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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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IDS Tasting of 2020 Domaine Aegerter Burgundy wines – November 2021
The first organized wine tastings that Avi Davidowitz, from the Kosher Wine Unfiltered blog, and I went to, during our last trip to Paris, in November 2021 was with IDS. IDS is officially called Les Vins IDS and IDS, stands for International Distribution Service. On a lovely Monday morning, Avi and I jumped in an Uber and made our way to go see Ben Uzan at IDS’s offices.
I have written about IDS in the past, and in 2018 they started working with a new Burgundy producer called Domaine Aegerter. I have written about the previous vintages in these posts.
The Tasting
As stated, Avi and I made our way to the offices, and there laid out on the table were nine Domaine Aegerter wines from the 2020 vintage, along with one bottle of 2020 Chateau du Bosquay, Bordeaux Superieur, a perennial QPR WINNER for France. Sadly, with the economics of French kosher wine, it would not be worth importing it to the USA, but that is a discussion for another post.
In 2018 there were no Premier Cru from Domaine Aegerter, in 2019 there was one Premier Cru and a Grand Cru! In 2020, they made 4 Premier Cru, but no Grand Cru, as there was simply not enough fruit to go around. The 2020 vintage report for Burgundy was not as sad as previous vintages, or 20201, which was a disaster. There were few stories of frost destroying vine buds, except for in Chablis, but even that was not horrible. Overall, 2020 was a hot and dry season in Burgundy. There were some losses from the high heat but overall, it looked to be another successful vintage.
Nine wines from Burgundy is quite an impressive lineup, add in that they are from the same vintage, and wow, that is a lot of labels for one year. There is one Meursault and 8 red Burgundies, really impressive.
Throughout the tasting, I could not help but sense that the red wines felt overly acidic, like VA. VA (Volatile Acidity) is a common aspect of wines. It is defined as a flaw but many find it adds to the wine’s acidic profile. As stated in the Wine Spectator:
In small measures—most wines have less than 400 mg/L of acetic acid; the human threshold for detecting it is about 600 to 900 mg/L—volatile acidity imparts a racy, balsamic edge to a wine. It’s also likely to be present anytime you see “high-toned” fruit flavors in a tasting note. It can offer a tangy edge that works well with dishes that could use a little oomph, say pasta with red sauces. It stretches the flavors, and some vintners encourage a touch of VA to do just that. (WS, 2017)
Overall, the wines showed differently than in previous vintages, which is of course common. They were richly floral, again common for Burgundy. The clear winner of the tasting was the incredible Meursault, which showed very differently than the 2019 Jean-Philippe Marchand Meursault. The 2019 Jean-Philippe Marchand Meursault is riper and shows more of the oak influence while the 2020 Domaine Aegerter Meursault is more refined, at this time, and shows more mineral and control, overall. Just lovely!
We also tasted the 2018 Chateau Trianon, a wine I tasted with Ari Cohen in June, also at the IDS office, and the lovely 2020 Chateau Sainte Marguerite Cuvee Symphonie Blanc, Cotes de Provence. My notes for them are identical to what I wrote in June. IDS will be distributing the kosher Chateau Trianon wines in Europe. Until now, the kosher wines were only available from the winery. Now, they should have a better distribution within Europe, I hope, as they are lovely wines indeed.
My many thanks to Ben Uzan for setting up the meeting, sharing his wines with us, and for taking time out of his 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:
2020 Domaine Aegerter Meursault, Meursault – Score: 94 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose on this wine is pure funk, almonds, walnuts, peach, nectarines, orange blossom, honeysuckle, rich floral notes, straw, mineral, spice, and rich oolong tea. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is bombastic, wow, unique, special, just wow! The screaming acid, hay, straw, jasmine, white flower, with yellow plum, green apple, Asian pear, with rich saline, mineral, smoke, straw, and rich flint, WOW! The mouth is dense, oily, structured, and just lovely! The finish is long, green, hay, earth, smoke, lemongrass, with a plushness, oily, sweet oak, intense cloves, and rich green notes, wow! Drink from 2025 until 2032. (tasted November 2021)
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