers are not restaurants or caterers. Sorry! No matter how much Royal Wines wants to fool itself into thinking. Throw in COVID and FORGET about this INSANITY, please! I beg of you!
There is no denying that it affects the wine, it does. I have tasted the Chateau Le Crock side by side, the Mevushal, and non-Mevushal and while I feel that Royal does a good job with the boiling, it is still affected. If you want to have Mevushal wines in the USA, then bring them BOTH in! Royal does this for Capcanes Peraj Petita and the undrinkable Edom and others in Israel. So what Royal is saying is – that could not sell the Chateau Le Crock numbers that they import into the USA without boiling it? Why else would they feel forced to boil it and import it if not otherwise? To me, it makes me sad, and in a way, it disrespects what Royal is trying to do to its French wine portfolio, IMHO. They should, at minimum, import both! Allow for the caterers and restaurants (like anyone needs that nowadays – HUH???) to have the Mevushal version and sell the non-mevushal version to us, as you do with Edom and Petita. There I have stated my peace, I am 100% sure I will be ignored – but I have tried!
The Mevushal wines from France for the 2018/2019 vintage will be, the 2018 Barons Edmond et Benjamin de Rothschild, Haut-Medoc, 2018 Chateau Greysac, 2018 Chateau Chateau de Parsac, 2018 Les Lauriers, Des Domaines Edmond de Rothschild, 2018 Chateau Le Crock, 2019 Chateau Les Riganes, Red, 2018 Chateau Genlaire, along with the whites wines, the 2019 Bourgogne Les Truffieres, Chardonnay, the 2019 Les Marronniers, Chablis, and the 2019 Chateau Les Riganes, Blanc.
Now does mevushal impede the long-term viability of aging in regards to the wine? Well, that too is not something that we have scientific proof of. I have tasted a mevushal 1999 Herzog Special Edition and it was aging beautifully! So, would I buy the mevushal versions of the wines I tasted below – yes! Would I age them? Yes, I would hold them for slightly fewer years.
Other than the mevushal aspect, there are no differences between the European version of the wines and the USA version of the wines. While that sounds obvious, I am just stating it here. The wines will be shipped now and the temperature issues that affected Israel’s wines of old, have not been a factor here.
The “other” wines not here yet or I have not had
There is the just-released 2018 Château Cantenac Brown Margaux (will post that when I get it), along with these yet unreleased wines. The 2019 Chateau Gazin Blanc (2018 was/is INCREDIBLE), 2018 Chateau Fourcas Dupre, 2018 Château Meyney Saint Estèphe, 2018 Chateau Giscours, 2018 Chateau Lascombes, 2018 Chatyeau Tertre, and 2018 Chateau Royaumont.
I understand this is a sub-optimal situation and blog post. It does not cover Royal’s 2018/2019 European wine portfolio. Still, it covers what has been released (or very close to it), here in the USA, and hopefully, it will help you. One day soon, I hope and pray, things will return to some semblance of normalcy, and we will all travel around again. Until then, this is the best I can do. Stay safe!
Final comments, disclaimer, and warnings
First, there are a TON of QPR winners but there are also a LOT of good wines that I will be buying. Please NOTE vintages. The 20016 Haut Condissas is a disaster while the 2017 vintage is fantastic! So, please be careful!
These wines are widely available in the USA, so support your local wine stores folks – they need your help! If you live in a wine-drinking desert, like California, support the online/shipping folks on the side of this blog. They are folks I buy from (as always – I NEVER get a bonus/kickback for your purchases – NOT MY STYLE)!
Sadly, there was no plane trip, no hotels, no restaurants, nothing. So, no trip to talk about – just the wines and my lovely home! Stay safe all and here are the wines I have had so far. I have also posted many scores of 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 wines which are still for sale here in the USA. My many thanks to Royal Wine for their help in procuring some of these wines. The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here:
A wine tasting of some great and sadly poor to uninspired 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 kosher French wines with Nathan Grandjean
When I last left off on the story of my trip to France, I had just ended an epic tasting of the new 2017 wines from Royal Wines. I then jumped on a train, and I was once again joined by Avi Davidowitz from the Kosher Wine Unfiltered blog, and we made our way to Strasbourg for a tasting of Alsace wines and other wines that are not made by Royal. It included some new 2016, 2017, and 2018 wines, but once again it mostly involved French wines from the 2014 and 2015 vintage.
2018 French wines to the rescue
Now, I need to get on my soapbox for two major topics, the first is how AWESOME the 2018 vintage is showing right now. At this tasting and again with Yoni Taieb of Taieb Wines, the 2018 vintage shows itself incredibly well wit the simple entry-level wines of Bordeaux. It takes them from tinny and boring wines to rich and well-balanced wines, that sell for 8 euros or less! This is something that we will never get in the USA! Sadly, the only wine that comes close to this is the 2018 Chateau Les Riganes, Bordeaux and maybe the 2018 Chateau Genlaire, Bordeaux Superieur, but I think this wine will be above the 10 dollar price of the Chateau Les Riganes.
On the trip to France, two things came up often, when I was speaking French with the natives, something I was not able to do as much with Avi around, as Avi still needs to learn French! One, and this really shocked me, was how common French folk think California is dangerous when I would tell them where I am from, because of all the media of the horrific shootings we have had in our state. Besides that, the Jews I spoke to, especially the ones who drink kosher wine, complain bitterly about the cost of French wines! The more I look at this issue the more it makes me wonder, why are the wines so expensive? Yes, there is a cost for kosher supervision, but that cost does not explain the double or triple pricing of the non-kosher cost. That question is even more exaggerated in France, where there is no three-legged-stool in regards to wine distribution. Yes, France has Negociants, but for the lower level wines that is a practice that is going the way of the dodo bird.
The truth is that what is needed are reasonably priced wines. Avi Davidowitz, on his Kosher Wine Unfiltered blog scores wines partially based upon price. I do not agree for many reasons, which we discussed over our trip, but it does NOT diminish the overarching issue which is 100% true, kosher wine prices have gotten 100% OUT OF CONTROL. Sorry, this is insane and before someone tells me it is the Chateau’s fault for having such high En Primeur pricing, the kosher wine prices are shockingly higher. This really needs to be rebooted, IMHO, but sadly, it will stay the same until we get into a serious crunch or glut, whichever occurs first. Yes, we are blessed with some QPR wines, and I always post about them, but overall, the grand cru wines are getting out of control.
That is why I am so happy with the 2018 simple wines from Bordeaux. Sadly they will not come to the USA under those prices, but for those in France, there are serious options.
2015 and 2016 Magrez wines are a total failure, IMHO
Last year, I wrote that this post was coming, but I had to taste the 2015 and 2016 Pape Clement first before I could make my feelings clear. At this point, I have tasted the 2015 Magrez reds 5 times and the 2016 whites 2 times. I am 100% comfortable with saying they have all taken a seriously far step backward from the epic 2014 vintage. The 2014 Magrez were world-class wines and wines I have bought happily. However, I can not say the same for any of the 2015 or 2016 kosher Magrez wines I have tasted to date. I was very disappointed when I tasted the kosher 2015 Pape Clement, and I was shocked by the results of the 2015 Tour Carnet, Fombrouge, and others. The 2016 Pape Clement is better than the 2015 vintage, but it is not worth the bottle it is in. The whites have all also lost a few serious steps from the 2014 vintage. Personally, I will not be buying any of the 2015 or 2016 Magrez wines I tasted, other than the Pape Clement wines I tasted that I bought En Primeur.
Now, with that aside, I can clearly state that the wines are not undrinkable, they are not date juice, they are not unprofessionally made, they are simply boring, lackluster, and flat, with little to grab your attention. They are simply not wines worthy of the price or their names, sadly, they are what they are.
I miss Weingut Von Hovel and the Gefen-Hashalom wines
Two years ago Nathan Grandjean and I made a run for Von Hovel, and I wanted to do that again year after year, and maybe even Nik Weis. Sadly, they told me there were no new wines for 2017 or 2018, and now I just heard there was none made in 2019 either. I am really so sad, those wineries have so much potential, but I guess Gefen Hashalom (“Vine of Peace”) felt they had too much inventory already. I am really not sure what they have that is not sold? All the Nik Weis wines are sold, from what I know, Gary got the rest of the 2016 wines. Von Hovel did not make any wines after the 2015 vintage, and they have nothing left either. I really hope they make wines in 2020.
Wine Tasting at Nathan Grandjean
After last year’s solid tasting with Nathan Grandjean, I had tasted all of the 2015 French wines that I know of. The 2016/2017/2018 wines are slowly being released, from producers other than Royal. Kosher Wine International, the producers for all the Magrez wines, has now fully released the 2015 wines. Two days after this tasting we would be tasting Taieb wines, but we wanted to taste the 2017 Domaine Lescure Pommard, so that was on the list.
After last year’s tasting of a few Magrez 2015 wines and my other tastings of them at two wine events, I wanted the chance to taste them YET AGAIN, with both of the Pape Clement and the new 2016 Clos Haut-Peyraguey, Sauternes. So, I had Nathan get all the 2015 and 2016 Magrez wines that are available and we tasted them over two days. Thankfully, we also had a couple of wonderful wines and some duds.
Finally, we tasted all of Nathan Grandjean’s Les Vins de Vienne wines from both the 2017 vintage and the 2018 whites. He had some tank samples of the 2018 reds, but honestly, they were not ready for me to write proper notes on. Read the rest of this entry
Vitkin Winery visit – April 2019
I have written before about Vitkin last year, and this year (2018 production), makes it the third year of kosher production for the winery! Yes, as stated last during the 2015 vintage, Asaf believed that it was time to go kosher, so why not make it on a shmita year! They moved from 60K bottles in 2014 to 100K bottles in 2015 and on. The hope there is that expansion would be possible by moving kosher. Royal Wines is the USA importer for their wines from 2016 and on.
The winery has grown from its early days in 2001 to now making 100,000 or so bottles of wine, and though it has space for more, it will stay there for now. Avi Davidowitz, of KosherWineUnfiltered, and I arrived during the start of post-production work on the 2018 vintage for reds and some of the special whites, that we will talk more about later on.
The winery does not use pumps to move the wine must to the top tanks, but rather they use hydraulics to move the bins to the top of the tank and drop them into the tank. This makes sure that the fruit and it’s must is not crushed a second time, allowing for better wine. After the wine is finished fermenting, using gravity the grapes and the must are placed into the press and then the resulting wines are then dropped into the barrels. Tank to press to barrels all using gravity, with an assist from the hydraulics at the start. This is not a new scheme, it can be seen all over France, but it is nice to see it in Israel as well (Galil Mountain winery also does this along with others, but not many family-run boutique wineries show such care and concern).
Vitkin has three main lines of wines; Israeli Journey, Vitkin, and Shorashim (the elite wines), and some dessert wines as well. The kosher line started in 2015 and so initially the whites and rose were the only available options. Of the wines, we tasted this year, the rose is in the Israeli Journey line, along with the white Israeli Journey. The other three whites; Riesling, Gewurztraminer, and Grenache Blanc are all in the Vitkin line, with the Grenache Blanc and The Gewurtztraminer adding the Collector’s Edition moniker.
The current red wines that are kosher all fall into the Vitkin wine label, both the 2018 Vitkin Israeli Journey, Red, along with the 2017/2018 Vitkin Pinot Noir, the 2016 Vitkin Cabernet Franc, the 2016 Vitkin Petite Sirah, old vines, Collector’s Edition, and the 2016 Vitkin Carignan, old vines, Collector’s Edition.
There are two fascinating aspects of the wines produced the Vitkin Winery. One is that more than 55% of the bottles produced are either rose or white! Think about that for a second! Are you kidding me, that is really impressive if you ask me personally. Israel has changed so much in the last 10 years, in two core aspects. The Israeli public now drinks more wine, and they like white/roses and the second is that red wines are turned riper – a drum I constantly beat – and one that is not changing yet. Read the rest of this entry
KFWE NYC and L.A.’s must taste wine list
This is not the first time I have been asked to post this list, and shocker, it will have very little Israeli wine on it. So, if you want to concentrate on Israeli wines at KFWE NYC and LA, you can stop reading right now. Domaine du Castel will be on the list, as will Carmel’s Riesling, one Vitkin, one Tabor, and one Or Haganuz, and that is about it for Israeli wines on this list.
Next, yes download the app, there is an app for KFWE, at least for NYC anyway, the data for the L.A. show is not yet in the app, but it should be up soon, according to my main man in Herzog, David Whittemore, the Marketing, and Public Relations Director at Herzog Cellars Winery. Now, totally separately as a software architect that has built world-class systems around the world, this app really sucks. It is slow, illogical in how the application moves, does not keep state, has loads of wrong data (wines and vintages), and for the most part, not a very good looking application. With all the caveats aside, the tables and the wines on those tables are defined, and therefore, I will list the wines to enjoy based upon that information!
So, let us keep this simple – here are the tables and the wines I say are “cannot miss” or make sure to taste.
OVERALL Rules.
- Skip 2013 Bordeaux wines – if any exist
- Skip most whites, unless written here, from before 2015/2016
- Skip all roses unless from 2018
- Taste what you can, the list below is what I liked, but you may like other wines. Learn, explore, and enjoy!!!!
- Finally, the app is horrible but even worse is the data. Many wines and vintages in the app are wrong. So check the wines yourself and follow the guide, in regards to vintages above.
Rothschild Table:
- 2016 Chateau Clarke Baron Edmund de Rothschild
- 2016 Chateau Malmaison (QPR)
Bokobsa Table:
- 2016 Chateau Hauteville
- 2016 Chateau Lamothe Cissac (QPR)
- 2015 Chateau le Cailou
- 2017 Domaine Jean-Pierre Baily Pouilly Fume (QPR)
- 2017 Pascal Bouchard Chablis
Capcanes Table:
- 2015 Capcanes Flor del Flor de Primavera Samso
- 2014 Capcanes Flor del Flor de Primavera Garnacha
Carmel Winery Table:
- 2014 Carmel Kayoumi Vineyard White Riesling (QPR)
The Kosherwine.com French wine options
With the new year, I wanted to repeat my rules of engagement with wine. Also, with the continued plethora of people writing about wine and selling them as well, I decided to remind my readers, I DO NOT shill. I do not take money or free wines. I pay for my wines and I write about them, no matter what others think. I do go to wine tastings and yes, at that time I do not pay for the wines, but neither does anyone else at the wine tasting. So, yes, I bought these wines from kosherwine.com and I am posting my notes about them. I am also adding my notes about a few wines that I tasted at YC’s house when he had a few Kosherwine.com wines as well. Those notes and the tasting can be found here, and I will post them at the end, just for completeness.
Many of these wines are produced by Louis Blanc, a producer that makes lower level wines at very reasonable prices. Sadly, when they get here, the prices are somewhat elevated. Depending on the location you can find the Brouilly below for 10 euro or so, but here in the USA, it goes for 23 dollars or so. Figure in the shipping, the extra hand (AKA extra person/company) in the mix and you get the price you get. Still, some of the wines are nice enough to buy, IMHO.
Sadly, the best reasonably priced French Bordeaux wine, that I have tasted so far, that costs, in France some 11 euro, would be the 2014 Chateau Grand Barrail, Prestige, Red. It is far better than any of these wines listed here, other than the crazy good 2016 Chateau Guimberteau, Lalande de Pomerol, but that is 4x the price!
I wanted to keep this simple, so the wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here:
2012 Louis Blanc La Gravelle Chinon, Cuvee Terroir – Score: 90 (QPR)
This wine has changed since the last time I had it. It is showing far better than the clearly bad bottle I had in Israel. This wine is made from 100% Cabernet Franc. The nose on this wine starts off a bit funky, with time it opens to show lovely barnyard, mushroom, with a rich garden of green notes, earthy, foliage bomb, with crazy raspberry, red fruit, showing loads of floral and tart notes. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is nice and layered, and restrained, with nice elegance, showing green notes, soft tannin, and bell pepper, lovely with lovely balancing acid! The finish is long and green, with hints of leather, tobacco, and rosemary. Nice! Drink now through 2019!
2012 Louis Blanc Duc de Serteil Coteaux Bourguignons – Score: 86
This wine is a blend of 60% Gamay and 40% Pinot Noir. The nose on this wine is a bit closed, but with air, it opens to cherry notes, Kirshe, with olives, green notes, herbs, and strawberry, with currant, and foliage. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is a bit too simple, it shows great acidity, with nice enough notes, but the metallic notes and soft tannins make it a bit too simple. The finish is average and nice enough, with more herb, and cherry red notes. Drink UP!
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