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California Dreamin’ about more 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 vintages and a Herzog Event
The last large post on California wines was at the beginning of 2025. Then life took over, and I have been dribbling posts out. It was time to get the next big California post out! This will not be a retrospective, like I did here. This will be more like the 2024 post I did here, covering the California wines I have recently enjoyed.
It has been a long time since my last post, and I am a good 100 wines behind, at this point, so these next few posts will be short and to the point.
In September, I got into my car and drove to Hagafen Winery. Covenant Winery sent me their samples. There are no new wines from Marciano Estates or Shadybrook Estates. I also had many wines shipped to me from Herzog and Shirah. I also went down to a large event at Herzog Wine Cellars and tasted all their new wines, more on that below. So, this is not as full a tasting of California wines as last time, but very close. This is NOT a list of available wines and scores for each of these wineries’ wines, but rather a set of tastings of what I have not yet had from these wineries. I have two Invei wines, too!
The plan here is to list the wineries and their wines in the order I tasted them (since I did taste some wines more than once). As I stated before, Covenant continues to impress, as does Shirah, recently, with some of their new wines, which are pretty remarkable!
Many thanks to each and every winery here for putting up with me and sharing their excellent wines.
My overall feelings about the California 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 vintages
Let us start with the facts: the 2021 vintage for California was the best I can remember. Yes, better than 2012 or 2014, and all around, everyone, and every winery came out with fantastic wines. Why? Because God gave each winery enough time to not screw it up, and even when they wanted to screw it up, he made sure they could not! DONE! Look, God gave them a raw deal in 2020, across the state – and we all know it! So, in 2021, he made up for it in spades (whatever that means)!
The 2021 vintage stood out in BOTH the Mevushal and non-Mevushal wine categories. For white and red wines. It was a shockingly good season all around, and everyone came out smelling like roses!
Fast forward to 2022, and yeah, things were quite different! The wines are classic Cali ripe, and while that works for some, I prefer my wines balanced and focused.
The 2023 vintage is looking good, but the REAL focus here is on the non-Mevushal wines! The Mevushal wines are showing success, but side-by-side with their non-Mevushal counterparts, they are paling in comparison. Add to that, scale and winery focus, and I am finding some REAL steals in 2023 and 2024! Read the notes, but focus primarily on the non-Mevushal wines in 2023, IMHO!
The 2024 vintage is a bit early to call. So far, I have found the white wines lovely, and some of the reds have exceeded my expectations. The vintage was smoking hot; I live here, so I would know. However, some wineries managed this by picking earlier, using water in the vineyards or in the wine, or improving canopy management. The intense heat waves came at the end of the very hot summer, but there were some cooler times in between. In the end, time will tell, but what I have enjoyed so far, and posted here, shows promise!
Read the rest of this entry
The 2024 Kosher Rose season is open – part 2
I started tasting some of these wines in January and February of this year and at the start, some of them were nice to GREAT. This year, brings the return of Israeli Roses and white wines, after the Shmita year of 2022.
While rose wine in the non-kosher market is exploding – especially Rose wine from Provence; a wine region of France, kosher roses have ebbed and flowed. Last year, the kosher market for roses went into a tailspin. It is now clear that 2022 was the year of Peak-Rose. The 2023 year had the Israeli Shmita year of 2022 wines, which meant a smaller number of Roses. However, what was VERY clear, was that the Kosher wine market was in Rose-fatigue. The good news is that the online merchants are dumping the older vintages, mostly, and we are seeing 2023 roses proliferate online. Stores are still an issue, at least outside of NY and NJ. The motherland of kosher wine, no not Israel, NY/NJ, is firmly in 2023 mode and there are some options.
Part one of my 2024 rose season posts can be found here. I stand by my statement that I do not need Rose wine, many still like it, and this post is for you!
QPR and Price
I have been having more discussions around my QPR (Quality to Price) score with a few people and their contention, which is fair, in that they see wine at a certain price, and they are not going to go above that. So, instead of having a true methodology behind their ideas, they go with what can only be described as a gut feeling. The approaches are either a wine punches above its weight class so it deserves a good QPR score. Or, this other wine has a good score and is less than 40 dollars so that makes it a good QPR wine.
While I appreciate those ideals, they do not work for everyone and they do NOT work for all wine categories. It does NOT work for roses. Look, rose prices are 100% ABSURD – PERIOD! The median rose price has risen a fair amount from last year, some are at 40 to 45 dollars – for a rose! So far, it is around 32 bucks, this year, up from 29 last year, that is NUTS!
As you will see in the scores below, QPR is all over the place and there will be good QPR scores for wines I would not buy while there are POOR to BAD QPR scores for wines I would think about drinking, but not buying, based upon the scores, but in reality, I would never buy another bottle because the pricing is ABSURDLY high.
Also, remember that the QPR methodology is based on the 4 quintiles! Meaning, that there is a Median, but there are also quintiles above and below that median. So a wine that is at the top price point is by definition in the upper quintile. The same goes for scores. Each step above and below the median is a point in the system. So a wine that is in the most expensive quintile but is also the best wine of the group gets an EVEN. Remember folks math wins!
Still, some of the wines have a QPR of great and I would not buy them, why? Well, again, QPR is based NOT on quality primarily, it is based on price. The quality is secondary to the price. For example, if a rose gets a score of 87 points, even though that is not a wine I would drink it if it has a price below 32 dollars (that is 10 dollars more than two years ago – like I said crazy inflation) – then the QPR score is GREAT. Again, simple math wins. Does that mean that I would buy them because they have a GREAT QPR? No, I would not! However, for those that still want roses, then those are OK options.
Please remember, a wine score and the notes are the primary reason why I would buy a wine – PERIOD. The QPR score is there to mediate, secondarily, which of those wines that I wish to buy, is a better value. ONLY, the qualitative score can live on its own, regarding what I buy. The QPR score defines, within the wine category, which of its peers is better or worse than the wine in question.
Finally, I can, and I have, cut and paste the rest of this post from last year’s Rose post and it plays 100% the same as it did last year (minus the 2022 Shmita story).
So, if you know all about roses and how it is made, skip all the information and go to the wines to enjoy for this year, of the wines I have tasted so far. If you do not know much about rose wine, read on. As stated, I stand by my opinion that Rose is a fad, at best, and now is the time to join team white wine! White wines have cheaper prices, better scores, and therefore a better overall value. IF YOU MUST have a rose wine stick to the few that I state below in my Best Roses section, right above the wine scores.
Read the rest of this entry
The 2024 Kosher Rose season is open – along with a bonus – the 2017 Yarden Rose Brut!
I started tasting some of these wines in January and February of this year and at the start, some of them were nice to GREAT. This year, brings the return of Israeli Roses and white wines, after the Shmita year of 2022.
While rose wine in the non-kosher market is exploding – especially Rose wine from Provence; a wine region of France, kosher roses have ebbed and flowed. Last year, the kosher market for roses went into a tailspin. It is now clear that 2022 was the year of Peak-Rose. The 2023 year had the Israeli Shmita year of 2022 wines, so that meant a smaller number of Roses. However, what was VERY clear, was that the Kosher wine market was in Rose-fatigue. There are TONS of 2022 Roses all over the market along with some 2021 vintage wines as well. I think we have seen the end of Rose as a fad and now, it is another wine that is out there.
Personally, I stand by my own feelings when it comes to Rose, which is, that I prefer white or Sprakling wines. Further, anyone trying to move 35-dollar or more roses will be in for a rude awakening this year, IMHO!
QPR and Price
I have been having more discussions around my QPR (Quality to Price) score with a few people and their contention, which is fair, in that they see wine at a certain price, and they are not going to go above that. So, instead of having a true methodology behind their ideas, they go with what can only be described as a gut feeling. The approaches are either a wine punches above its weight class so it deserves a good QPR score. Or, this other wine has a good score and is less than 40 dollars so that makes it a good QPR wine.
While I appreciate those ideals, they do not work for everyone and they do NOT work for all wine categories. It does NOT work for roses. Look, rose prices are 100% ABSURD – PERIOD! The median rose price has risen a fair amount from last year, some are at 40 to 45 dollars – for a rose! So far, it is around 32 bucks, this year, up from 29 last year, that is NUTS!
As you will see in the scores below, QPR is all over the place and there will be good QPR scores for wines I would not buy while there are POOR to BAD QPR scores for wines I would think about drinking, but not buying, based upon the scores, but in reality, I would never buy another bottle because the pricing is ABSURDLY high.
Also, remember that the QPR methodology is based on the 4 quintiles! Meaning, that there is a Median, but there are also quintiles above and below that median. So a wine that is at the top price point is by definition in the upper quintile. The same goes for scores. Each step above and below the median is a point in the system. So a wine that is in the most expensive quintile but is also the best wine of the group gets an EVEN. Remember folks math wins!
Read the rest of this entry
California Dreaming – 2021 through 2023 vintages are showing well
It has been a long time since my last post and I am a good 100 wines behind, at this point, so these next few posts will be short and to the point.
Before Passover and after it, as well, I got into my car and drove to Covenant Winery, Hajdu Winery, Hagafen Winery, Marciano Estates, and Shadybrook Estates to get a bottle of kosher wine they made called Monetin. I also had many wines shipped to me from Herzog and Mayacamas. Finally, I had dinner with Gabriel Weiss and Alex Rubin and I tasted their wines as well. So, yeah this is a full California tasting. This is NOT a list and scores of each of these winery’s wines, but rather a set of tastings of what I have not yet had from these wineries.
The plan here is to list the wineries and their wines in the order I tasted them (mostly as I did taste some of the wines more than once).
My many thanks to each and every winery here for putting up with me and sharing their wonderful wines.
Marciano Estates (Feburary 2024)
Elk was in town that week and I drove through the pouring rain to pick him up, that was the craziest day of driving since my trip to Northern Israel in a carwash of rain on those mountainous hills, just nuts! Thankfully, we arrived at Marciano Estates, quite alive, almost on time, I will leave that part of the story for another time! However I must state that Elk should never be allowed to travel without his gear working. My hearing is still recovering! We were met by Michael McMillan, the General Manager at Marciano, and we were given the wines to open. The three wines were the 2022 Marciano Estates Blanc, the 2021 Marciano Terra Gratia, and the 2021 Marciano Estates. They were all stunning wines, and while the prices are high for these kosher wines, so is the cost of land, fruit, production, and so on in Napa Valley.
As always the time spent in Marciano Estates is always fantastic, the estate is stunning, as is the wine and the surrounding area. My many thanks to the entire Marciano team for putting up with us, along with the frequent time changes, and so on. The wines and the scores speak for themselves, I personally bought a few of the Marciano Blanc, the 2022 and 2021 vintages. The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
2022 Marciano Estates Blanc, Napa Valley, CA – Score: 93 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is lovely, and bready, with smoke, oak, brioche, peach, apricot, yellow plum, and orange blossom. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is really lovely and ripe, with intense acidity, lovely mouthfeel, plush-styled, a beautiful expression of French white, with intense peach, complexity, sweet oak, apricot, sweet yellow plum, intense loam, verve, and beautifully tense, with sweet tannin, grapefruit, lemon/lime, really lovely! The finish is long, intense, layered, concentrated, and richly extracted, with incredible sweet blossom, and sweet vanilla, on the long finish. Incredible! Drink from 2028 until 2034. (tasted February 2024) (in Napa Valley, CA) (ABV = 14.1%)
2021 Marciano Terra Gratia, Napa Valley, CA – Score: 93 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is lovely, balanced, ripe, and rich, with raspberry, strawberry, blackcurrant, plum, iron shavings, squid ink, rich minerality, loam, sweet spices, roasted herbs, and sweet oak, impressive. The mouth of this full-bodied Napa Cab blend is ripe, layered, extracted, and balanced with great acidity, and concentration, with lovely blackberry, cassis, raspberry, ripe strawberry, milk chocolate, rich tension, nice extraction, lovely plushness, a theme throughout the three wines we tasted today. Lovely! The finish is long, ripe, rich, extracted, and tense, with freshness, sweet oak, sweet tobacco, and sweet vanilla. This wine is incredibly accessible but please stay away from it for at least 3 years. Drink from 2026 until 2032 (tasted February 2024) (in Napa Valley, CA) (ABV = 14.8%)
2021 Marciano Estates Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, CA – Score: 94 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is incredible, purer than the Gratia, rich, expressive, but far more elegant, showing ripe, milk chocolate, milky, with blackberry, plum, raspberry, tar, smoke, and rich sweet spices. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is ripe, layered, and extracted, with great acidity, lovely tension, sweet tannin, blackberry, plum, sweet oak, sweet vanilla, raspberry, strawberry, juicy strawberry/raspberry, sweet spices, nutmeg, sweet earth, plum, and sweet loam. The finish is long, dirty, earthy, ripe, and elegant, with juicy and ripe strawberries, sweet oak, vanilla, and sweet tobacco. Drink from 2027 until 2033. (tasted February 2024) (in Napa Valley, CA) (ABV = 14.8%)
A wonderful day spent with Gabriel and Yael Geller
On another recent business trip, I spent a day with Gabriel and Yael Geller. My many thanks to my friends for hosting me for the day. The food was awesome, smoked ribs, and roasted chuck, and a game of blind tastings that was really wonderful. The wines we tasted blind were mostly 100% HORRIBLE but the last one we enjoyed was why I just stated that it was wonderful, because GG was so kind to pour a bottle of the 2002 Smith Haute Lafitte a wine I had not tasted till that moment. It was beyond wonderful – thanks so much, buddy!!!
We also took a tour around Teaneck, NJ’s Kosher takeout establishments and they were all horrible. Sorry. There was nothing good to report here. However, the wine shop where we bought a vast number of horrible wines was very nice. The wine shop is called Filler’up. The owner is called Mendy Mark and he was very kind and helpful in finding all the new wines that I have not yet tasted. Sadly, 95% of those wines were horrible but that is not Mendy’s fault there is far too much horrible plonk in the Kosher wine world.
So, if you are in the Teaneck area definitely swing by Filler’up they have a great selection and the staff is very nice. However, do not buy takeout food from around there that stuff is really bad.
Ok, thankfully, the takeout food was just a test of the quick food in the area, not really food we had that evening. If I had an image of the smoked ribs it would have been the post’s featured image, the animal was black bark heaven, with loads of spice and smoke. Do not forget breakfast and lunch before that which was also beautifully served and with such panache, my many thanks again!
I bought a bunch of wines and they were all duds other than one very nice French Mevushal wine that came in a 375ml format, but it also comes in 750ml format, but it is not available at any of the common shops that I can buy from. If someone finds it at a place that ships and does not charge an arm and leg, please tell me, more on the best of the tasting below, other than, of course, the EPIC 2002 Chateau Smith Haute Lafitte.
GG did a blind tasting and they were all bad to horrible, again, other than the 2002 SHL. To be fair, I did not take long notes for wines that were undrinkable. I have listed the blind and non-blind tasted wines below in different sections. Many thanks to Gabriel and Yael Geller for hosting me and for sharing his time, wonderful culinary feats, home, and wines with me. The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here:
2018 Route Victor Cabernet Sauvignon, California – Score: NA
The nose on this wine is bulk in nature, candied fruit, cherry, and cheap. The mouth on this wine is cheap, far too acidic, and a lack of body, cherry, acid, and vegetables. Move on
2016 Padre Bendicho, Yecla – Score: NA
This wine is a blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Mourvedre. This wine is 100% PURE date juice, in all the glorious ways it can be! Read the rest of this entry
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