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Another round of QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Hits and Misses, Seven QPR WINNERS – Aug 2024

This may be one of the smallest QPR roundups I have done. The last one I did was in December of 2023, and that one had many more wines than this one. I will be having a follow-up QPR post to this one, but I wanted to get this one out now.

There are 26 total wines with 7 QPR WINNERS, so that is a good average to me. With this post, I will finally be caught up, though I have a bunch more wines to get through and more to come. That will lead us into the 9-Days, and I wish you all an easy, meaningful, and hopeful two weeks ahead.

QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Wines

It has been seven or so 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.

We have a SOLID list of QPR WINNERS:

2021 Shirah Pinot Meunier, Santa Maria, CA – LOVELY and unique wine that should improve!
2018 Golan Heights Winery Blanc de Blanc, Yarden, Galilee – the bubbles return!
2022 Chateau Hauteville, Saint-Estephe – solid 2022 Bordeaux
2020 Chateau La Tonnelle, Haut-Medoc – nice 2020
2022 Dampt Freres Bourgogne, Bourgogne – a SOLID Burg without Burg pricing
2020 Chateau Greysac, Medoc (M) – Nice Mevushal Bordeaux
2022 Lovatelli Nebbiolo, Monferrato (M) – Nice Mevushal Italian red

There were also a few wines that were a slight step behind with a GREAT or GOOD QPR score:

2021 Netofa Latour, Red, Galilee -Showing better than I had in Israel
2022 Capcanes Peraj Ha’abib Pinot Noir, Catalunya – Not a great vintage
2022 Chateau de Parsac, Montagne Saint-Emilion (M) – 2022 will be hit and miss for sure
2022 Rocca delle Macie Chianti Classico, Chianti Classico – Good enough just simple
2022 Chateau Le Petit Chaban, Bordeaux (M) – Again 2022, hit and miss
2022 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Special Reserve, Alexander Valley – off year for the Alex
2020 Elvi Wines Herenza Crianza, Collection, Rioja (M) – The Mevushal version is nice enough
2021 Pacifica Malbec, Washington – Nice but a bit too rough for me

There are a few wines that got a QPR Score of EVEN – meaning expensive or average:

2021 Lovatelli Toscana Rosso, Tuscany – Solid wine just a bit overpriced for the quality
2021 Cantina Giuliano Super Tuscan, Tuscany – This entire line disappointed me
2022 Cantina Giuliano Cabernet Sauvignon, Tuscany – Same as above
2021 Chateau Mayne Guyon, Blaye Cotes de Bordeaux (M) – 2021 Bordeaux – tough year

The others are essentially either OK wines that are too expensive, duds, or total failures:

2023 Nana Grenache, Negev – Average wine for a crazy high price
2020 Cantina Giuliano A Mano Cabernet Sauvignon, Tuscany – Expensive and poor
2021 Cantina Giuliano Chianti, Tuscany – poor quality
2022 Capcanes Peraj Ha’abib, Montsant (M) – poor quality and expensive
2021 Cantina Giuliano Merlot, Tuscany (M) – poor quality
2021 Le Pletzl, Bordeaux (M) – poor quality
2022 Herzog Pinot Noir, Lineage, Clarksburg, CA (M) – poor quality

Some things that made me stand up and take notice (AKA QPR WINNERS):

The real stunner here is the 2021 Shirah Pinot Meunier, Santa Maria, CA! I have posted already about how the 2021 vintage SAVED California. Sadly, that may have been short-lived, with the recent raft of vineyards being ripped up and wineries closing. Still, the 2021 vintage has been a boon for Cali after the horrific 2020 fires.

The 2021 Shirah Pinot Meunier has to be one of the most unique and wonderful wines I have had in a very long time. It is not quite a Pinot Noir and yet it is also captivating. Sim ply said, read the notes, and buy!

The 2016 vintage of the Golan Heights Winery Blanc de Blanc, Yarden was a miss, but that is fine, they are normal in the wine business. The 2018 returns the bubbly to its crown position as the QPR sparkling wine.

The 2022 Chateau Hauteville, Saint-Estephe continues the streak for this wine. It is another WINNER after how well the 2021 vintage showed and the 2020 before that.

The 2020 Chateau La Tonnelle, Haut-Medoc, is a return to its status. This vintage is nice.

The 2022 Dampt Freres Bourgogne is the answer we need for non-Burgundy-priced wines from Burgundy. It is 2022, so it is ripe, but it is balanced and refreshing, and in the end, that is what Burgundy MUST BE!

The 2020 Chateau Greysac, Medoc, is a solid option for those who want a simple but fun and refreshing Mevushal Bordeaux.

Finally, this wine surprised me, the 2022 Lovatelli Nebbiolo, Monferrato (M) came in under a fair amount of internet chatter. However, I found it refreshing and for a Mevushal wine – a solid showing.

I was UNIMPRESSED by Royal’s new import – Cantina Giuliano, all of the wines were a hard miss. The Lovatelli wines are either a miss or a hit. The 2021 Lovatelli Barbera d’Asti and the 2022 Lovatelli Nebbiolo are WINNER to me. The other Lovatelli are either hard misses or just OK, so far. Still, two hits for a new brand is a good average!

Other wines worth noting (AKA QPR GREAT or GOOD):

I tasted this wine in Israel blind and I found it less than desirable. This time the 2021 Netofa Latour, Red showed better.

I had hoped for the 2022 Capcanes Peraj Ha’abib Pinot Noir, Catalunya, but it did not have the refreshing approach that I needed.

The rest of this group is just good enough wines to get these QPR scores. The miss here is the 2022 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Special Reserve, Alexander Valley. It used to be that even vintages were the WINNER, but with 2021 things switched, 2021 was the WINNER vintage, and 2022 was a miss. Still a nice wine, but it lacks the refreshing aspect I expect.

Wines that are either good but too expensive or average (AKA EVEN):

As stated above, this post includes almost all the wines from Cantina Giuliano and in the end, for me, they lack balance, plain and simple. Two of the Lovatelli have that balance.

Wines that are either OK but far too expensive or bad wines (AKA POOR/BAD):

Not much here mostly poor-scoring wines. There are also, many duds to losers and I will just leave you to peruse the names and scores down below.

The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:

2021 Shirah Pinot Meunier, Santa Maria, CA – Score: 92.5 (QPR: WINNER)
This may well be the first time I have tasted the single varietal called Pinot Meunier. Of course, it is the grape used to make Champagne but I have never tasted a single varietal that I know of. How does Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier differ? Pinot Noir is leaner and richer, earthier, dirtier, all of what you crave from Pinot, Meunier is fruitier, ripens faster, grows in very hard areas, and colder regions, and has citrus notes that a truly unique! Bravo Weiss Brothers!
The nose of this wine is unique, yes I would have said this was Pinot Noir, sorry, this is new, tasted blind I would have also said it was a riper Pinot, and the citrus would have made me think of a blend, but I am really not sure. The nose is ripe, not candied, blunted a bit by the oak, with rich floral notes, yellow and jasmine, very unique, with oolong tea, orange/Meyer Lemon, like what! Followed by sweet oak, roasted meat, and rich red fruit. Bravo! The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is on point, showing great acidity, lovely cranberry, dark cherry, Cherry Cola, and hints of blueberry, this is one strange cat, with nice mouth-draping tannin, and yes, sweet orange. The finish is long, plus, almost round, but with great acidity, and sweet notes that carry this wine. Bravo!! Drink by 2027. (tasted July 2024) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 14%)

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Posted in Israeli Wine, Kosher French Wine, Kosher Red Wine, Kosher Sparkling Wine, Kosher White Wine, Kosher Wine, QPR Post, Wine

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Tags: A Mano, Alexander Valley, Bourgogne, Brut, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cantina Giuliano, Capcanes, Chateau de Parsac, Chateau Greysac, Chateau Hauteville, Chateau La Petit Chaban, Chateau La Tonnelle, Chateau Mayne Guyon, Chianti Classico, Collection, Dampt Freres, Elviwines, Golan Heights Winery, Grenache, Herenza Crianza, Herzog Cellars Winery, latour netofa, Le Pletzl, Lineage, Lovatelli, Malbec, Merlot, Nana, Nebbiolo, Netofa Winery, Pacifica, Peraj Ha'Abib, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir, Red, Rocca delle Macie, Shirah Winery, Sparkling Wine, Special Reserve, Super Tuscan, Toscana Rosso, Yarden Winery

Best Kosher Whites Wines from 2021, 2022, and 2023

Jul 11

Posted by winemusings

I have been complaining about Roses recently. Yes, we had a good slate of them, for those that need them. However, I state over and over, that White WInes are what we need more of and they fill the abilities that Rose wines were meant to help with. This post will be short and to the point. I hope you all use this to enjoy the crazy heat waves rolling over the world. White wine is the answer to some lovely meals with friends and family!

White Wines

I understand the thought that people have, that Rose wine will be more enjoyable with certain food/fare than a white wine. That thought is wrong, but I understand. People see the red hue and think it is a red wine that can be enjoyed with a burger. The truth is that Rose or white wine can do the same thing if they are dry and have intense acidity. The acidity is the main point here. Sadly, while some Roses will work, most of them lack the acidity for that to be an honest assessment. So, people buy the Roses, they lack the refreshing acidity and leave unhappy. The better option is white wines. They have a higher probability of existing with good acidity and they are just more enjoyable. The last point is 100% subjective and I understand that.

People see Rose as a way for people to learn about red wine without the need for Cabernet Sauvignon or what. While I see that as an approach and I appreciate it, soon enough, Red wine folks just go back to Red wine as they miss the tannin/sweet wine punch. Big, fat, even balanced Oaky wines can give you the closest thing to a wine that Red wine drinkers will appreciate.

The oak, fat fruit, and rich mouthfeel, followed by good tannin will make the Red Wine drinker happiest. The hope is eventually, they will jump on the ABC train (Anything But Chardonnay) that is slowly rising up again, given the heavy whites coming out of Cali. Hopefully, they will desire less oak, and more balance, and find the plethora of Kosher White wines that we are blessed with.

Peak Kosher White here or very near

We are currently blessed with an almost never-ending list of white wines. They may not all be great, they may have acid issues or balance issues, but we have so many options that it is impressive! We will see even more soon so I hope you are getting your white wine mojo going!

Methodology

So, the idea here is to post the new white wines that I have not already posted – some of which date back to March of this year. I will also post WINNER wines from the years 2021, 2022, and 2023, when/if they are for sale. That last part will be tough but I will use KosherWine and Google as my guide. Either way, they will be reposts of existing posts, so the info is always available.

Ok, that is a wrap, note, I have a TON of wine notes I still need to post after this, my guess is that will end up being a massive QPR post with loads of red wines.

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 Covenant Solomon Blanc, Bennett Valley, Sonoma County, CA – Score: 93 (QPR: WINNER)
This is the third time I have tasted this wine and messed up, I admit, it is impressive, I scored it a 92 and then I backed off the WINNER QPR score. Mistake! This wine is rich, round, and not as piercing as in 2021, and I have put that wine on a pedestal This wine stands on its own, it has fruitier notes, OK, but it is also balanced, riper, rounder, and quite enjoyable. This is the 3rd year of this lovely wine, I think this one sits right between the 21 and 20 vintages, which means this is another WINNER. Bravo!
The nose of this lovely wine is impressive with intense bright fruit, bright acidity, tart lemon/lime, sweet orange blossom, lanolin, sweet bright pear, sweet Honeydew melon, and lovely oak influence. The mouth of this medium-plus bodied wine is intense, layered, and complex, with rich layers of tart orange, lemon/lime, melon, Asian pear, yellow apple, and piercing acidity, with an impressive expression, of fruit and oak, sweet oak, smoke, sweet mint, and sweet fruit. Bravo!
The finish is long, tart, ripe, and fruity, with some oak influence, and hints of vanilla, but really the finish is a focus of acidity, melon, orange, mineraity, white pepper, and lemon, all wrapped up beautifully! Bravo!! Drink until 2030. (Retasted July 2024) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 13.4%)

2022 O’Dwyers Creek Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough (M) – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
At the start, the wine feels/smells leaner than previous vintages but the fruit and style are absolutely similar, thankfully, O’dwyers Creek is so dependable, that it is fantastic. Still, the weight we expect is a bit lacking and the acidity here is just incredible. However, after a few hours, the wine is rich, tropical, layered, and complex, AKA Classic WINNER!
The nose of this wine is classically New Zealand in style, with cat pee, fresh-cut grass, foliage, gooseberry, passion fruit, pink grapefruit blossom, and bright fruit all over the place. After a bit of time, the ripe fruit appears, a classic New Zealand Banker!
The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is lovely, with intense acidity, the first thing that hits you is the acid, followed by nice flint notes, smoke, rock, saline, gooseberry, lemongrass, intense passion fruit, lychee, and sweet melon. The acidity hits you in waves and with time the weight comes to you as does the lovely sweet-cut grass. With time, the ripe mango, gooseberry, and passion fruit hit you in waves, with a richer mouthfeel, and the complexity we crave along with intense bracing acidity, it is just incredible! The finish on this wine shows more saline, rock, flint, smoke, mineral, gooseberry, freshly cut grass, and intense acid, so much fun!!! BRAVO!! Drink until 2028. (tasted April 2024) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 12.5%)

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Posted in Israeli Wine, Kosher French Wine, Kosher White Wine, Kosher Wine

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Tags: Adir Winery, Albarino, Alex Rubin, Altira, Amuka, Anthony Girard, Arneis, Barkan Winery, Baron Edmond de Rothschild, Blanc, Capcanes, Chardonnay, Chateau Gazin Rocquencourt, Chateau Olivier, Château La Baronne, Chenin Blanc, Colombard, Covenant Winery, Dalton Winery, Domaine de Chevalier, Domaine du Castel, Domaine du Chateau Philippe le Hardi, Domaine Lebrun, Domaine Vacheron, ESSA Wine Co., Feudi di San Gregorio, Fume Blanc, Gewurztraminer, Goose Bay, Greco di Tufo, Gush Etzion Winery, Gustave Lorentz, Hagafen Winery, Hajdu Wines, Jean Luc & Paul Aegerter, K Invei, Koenig, L'Esprit de Chevalier, L'indiscrete, La Vie, Lavan, Le Nardian, Marsanne, Memorias del Rambam, Nana, O'dwyers Creek, Or Haganuz Winery, Otter & Fox, Pacifica, Peraj Petita, Pescaja, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Pouilly-Fuisse, Pouilly-Fume, Prix Reserve, Rare Groove, Rattlesnake Hills, Recanati Winery, Red C, Riesling, Rimapere, Roussanne de Las Vals, Sancerre, Sauvignon Blanc, Shirah Winery, Solei, Solomon Blanc, Timbre, Vermentino, Viognier, White, White Blend, Yaffo Winery, Zion

An uninspiring list of new wines from France, Israel, and the U.S.A

Sep 8

Posted by winemusings

The past 10 days have been sheer hell in California and I should have posted these wines already as mountains are not an option to climb in these temps. These 11 wines are not QPR WINNER wines, they all fell short for many differing reasons, but the ultimate issue continues to revolve around a lack of balance and a lack of acidity. Even the vaulted Pacifica Riesling, a wine I have liked over many iterations fell short with the 2021 release, which was unfortunate.

As usual, my QPR posts are a hodgepodge of wines and normally we have some nice QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) wines. This post sadly highlights no new QPR WINNER.

If there was a wine to kvell about I would happily do it but sadly there is none among these 11. Please look forward to my next post – that one will have a wonderful list of QPR WINNER and all 91+ wines, coming from a winery we all know well here in California.

Sadly, this was the new full release of the 2021 Chateau Riganes, with the usual white, rose, and blend. This year they added single varietal bottles, of Malbec and Cabernet Franc. IMHO, this was the least interesting release of these wines in some years.

The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:

2021 Zion Rose, Imperial, Israel (M) – Score: 86 (QPR: GREAT)
This wine is made of Grenache and is off-dry. The nose of this wine is nice, it shows sweet notes, and clear RS, with raspberry, jasmine, peach, guava, cherry, and sweet fruit. The mouth of this medium-bodied rose is sweet, with balancing acidity, ripe fruit, sweet cherry, raspberry, guava, peach, and nice honey. The finish is long, sweet, but balanced with fruit, and not much else. (tasted August 2022) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 12%)

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Posted in Kosher French Wine, Kosher Red Wine, Kosher Rose Wine, Kosher White Wine, QPR Post, Wine, Wine Tasting

A few good red wines along with too many misses – Jan/Feb 2022 Tasting

Feb 21

Posted by winemusings

This is my second QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) WINNER Hit and Miss post of 2022 and while this started in January as a poor showing, I had two more wines in February that made the overall post much better. We started with one QPR WINNER and that grew to three WINNER by February. Still, the star of the show was the first QPR WINNER, the 2016 Terra di Seta Chianti Classico, Assai, Gran Selezione, Chianti Classico!

This post is filled with many more examples of what people are raving about from Israel, the 2018 red vintage, and all I can say is, yes they are not date juice! They are not uncontrolled madness, they are OK, they lack acidity and mostly they are copy and paste of each other with different fruit. Still, an improvement over other vintages. Essentially, much like the 2016 vintage, another highly vaunted vintage, which I described to my buddy EA as: “milk chocolate, either blue or black fruit, loads of cedar and tobacco – copy and paste wines”.

I wish it was better, even when God forces a winery to make good wine by keeping the temperatures at bay, they still make mediocre stuff. Such is life! Thankfully, we are blessed with Terra di Seta, aka TDS, which won my first ever winery of the year in 2019 and a winery that I have been touting for many years now! The newly released 2016 Terra di Seta Chianti Classico, Assai, Gran Selezione, is a stunning wine and maybe their best Assai so far!

The next two QPR WINNER are the 2019 Herzog Winery Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley, and the 2020 Chateau Signac Pliocene, Cotes du Rhone. I must say, the 2019 Herzog is shockingly ripe but the level of acidity it has really helped to tamp down the fruit and with time they all work together to make a harmonious wine. Still, it is ripe to start so leave this wine alone for many years. The 2020 Chateau Signac Pliocene, on the other hand, is lovely and ready to go. It is NOT as ripe as the 2018 vintage, but it is nice and very enjoyable for the next few years.

Finally, there is a repeat tasting of the 2019 Pavillon du Vieux Chantre, Puisseguin Saint-Emilion. As I stated in the Moises Taieb post, I needed to taste a few wines a second time and I am happy I did. The 2019 Pavillon du Vieux Chantre showed beautifully and just as I expected it to, after having tasted all the previous vintages. Thankfully, this wine is available in the USA in an easy-to-find location, from Andrew Breskin and Liquid Kosher.

The rest are OK, QPR score-wise, with only one wine garnering a score of GREAT, which is the 2017 Ma’ayan Asis Blend, these are relabeled wines from Tom Winery. The Tzora was nice but overpriced for what it gives.

I also tasted three 2019 Pinot Noirs and the clear winner, of those three, was the 2019 Goose Bay Pinot Noir, Small Batch. It is a lovely wine and one to enjoy over the next couple of years.

The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:

2016 Terra di Seta Chianti Classico, Assai, Gran Selezione, Chianti Classico – Score: 93.5 (QPR: WINNER)
This vintage of Assai is its best and this wine is 100% Glorious, rich, elegant, focused, balanced, fruity, but tart, refreshing and concentrated – WOW! BRAVO!!! The nose on this wine is pure heaven, it is soy sauce, funk, forest floor, mushroom, fruity, red and black fruit, tar, smoke, violet, very floral, wild herbs, and rich mineral. The mouth on this medium to full-bodied wine is ripe, concentrated, but well-controlled, with ripe plum, dark strawberry, candied raspberry compote, with menthol, licorice, baking spices, all wrapped in dense sweet oak and elegant draping tannins, just incredible! The finish is long, dense, dark, rich, layered, concentrated, yet perfectly balanced, with screaming acidity, rich espresso coffee, mushrooms, almost truffle, forest floor, mineral, charcoal, graphite, and star anise. WOW!!! Drink from 2026 until 2033. BRAVO!!! (tasted January 2022) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 15%)

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Posted in Israeli Wine, Kosher French Wine, Kosher Red Wine, Kosher Wine, QPR Post, Wine, Wine Tasting

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Tags: Alexander Valley, Asis Blend, Assai, Binyamina Winery, Blue C, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Capital, carignan, Chateau Signac, Chianti Classico, Cotes Du Rhone, Covenant Israel, Cuvee Terroir, Diamond, Evan's Collection, field blend, Galil Mountain Winery, Golan Heights Winery, Goose Bay, Gran Selezione, Hagafen Winery, Herzog Cellars Winery, La Garenne, Ma'ayan, Merlot, Meron, Moursyr, Netofa Winery, Pacifica, Pinot Noir, Red, Shoresh, Single Vineyard, Small Batch, Special Reserve, Tabor Winery, Tel Qasser, Terra di Seta, Tzora Winery, Vitkin Winery, Yarden Winery, Yatir Forest, Yatir Winery, Yiron, Zion

Another round of QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Hits and Misses, Six WINNERS – October 2021

Nov 4

Posted by winemusings

To start – I really must state something in advance. I am sorry that I missed the chance to properly remember the 10th Yahrzeit of Daniel Rogov’s passing, which occurred on September 7th, 2011 (it may have been the 6th but Israel time and all).

I wrote two of my posts about the man, you can read them here and as such, I will simply say that I miss him as do most of the kosher wine drinking public. So much has changed in the past 10 years, since his passing, and I wonder what kosher wine would be like today if he was still with us. So much of the world is open to the kosher wine world, which was not the case 10 years ago. I wonder if Rogov would have embraced the opening. I wonder if he would have liked or disliked the fact that Israel is producing and importing loads of kosher wine from France and Italy, specially made for the Israeli kosher wine buying community.

I think, in the end, he would have loved all that is changing and we are all worse off by his lack of presence in our lives today. So I raised a glass of 2011 Yarden Blanc de Blanc in his memory and may we all be blessed for having known such a man!

QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Wines

It has been a few months since my last QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) post and many people have been emailing me about some unique wine I have tasted and some lovely wines that are worth writing about.

Thankfully, no matter how garbage and pain I subject myself to, we are still blessed with quite a few wonderful QPR wines out there. This post includes superstars like Herzog Wines’s new 2019 Herzog Eagle’ Landing Pinot Noir, and a few others. It goes to show that when wineries reasonably price superior wines, even 46 dollar wines can be a QPR winner! Sadly, the Eagle’s Landing Pinot Noir is the most superior wine on this list. There are other nice wines to come but for now – this QPR wine list, overall, was not as good as previous lists.

We have an OK list of QPR WINNERS:

2019 Herzog Eagle’ Landing Pinot Noir
2017 Netofa Dor
2019 Chateau Genlaire Grand Vin de Bordeaux
2019 Elvi Vina Encina Blanco
2019 Pacifica Riesling, Evan’s Collection
2020 Domaine Guillerault Fargette Sancerre

There were also a few wines that are a slight step behind with a GREAT or GOOD QPR score:

2020 Domaine Joost de Villebois Pouilly Fume
2019 Domaine du Castel Grand Vin
2019 Nana Chenin Blanc
2019 Nana Cassiopeia
2015 Mad Aleph Blaufrankisch
2019 Aura di Valerie Zaffiro Super Tuscan
2020 Vitkin Israeli Journey, Red
2020 Domaine du Castel La Vie Blanc de Castel
2019 Herzog Malbec, Lineage, Clarksburg – GREAT Value for a varietal I am not a huge fan of
2020 Herzog Variations Be-leaf
2018 Binyamina Sapphire, The Chosen
2020 Tabor Sauvignon Blanc
2020 Bodegas Faustino VI Rioja
2020 Yatir Darom Rose
2020 Recanati Marselan Rose
2020 Arroyo del Imperio Chardonnay

There are a few wines that got a QPR Score of EVEN – meaning expensive or average:

2020 Herzog Sauvignon Blanc, Acacia Barrel Series – very unique but expensive
N.V. Herzog Methode Champenoise, Special Reserve – Nice but expensive
2020 Herzog Chardonnay, Chalk Hill, Special Edition – Nice but expensive
2019 Castellare di Castellina Chianti Classico – very unique but expensive
2020 Matar Chardonnay
2019 Capcanes Peraj Ha’abib, Flor de Primavera – Still too ripe for me
2019 Weinstock Cabernet Sauvignon, Cellar Select
2020 Psagot Sinai, White
N.V. Drappier Rose de Saignee, Champagne
2018 Les Lauriers de Rothschild
2020 Pacifica Rattlesnake Hills Viognier
N.V. Vera Wang Party Prosecco, Brut
2019 Or Haganuz Elima
2019 Binyamina Chardonnay, Moshava

The others are essentially either OK wines that are too expensive, duds, or total failures:

2018 Covenant Cabernet Sauvignon, Lot 70 – Lovely wine but expensive for the quality
2019 Hagafen Family Vineyard Red Blend – Lovely wine but expensive for the quality
2020 Binyamina Moshava Rose
2019 Yatir Creek White
2019 Domaine du Castel La Vie, Rouge du Castel
2017 Barons Edmond & Benjamin de Rothschild
2018 Domaine du Castel M du Castel
2020 Padre Bendicho Rose
2020 Carmel Private Collection Rose
2020 Yatir Darom White
2019 Nana Chardonnay
2019 Segal Marawi Native
2019 Mia Luce Blanc
2019 Nana Tethys
2018 Odem Mountain 1060 Cabernet Franc
2018 Odem Mountain 1060 Red Wine
2017 Odem Mountain Alfasi, Special Reserve
2019 Mia Luce Syrah and Stems
2019 Mia Luce C.S.M.
2017 Tabor Merlot, Adama
2017 Tabor Cabernet Sauvignon 1/11,000, Limited Edition
2019 Chateau de Parsac
2019 Gurra di Mare Tirsat
2017 Tulip Espero
2019 Psagot Merlot
2019 Psagot Cabernet Sauvignon
2018 Jezreel Icon
2019 Psagot Edom
2017 The Cave
2018 Carmel Mediterranean
2020 Yatir Mount Amasa Rose
2020 Flam Camellia
2020 Netofa Latour, White

Some things that made me stand up and take notice (AKA QPR WINNERS):

The real WINNER here, from the entire list, is the lovely 2019 Herzog Eagle’s Landing Pinot Noir, another STUNNING Pinot Noir from Herzog – BRAVO!

There were other high-scoring wines in this overall list, nice wines from Covenant and others, but the prices of those wines put them at a disadvantage in comparison to others in their wine categories, and as such, they have poor to bad QPR wine scores.

In the end, IMHO, the overall list has less quality than the previous QPR list but there are a few nice wines here indeed.

The other WINNERS were the incredible 2019 Elvi Vina Encina Blanco, a lovely Macabeo for 13 dollars! Just lovely! The 2019 Pacifica Riesling, Evan’s Collection, is not as good as previous vintages – but another solid wine that many will enjoy. Finally, we have a Sancerre that I can get up and cheer about and that is the 2020 Domaine Guillerault Fargette Sancerre. It is here in the USA and it is nice!

Other wines worth of note (AKA QPR GREAT or GOOD):

Of these GOOD to GREAT wines – the most interesting of the list, for me, is the 2020 Domaine Joost de Villebois Pouilly Fume. No, it is not as good as the lovely 2019 Jean Pierre Bailly Pouilly Fume, still, it is a Mevushal wine that is reasonably priced, so it gets a solid QPR score. The 2019 Nana Chenin Blanc is nice, but for the price, it is not worth it, and it is DRINK NOW!

The 2019 Domaine du Castel Grand Vin, is nice, yes, but it is too ripe for me and the price is too much for the quality it is, so yeah, nice wine for those that like this style. The 2019 Nana Cassiopeia, is a wine that I found I could taste and at a decent enough price, so yeah, good going.

The 2015 Mad Aleph Blaufrankisch has so many stories revolving around it, that all I can say is, drink it if you like the style. I found it OK, but I do not need to buy any more.

The 2019 Aura di Valerie Zaffiro Super Tuscan is nice enough, but really, why did you need to put those words on the bottle? A Super Tuscon is a term used to describe red wines from Tuscany that may include non-indigenous grapes, particularly Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah. The creation of super Tuscan wines resulted from the frustration winemakers had towards a slow bureaucracy in changing Italy’s wine law during the 1970s (from WineFolly). Why would you place those words on a wine bottle??

The 2019 Herzog Malbec, Lineage is a solid example of what reasonably priced wine from California can taste like! Finally, the newly released 2020 Herzog Variations Be-leaf – handily beats all other no-added sulfite options!

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Posted in Israeli Wine, Kosher Dessert Wine, Kosher French Wine, Kosher Red Wine, Kosher Rose Wine, Kosher Sparkling Wine, Kosher White Wine, Kosher Wine, QPR Post, Wine

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Tags: 1060, Acacia Barrel Series, Adama, Aleph Blaufrankisch, Alfasi, Arroyo del Imperio, Aura di Valerie, Barons de Rothschild Edmond Benjamin, Binyamina Winery, Blanc, Blanco, Bodegas Faustino VI, C.S.M., Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Camellia, Capcanes, Carmel Winery, Cassiopeia, Castellare di Castellina, Cellar Select, Chalk Hill, Chardonnay, Chateau de Parsac, Chateau Genlaire, Chenin Blanc, Chianti Classico, Covenant Winery, Creek, Darom, Domaine du Castel, Domaine Guillerault Fargette, Dor, Drappier, Eagle's Landing, Elima, Elviwines, Espero, Evan's Collection, Family Vineyard Red Blend, Flam Winery, Flor de Primavera, grand vin, Gris de Marselan, Gurra di Mare, Hagafen Winery, Herzog Cellars Winery, Icon, Israeli Journey, J. de Villebois, Jezreel Winery, La Vie, latour netofa, Les Lauriers de Rothschild, Limited Edition, Lineage, Lot 70, M du Castel, Mad Winery, Malbec, Marawi, Matar Winery, Mediterranean, Merlot, Methode Champenoise, Mia Luce Winery, Moshava, Mount Amasa, Nana, Native, Netofa Winery, Odem Mountain Winery, Or Haganuz Winery, Pacifica, Padre Bendicho, Party, Peraj Ha'Abib, Pinot Noir, Pouilly-Fume, Private Collection, Prosecco, Psagot Edom, Psagot Winery, Recanati Winery, Red, Riesling, Rioja, Rose, Rose de Saignee, Rouge du Castel, Sancerre, sapphire, Sauvignon Blanc, Segal Winery, Sinai, Special Edition, Special Reserve, Syrah and Stem, Tabor Winery, Tethys, The Cave, The Chosen, Tirsat, Tulip Winery, Variation Be-leaf, Vera Wang, Vina Encina, Viognier, Vitkin Winery, Weinstock, White, Yatir Winery, Zaffiro

The top QPR Kosher wine WINNERS of 2020

Jan 25

Posted by winemusings

This past year I wanted to drive home the need for QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) wines. So I set out to create what I thought a QPR metric should be! Gone were arbitrary price ranges and the such. Instead, I let the market define what the QPR price range should be. I did this by grouping the wines by their type (white, red, rose, sparkling, and dessert) and then further refined the grouping by age-ability within the white and red wines. This gave me the following groups:

Drink “soon” White Wine (Simple whites)
Rose Wine (always drink soon)
Drink “soon” Red Wine (Simple reds)
Mid-range aging Reds (4 to 11 years)
High-end Red wines (11 and more years)
High-end White wines (7 and more years)
Sparkling Wine (No need here for extra differentiation)
Dessert Wine

I then made the mistake of trying to create an Orange wine range/group – that was a HUGE mistake. Again, the wines themselves were not the issue, the issue revolved around trying to group such a small sample set into its group. They will go into their respective white wine category, next year.

Throughout the year, I posted many QPR posts, for almost all of the main categories. I will continue down this road until I find a better way to categorize and track wines that are QPR WINNERS. Talk about WINNERS, that secondary QPR score was a 2.1 revision to my QPR scoring, and that is explained in this post. All the wines listed here are QPR WINNERS from my tastings in 2020.

This year, the list came to a total of 25 names, and none had to dip below 91 in the scores, which is a large number and better scores overall than last year, but again, the pool from where they are culled continues to grow, and the diamonds in the rough are getting harder and harder to find.

I have added a few new things this year. The first is QPR for France, the prices for many wines there, are dirt cheap! Maybe, Avi Davidowitz, from kosher wine unfiltered, can create a list like that for Israel, this year, a bunch of wines became available there, and a proper QPR list would be worthwhile!

Shoutout to TWO GREAT wines that are just sitting around!

I am sorry to get on my soapbox before we get to the top QPR wines of 2020. But I have to ask what is wrong with Les Roches de Yon-Figeac? What is wrong with Albarino?

The 2016 Les Roches de Yon-Figeac is sitting around and no one is buying it! WHY??? It sits around and there is no real better option, IMHO, at this price point, currently. Yet, the wines sit! The crazy part is that the 2016 Les Roches is lovely, but 2017 is even better!!! The 2016 vintage has been here in the USA for years already! The price is perfect, 36 or 37 dollars for an impressive wine that can be enjoyed now, if you decant it well or age for 12 more years!

What about the Albarino wines? There is the cheap but wonderful 2018 Ramon Cardova Albarino, along with the 2018 Herzog Albarino, Special Reserve, at 2x the price. They are wonderful wines and they too sit on the sidelines! Horrible Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay wines sellout but these far better white options sit around. It is great that some of you have been enjoying Riesling, Grenache Blanc, and other varieties, but COME ON FOLKS – try other white wines – PLEASE!!

Finally, some of these wines are hard to find and they may have different siblings – but they are worth the effort. The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here:

The 2020 White QPR kosher WINNERS

The Dampt Grand Cru from 2018 was the white wine of the year and the 2017 Dampt is the white Co-QPR white wine of the year. The other Co-QPR white wine of the year is the lovely 2019 Pescaja Terre Alfieri Arneis Solei. It is almost as unique as the 2013 Eccelenza, Bianco Umbria, which was crazy cool. These wines are worth the effort to find them, IMHO!

2019 Pescaja Terre Alfieri Arneis Solei – Score: 92+ (QPR: WINNER)
WOW! this is Arneis fruit, but to me, it is Sauvignon Blanc all the way, but where it departs from classic SB is the pear and almond which should tell you that something is either very wrong or this is not SB, which in case, is the latter, this is not Sauvignon Blanc! If anything this is more a perfect blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier, incredible!
PSA – This wine needs to be CHILLED – LIKE Champagne chilled, PLEASE!
The nose on this wine is truly redolent and super-expressive, if this is lost on you, please do not buy the wine, leave it for others who can appreciate it! This wine does indeed have notes of gooseberry, and cat pee, and lovely green notes, but it also has loads of floral notes, showing violet, rose, salted almond, chamomile, white flowers, and sweet ripe pear, and grapefruit. The mouth on this medium-bodied white wine is INCREDIBLE, nuts, with layers upon layers of incredible fruit, sure it has a drop of RS, but who cares! The mouth is layered with ripe pear, peach, apricot, ripe pomelo, with incredible honeysuckle, followed by honey, honeyed and spiced Citron, and incredible mineral, slate, spice, nutmeg, freshly-cut grass, straw, hay, and lovely roasted almond on the super longer lingering finish – WOW!! This is fun! Drink until 2024. (tasted August 2020)

2017 Dampt Freres Chablis, Premier Cru, Cote de Lechet – Score: 93 (QPR: WINNER)
OK, so, 2017 is the year for Chablis, and of what I had from Dampt Freres, two years ago, a few showed quite well. Those were Petit and a more minor vineyard. This wine is the 2017 Premier Cru and what a wine it is! My goodness, this is what Chardonnay, unoaked of course, ie meant to smell and taste like. It is pure mineral and fruit, with loads of dirt, smoke, and flint – a true joy – BRAVO!!!
The nose on this lovely wine is purely mineral notes, sure there is apple, peach, apricot, and some other white fruit, but who cares, what shines here is the mineral attack, shist, rock, flint, along with lovely white flowers, almonds, and hints of mushroom – I WANT THIS! The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is lovely, layers upon layers, come at you, with non-stop attack of mineral, fruit, earth, rich spices, and more mineral. The apricot, peach, yellow and green apple from the nose are present, as are hints of lychee, lovely Meyer lemon, and a tiny amount of crazy Kafir lime leaves and juice – WOW! The finish is so long, with incredible minerality, showing flint, rock, shist, and lovely straw, that brings the entire wine together – wow! A true joy – get this!! Drink until 2025. (tasted December 2020)

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Posted in Israeli Wine, Kosher Dessert Wine, Kosher French Wine, Kosher Red Wine, Kosher Sparkling Wine, Kosher White Wine, Kosher Wine, QPR Post, Wine

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Tags: Arneis, Assai, Blanc de Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chablis, Chateau Haut Breton Larigaudiere, Chateau Haut Condissas, Chateau Lacaussade, Chateau Le Crock, Chateau Les Riganes, Chateau Piada, Château Malmaison Baronne Nadine, Chianti Classico, Clos Lavaud, Crozes Hermitage, Dampt Freres, Domaine Netofa, Eagle's Landing, el26, Elviwines, Goose Bay, Hagafen Winery, Herzog Cellars Winery, Lineage, Louis Blanc, Pacifica, Pescaja, Pinot Noir, QPR, Riesling, Rioja, Sauvignon Blanc, Semi, Solei, Special Reserve, Tel Qasser, Terra di Seta, Terre Alfieri, top kosher wines, Variations, Yarden Winery

A lineup of the available 2018 kosher Pinot Noirs from around the world

Dec 25

Posted by winemusings

In the past few months, there have been many releases of Pinot Noir from the 2018 vintage. For the most part, there are no real winners here, QPR and otherwise, except for two – the Herzog Pinot Noir, Reserve, and the Herzog Eagle’s Landing Pinot Noir (though the Eagle’s Landing is the only QPR WINNER).

The tasting included all the wines I could find though I left out two, the 2018 Barkan Pinot Noir and the 2018 Tura Pinot Noir. Both of them are Mevushal, and they do a HORRIBLE job on Mevushal, so I did not want to waste my money. My love for all things Pinot is well known, and I had such high hopes. I also seemed to have missed tasting the 2018 Vitkin Pinot Noir, as well.

It is funny how the media can change people’s perspectives, and in some cases twist them in a way that we would not expect. Say Pinot Noir and most wine drinkers will think of the enigmatic anti-hero Miles Raymond, and his explanation on his love for Pinot Noir; “…It’s, uh, it’s thin-skinned, temperamental, ripens early. It’s, you know, it’s not a survivor like Cabernet, which can just grow anywhere and thrive even when it’s neglected. No, Pinot needs constant care and attention. You know?…“. Pinot is a complicated grape – but not to its detriment. Listen to Miles throughout Sideways and you may come to think that Pinot is fleeting, flinty, thin, and complicated. In the end, as you watch that horrible movie, you quickly realize that Miles was simply projecting in a fire fueled rambling and using Pinot Noir as his conduit.

To the French, Pinot Noir is called Burgundy – following the tradition of French wineries to name their wines after the region where the grapes are grown. Americans have had success with Pinot – in California, Oregon, and Washington State. New Zealand, has taken the lead in bringing the grape into the 21st century. The French Burgundy has its terroir (earthy dirt flavors, sometimes barnyard flavors as well). The New Zealand and American Pinots show characteristics that are more akin to Syrah than Burgundy – fruit-forward, meaty wines with soft caressing tannins. The rest of the world is choosing sides. Though true terroir flavors are hard to replicate outside of Burgundy, many countries have been successful at bringing out the true fruit characteristics that the land is willing to share and are creating wonderful Pinot Noirs. Israel was starting to come into its own with Pinot Noir, now all I would buy from Israel, in regards to Pinot would be from Gvaot. Yes, Vitkin does a nice enough job, but Gvaot does a better one. Right now, the best bet is France and the USA, with a drop from Israel, and after that, we are on empty. Sadly, 2018 was not a great year for Four Gates and what I had was not great, it was never officially bottled, but we have 2019 coming soon!

Sadly, Pinot Noir to me is one of those wines that is so badly mangled in the kosher wine world, that it is no shock that most kosher oenophiles, turn face when u say Pinot Noir. Not on account of the Pinot Noir grapes themselves, but rather on account of the pathetic state of kosher Pinot Noir wine on the market.

Say, Pinot Noir to me, and sadly I can only think of:

Four Gates Winery
Gvaot Winery
Eagle’s Landing Pinot Noir (2016 and 2018 are great)
2014, 2015, 2017 Chantal Lescure Burgundy from Pommard (I hope there is a 2018 vintage, I disliked 2016)
2017 Jean-Philippe Marchand Burgundies (2019 vintage was just released)
2018 Jean Luc & Paul Aegerter Burgundies
2010 Domaine Gachot-Monot Beaune 1er Cru Les Cent Vignes (this is the last of good “cheap” Burgs)
2016 Maison Roy & Fils Shai Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley (Sadly it was a ONE and done deal)
Hagafen and Vitkin have left me wanting more, and forget the rest of Israel’s Pinot Noirs. The same goes for Pacifica, which has also been lacking, other than one vintage.

Pinot Noir is one of my favorite wines, NO NOT because of sideways! I loved the wine long before that horrific cult movie hit the theaters. I love PN for what it stands for – complexity through things other than fruit! A well made Pinot Noir, in my humble opinion, needs to be of medium body, medium fruit structure, accompanied by mounds of dirt, mushroom, barnyard, and earthy goodness. The ultimate aspect of a great PN is the secondary flavors, not the fruit, not cherry cola, and for the LOVE OF GOD not OAK! It is all about the secondary and old age notes that come with time and love.

Sadly, look at that list. Four Gates is tough to get in quantity. The Gvaot Pinot is available, but they are more Cab and rich than a pure ethereal wine, though very impressive. The Eagle’s Landing 2013 vintage is still available at the winery, and the 2016/2018 vintages rocked! The real winners are the French options, but they are NOT cheap.

So, where are we? Some like the Galil Pinot and other such structured wines, but to me, they are just bad Cabernet in a Pinot’s clothing. This is a shortlist. Heck, there are HUNDREDS of Cabernet, Merlot, Syrah, even many Cabernet Franc options. But say Pinot and numbers dwindle in the blink of an eye. Further, many of the options here are vintage based. For the true Pinot lover, Four Gates and France are your sure bets. Sadly, only the last one is pumping out wines consistently.

PSA: What is wrong with you all?? The Eagle’s Landing Pinot Noir has consistently been a high-rated wine and one that lasts for a very long time, improving along the way with great panache. Yet, you can still buy the 2013 and 2016 vintages of this wonderful wine!! I bought a bunch of 2013 from Herzog. I get NOTHING to tell you this other than pleasure. BUY the wine and enjoy one bottle now and save the others for a rainy day in 2026. Buy this now!!

Sadly, there were no surprises here, the 2018 Gvaot was nice, the Eagle’s Landing was great, and the Herzog Reserve Pinot (a return after many years of non-production) was also very nice. That is about it. The 2018 Jean Luc & Paul Aegerter Burgundies were tasted previously (the notes added here for completeness).

The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here:

2018 Herzog Eagle’s Landing Pinot Noir, Santa Rita Hills – Score: 93 (QPR: WINNER)
Let me start by saying buy this wine, buy lots of this wine, I mean a LOT! OK, now this wine is a bigger and richer version of the 2013 Eagle’s Landing Pinot Noir, in other words, this wine is a beast, a winner, and yes – get this wine! My only comment is that this wine is not a classically styled Pinot Noir. This wine is full-bodied and not so much about cherry and raspberry and more about blackberry and spice, I would not have initially guessed this was a Pinot Noir, still this a wonderful wine. My only real complaint is the strangely small cork used as its closure, when the Cabernet Franc has a much longer cork, just not sure why. Anyway, I do not care about corks, as long as they last long enough to meet the drinking window.
The nose on this wine is pure heaven, coffee and chocolate, and fruit madness, with dirt, mushroom, loam, and spice, all wrapped in dark and brooding fruit, showing control, spice, earth, and sheer umami notes, wow!! The mouth on this full-bodied wine is wow! the mouth starts very softly, almost like a leopard crouching before it pounces upon its prey, this wine is beautifully structured to last, and so well made it is almost difficult to get all the thoughts out of my head, layers of fruit, acid, tannin, salinity (that is incredible), black olives, with epic fruit structure and concentration, with clear and bold and jammy blackberry, raspberry, dark cherry, with intense saline, forest floor, searing acidity, and layers of dark jammy brooding but well-controlled fruit. With time the cherry and raspberry fall behind the intense black and intense brooding fruit. The finish is equally impressive with layers of chocolate, coffee, leather, spices, nutmeg, cloves, rich earth, lovely smoking tobacco leaves, sweet and jammy fruit, all wrapped in mineral, spice, and earth. Bravo!!! Drink from 2024 until 2033 or longer.

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Posted in Israeli Wine, Kosher French Wine, Kosher Red Wine, Kosher Wine, Wine, Wine Tasting

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Tags: Bourgogne, Capcanes, Domaine Ternynck Bourgogne, Eagle's Landing, Evan's Collection, Gevrey Chambertin, Gilgal, Gofna, Goose Bay, Grume D'Or, Gvaot Winery, Hagafen Winery, Hautes-Cotes de Nuits, Herzog Cellars Winery, Jean Luc & Paul Aegerter, Lineage, Napa Valley, Pacifica, Peraj Ha'Abib, Pinot Noir, Pommard, Reserve, Segal Winery, The Duke Pontiff, Timbre, Yaacov Oryah Winery

Final take on 2020’s crop of Kosher roses – 2 QPR Winners, but overall not great

Sep 25

Posted by winemusings

Kosher 2019 Roses charted by price and wine score (QPR)

So, as the image above shows roses are very expensive and the majority of the 28 of the 55 are at or above the median price of 23. This is not new, IMHO, roses overall have not been good or even very interesting this season.

Please read this post for my writeup on rose wines this year. I had a few follow-ups after that, including the one post with the QPR Rose for 2020, but this post will list all the rose wines I have had this year. Also, as I tasted more wines the price of the median went up and that allowed the Roubine La Vie to also become a QPR Winner. Again, the MARKET decides the QPR winners, not me! All I decide is the wine’s subjective quality score, and yes, that is subjective! The rest, the P part of QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) is decided upon by the market. Please read my revised QPR scoring here.

The image does not show the 2 QPR Winners as obvious winners, as the dot that represents the Carmel Rose and the Roubine La Vie Rose is on the top left of the winner box. These wines barely made their way into the Winner’s square, but with such a horrible vintage, rose-wise, 2 is better than NONE.

In regards to rose, look a lot of my friends and I do not agree. Look at the Cantina Giuliano Rosato, it is a VERy nice and classically made Gris style rose, but it has a bit of RS (Residual Sugar) in it, at least to my palate, and I have issues with that. Other wines that have more RS drive me nuts. My friends do not care about RS or ripe notes in rose as long as it is balanced. To me, rose, red, or white, I DO NOT want RS. The funny thing is that Kedel Jackson probably got away with1% RS in his Chardonnays for decades, and made it the classic style for Cali Chard, which brought on the famous ABC movement (Anything But Chardonnay). Which spawned Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, and so many other great white wines here in California.

So, yes, there are two winners now, and there are a few 91 scored roses, but please look at the chart!! LOL! It is visually clear that the vast majority of the wines are not something I would look to buy. They are either too expensive or not interesting and that is what has gone wrong with the kosher rose market. Again, I have said it a few times, IMHO, the wineries have thrown in the towel and they make rose thinking it will sell, no matter what they release. This will eventually end badly. Only time will tell. Read the rest of this entry →

Posted in Israeli Wine, Kosher Rose Wine, Kosher Wine, QPR Post, Wine

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Tags: 1848 Winery, 2nd Generation, Alma, Appellation, Barbera, Bat Shlomo, beret, Binyamina Winery, Blue C, Cantina Giuliano, Carmel Winery, Chateau Greysac, Chateau Roubine, Chateau Roubine La Vie, Chateau Sainte Marguerite, Coral, Coteaux de Sitrya, Covenant Winery, Cru Classe, D vs G, Dalton Winery, Domaine du Castel, Domaine Herzberg, Domaine Netofa, Don Ernesto, Ella Valley Winery, Essence, EverRose, Five Stones, Flam Winery, Goose Bay, Grenache, Gush Etzion Winery, Hagafen Winery, Hajdu Wines, Herzog Cellars Winery, Jerusalem Hills, Jezreel Winery, Judean Hills, Latour Rosado, Matar Winery, Nadiv Winery, Pacifica, Pet-Nat, Pinot Noir, Premium, Psagot Winery, Ramon Cardova, Red C, Reserve, Rosado, Rosato, Rose, Shiloh WInery, Shirah Winery, Tasting Room Reserve, Teperberg Winery, Tulip Winery, Tura Winery, Twin Suns, White Franc, Yatir Winery

The first Rose QPR WINNER, along with two other QPR Winners, and even more roses and whites from 2019, and a few Sparkling wines as well!

Jul 17

Posted by winemusings

Sorry, it has been so long before I have posted here, but I am back and lets start with a few good wines and well, the rest of the 2019 wines white and rose wines that I could find.

QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) is the non-qualitative score I have been giving to wines recently. In my last update to QPR, a week after I posted the QPR revised methodology, I defined the QPR score of WINNER. A QPR score of WINNER is defined as a wine that scores a qualitative score of 91 or more, a score I define as a wine I would buy happily while also being a wine that is cheaper than the respective median wine category.

This week we have a mix of 27 wines 10 whites and 14 roses, and 3 Sparkling wines. One of the whites I have already posted about, a winner of the QPR GREAT score, the 2018 Domaine Netofa, White. The wine is a bit hit and miss and I wanted to update folks about it.

However, the absolute clear QPR WINNER of this week’s post is the FIRST 2019 Rose that gains the QPR WINNER title! Bravo!!! The wine is the 2019 Carmel Rose, Appellation. There were two other Sauvignon Blanc WINNERS, the 2019 Goose Bay Sauvignon Blanc (being released soon), and the 2019 Hagafen Sauvignon Blanc (Just released). 2019 white wine WINNERS are ALL Sauvignon Blanc and I am stocked!

The 2019 Teperberg Rose, Essence is another wine that got close to WINNER status, yet sadly, it did not, as the price is too high. This is a wine that should sell for less, like so many others from Isarel, yet that is just not the case.

The 2019 Herzog Rose, Pinot Noir, Tasting Room Reserve was a lovely wine for me. The weight and the acidity and the refreshingness of it really made it quite a fun wine indeed!

I continue to stand by my opinion that 2019 is one of the very WORST vintages for white and rose wines in the last 10 years for Israeli wines. I continue to dream of the 2013/2014 vintage for Israeli whites. Some of the very best Israeli whites came from the 2013/2014 vintages. Yes, I have not had as many of the 2019 whites and roses from Israel, as I would normally have had by now, sadly, the current circumstances do not let me do that. There are many roses still in France and Israel that I have not had, but of the ones I have had from Israel so far, I am fine with my statement.

Roses have continued to disappoint. We finally have a QPR WINNER for Rose, from Israel, but the vast majority of them this year have been an absolute letdown. There are now 8 QPR winners in whites (plus two in this post, and one from this post), it is clear as day to me that white wines are the way to go this summer.

Probably the saddest and maybe controversial wine note in this post is my score of the 2019 Chateau Les Riganes Blanc. What can I say, I did not love the wine. I LOVED the 2018 vintage! That wine had it all! The 2019 is just not as good and that is life sadly. I was really hoping for a repeat, like the 2019 Goose Bay Sauvignon did.

Finally, Royal has just released THREE newly disgorged Drappier Champagne! In this post I give you the score – it is AWESOME, I hope to taste the other two soon!

The wine note follows below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:

2019 Hajdu Rose – Score: 90+ (QPR: EVEN)
The 2019 Rose market has been so weak, it is nice to see Jonathan Hajdu and the Shirah brothers picking up the slack with their 2019 Roses, even if the QPR score is not as good as I would have wished for.
The nose on this wine is classic Cali rose notes, bright, sweet, ripe, yet well-balanced notes of blueberry, yes blue fruit, followed, by pomegranate, with raspberry, and sweet plum notes, this sounds riper/sweeter than I like, but it is more tart fruit than it is ripe fruit. The mouth on this medium-bodied plus rose is really fun, truly tart, refreshing, with great acidity, along with balanced sweet fruit, of blue fruit, tart strawberry, raspberry, grapefruit, sweet/tart collage of nice plum, strawberry, sweet and tart strawberry, and really tart red peach. The finish is long, sweet, tart, with nice mineral, body, freshness, and refreshing qualities that are truly a lovely summer wine – Bravo!

2019 Shirah Rose – Score: 90 (QPR: GOOD)
This is a nice wine, and with my new QPR scoring even though it is more expensive than the median price for rose wine, it garner’s a quality score that is in the 2nd quintile, so the math says the QPR score is GOOD.
This rose is a blend of Grenache, Nebbiolo, Cabernet Franc, and Aglianico, using the Saignee method. The nose on this wine shows nice notes of peach, sweet and juicy strawberries and creme, along with cranberry, cotton candy, and vanilla, with a touch of heat, and rhubarb. The mouth on this light to medium-bodied wine is well balanced, with good enough acidity, showing little in complexity, but this is not a pure fruit bomb, it has acidity and pith to bring the wine around, with sweet notes of grapefruit and pomelo, with hints of orange, sweet orange pith, and flint. Drink now.

2019 Teperberg Rose, Essence – Score: 91 (QPR: GOOD)
This is a nice wine, and with my new QPR scoring even though it is more expensive than the median price for rose wine, it garner’s a quality score that is in the 2nd quintile, so the math says the QPR score is GOOD.
This is the best of the three roses with Grenache and Barbera. This wine is a blend of 45% Grenache Noir, 35% Mourvedre, and 20% Barbera. The nose on this wine is fruity, it has clear sweet notes of candied strawberry, and lychee, with bright melon, gooseberry, and passion fruit, with hints of white flowers. The mouth on this wine is a REAl winner, lovely acidity, the acid hits you like a ton of bricks up front, though the finish, at this point, is a bit shallow, with clear and lovely notes of strawberries, rhubarb, loads of gooseberry, pink grapefruit, and lovely overall refreshing mouthfeel and a bright and easy-going freshness that has enough complexity for me to make this the best Israeli rose by far, that I have tasted this year. With time, the finish fills out and then you get lovely rocks, slate, saline, and more tart and bright red fruit, with flowers, and crazy lemon/lime lifesavers lingering long on the bright and floral finish. BRAVO!!!

2019 Five Stones Rose, D vs G – Score: 86 (QPR: BAD)
This is a wine that is just good enough, but with my new QPR scoring it is one quintile more expensive than the median rose price and it is not as good as the median score so that is why this wine gets a BAD on the QPR score.
The nose on this wine is fruity, too fruity for me, the fruit needs to be there, but when it is so obvious it feels like overkill, The wine is a blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. While I liked the 2019 white D vs G, the rose is not interesting to me.The nose on this wine is fruity, showing clear sweet notes of candied plum, red fruit, and too much heat for me, at 13% ABV. The mouth on this light to medium-bodied wine is flat, not showing a lot, really lacking, there is a nice hit of acidity, but then it falls apart in the middle and disappears at the finish. The mouth is just acid and crazy fruity fruit, with candied and overly ripe strawberry, grapefruit, and melon, bummer. There is some refreshing notes if you like fruity wines to this extent. Drink now!

2019 Herzog Rose, Pinot Noir, Tasting Room Reserve – Score: 91 (QPR: GOOD)
This is truly a lovely wine but it is a bit more expensive than the Median. With my new QPR scoring, it is one quintile higher in price than the Median, however, it scores in the 2nd quintile, so that makes it a GOOD QPR score.
I have liked this version of their rose lineup for a long time now, yes it has oak, and yes it is a fuller-bodied wine, but it is also very enjoyable!The nose on this wine is classical in its rose styling, with lovely dark strawberry notes, with lovely red fruit, and peach, with citrus, and sweet cedar. The mouth on this full-bodied rose, yes I wrote that is actually quite fun, the acidity is lovely, maybe their best acid showing in this wine so far, with crazy Kirche cherry, tart grapefruit, plum, and sweet notes of cedar, followed by saline, gooseberry acidity, and very tart pomegranate. The mouthfeel is tart, juicy, with great weight, but yes so very refreshing! The finish is long, tart, with lovely acidity, with sweet watermelon, hints of candied fruit, but really impressive precision with the acidity and refreshingness. Bravo!!! Drink now.

2019 Chateau Sainte Marguerite Rose – Score: 87 (QPR: POOR)
Sadly, this wine is right on the Median line for quality and it is more expensive than the median price, so this lands it as a POOR QPR wine.
Lovely nose with classic leanings for a Provence rose, showing lovely mineral, rosehip, citrus, gooseberry, classic ripe and juicy strawberry, and red fruit, but I am shocked by the ripeness/sweetness of the fruit on the nose and mouth. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is ripe, and while there is a load of pith, it lacks the acidity to make this work, it has crazy pith and hints of tannin, the mouth shows sweet peach, apricot, guava, and strawberry, with lemon, and yet more pith. That is about it, mineral-wise it is loaded, but the lack of acid is really surprising, IMHO. In regards to my refreshing scale, this one is low, now acidity and the pith is more aggressive than it is balancing. Drink now.

2019 Carmel Rose, Appellation – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is in the 2nd quintile of quality scoring and it is RIGHT on the median price line, so this wine SHOULD get a score of GREAT for QPR. However, it is ALSO the ONLY rose from the 2019 vintage, so far, that scored at least a 91, and that has a price that is at or below the median price line, so this wine gets the coveted score of WINNER for QPR. Bravo!!!
This wine is a blend of 65% Marselan and 35% Grenache. The nose on this wine is really fun, truly Provence in style, with loads of mineral, red forest berry, yellow flower, rosehip, citrus galore, and passion fruit. This is a fun and funky wine, I like how the Israeli Rhone varietals, used ina rose style wine, get funky in the right ways, with a lovely core of screaming acid, followed by luscious and tart strawberry, raspberry, currants, loads of rosehip, floral notes, with mineral, dirt, and crazy fun and refreshing acidity, it may well be the best rose from Israel. The finish is crazy long, refreshing, with saline, slate galore, and pith to round out the attack. On the refreshing scale, this one is off the charts, showing the best so far maybe for 2019! Bravo!!! Drink Now

2019 Binyamina Rose, Grenache Barbera, Reserve – Score: 75 (QPR: NA)
This wine is a blend of 90% Grenache and 10% Barbera. Let us start off by the fact that those two varietals do not belong together, at least not by any territory. In regards to this rose, it is up for debate. The nose on this wine is funky, and no, not like the funky aromas, I mean the aromas are all over the place, with sweet fruit, yet tart, with dark aromas, and also peach-like aromas, there is no clear approach of style here. Like I said, up for debate.
The nose on this wine is sweet, almost like it has some RS, with peach and apricot notes, followed by raspberry, and very ripe and maybe too-ripe strawberry, with floral notes, and almost a peach perfume. Ok, this mouth is not for me, sorry, the nose is maybe debatable, but this is really unbalanced, and the RS is really off-putting, throw on the oak, and goodbye. The mouth on this wine is unbalanced, it is really all over the place like a kindergarten kid hopped up on adrenaline and Adderall. Sure there is some fruit, loads of RS, and much of the nose’s fruit, along with Pineapple, and guava, essentially, not a wine for me, though the acid is OK. Drink now.

2019 Yatir Rose, Judean Hills – Score: 84 (QPR: BAD)
This is a wine that is honestly not even good enough, so with my new QPR scoring it is one quintile more expensive than the median rose price and it is not as good as the median score so that is why this wine gets a BAD on the QPR score.
This wine is a blend of 53% tempranillo and 47% Mourvedre. This wine does not work for me, sorry, first it has sweet, I mean really sweet notes, even if it comes in at 12.5% ABV, this wine is ripe! The nose on this wine is ripe, with over the top and fruit-forward notes of blackberry, raspberry, and mulberry, with nice floral notes. The mouth is OK with the acid, but right after the acid front, the mouth behind it is sweet, unbalanced, with currant, mulberry, and black fruit, that is really not put together. The finish is ripe and it does not work. Drink Now.

2019 1848 Rose, 2nd Generation – Score: 78 (QPR: NA)
This is the 2nd blend of Grenache and Barbera of the tasting and the third from Israel, with the lovely Tepperberg also using that blend. This one is a blend of 85% Grenach and 15% Barbera.The nose on this wine is far more put together than the Binyamina but not nearly as good as the Teperberg. The nose shows notes of mineral, red forest berry, and floral notes, the noes is less expressive than I would have liked. The mouth though is highly expressive and once again, this blend reminds me of a hopped kindergarten child, it is a mess. It has more acidity than the Binyamina and a bit of funk, the acid is really intense, but wow, this is all over the place and no, it is not refreshing. It is a hard pass.

2019 Pacifica Rose – Score: 89 (QPR: GREAT)
This is a nice enough wine, but with my new QPR scoring it is still is not as expensive as the median and its score is also above the median, so it is a GREAT QPR, though not a wine I would run after. Still, for the heady prices of rose today, this is a solid buy if you like this kind of wine.
This may well be the highest scoring off-dry rose I have ever scored. The nose on this wine is sweet and IMHO it is the PERFECT sleeper agent rose to get people to like roses, it is super bright, well balanced, and respectful to both sides of the fence here.
The nose on this wine is ripe, and sweet, with nice pineapple, guava, and red fruit, followed by tart gooseberry, and lovely floral notes. The mouthfeel on this medium to full-bodied wine is lifted by the RS and sweetness, but it has crazy good acidity and the fruit and winemaking style respects the concept of rose, with lovely sweetness, followed by much of the fruit in the nose, along with crazy pineapple again, passion fruit, and intense grapefruit, and pith. The finish is long, sweet, and well done with sweet pomelo, and its citrus pith lingering long. Nice!

2019 Tulip White Franc – Score: 75 (QPR: NA)
I know, this is not an official rose, I get it, blanc de noir, I get it, but it looks rose, so in the rose list it goes, but sadly, rose or white, this wine misses the mark. Look at the 2019 Pacifica, which is off-dry but hits the mark well. This one is semi-sweet/off-dry, who cares, it is just off.
This wine is a blend of 60% Cabernet Franc and 40% Sauvignon Blanc. This wine tastes like they tried to pair sweet Cabernet Franc fruit with dry Sauvignon Blanc fruit, and for me, it is once again a crazed kindergarten child running all over the place. No focus and no approach. The nose on this wine shows intense fruity and sweet aromas with pineapple, guava, and gooseberry in the background, followed by flint, and pear. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is indeed all over, with sweet and tart fruit trying to meld together, but all I get is the sweet pear and apple with the pineapple fighting horribly with tart gooseberry and apple. Sorry, this one does not work.

2019 Dalton Rose, Alma Coral – Score: 86 (QPR: EVEN)
This wine is below the Median line for quality and it is below the median price, so this lands an EVEN QPR score.
The nose on this wine is nice enough with red and white fruit, showing some citrus, with floral notes, and hay. The mouth on this wine is boring, with no acid, a little fruit, and some mineral. Bummer. Drink now.

2019 Jerusalem Hills Rose – Score: NA (Mevushal) (QPR: NA)
This wine is a rose from Cabernet Sauvignon. The nose on this wine is sweet and cooked rosehip, followed by cooked strawberry, sweet cherry, and candied and sweet fruit galore. This wine may win the award for the worst rose from 2019, it is pure evil, there is nothing but cooked cherry compote and residual sugar sweetness. There is some acidity, but the wine is painful.

2019 Hagafen Don Ernesto Beret Rose – Score: 89 (QPR: POOR)
While this wine is nice enough it is two quintiles higher in price than the median and as such even with a quality score higher than the median the price pulls it down to a POOR QPR score.
This wine is a rose of Syrah. The nose on this wine is lovely, showing bright yet ripe fruit, with good strawberry, somewhat dull pear, melon, and jasmine flowers, with compote of rhubarb. The mouth on this medium-bodied rose has a nice weight and enough acidity, but again I wish it had more, with a lovely pith and sweet fruit mouthfeel, that is still refreshing with jasmine, strawberry/raspberry compote, followed by candied grapefruit, and tart melon. The finish is long, sweet, with red fruit, dried flower petals, and rosehip, and sweet red fruit. Nice. Drink Now.

White Wines

2019 Hagafen Sauvignon Blanc – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
It was awesome tasting this side-by-side the 2019 O’Dwyers Creek Sauvignon Blanc – they are REALY close, with the O’Dwyers Creek winning by a nose. This is tropical but so well balanced! Another white wine WINNER for the 2019 vintage!
The nose on this lovely Sauvignon Blanc is crazy tropical and almost over the top, but still well controlled, and really fun, with lovely notes of gooseberry, pineapple, intense and aromatic passion fruit, and lovely smoke/slate, wow, fun! The mouth on this wine is equally enjoyable and refreshing, with nice acidity, wish it had a drop more, with nice fruit of passion fruit, grapefruit, tart melon, and rich saline, with gooseberry, and slate/flint. The finish is long, green with lemongrass, ginger, and overall fun and refreshing approach. Nice!!! Drink now.

2019 Hagafen Riesling, Lake County, Robledo Ranch – Score: 89 (QPR: POOR)
Sadly, this wine is right on the Median line for quality and it is more expensive than the median price, so this lands it as a POOR QPR wine.
The nose on this slightly off-dry Riesling is too young to get those lovely petrol notes. Petrol takes a good year to really evolve in the bottle. The nose on this lovely wine is sweet, but very bright, with bubblegum, watermelon, with tiny hints of mineral and petrol, followed by lovely honeysuckle, lemon, lemongrass, with lovely melon, hints of pineapple, and rich saline. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is screaming for more acidity, but it is still nice, with lovely sweet notes of pineapple, sweet guava, honeysuckle, honeydew melon, and more watermelon in the background, with sweet pomelo, and nice salinity. A nice wine with a good saline/tart citrus finish but a bit simple and uni-dimensional. Drink now until 2023.

2019 Hajdu Vermentino – Score: 90 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose on this wine is fun, it takes a bit to open, but with time, say an hour, the nose is really fun, showing notes of orange, orange blossom, daffodil, with lovely citrus, ginger, and hints of nectarines. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is really fun, with good acidity, showing a slight miss in the mid-palate, that is covered up by the nice acid profile, with a nice almost oily texture, with orange, pink grapefruit, lime, and sweet yellow apple. The finish is long, really tart and green, with lovely acidity, slate, mineral, and more sweet fruit notes. Very nice! A shockingly good balance for a 14.5% ABV white wine!

2018 Goose Bay Chardonnay – Score: 88 (Mevushal) (QPR: POOR)
Sadly, this wine is right on the Median line for price and it has a lower quality score, so this lands it as a POOR QPR wine.
The nose on this wine is clearly showing its oak at this point, with a nice toasty approach, followed by lovely yellow apples, melon, and nice oak spices. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is nice e enough but it is too simple, it has a nice weight, but the overall package is lacking, with a very simple focus, but nice enough, with more apple, quince, creme brulee, and a bit of the creamy notes one gets from oaked Chardonnay. The finish is sadly short, it is hidden behind the nice acidity of this wine, but that is not enough to make up for the short length. Drink by 2021.

2019 Psagot Viognier, M Series – Score: 83 (Mevushal) (QPR: BAD)
This is a wine that is just not good enough, and with my new QPR scoring it is one quintile more expensive than the median price and it is not as good as the median score so that is why this wine gets a BAD on the QPR score.
This wine has real potential, sadly this was cooked and it feels it. The nose on this wine starts off nice, but within a minute of opening the bottle, it has that slightly extra-fruity note that is not from the fruit. The nose on this wine is a nice Viognier, showing really tart and well-controlled peach, apricot, perfumed jasmine, and loads of yellow flowers and honeysuckle. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is nice, excepting for that ripe fruit that sticks out from this lean and sleek profile, with an annoying spike of ripe honeysuckle, followed by peach, apricot, and honeyed and sweet mango, with nice grapefruit, and an overall sweet mouthfeel. The finish is long, green, in a way, yet sweet, with pomelo and citrus, along with apple, slate, and absurd pith on the long finish. Drink now.

2019 Chateau Les Riganes Blanc – Score: 86 (Mevushal) (QPR: EVEN)
This wine is below the Median line for quality and it is below the median price, so this lands an EVEN QPR score.
I was hoping for another home run from this chateau, and sadly this vintage lacks the acid of 2018. The nose on this wine is lovely but closed with orange pith, orange notes, apple, and orange blossom, ginger, with mineral in the background. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is nice but flat, with no acid, what it has instead is a load of pith and mineral, followed by gooseberry, straw, mineral, and more floral notes, with orange, nectarines, and more pith. Drink until 2023.

2019 Goose Bay Sauvignon Blanc – Score: 91 (Mevushal) (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is in the 2nd quintile of quality scoring and it is well below the median price line, so this wine SHOULD get a score of GREAT for QPR. However, it is ALSO the another Sauvignon Blanc from the 2019 vintage that scored at least a 91, and that has a price that is at or below the median price line, so this wine gets the coveted score of WINNER for QPR. TWO years in a row for Goose Bay Sauvignon Blanc! Bravo!!
The nose is closed and does not show the classic creaming notes, right now the notes are subdued but they are present, with time the wine really opens up, with cat pee, gooseberry, straw, grass, mineral, and Asian pear. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine needs a few minutes and with time it shows a far more restrained version but still quite enjoyable, with intense acidity, followed by loads of pith, straw, cut grass, mineral, dirt, and lovely orange, nectarines, citrus, Asian pear, and lemongrass. The finish is long, green, with passion fruit, more gooseberry, and mineral galore, straw, pith, slate, and flint. Bravo! With time the fruit will come out from under the pith and straw haze. Drink until 2023.

2019 Recanati Yasmin, White – Score: 87 (Mevushal) (QPR: EVEN)
This wine is below the Median line for quality and it is below the median price, so this lands an EVEN QPR score.
This wine is a blend of Chardonnay and 40% Sauvignon Blanc. The wine is all over the place with the Chardonnay being so sweet that it takes over and really makes this wine unfun. The mouth and nose are too all over the place. Not fun, but the Sauvignon Blanc is nice and tart with good gooseberry and straw, but the sweet Chardonnay fruit showing apple, pineapple, and nectarines make the wine a bit of a mess. Drink now.

2019 Recanati Sauvignon Blanc – Score: 86 (QPR: EVEN)
This wine is below the Median line for quality and it is below the median price, so this lands an EVEN QPR score.
This wine is overall boring, with no complexity, but it ha enough acid and fruit to make it a bit interesting. The nose is really not interesting, but the mouth has acid, some good fruit of citrus, lemon, orange, and gooseberry, make it a bit interesting. Drink now.

2017 Pascal Bouchard Chablis, Le Classique – Score: 88 (Mevushal) (QPR: BAD)
This is a wine that is good enough, but with my new QPR scoring it is two quintile more expensive than the median price and it is not as good as the median score so that is why this wine gets a BAD on the QPR score.
The nose on this wine is nice enough, showing notes of smoke, green notes, green apple, quince, lemongrass, and pear. The mouth on this light to medium-bodied wine is nice enough, but the fruit is less focussed, though the acid is nice, with orange pith, orange notes, and the mineral of saline and slate, is nice. Drink until 2024.

2018 Domaine Netofa White – Score: 90 to 91 (QPR: GREAT)
I keep trying to figure out this wine and I think I finally understand it – this wine has crazy bottle variation, plain and simple. Some bottles, like the one I am greatly enjoying now, is ROCK solid and an easy 91. Then I can have a bottle that is tropical and lacking all the acidity I love. If you look at the past posts, this is what I have written:
The good version looks like this – it is evolving in a great way, showing even more hay and plum. The nose on this wine shows a lovely nose of straight-up hay, mineral, and fruit, with apple and quince galore, and lovely fruit and blossom. The mouth on this wine is crazy good, with a clear ripe backbone, yet steely tart and bright with crazy saline and herb, with mineral galore, with crazy apple, and rich quince, with an incredible tension between the ripeness and the tart/dry fruit and minerality. The finish is long and green, with slate, more hay, and lovely freshness and minerality! Bravo! Drink by 2021.
The bad version looks like this – at this point, the nose on this wine has moved past the mineral and into pure tropical notes, with apple and quince galore, and lovely fruit and blossom. The mouth on this wine has lost a step, with a clear ripe backbone, and the steely backbone is barely keeping it afloat, nice quince, with what used to be an incredible tension between the ripeness and the tart/dry fruit and minerality. The finish is long and green, with slate, more ripeness than I would desire, and minerality! Drink up!
What can I say, this is hit and miss. When it is a hit the wine is so good, showing great minerality, saline, hay, straw, and yellow plum, with citrus and quince. So, here is wishing you a good one!

Sparkling Wines

NV Drappier Brut Nature – Score: 92 (Mevushal) (QPR: GOOD)
This wine is a Brut nature, and as such, it does not have the added fruit or liquor as other Champagnes have. This shows extremely clearly in the notes. This is a clean, austere, grown-up approach to Champagne while having a downside as well, which is these do NOT last long. This wine has a disgorgement date of June 2020, meaning this wine is crazy fresh. Look at the bottom of the bottle – below one of the labels (back or front) and you will see a date etched into the bottle.
The nose on this wine is EXACTLY that, crazy fresh with lovely green and yellow apple notes, followed by bright citrus, lemongrass, waxy notes, and of course, loads of yeast. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is dry, rich, and super focused, with incredible saline, quince, and yellow grapefruit notes, intense acidity, with loads of graphite, and hints of tannin, with an incredibly focused small bubble mousse, that comes at you in layers and lingers forever. The finish is so long, so tart, with more mineral, dirt, saline, graphite, and quince/apple/citrus lingering long – Bravo!!! Drink until June 2021. You know my feeling about Brut Nature wines, they are NOT for holding, drink them NOW!

2017 Hagafen Rose, Brut – Score: 87 (Mevushal) (QPR: POOR)
The nose on this wine is very inviting with tart cherry, ripe strawberry, with some heat on the nose, loads of rosehip, and rhubarb. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is tart and refreshing but it has no complexity and is uni-dimensional in nature, with tart fruit, rhubarb, fine mousse bubble attack, and nice mineral. The finish is long and fruity, with mineral, hints of tannin, and loads of bubbles and acidity on the long refreshing finish. A very nice quaff. Drink until 2024.

2015 Hagafen Brut Cuvee, Reserve, Prix – Score: 89 (Mevushal) (QPR: POOR)
70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay, late disgorged recently. The nose on this wine has a lovely aroma of baked rhubarb pie, balanced well with citrus, earth, dirt, and lovely smoke, followed by minerals, strawberry, and some oxidized notes. The mouth on this medium-bodied bubbly starts off with a shot of mushroom, oxidized fruit, followed by lovely strawberry, and then some lovely citrus, tart raspberry, baked apple, and pear pie, and some more rhubarb, with a lovely small bubble, nice focus. Nice. The finish is long, tart, green and red, and loaded with smoke and almonds. Drink now.

Posted in Israeli Wine, Kosher French Wine, Kosher Rose Wine, Kosher White Wine, Kosher Wine, Wine

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Tags: 1848 Winery, 2nd Generation, Alma, Appellation, Barbera, beret, Binyamina Winery, Brut, Brut Nature, Carmel Winery, Chablis, Chardonnay, Chateau Les Riganes, Chateau Sainte Marguerite, Coral, D vs G, Dalton Winery, Domaine Netofa, Don Ernesto, Drappier, Essence, Five Stones, Goose Bay, Grenache, Hagafen Winery, Hajdu Wines, Herzog Cellars Winery, Jerusalem Hills, Judean Hills, Le Classique, M Series, Pacifica, Pascal Bouchard, Pinot Noir, Prix Reserve, Recanati Winery, Riesling, Rose, Sauvignon Blanc, Shirah Winery, Tasting Room Reserve, Teperberg Winery, Tulip Winery, Vermentino, Viognier, White, White Franc, Yasmin, Yatir Winery

Easy drinking white wines for 2020 – better than I expected

May 15

Posted by winemusings

Well, the roses from the 2019 vintage, so far, are not inspiring, and initially, I thought the same for the white wines, thankfully, as I tasted through the last 15 bottles of wines things shifted. There is a reason why I have been pushing Price in relation to its quality, AKA QPR (Quality to Price Relationship).

For this tasting, I tasted more than 70 wines, however, I posted only some 49 wine notes here. Rest assured, the others were either not worthy or I did not have detailed enough notes to make it here on this post.

Interestingly, initially, I had zero hope for the white wines, much as I felt about the roses. However, all of this is data-driven and other than my wines notes, the rest is all prices defined by the USA market. The more, I tasted, the more I felt that there are options in the simple white wine category. I was really ready to give up hope, but thankfully, folks like Shirah, Kos Yeshuos, and other Europen wines really pulled their weight. Sadly, of the top 27 wines, there were a total of 11 from 2019. Of them, only two were from Israel. The rest hailed from California, France, and New Zealand. In the end, so far, the vast majority of the Israeli white wines I have tasted from 2019 are also highly uninspiring.

With that said, the median price for the wine category of non-aging white wines is going up! There lies in my over-arching issue, prices keep going up!! The median price for non-aging white wines, here in the USA, is now 24 dollars! Seriously!! COME ON!! This is crazy! As the kids say, total Cray Cray! Turned around, the total number of wines below the median price of 24 dollars that received a 90 or higher was 12, and many of those are our QPR WINNERS. Overall, 2019 is still a dud in Israel, of those that have made their way to the USA, and Califonia is saving the day, so far.

All the wines here are scored both quantitatively, AKA using my classic wine score described here, and using the newly revised QPR score described here. So, yes, there will be more of the QPR discussion that will arise from this post. Thankfully, we have a good number of wines, 7 from my count, that received the QPR score of WINNER, sadly, they are mostly from 2018. Therefore, I repeat again, I am highly unimpressed with how many 2019 white wines I had and how many are subpar. Please be careful with the ones you buy.

Finally, in order of price, the first of the 7 QPR WINNER wines come in at wine #38, sorted by price! That means there are loads of other wines far less interesting than the 2018 Ramon Cardova Albarino, the most expensive of the 7 WINNER QPR wines. This is the kind of data that makes me scream. This is what needs to change! Wineries are willing to produce wines that are more expensive and less interesting, than more than HALF of the wine I tasted! This is what needs to change, kosher wine has gotten out of control, price-wise.

Do yourself a favor, check the price, you do it for everything else you buy! Check the wine, check the price, and then decide!

The wine note follows below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:

2018 Goose Bay Sauvignon Blanc, 2018 Elvi Wines Herenza White, Alella, 2018 Hagafen Dry Riesling, 2018 Ramon Cardova Albarino

2019 Yarden Sauvignon Blanc, 2019 Tabor Sauvignon Blanc, Adama, 2019 Barkan Sauvignon Blanc, Classic, 2019 Covenant Sauvignon Blanc, Red C, 2019 Covenant Viognier, Blue C

2019 Shirah Gruner Veltliner, 2019 Shirah Vintage Whites, 2019 Shirah Riesling, 2019 Shirah Vin Blanc de Bro.Deux

2019 Dalton Pinot Gris, 2019 Goose Bay Pinot Grigio

2018 Ramon Cardova Albarino, Rias Baixas – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is in the 2nd quintile of quality scoring and it is just below the median price line, so this wine SHOULD get a score of GREAT for QPR. However, it is ALSO one of the few white wines that score at least a 91, and that has a price that is below the median price line, so this wine gets the coveted score of WINNER for QPR. Bravo!!!
The 2018 vintage of this Albarino, in its second vintage, shows less tropical and ripe than the first vintage, 2017. This bottle also had the thermal active label, and it shows up when the bottle is at the proper drinking temperature. My only REAL and serious complaint is the cork, why would Royal waste the money and my money of a real cork? Use a Diam or any other amalgamated cork, like almost everyone else is. I really hope I do not hit a bad cork for the wines I have.
The nose on this wine is better than the 2017 vintage, Lovely nose of rich mineral, with loads of straw, with which salinity, and lovely peach and dry pear, with honeysuckle, gooseberry, along with green notes galore. Lovely! The mouth on this lovely green and acid-driven wine has a more oily mouthfeel than the 2017 vintage, showing rich salinity, green olives, with lovely dry quince, green apples, more peach, green apple, but also with lovely lime and grapefruit, no sense of guava or melon-like on the 2017 vintage, with a tinge of orange notes. The overall mouth is lovely and it comes at you in layers. The finish is long, green, with gooseberry, tart fruit, with an incredible freshness, and orange pith, slate, rock, and incredible acidity lingering long. Incredible!! Bravo!! Drink until 2022.

2018 Hagafen Dry Riesling – Score: 91 (Mevushal) (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is in the 2nd quintile of quality scoring and it is below the Median price line, so this wine gets a GREAT score for QPR. However, it is ALSO one of the few white wines that score at least a 91, and that has a price that is below the median price line, so this wine gets the coveted score of WINNER for QPR. Bravo!!!
The nose on this wine is tropical and sweet fruit-focused, with pineapple, guava, melon, peach, but now THANKFULLY the petrol is in full gear, and it commands your attention, with the tropical fruit still very present, along with some nice mineral. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is fun, tart, nice acidity, with more petrol funk, showing nice balance, with good acidity, still, the mouth is sweet and ripe, the petrol and tart notes help, with green apple, tart grapefruit, tart stone fruit, and slate galore, with waxy notes, and tart pineapple. The finish is long, green, with intense mineral, slate, flint, and lovely petrol that gives way to nice acidity, and hints of tannin. The wine has indeed come around and now petrol is more present and the hole in the middle is gone. Drink until 2024. Read the rest of this entry →

Posted in Israeli Wine, Kosher White Wine, Kosher Wine, Wine

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Wine Musings Blog

Musings and comments on the world of Kosher wine

Blog Archives

Another round of QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Hits and Misses, Seven QPR WINNERS – Aug 2024

QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Wines

Some things that made me stand up and take notice (AKA QPR WINNERS):

Other wines worth noting (AKA QPR GREAT or GOOD):

Wines that are either good but too expensive or average (AKA EVEN):

Wines that are either OK but far too expensive or bad wines (AKA POOR/BAD):

Best Kosher Whites Wines from 2021, 2022, and 2023

White Wines

Peak Kosher White here or very near

Methodology

An uninspiring list of new wines from France, Israel, and the U.S.A

A few good red wines along with too many misses – Jan/Feb 2022 Tasting

Another round of QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Hits and Misses, Six WINNERS – October 2021

QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Wines

Some things that made me stand up and take notice (AKA QPR WINNERS):

Other wines worth of note (AKA QPR GREAT or GOOD):

The top QPR Kosher wine WINNERS of 2020

Shoutout to TWO GREAT wines that are just sitting around!

The 2020 White QPR kosher WINNERS

A lineup of the available 2018 kosher Pinot Noirs from around the world

Final take on 2020’s crop of Kosher roses – 2 QPR Winners, but overall not great

The first Rose QPR WINNER, along with two other QPR Winners, and even more roses and whites from 2019, and a few Sparkling wines as well!

White Wines

Sparkling Wines

Easy drinking white wines for 2020 – better than I expected

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Wine Musings Blog

Musings and comments on the world of Kosher wine

Blog Archives

QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Wines

Some things that made me stand up and take notice (AKA QPR WINNERS):

Other wines worth noting (AKA QPR GREAT or GOOD):

Wines that are either good but too expensive or average (AKA EVEN):

Wines that are either OK but far too expensive or bad wines (AKA POOR/BAD):

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White Wines

Peak Kosher White here or very near

Methodology

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QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Wines

Some things that made me stand up and take notice (AKA QPR WINNERS):

Other wines worth of note (AKA QPR GREAT or GOOD):

Share this:

Shoutout to TWO GREAT wines that are just sitting around!

The 2020 White QPR kosher WINNERS

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White Wines

Sparkling Wines

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Subscribe to Blog via Email

Recent Written Posts

Wine Stores I buy from

Recently Read Posts

Contact Form

Your message has been sent

Top Tags