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Another round of QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Hits and Misses, 21 QPR WINNERS – June 2025
I have been behind in posting. However, I am back in the swing of things, and after this post, I owe you a post on the new Royal Wines in Paris. Then an IDS post – with some CRAZY wines, and finally the Hotel wrap-up with some REAL SHOCKERS (in a good way) and of course some massive failures (AKA Classic Paris Hotel tasting).
This post is not as long as my last QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) post, but it still weighs in at 86 wines. The last one I did was in December 2024. That one had around 90 wines, and 17 of them garnered a QPR WINNER score. The latest post with the largest number of wines winning a QPR Score of WINNER was the May 2023 post, with 19 wines garnering a QPR score of WINNER. This one tops them all, in regards to QPR scores, with 21 wines winning the WINNER QPR score.
QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Wines
It has been six or so months since my last QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) post, and many people have been emailing me about unique wines I have tasted and 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 excellent QPR wines.
Throughout the year, I post 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 QPR WINNERS wines. People are still asking me what a QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Wine is and what the score of WINNER denotes. Once again, those are explained here in this post.
Some things that made me stand up and take notice (AKA QPR WINNERS):
There are many wines here, as stated, and I have been behind on this. So, these wine notes are coming from a collection of times. Some of them are the actual notes from the KFWE events in February that I posted about in March. Some of these wine notes are from personal tastings. Finally, some of these wine notes are from group tastings with friends.
Terra di Seta
Terra di Seta has returned to that special place where its wines are TOP-Tier QPR WINNERS. The 2020 Terra di Seta Chianti Classico Riserva was just lovely! Follow that with the even more affordable, yet lovely, 2022 Terra di Seta Classico. Bravo guys! Here is a slight sneak peek. I tasted an even better terra di Seta in Paris, but that is still three posts away!
Kosherwine.com Wines
I tasted two wines from KW: the 2003 Clos de Menuts and the 2015 Chateau Lavagnac. I found both of them were lovely, though some other people told me I was lucky. Clearly, these wines are on the edge, as my notes state, and they may be good or may not. However, I found the Menuts to be truly enjoyable. Hoping you all have success.
There were more French/European wines from KW that I bought, but they were less interesting.
However, there were two Sleight of Hand (wines made by Ari Lockspeiser) wines that I think KW sells exclusively, and they were both solid. Fruity, with enough brightness to pull it together.
Hajdu Wines
I bought and tasted all the Hajdu current releases, and while I found the white wines WINNERS, more on that below, the red wines are not my cup of tea. They show more fruit and power than I wish for in my cup, but I am sure there are many who will love these wines!
Alex Rubin Wines
Like the Hajdu wines, I bought all of the current releases, and again, the red wines are Cali wines, and the white wines are incredible. The 2023 Arinto is a BLOCKBUSTER and should be sold out already. His Riesling, which was macerated, is also a solid wine that I posted back here. Still, his red wines are more controlled than other Cali producers and I think many people would appreciate them.
Covenant Wines
Jeff, Jonathan, and the gang continue to impress, with no breaks so far. The latest wines I tasted were the 2024 Covenant Rose, the 2024 Mensch Zinfandel, the 2022 Covenant Syrah Bien Nacido Vineyard, and the 2024 Mensch Roussanne.
The Rose is lovely, with no bitter notes, a thing I hate in rose wines. The balance and fruit are there as well. Further proof that even in a weak vintage, the Covenant team delivers value and quality! Great work, guys!
The 2024 Mensch Zinfandel is a Zin that I would buy. Zin used to be my favorite fruit, but that blew off quickly as the wines started getting unruly and unbalanced. Still, if you can create a wine like Covenant did in 2024, my hat’s off to you!!
The 2022 Covenant Syrah Bien Nacido Vineyard is another solid wine, garnering a 92 score and showing the power of California. It was a hot season, and while I found the wine lovely, it is a slight step behind the 2021 vintage, which may well be the best Syrah I have had out of California!
Finally, the Roussanne is solid enough; it is a bit too fruity, but overall, a solid quaff. Keep up the GREAT work, guys!
White Wine WINNERS:
Of the 21 WINNERS, 11 are White or rosé wines! We are getting better in this space, year after year!
I must START with one of the best white wines I have had recently, that is not a Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Semillon, or Chardonnay, and that is the 2023 Alex Rubin Arinto. This wine has not undergone maceration, although the mouthfeel suggests it may have had a touch. The wine overall is rich, layered, fruity, intensely acidic, refreshing, and a NO BRAINER BUY! Bravo Alex!
Herzog has two Chenin Blancs, and I posted about them back in September of last year. I tasted the Mevushal one in Oxnard, as the non-Mevushal one was not yet released. The wine does show the oak now, but I found those notes recede over time and show fun wines. These will require some patience, but you will be rewarded.
The 2023 O’Dwyers Creek Sauvignon Blanc continues its torrid run on the kosher wine market! There has yet to be a bad vintage, and while I know of people who are too snooty for the tropical notes, you guys ALL know who they are; these wines hit on all levels for me. This vintage is more steely, more citrus-driven, while still showing enough tropical notes to make me interested. Nice!
The two Hajdu white wines were lovely, the Vermentino and the Proprietary White (a new thing) showed well.
The Otter & Fox (a wine by David Edelman) showed quite nicely! Fruity, balanced, and controlled.
Israeli WINNERS
Yes, there were some good wines from Israel, and they were all Rose or Whites. The 2024 Puzzle Rose is lovely! As was the 2023 Dalton Sauvignon Blanc, Family Collection, the 2024 Netofa Latour Tzahov, White, and the 2024 Dalton Sauvignon Blanc, Fume. Solid choices to enjoy this Summer.
The outlier is the 2023 Matar Cumulus. The 2022 vintage was Shmita so I have no idea what that one tasted like, but the 2021 and the 2023 vintages were both QPR WINNERS! Good for them!
Two Outlier Wines
Every so often, the Vieux Chateau Chambeau Reserve has a good wine! I have tasted three of these wines, which were good, and the rest were not. They are a classic, Mevushal French wine, Russian Roulette. The 2015 was a solid wine, though not the reserve. 2018 was a WINNER under the Reserve label, and it happened again in 2022. The 2022 Vieux Chateau Chambeau Reserve, Lussac Saint-Emilion, has the same score and almost the same notes – perhaps they require a hot vintage to make the wine work; I have no idea.
The other outlier is the 2023 Quinta do Cerrado da Porta Troviscal Tinto, Reserva, Lisboa. Andrew Breskin, of Liquid Kosher, asked me to taste it, and thanks to him, the winery sent the wines to my hotel. I tasted them here in the USA, after they rested for a long time. I sent one or two to him as well, so we both enjoyed this WINNER. I am not sure if they want to export the wine. The notes indicate how much I enjoyed this wine, as does the score; however, it’s essential to understand that the price of this wine in Europe is incredibly affordable.
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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.
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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
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