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IDS tasting of current releases in Paris – Late May 2025
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. This post, like many of the other Parisian posts that are not yet posted, is horribly behind. My sincere apologies to Ben Uzan and the IDS team. So, without further ado – the tasting! Oh, and yes, Avi Davidowitz, from Kosher Wine Unfiltered, finally made a trip to Paris in May! Congrats, my man!
Le Vin IDS Wines
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 last 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 excellent wines.
Before entering, I knew there were at least two wines we were tasting, but thankfully, there were five, four of them from Bordeaux. I am not sure if these wines are in the USA yet, but I am sure they will be very soon!
Two “White Wine” and a blind red wine
This is the second vintage of the 2024 Tokaj-Hetszolo Sarga Muskotaly. To me, this one was less ripe, more balanced, and had lovely acidity to make it all work. The price in France is a no-brainer, while here in the USA, it is a solid choice.
The next White wine was the 2022 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc, a lovely wine, layered and expressive, still, a slight step behind the 2021. That said, it is a wine for holding, and I think the acidity I crave will come out after the fruit and oak calm down.
It was followed by a blind tasting of a red wine, and I was unimpressed with it – the first time I had it, and I continue to be unimpressed by it at this time, as well. It was the 2017 Le Petit Trianon. It feels as hollow and empty as the first time I had it.
Red Wines
After that, we tasted three of the most highly anticipated wines of the 2022 vintage. The 2022 Chateau Lafon-Rochet, followed by the 2022 Domaine de Chevalier, and then the 2022 Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte.
These wines all met and matched the elevated expectations we had for them. They showed the ripeness that the 2022 Bordeaux vintage is now famous for, but they also showed incredible balance and acidity. The Chevalier, like the Blanc, didn’t quite show the acidic pop I hoped for, but I am sure that will come with time. The Lafon Rochet and Smith Haut Lafitte both showed incredible balance and pop.
Now, if there was one wine I was asked to share the notes for early, for all the wines we tasted in Paris, on this trip, it would have to be the 2022 Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte. I must admit that when tasting the Lafon Rochet, we knew, essentially, what we were going to get: a crazy good wine for the price, with loads of potential. However, when the 2022 Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte was poured, it reminded me of when I tasted the 2019 Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte, blind, with a bunch of other people. The room went absolutely silent; you could hear yourself thinking. It was intense. This was a wine that showed everything to you at once, and yet did it in elegance and control. Notwithstanding, it could have used a dollop more control, but in the end, it may well be the best Kosher wine I have ever tasted.
In comparison, the 2009 Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte is a wine I haven’t had in a few years, but it is a beast without the restraint and acidity of the 2022. That wine came in at 14% ABV, and that was insane back then. The 2022 comes in at 15% and while it is more balanced, it still has to contend with all that fruit. The 2022 does not come across as hedonistic as the 2009 did. The 2009 felt fat and heavy and yet almost balanced. The 2022 is balanced, but the pop I crave, at that level, demands more. So, when you look at the 2022 price and say, “How can that be so expensive?” look at the 2009 price, even back in 2010, when Kosherwine.com was run by a very different outfit. They brought the wine in and charged an ungodly amount of money, back then, all on the back of the 100-point score Parker gave it in his heyday!
Back then, the 2009 Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte would have set you back 180 dollars. According to inflation numbers, $180 in 2010 is now worth approximately $270, and there were cheaper options, still. Well, that will get you most of the way there if you buy the wine in France. At this point, due to various issues, the wines we tasted in May have not yet arrived; time will tell when they will reach these shores.
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IDS tasting of a few new wines in Paris – January 2025
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
These wines are newly released, and the tasting was enjoyable, as always. Ben was so kind to air 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 as to air out the room before we begin tasting his excellent wines.
The list of wines was short, but they were lovely. The most unique wines were the newly released mirror Jeeper Champagne, aka Luxe. These wines are not the same blend, and the notes made this clear. These wines are made for show but also deliver on the product. The mirror glaze on the glass is cool, and it shines nicely. They are produced in limited quantities and made for clubs and other low-light environments where the mirror glaze pops.
Whether these wines are available in the USA, the vast majority are indeed imported by M&M Importers and should be available in the NYC area. I am not sure about the Jeeper Luxe, time will tell.
Champagne
The two mirror Luxe Jeeper Champagne were quite nice. They are a more rich and more opulent wine in comparison to the baseline Jeeper wines that we had in May 2024. These two Luxe wines show quite nicely, and while I think the prices are a bit extended, the process and their exclusivity are how the prices come to be.
White, Rose, and Red Wines
The white and rose wines from Chateau Sainte Marguerite Cuvee Fantastique are always consistent in their quality and access.
The Chateau Sainte Marguerite Cuvee Fantastique’s Red wine is also quite nice. I liked the smokey notes and the good acidity.
The 2022 Chateau Trianon is a wine I have already spoken about, and I like it. It is a wine that checks all the boxes for me. Acidity, body, and focus. Trianon has had a good track record so far.
The 2021 Virginie is one of the better wines from this winery. While the other wines are normally too ripe for me, the 2021 is closer to what I like. The only thing I wanted was more acidity and pop.
My many thanks to Ben Uzan for setting up the meeting, sharing his wines with us, and taking time out of his busy schedule to meet with us.
My thanks to Avi for the pictures, I was too lazy, and he is far better anyway!! 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:
N.V. Maison Jeeper Luxe, Brut, Champagne – Score: 92+ (QPR: EVEN)
This Champagne has 8 grams per liter for the dosage, and all the grapes are sourced from a single plot versus the multi-plot for the baseline Jeeper Champagne.
The nose of this wine is pure yeast, with a lovely perfume of brioche, apple, pear, quince, and lovely minerality. Nice! The mouth of the medium-bodied wine is lovely, fresh and vibrant, elegant, and calmer than the main Champagne, showing bracing acidity, lovely small-mousse bubbles, creme Fraiche with dry grass, smoke, lovely apple, baked quince pie, and hints of lemon/lime/orange. The finish is long, bracing, and tart with great tension, smoke, creamy, and rich, with more salinity and citrus over the base Champagne. Lovely wine indeed! Drink now. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12%)
N.V. Maison Jeeper, Luxe, Grand Rose, Brut, Champagne – Score: 92+ (QPR: EVEN)
The color is very sparkly and shiny as light is shone on it. The nose of this wine is ripe with raspberry, and there is little to no strawberry, unlike the base Champagne, creamy and slightly oxidative, with lovely brioche, yeasty and driven by minerality. It is fresh even with the slight oxidative notes, but it has the unique aspect of minerality, slate, and slight oxidation that lifts the wine and makes things lovely. The mouth of this medium-plus bodied wine is richer than the Brut Luxe, riper, and more layered, with ripe raspberry, highlighted by its peak note of quince and Asian Pear, and creme, the mousse bubbles are persistent, the acidity is intense, and the mouthfeel is plush and creamy with some orange peel, orange notes, and the orange blossom notes that interplay with the raspberry and small bubble mousse. Bravo! The finish is a beast, with rich minerality, intense acidity, and layers of attack that show the power and precision of this wine. Bravo! Drink until 2027. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12%)
2023 Chateau Sainte Marguerite Cuvee Fantastique Rose, Cru Classe, Cotes de Provence – Score: 90 (QPR: EVEN)
This wine’s color is Gris, less Rose-colored. It shows nicely with ripe strawberry, raspberry, peach, smoke, clean lines, bitter notes, and tangerine. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine shows nicely with good acidity, peach, strawberry, and nice minerality. The fruit works well to tamp down the bitter notes, the weight helps as well, showing an almost oily rounder approach, but the finish ends without the joy. The finish is a bit short, the acidity helps, but the fruit is missing at the end. Drink now. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)
2023 Chateau Sainte Marguerite Cuvee Fantastique Blanc, Cru Classe, Cotes de Provence – Score: 91 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is lovely, showing tart peach, apricot, rich minerality, slate, funk, smoke, rock, and flinty, very nice! The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice; it has enough acidity, with lovely minerality, rich peach, apricot, and sweet pear, with nice tannin and nice tension, along with an oily structure that comes from the sweet oak, and the acidity is slow to come out, but it does eventually. The finish is long, tart, and balanced, with excellent minerality, nice smoke, and slightly bitter, with slate and flint and the acidity and oak that lifts the wine. Very well done! Drink until 2026. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)
2022 Chateau Sainte Marguerite Cuvee Fantastique Rouge, Cru Classe, Cotes de Provence, Cru Classe – Score: 91 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is stinky, earthy, dirty, smokey, and funky, with rich minerality, charcoal, flint, and wet loam. The fruit is blue and black, with rich black pepper and smoke, and a lovely perfume of fruit, smoke, and dirt—lovely! The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is lovely, bracing acidity, with lovely smoke, dirt, rich blackberry, plum, blueberry, lean but bracing. If asked blind, I would guess Rhone, but leaner, cleaner lines, really fun. The finish is enough for me, with bright fruit, dirt, minerality, and blue and black fruit, lovely! Drink by 2026. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)
2022 Chateau Trianon, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru – Score: 93 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is really lovely. It is the best 22 Bordeaux I have had so far, with cherry, plum, tar, minerality, green herbs, sweet spices, oak, and dark fruit. It is really nice. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is ripe, layered, and concentrated, showing milk chocolate, good acidity, rich minerality, nicely extracted, with dark plum, candied blackberry, cassis, and rich cherry, so lovely, bravo. The finish is long, ripe, and concentrated, with great acidity, lovely fruit focus, not tense but very professional, with more tar, minerality, graphite, rock, and sweet herbs. Drink from 2028 until 2036. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5%)
2021 Virginie de Valendraud, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru – Score: 91+ (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is the most controlled Virginie I have ever tasted. It is lovely, well-controlled, dirty, and smoky, with nice milk chocolate, showing nice pop, lovely minerality, smoke, and dense dirt.
The mouth of this full-bodied wine is beautiful. Bravo! It shows that the 2021 vintage can be made into a great wine. The mouth is full-bodied and rich, with good acidity and lovely mouth-draping tannin. It shows great minerality and elegance with velvety tannins, blackberry, plum, raspberry, and dark cherry. The tannin and minerality are the focus.
The finish is long and tannic, balanced with good fruit, smoke, and graphite. I would have loved a bit more acidity and pop, but it’s still lovely. Drink from 2027 until 2032. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)
A tasting of M&M Importers’ current wines – February 2024
I did it again, too much time has passed from my previous post on M&M imports, and this follow-up post is some 9 months apart! This post is meant to not only catch up with the wines that I missed in my last post but also to show ALL the current wines available from M & M Importers.
It is always a pleasure to taste the wines from Ralph Madeb, president and CEO of M&M Importers. The BIG news is that now some of his wines are available on kosherwine.com! I really hope this helps to spread the good word about the work that Ralph and his team do! More info on M & M Importers can be found here.
Where can you find the wines?
Let us get the obvious out of the way first, it is very hard to track what M&M imports and where they are for sale. As stated above kosherwine.com is selling some of them and IDrinkKosher.com also sells them. Neither is the best option because KW has a limited number of the total portfolio, more of that in a moment and IDK is solid, both in pricing and in what they buy. However, knowing what is ACTUALLY available is almost impossible unless you show up at the store. I have been at the store a few times and they have great prices and good storage – again the issue lies in knowing what is actually for sale, as the website is never updated. Calling in does not help much either, but this post is here to shed more light on the matter. I know Ralph is working very hard on this matter and I hope we get more news on this soon.
UPDATE: You can now buy many of the SKUs from elkwine.com! Elchonon Hellinger is a dear friend and as always, I make NOTHING from your purchases, but if you live or are visiting the Miami area, please look him up! If you do not find what you need on the site, text him on Whatsapp: 17867501019, he is adding more SKUs as fast as he can!
Portfolio
If anyone wants to get a bird’s eye view of Ralph Madeb they should listen to the great podcast series from Simon Jacobs – The Kosher Terroir. The episode that focuses on Dr. Ralph Madeb and M&M Importers is this one.
From a Fifty Thousand Mile view, Ralph started his adventure as a mixture of importing IDS wines while also creating his own. Even when he was bringing in some IDS wines, it was not all of them, and access to them was almost impossible.
Since then, things have grown, by leaps and bounds and now they produce or import more than 70 wines.
Again, aside from the accessibility to/of these wines, for the average guy, not living in/near/around NYC, let us talk about what they are and where they come from.
IDS makes wines from all around France and you can find all my wine notes from November 2023, here. Between, Pinot Noirs from Burgundy, famous estates from Bordeaux, and now famous estates from Alsace, Provence, and Sancerre, IDS has expanded its portfolio over these past 10 years.
Names like Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte, Domaine de Chevalier, Chateau Lafon-Rochet, Chateau Marquis d’Alesme Becker, Virginie de Valandraud. Chateau Labegorce, Chateau la Tour de By, Chateau de Valois, Chateau Leydet-Valentin, Chateau Trianon, Chateau Sainte Marguerite, Domaine Aegerter Gevrey-Chambertin, Domaine Aegerter Nuits-Saint-Georges Premier Cru, Domaine Aegerter Nuits-Saint-Georges, Domaine Aegerter Beaune Premier Cru, Gustave Lorentz, Tokaj-Hetszolo, Domaine Vacheron Sancerre, Jean Luc et Paul Aegerter Pouilly Fuisse, Jean Luc et Paul Aegerter Meursault, Clos des Lunes Lune D’Argent.
These are wines made by and for IDS and M&M imports them and sells them locally here in the USA.
Mercier Wines
When you see names Chateau Cantenac Brown, Château Saint Martin Rouge and Rose, Domaine Lebrun Pouilly Fumé, Château Rayne Vigneau, Chateau Fayat, Chateau Olivier Red and White, Chateau Clement Pichon, Alphonse Mellot Sancerre, La Moussiere, Chateau Haut-Marbuzet, and Carillon d’Angelus, these are all made under the auspices of Maison Mercier.
Some of these wines are imported and sold by Royal Wines and some are imported and sold by M&M Imports.
They make many other wines and they import a large portfolio of Israeli wines into France as well. Most of the French wines are made under the watchful eye of Pierre Miodonick, whom I have written up on a few times.
These are really big names for Kosher, much like Royal makes with Pontet Canet, and IDS makes with Smith Haut Lafitte. Any time we can get kosher wines from Angelus and Pichon things are moving in the correct direction. Still, the prices are sky-high because of the added partners in the process.
Honest Grapes
Tom Harrow and Nathan Hill (a man I met for a few hours recently, more on that in a few posts) built an impressive wine club system. They are happy to sell you wine here and there, but their business is built on wine clubs and events. They have been in business since 2014 and they started a kosher line in 2017. Like much of their business and clubs, they run using a mix of crowd-sourcing and partnerships.
The 2017 and 2018 vintages were all sold out long ago as they were both crowd-sourced and sold to those who signed in to the En Primeur. The 2019 vintage was a change, they expanded and with that expansion came a bit more space for non-club access. They expanded a bit because of demand and also because of the appearance of M&M. That was a bit ahead of schedule, and there was no real extra access, at that time, mostly leaving the wines to be sold En Primeur.
The 2020 vintage was when the partnership helped Honest Grapes to expand and make more of the small winery plots kosher. Remember, it is not like they can go from 1000 bottles to 1100 or 1200 bottles. Everything is still barrel based. Either the barrel (25 cases of 12 bottles) is kosher or it is not! These plots are so small, for the most part, that it was not long before the plots were vinified 100% kosher.
The impressive wines in this portfolio are a mix of Bordeaux and Burgundy:
- Chateau Teyssier (QPR Homerun)
- Vieux Château Mazerat
- Le Dôme Kosher
- Pontet Labrie
- Domaine de Montille Pommard Premier Cru ‘Les Grands Epenots’
- Domaine de Montille Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru, Les Chalumeaux
- Domaine de Montille Volnay Premier Cru ‘Les Brouillards’
- Domaine de Montille Nuits-Saint-Georges Premier Cru ‘Aux Thorey’
- Domaine de Montille Beaune Premier Cru ‘Les Perrières’
- Domaine de Montille Monthelie Premier Cru ‘Les Duresses’
- Domaine de Montille Bourgogne Blanc
- Domaine de Montille Bourgogne Rouge
Right now, M&M only has two wines for sale from Honest Grapes, the 2019 Chateau Teyssier (QPR Homerun), and the 2020 Domaine de Montille Volnay Premier Cru ‘Les Brouillards’.
The rest of the 2020 Bordeaux and the 2021 Burgundies are still in route and will be here soon enough.
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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.
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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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Two new wines that M&M is importing, 2016 Chateau Haut Brisson and 2016 Chateau Tour Saint Christophe
The French wines keep coming! From crazy 2014 wines that started the reboot of a full line of Royal wines from France, to the 2015 and 2016 vintages from Royal that essentially completed the full reboot of Royal’s French wine lineup. To the new 2016 and 2017 wines from Royal that have a couple of new wines and more of the existing Chateaus.
With that said, shockingly, not all French wines are marketed through Royal or its friends (Taieb, Bokobsa, Rivière, and Rollan de by). Kosherwine.com has also brought in some French wines. As has Red Garden, and the Rashbi wines, which shockingly is NOT predominately French, Andrew Breskin and Liquid Kosher, which brings in the DRC wines, and Victor Wines (maybe the first to bring in French wines outside of Royal of course). As well as the Megrez wines which are now being brought in by International Kosher Wine.
Vignobles K
UPDATED: I wanted to point out a very interesting fact about these new wines, they are made by Vignobles K, Peter Kwok’s wineries. NO! The K is not for kosher, it is for Kwok. He is an Asian mogul who made his billions in China and now owns these wineries, and he is always growing his Bordeaux property list. I mistakenly said that IDS had made these wines, but actually they were made by Cedev, a wine producer based out of Belgium.
The interesting point though is that of his original 5 current wineries under his portfolio (he recently added 3 more), three have kosher versions. The two aforementioned Chateau Tour Saint Christophe and the Chateau Haut Brisson, both in 2014 and 2016, along with the 2014 Chateau LaPatche, which I tasted last year. The other two Chateau in his portfolio, are equally or better respected, and both are located in Pomerol, like Chateau LaPatche. Chateau Enclose Tourmaline and Enclos de Viaud. Recently he added, Château Le Rey, Château Tourans, and most recently Château Bellefront-Belcier in Saint Emilion.
Mr. Kwok started his Chateau buying binge in 1997, with the purchase of Chateau Haut-Brisson, and after that, he as upgraded and bought more wineries. Maybe we can hope for more kosher wines from his portfolio, or maybe it is all just a nice coincidence. Sadly, Cedev has not made any more kosher Vignobles K’s wines, after the 2016 vintage. M&M is helping in distributing the wines that they have made. In the end, as of now, there have only been 5 Vignobles K wines made kosher, the 2014 and 2016 Chateau Tour Saint Christophe and the Chateau Haut Brisson, along with the 2014 Chateau LaPatche.
The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here:
2016 Chateau Haut Brisson – Score: 92
This wine is made by Vignobles K, Peter Kwok’s properties. The Non-kosher bottling is a blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc and it shows akin to that with clear Merlot leanings, and pepper/foliage from the Cabernet Franc.
What a crazy nose, ripe, yet well controlled, with rich earth, terroir, with ripe black fruit, bushels of red fruit, and interestingly some blueberry/boysenberry as well, followed by mushroom, white pepper, and well-tilled earth. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is young, absurdly young, with beautiful layers of ripe but perfectly controlled and juicy cherry, raspberry, dark plum, and blackberry, all wrapped in incredible fruit structure, with mouth coating and puckering tannin, that gives way to rich foliage, more forest floor, and mineral. Nice! The finish is long, green, with butterscotch, hints of real butter, followed by almonds, tobacco, rich dark/milk chocolate, and mint. Bravo!! Drink from 2022 till 2032.
2016 Chateau Tour Saint Christophe – Score: 93
This wine is made by Vignobles K, Peter Kwok’s properties. The Non-kosher bottling is a blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc and again it shows akin to that with clear Merlot leanings, and even more pepper/foliage from the Cabernet Franc, but also more bulk from the Franc as well. This wine has ZERO blue fruit on it, it is all red with hints of black, but primarily it is smoke, tar, with lovely pepper notes, followed by herb/mint, with rich salinity, mineral, and balance. The mouth on this medium-plus bodied wine shows rich elegance, more controlled than the Haut-Brisson, less power, more finesse, with more of that dirt, earth, and juicy red fruit, showing well with an incredible fruit structure and supple mouth coating tannin, that envelopes sweet and juicy raspberry, dark cherry, blackberry, and green notes take center stage. The finish is long, green, and elegant, with tobacco, rich leather, heather, followed by graphite, tilled earth, hints of mushroom, and all the things that bring a smile to my face. Bravo!!! Drink from 2021 till 2033.
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