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2020 kosher wine year and decade in review – glass half empty
As I am want to do, it is another year on the Gregorian calendar and I have already posted the wines of the year and the QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) wines of the year. Now it is time for the year and decade in review. I had to wait until now, to talk about the decade in review, because there is a clear disagreement on when the new decade begins, so I went with the non-computer science approach (0-based systems), which is not what most people believe. To this point I quote Library of Congress’s estimable Ruth S. Freitag:
Dilemmas over marking time have been going on for years. In the late 1990s, the Library of Congress’s estimable Ruth S. Freitag famously compiled a 57-page research document titled The Battle of the Centuries, in which she called out people who celebrate any era before its time.
“When the encyclopedia of human folly comes to be written, a page must be reserved for the minor imbecility of the battle of the centuries — the clamorous dispute as to when a century ends,” Freitag wrote. Noting that there was no “year 0” in history, she said, “In fact, there has never been a system of recording reigns, dynasties, or eras that did not designate its first year as the year 1.”
To bolster her argument, Freitag, who was then a senior science specialist in the library’s Science and Technology Division, cited historical records that showed similar disputes had erupted when calendars were turned to 1900.
But even Freitag acknowledged that she was swimming against the tide of popular opinion.
It may seem obvious to many, but there was never a year 0, so let’s go with the obvious fact that the decade has finally passed us and we can discuss it in regards to all things kosher wine. IMHO, I will go with the glass half empty metaphor, as no matter how hard I try, there is no real way to look at this past decade in a glass-half-full approach – give the utter disregard from much of the world for anything approaching wine I would buy.
Where are we now??
Well, that is pretty simple, IMHO, we are WORSE than we were last year, and that was worse than we were in the years before. Essentially, we are continuing the slide down, maybe even at a faster rate, with a slight caveat to the positive on high-end white wines. That would be my summation – hence the glass-half-empty reference.
COVID and what it has done to the kosher wine industry
I could not talk about 2020 in a review, or the decade in a review, without at least mentioning Covid! The clear impact of the Virus on our lives is not wine, or food, or any other material impact. What truly has changed are the people we have lost, friends or family that have been sick or passed, and jobs and families crushed by this pandemic. Those things are REAL and those real things are truly very sad and are hard to move on from.
Yes, we have lost freedom of movement, we have been locked away from our friends and family, but it all pales in comparison to the true loss of life, income, and time. Many, if not all of them, have been lost forever, and that is the true loss and suffering.
Still, there is a need/desire to talk about how COVID changed the wine industry – over the past 12 months. As such, I wrote a post – some 7 months back, and I am shocked and saddened by how much it has not changed at all over these past many months. There were some missing points so let us hit them:
- There will be no in-person KFWE or any other tasting this year, sadly. To that point, Royal Wine has made a KFWV this year and I hope you can listen in at least and maybe join in with the tasting as well!
- As I stated in the post the online stores have come through. But even more so than that were the local stores that supported the communities and I can only repeat, support your local wine merchants if you have them! Sadly, our merchants, here in NorCal, while they exist, do not quite have what I am looking for, but they are trying – so kudos to them for that! However, those of you on the east coast – BUY LOCAL! Come on, folks! Your local store is there, you have the same taxes, buy local, and make sure they feel the love!
- Restaurants may finally be coming back, but wine sales are still very low to zero, and again, why do we need Mevushal?? I pray the biggest outcome of all of this madness is the production of dual labels M and not). I know it is a pipe dream, like a real Shmitta game plan – dream on. IMHO, Mevushal will take a hard hit soon, people will see it for what it is, a sham on the kosher wine market. If a wine needs to be Mevushal then go buy a beer and move on!
- The lack of travel and access to wineries is a real issue here. I would have already have been in France twice since my last year in review and Israel, at least once. The lack of access to wines impacts my ability to properly score and grade, but thankfully the UPS/FedEx of the worlds have been doing a yeoman’s job and they do truly deserve a cheer every time they drive by! Please show them the love (from a distance) that they deserve!
- Finally, to repeat – the lack of KFWE or any other tasting this year, or even marketing of wines in-person, will further complicate the lack of wine education in this industry and I fear it will sadly slow or hurt the sales of many wineries.
My yearly blog disclaimer about me and wine
I try to get this disclaimer into every year of my posts – but this year – for reasons I do not know, I have been receiving a lot of questions about my posts. So let me be 100% clear here:
- I NEVER HAVE AND NEVER WILL receive a penny for ANYTHING I write on this blog – PERIOD!
- I do not advertise and I do not receive money for advertisements. I PAY WordPress.com to NOT advertise on my blog. Again, there will never be ads or money on this blog.
- The next most prevalent question is: do I get a kickback for anything I recommend?? LOL! People do not know me well to be asking that question! NEVER! I write what I think – almost literally at times, so NO!
- Next question – do I receive an item of value for my posts? NEVER.
- The only thing I receive, having nothing to do with my posts is access to tastings or wine to taste. Also, I have received passes to KFWE, or this year, the KFWV. The coupon codes are not affiliated links or deals for me! Again, I get no money from this blog – I hope this starts to come across soon!
- Am I receiving money or any other item of value from Royal or an affiliate for the use of the ‘MUSINGS’ discount code? Again NO! NEVER!
- Do I spend money on my notes or wines? I promise you there are VERY few people in the kosher wine world who spend more money than I do on wines that I DESPISE! Very few! There are loads of people who spend more money than I do on wine – I am not a Macher! But I buy the majority of the wines I taste and post on. In the past year that has changed a bit, but no, I buy most of the wines and it sickens me to spend so much money on wines I would never drink or even cook with! Sadly, that is what I like to do. So, sure if the importer will help me and send me samples, great! I will still post my notes and scores based 100% on the way I see and taste the wine. NOTHING else goes into my scoring.
- Finally, I have people in the industry that I call friends. When I taste those wines I always disclaim those as well.
So, that wraps up my yearly post on how I, my blog, or my life is ever gaining anything from the world of wine! I hope that is clear. I do not do any business in wine, I do not sell any wine, I do not transfer wines, I am not a middleman for people who buy wines. I do not in any manner, way, or form, work in the world of wine – period!
Finally, I do help Elvi Wines, at times, to pour wine, at a KFWE or the such, and act as their US contact for the USDA. I have again, never received compensation for those pouring’s. My travel costs are sometimes reimbursed, but that is the totality of my relationship, financially speaking, with Elvi Wines or any other winery or wine business. I am a software architect by trade and that is where I make my money. Be well!
More simple white, red, and rose Kosher wines, with some mid-range reds – with more WINNERS
As I close out the QPR posts for each of the wine categories, I forgot a few of the simple white wines – so here is a post of them. Please look at the past simple white wines post for more on QPR and the simple white wine category. Again, QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) is where kosher wine needs to go. QPR means well-priced wines. Still, people do not get QPR. To me, QPR WINNER is what I describe and explain here. The overall revised QPR methodology is described here (and linked from the WINNER post as well).
One more reminder, “Simple” white wines is a wine that will not age more than seven or so years. So, please no hate mail! There are many WINNERS here, enjoy! I also threw in a few roses with one WINNER, but it is a 2019 Rose, and 2020 roses are about to be released, so drink up those 2019 roses already. I also tasted a few reds, with the 2017 Les Lauriers de Rothschild getting a slightly higher score.
The clear WINNER of this tasting is the 2019 Chateau Lacaussade, Vieilles Vignes, Saint-Martin. That along with the 2018 Koenig Riesling, which I like more now than I did a year ago. Also, the 2017 Les Lauriers de Rothschild. The 2017 Les Lauriers de Rothschild, Montagne Saint-Emilion was a winner in my previous post, I just slightly raised the score on it.
The wine note follows below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
ROSE Wines (DRINK them now – if you must)
2019 Rubis Roc Rose – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is a blend of 50% Cinsault and 50% Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a weighty and food-required style rose than a refreshing rose. The nose of this wine is fresh and alive, with meaty notes, showing red and blue fruit notes, with nice citrus, with good attack and herbs. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is solid, a drop less acid than I would like, but still very good with hot peppers, green notes, blue fruit, raspberry, dried lime/lemon, with mineral, and nice spice. The finish is long, green, and enjoyable, with good structure and nice minerality, nice! Drink now. (tasted Oct 2020)
2019 Yaacov Oryah Pretty as the Moon Rose– Score: 89+ (QPR: POOR)
This rose is a blend of 45% Syrah, 40% Grenache, and 15% Petite Sirah. The nose on this wine is divine – a lovely nose of floral violet, loads of rosehip, followed by a bit of nice funk, dried and tart cranberry, along with loads of mineral, this smells like what I want from a Provence wine, with dried/tart red fruit, a bit of reductive oxidation, and green notes as well. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is nice but the acidity is where the wine fails, it has acidity, but the wine’s profile, which has nice fruity and refreshing characteristics lacks the punch of bright acidity to bring it all together, still, showing mineral, and lovely red fruit, with tart strawberry, lovely green/tart apple, quince, watermelon, hints of passion fruit, and loads of mineral. The finish is long, complex enough, with slate, graphite, more flowers, and lovely freshness, WOW! Bravo! Drink now! (tasted Oct 2020)
QPR Score revision 2.1, amended slightly with a new value – WINNER
Well, yes, I am on a warpath this year, and I am using math to prove that the prices of kosher wines are out of control. This year so far, we have no roses that I would give a QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) score of WINNER. This is a slight revision to my QPR 2.0 post, and I have already amended that post with the WINNER value.
Please look back at my QPR revised 2.0 post. I have been getting a lot of comments on people’s feelings. The overarching interests by many are that I am focusing too much on cost, which I am 100% happy about, as that is a fact that needs serious focus.
I repeat what I stated in my year in review, for something like 7 years now, LOL! We need quality wines AND we need them at a reasonable price. The QPR score is exactly what is says – QUALITY to Price Ratio. The qualitative score is the priority, but if that nice and highly scored wine is more expensive than its peers, it is not a good QPR wine. Simple.
So to stress what I have stressed on my last 4 posts about this subject – here I go again!
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, are a better value. ONLY, the qualitative score can live on its own, in regards to what I buy. The QPR score defines, within the wine category, which of its peers are better or worse than the wine in question.
Said in other words. Buy high scoring wines – DONE! Now, if you want to know which of those high scoring wines is a good deal – well look at the QPR scores. DONE!
Rose wine QPR scores graphed out
To make this simple there are no rose wines, that I have tasted so far, this year that I would consider a winner. The winner quintile is the gradient blue box and it is empty. It was close-ish. The 2019 Cantina Giuliano Costa Rosato came in under the median line (the y-axis) but not over or equal to the 91 point score that I need from a wine before I think about buying it. The same goes for the 2019 Chateau Roubine Rose, La Vie, it is a fine wine which garnered a score of 91, but it costs more than the Median price of 22 dollars. Therefore, there are no winners in the kosher rose market, for me, so far, this year. This chart looks akin to the Gartner magic quadrant, but where they are shooting for the upper right quintile, here, we are looking for the lower right quintile, as we want lower-priced wines that have solid scores.
The next post I drop, God Willing, will be the white wines for 2020, and that has a few winners, but that is also because the prices are st STUPID high that some wines can sneak in under the absurdly high Median price! Still, PRIORITY is white wines with a score of 91. So far, there are just TWO new white wines, that are from the 2019 vintage, which has garnered a 91 score. They are BOTH Californian wines and only ONE will get the coveted QPR WINNER score. The other Californian 2019 white wine will get a QPR score of GOOD, which is well good!
Last year, in 2019, we had at least 6 new whites that were under 20 dollars and that scored 91 points or more. The N.V. Gilgal Brut, 2018 Ramon Cardova Albarino, 2018 Chateau Riganes, 2018 Goose Bay Sauvignon Blanc, 2017 Herzog Chardonnay, Lineage, and the 2018 Or Haganuz Amuka White. We also had the 2018 Elvi Wines Invita, but it was not officially here, that, of course, has been fixed thankfully, and it is on the new list. The 2017 Albarino was below 20, I think the 2018 vintage went up in price afterward. I hope we will find more wines that are worthy of our dollars and our time.
In closing, quality reigns supreme, but as many people have told me this week alone, prices for kosher wines are too high. Very few people can buy the wines from my Top Flight Wines, in my Passover wine list for 2020, even the Yarden Rose Brut has been going up in price consistently. Again, thankfully we have good wines to enjoy, but they should not be for the few! Sorry, that needs to change.
QPR Scoring on kosher wine musings explained – revised (2.0)
So, my buddy, Avi Davidowitz of Kosher Wine Unfiltered, and I have been harping on the absurd price of wines in the kosher wine world. I do it yearly, in my year in reviews. I have also done it, in a positive light, in my QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) wine posts. Avi does it on every score by baking the QPR score into the qualitative score itself, but by also calling out whether he would buy the wine again or not.
However, over the past couple of months, I have personally spent an absurd amount of money to taste wines and they were all a waste of my money. Now, while that is my own personal cross to bear, it is getting out of control. Kosher wine prices continue to rise and the values continue to plummet. I literally, screamed about this in my year in review.
However, until this point, all I have been doing is preaching this subject, and extolling the good, in regards to the QPR score. It has come time to make clear what is a logical buy and what is illogical.
Quality to Price Ratio Valuation
Now, to be clear, just because a wine is 150 dollars it does not make it a good wine, and that is clear by the wine’s score, and score alone, whose methodology I define here. I am NOT going to change my wine scores, those are qualitative in nature and need no new tweaking. If a distributor or winery, or BOTH, wants to price a GREAT wine at 200 dollars that is their prerogative.
Value is defined in the dictionary to mean: the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something. Far too many people hold something in high regard based upon its price or its label or other such characteristics. That is not an objective or even a logically subjective approach or methodology for defining value or regard for an item’s worth, in the world of wine.
Initially, there have been many drafts of this post and methodology, the focus was on price, and even I fell into that mistake. In the end, value, as it is defined below works for any price point.
So, stated simply, the QPR score is based SOLELY on the wine’s qualitative score and its price in comparison to other wines with equal or greater quality scores, within the same wine category. Simple. Read the rest of this entry
Another QPR star from Royal – 2018 Chateau Les Riganes
One more for the list! Menachem Israelievitch and Royal Wines have been successful in the past few years in making or importing some very good QPR wines. The 2018 Chateau Les Riganes is solid, not a superstar like the 2015 Terra di Seta Riserva (which is now back in stock so GO BUY), but this is a solid wine at a 1/3 the price! Sadly, the other cheap Bordeaux that is nice at times, the Chateau Trijet is a hard pass for the 2018 vintage.
This is the 5th vintage of Riganes, it started in 2014 and has been made every year since. Sadly, the 2015 and 2017 are hard passes as well. It seems like Chateau Les Riganes is only good in even years. We will see how the 2019 vintage goes next year.
I wanted to keep this simple, so the wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here:
2018 Chateau Les Riganes, Bordeaux – Score: 90 (QPR)
Thankfully, the 2018 vintage continues the strong steak of QPR status for this wine, minus the 2015 and 2017 vintages which were a hard dud. Essentially, stick with the even vintages! The 2014/2016/2018 vintages have all rocked. With that said, these are NOT wines for aging. If the 2014 and 2016 wines have taught us anything – it is that Chateau Riganes is a two-year wine from the vintage, meaning drink before 2021.
The nose on this wine is heaven, pure heaven, red fruit, berries, dirt, loam, forest floor, tobacco, and herbs galore. The mouth on this medium plus bodied wine is lovely, not layered, not complex, but who cares, this wine costs 12 dollars!!! The mouth has a nice presence, with good enough fruit structure, showing nice mouth coating tannin, with lovely controlled notes of blackberry, plum, cherry, raspberry, and cassis, with ok acidity, backed by loads of earth, smoke, and lovely lingering tannin. The finish is a medium to long with green notes galore, foliage, and more tannin, tobacco, and lovely graphite. The previous vintages of Chateau Riganes have taught me to not hold these long, so, drink these before the start of 2021. Enjoy!