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Another round of QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Hits and Misses, Twelve QPR WINNERS – Dec 2023
Posted by winemusings
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
Posted in Israeli Wine, Kosher French Wine, Kosher Red Wine, Kosher Rose Wine, Kosher Sparkling Wine, Kosher White Wine, Kosher Wine, QPR Post, Wine
Tags: Barbera D'Asti, Barolo, Baron Edmond de Rothschild, Binah, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Capcanes, Castellare di Castellina, Celeste, Chambourcin, Chateau Bel Air Gallier, Chateau de Parsac, Chateau Les Riganes, Chateau Montviel, Chateau Moulin Riche, Chateau Roubine, Chateau Royaumont, Chateau Teyssier, Château Malmaison Baronne Nadine, Chianti Classico, Domaine du Castel, Drappier, ESSA Wine Co., Flam Winery, Granacha, Gruner Veltliner, Hans Wirsching, Harkham Winery, La Flor del Flor de Primavera, Le Nardian, Lion & Dragon, Lovatelli, Malbec, Merlot, Nebbiolo, Pavillon de Leoville Poyferre, Pescaja, Petit Verdot, Ramon Cardova, Razi'el, Reserve, Rimapere, Saint-Emilion, Samso, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Silvaner, Stella, Tenuta Monchiero, Terre Alfieri, Tuke, White Label
2013 Kosher Food and Wine Experience (KFWE) lived up to all its billing
Posted by winemusings
For years I have always sported a purple colored beaming grin when I finish my tasting at the IFWF (International Food and Wine Festival) in LA, which hid my grumbling stomach’s discontent. Like I have documented for years, I never get to eat at the events, even as the entire food court mocks me, attempting to pull me into their warm, delicious, and very present embrace, with their wafting and intoxicating aromas. Still, I stand strong and I taste through the night until my teeth are purple and my stomach is close to rioting on the lack of food. Truth be told, I am not that good at taking notes when eating – the flavors of the food cover up and belie the flavors and aromas of the glass that beckons me closer with its “come hither” look and aromas. So every year, after the event I go to dinner at Jeff’s Sausage (down the street from the new location of the IFWF). Which is sheer madness of course, here I have half the Pavilion at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza, filled with food from one of the best kosher restaurants in the world – Tierra Sur Restaurant, and I pass on that for the spicy and homely fare of Jeff’s Sausage. In no way is this a slight to the joy of Jeff Rohatiner’s cookery and food. Rather, it has been my conscious tradeoff, throughout my many year experience at IFWF to drink through as much of the world-class wine I can before my taste-buds shutdown, rather than give them to the food court, no matter how wonderful it is.
This year was a massive shift for me, gone was the purple grin and my mutinous stomach, as I visited and added the New York KFWE to my travel dates. To say the KFWE was different than the IFWF would be an extreme understatement, the IFWF has close to 1000 people at the show, while the KFWE has closer to 2000 people. Further the event hall at Pier 60 is some 2 to 3 times larger than the Pavilion tent at the Hyatt Regency. Also, there were many options for lunch and dinner from the myriad of NY restaurants that all share half the hall, all clamoring to share their wonderful fare with great fanfare. The Pier 60 overlooks the Marina and Harbor and many folks were outside braving the cold to grab a smoke, but at least they had some comfort of looking at the marina and its waterfront.
To really appreciate the event you had to come to it with a game plan, and there were many guests who had a few of their own. The event started at Noon for those in the trade, a new thing that the KFWE started last year and something that the IFWF has been doing from the start (though initially with a smaller trade time). The trade event was crowded but there could not have been more than a thousand folks there, so access to wine was not a problem in any way. The event hall can easily handle 1000 people, it is a bit more complicated when the number swells to two thousand people, but still there was no pushing or shoving going on even at the end of the public tasting, when the number of guests was at its maximum. But I digress; the trade tasting allowed me to focus solely on wine and the winemakers, which was great. Read the rest of this entry →
Posted in Food and drink, Israel, Israeli Wine, Kosher French Wine, Kosher Red Wine, Kosher Rose Wine, Kosher Semi Sweet Wine, Kosher Sparkling Wine, Kosher White Wine, Kosher Wine, Wine, Wine Tasting
Tags: 1848 Winery, 2nd Generation, 5th Generation, 7th Generation, Alexander The Great, Alexander Winery, Altitude 412, Altitude 624, altitude 720, Amarolo, argaman, Assemblage, Barkan Winery, Binyamina Winery, Blanc, Blanco, Brut, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Capcanes, carignan, Cava, cave, Chardonnay, choshen, Classico, Clos Mesorah, Covenant Winery, Cuvee, Diamond, Dishon, dovev, Eitan, Elviwines, Flam Winery, Flor de Flor de Primavera, Granacha, Hagafen Winery, Harkham Winery, Herenza Crianza, Herenza Reserva, IFWF, InVita, KFWE, Matiz Rioja, Merlot, Odem, Onyx, Pardess, Peraj Ha'Abib, Peraj Petita, Pinotage, Ramon Cardova, Red C, Reichan, Reserve, Rosado, Rose, Sauvignon Blanc, Segal Winery, Sparkling Wine, Superieur, Syrah, Tulip Winery, tzafit, Unfiltered, White Riesling, Zinfandel