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Blind tasting in Paris (Part #1) – Nov 2022
As stated in my previous post, I was in Paris in November, with Avi Davidowitz from Kosher Wine Unfiltered. The sheer number of boxes in our room was insane, somewhere nearly 120 bottles of wine came to our hotel or to Ari Cohen’s home. The poor bellman pushing that cart laden with wine boxes was a site to see.
We were in Paris for a week and during that time Avi and I had three organized tastings with Bokobsa, Royal Wine, and IDS. We also tasted some 80+ wines in the hotel room, blindly, in 5 rounds, each time following the methodology defined below. This post will showcase the wines we had in rounds 1 and 2.
Blind Tasting Methodology
Thankfully, my posts can stop referencing COVID and focus on wine. So, let us get to the process. This time I wanted to break up the normal approach, or taste wines from the distributor or wine producers and instead taste the wines blind in their respective groups. The methodology was simple, bag all the wines, hand them to Avi who wrote a number/letter, and then line them up for the tasting. Then we taste them in numerical/alphabetical order and write the notes. After the first pass, we taste the wines again to see if they have changed. Then we show the wines and write the names down. We did find a few anomalies in the system. First, the more closed wines needed time to open and those were tasted again later. If there were flaws at the start those stayed in the notes, at least for me, and if there were issues after they were also written.
White wines and Sparkling Wines (First Round)
There were a few shockers, in this round, the shockers were all for the bad! Sadly, this round and the subsequent one with simple red wines were underwhelming to deeply disappointing. There were TWO WINNERs in the first TWO rounds and they were repeat WINNERs from previous tastings I had with Avi last year in November 2021 and with Nathan Grandjean in 2017. I have also included a wine I tasted TWICE over the past month or so, the 2016 Yarden Rose, Brut, it is underwhelming, much akin to its brother the 2016 Yarden Blanc de Blancs. Both are underwhelming and very sad as this is the first time that I ever had a Yarden Sparkling wine I did not like on release. Very sad indeed! If you want sparkling wines stick to Drappier, Laurent Perrier, Gilgal, and others.
The other disappointing wine was the highly anticipated 2020 Chateau Olivier Blanc, sadly it did not live up to expectations. At the start it was horrible flat peach juice, if you read my original blind tasting – it went like this, “This wine is cooked peach juice, flat and useless. Drink never.” Literally. The wine evolved over three days! The same thing could be said for the 2020 Chateau Olivier red and the famous 2020 Carillon d’Angelus Saint-Emilion. Though the reds wines were less flat and more closed tightly.
Other than the lone WINNER and the disappointing 2020 Chateau Olivier Blanc, there were no wines that were very interesting at all. There were a few new ones, like the 2020 Les Vins de Vienne Saint-Peray, Les Bialeres, disappointing, and lacked acidity and balance. The 2021 Casa E.di Mirafiore Roero Arneis DOCG was also a dud, both white and red. Overall, nothing very good here, but hey my pain is your gain!
2020 Vintage versus 2021 Vintage in Bordeaux
I will repeat what I wrote previously, as this post will showcase far more 2021 wines from Bordeaux. So far, the sample size of 2021 wines from Bordeaux includes very few big names because they are still in the barrels. Or should be! So, the sample size of 2021 wines from Bordeaux is all simpler and of lower starting quality. Still, what is apparent, from this sample size, is that 2021 will be a very hard year. The 2020 vintage, by contrast, is hit and miss, and so far, while the hits have been solid, there are no home runs, and we have tasted most of the wines we expect to rave about from the 2020 vintage. There will be one 95-scoring wine, ONE, from all the wines we tasted on this trip. I expect even fewer exceptional wines from the 2021 vintage and I personally, will be buying far fewer of the 2020 or 2021 wines. Finally, the wine notes from the 2020 vintage should be witness to the fact that while the 2020 wines are OK to good, they are far more accessible than previous vintages. The glaring exception to that will be highlighted in a subsequent post.
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An uninspiring list of new wines from France, Israel, and the U.S.A
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%)
Another round of QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Hits and Misses, Seven QPR WINNERS – August 2022
OK, with all the Paris wine notes posted, the latest roses posted, and Herzog’s wonderful wines, I am finally at the finish line. This last batch of notes catches me up just in time before the next round of wines shows up. As usual, my QPR posts are a hodgepodge of wines but thankfully we have some nice QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) wines.
QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Wines
It has been two 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 quite a few wonderful QPR wines out there. This post includes some nice wines and some OK wines with the usual majority of uninteresting to bad wines.
The story of 2021 Israel whites and roses is very unfortunate, it started with a bang. Matar and a couple of others showed very well. Sadly, after that, every other white and rose wine from Israel was not as impressive. They all show middling work and product, very disappointing indeed. Thankfully, this round has three Israeli WINNERS and two from the 2021 vintage. There is an 8th WINNER here but it is here for documentation purposes and not for advice on what to buy, as it is not available anymore. That being the 2012 Chateau Serilhan.
We have a nice list of QPR WINNERS:
- 2012 Chateau Serilhan Cru Bourgeois, Saint-Estephe (Posted as I have never posted this yet, strange)
- 2021 O’Dwyers Creek Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough – A perennial WINNER
- 2021 Castel La Vie Blanc Du Castel, Judean Hills – Finally a 100% Sauvignon Blanc and it is lovely!
- 2021 Sheldrake Point Riesling, Dry, Finger Lakes, NY – A lovely 2nd vintage
- 2021 Sheldrake Point Gewurztraminer, Finger Lakes, NY – Another lovely 2nd vintage as well
- 2021 Golan Heights Winery, Yarden Sauvignon Blanc, Galilee – A nice wine
- 2019 Netofa Latour, Red, Galilee
- 2020 Terra di Seta Chianti Classico, Chianti Classico – Perenial winner
There were also a few wines that are a slight step behind with a GREAT or GOOD QPR score:
- 2021 Cape Jewel Chenin Blanc, Reserve Collection – one of two wines that shocked me as I expected PAIN
- 2021 Unorthodox Sauvignon Blanc, Paarl – the 2nd shocking wine in this tasting
- 2020 Dalton Sauvignon Blanc, Reserve, Galilee
- 2021 Golan Heights Winery Sauvignon Blanc, Gilgal – not as good as his bigger brother
- 2021 O’Dwyers Creek Chardonnay, Marlborough
- 2021 Capcanes Peraj Petita, Montsant – one of the best Petita since 2015, still not a WINNER like in 2015
There are a few wines that got a QPR Score of EVEN – meaning expensive or average:
- 2021 Vitkin Israeli Journey, White, Israel
- 2021 Gush Etzion Gewürztraminer, Judean Hills
- 2021 Yaffo White, Judean Hills
- 2019 Ramon Cardova Rioja, Rioja
- 2020 Capcanes Peraj Ha’abib, Montsant – nothing interesting but better than previous vintages
- 2020 Domaine du Castel Lavie, Rouge du Castel, Jerusalem Hills
- 2016 Vitkin Cabernet Franc, Galilee – Drink up!
- 2018 Vitkin Carignan, Judean Hills – Drink up!
The others are essentially either OK wines that are too expensive, duds, or total failures:
- 2016 Vitkin Shorashim, Israel – a nice enough wine but the price is crazy
- 2020 Flam Cabernet Sauvignon, Reserve, Galilee
- 2020 De La Rosa Taryag Gruner Veltliner, Burgenland
- 2020 De La Rosa Chai 18 White Welsch Riesling, Burgenland
- 2021 Unorthodox Chenin Blanc, Coastal Region
- 2021 J. De Villebois Pouilly Fume, Loire Valley – so sad after last year’s lovely vintage
- 2021 Odem Mountain Chardonnay, Volcanic, Galilee
- 2016 Laufer Cabernet Sauvignon, Special Reserve, California – ripe oak juice
- 2021 Golan Heights Winery Mount Hermon White, Galilee
Some things that made me stand up and take notice (AKA QPR WINNERS):
The real WINNER here, from the entire list, is the 2012 Chateau Serilhan Cru Bourgeois, Saint-Estephe (posted as I have never posted this yet, for some strange reason), but of the available wines that would be the 2021 O’Dwyers Creek Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough. The 2020 O’Dwyers Creek Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough ran out very quickly, I guess that there was not much available or made, as it was right at the start of COVID! The crazy story of how it all came together.
So happy to see Castel finally dropped the Gewurztraminer from their La Vie Blanc Du Castel the solo Sauvignon Blanc is lovely!
Talking about Gewurztraminer, the 2021 Sheldrake Point Riesling and Gewurztraminer from the Finger Lakes shows one can make lovely and reasonably priced wines from the Finger lakes. Bravo Ari!
Nice to see a Yarden wine on this list again, other than the LOVELY sparkling wines, the 2021 Golan Heights Winery, Yarden Sauvignon Blanc hit on all marks.
The last two wines are red and while I loved the 2019 Netofa Latour, Red at the start, it seemed to fall off a bit and that is unfortunate. Finally the 2020 Terra di Seta Chianti Classico, Chianti Classico is not as good as the 2019 vintage but still a solid wine.
Other wines of note (AKA QPR GREAT or GOOD):
The fascinating wines from this list were the South African wines, the 2021 Cape Jewel Chenin Blanc, Reserve Collection, and the 2021 Unorthodox Sauvignon Blanc, Paarl. I had zero expectations for these wines, so they were a nice find.
The rest are just good enough wines, mostly well priced but not interesting to drink.
Wines that are either good but too expensive or average (AKA EVEN):
This list is also boring, the only real wine to call out, is the 2020 Capcanes Peraj Ha’abib, Montsant, nothing interesting but better than previous vintages. The same for the Peraj Petita in the category above.
The rest of the wines are not interesting to me and are on this list because of either quality or price.
Wines that are either OK but far too expensive or bad wines (AKA POOR/BAD):
Like on previous versions of these lists there will always be a nice scoring wine that is so expensive it falls into this QPR list. That would be the 2016 Vitkin Shorashim, Israel – a nice enough wine but the price is crazy.
There are also, many duds to losers and I will just leave you to peruse the names and scores down below.
Roundup
Overall another nice list of QPR WINNERS and some GREAT options as well. I can always look at these kinds of lists and say there are only 7 or 8 wines I would want to buy from this entire list, but that would be a defeatist attitude. The correct way to classify this list is we have 7 or 8 more wines available to us and in the end, as I have stated many times now, I cannot buy all the WINNER wines even if I wanted to. There are just too many good wines out there and that is what we should be focused on!
The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
Older Wines that I have not posted (or revising):
2012 Chateau Serilhan Cru Bourgeois, Saint-Estephe – Score: 93+ (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is a blend of 57% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 8% Cabernet Franc, The nose of this wine is lovely, deeply mineral-driven, with intense rock, graphite, charcoal, ripe black fruit, balancing tart raspberry, red plum, sweet spices, and sweet oak.
The mouth of this medium-plus bodied wine is rich, layered, and well-balanced with great acidity, freshly tilled earth, mineral, smoke, hints of barnyard, mushroom, and truffle, followed by ripe blackberry, plum, dark tart raspberry, smoke, and beautiful fresh wine approach – bravo!
The finish is long, dark, green, ripe, but well balanced, with smoke, tobacco, dark chocolate, and lovely mushroom, with tertiary notes soon approaching. This wine was opened too early, such is life, still very lovely and a wine I would open again in 4 years. Drink until 2029. (tasted July 2022) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 13%)
2012 Chateau Cheval Brun, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru – Score: 91+ (QPR: GOOD)
This wine is a blend of 85% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Cabernet Franc.
The nose of this wine is another giant Brett bomb, with crazy mushrooms, rich green notes, earth, red fruit, smoke, and nice tar. The mouth of this wine is layered, ripe, and lovely, with nice elegance, showing blackberry, raspberry, mineral galore, graphite, earth, mushroom, and forest floor, The wine’s extraction has calmed down but the Brett and barnyard are in full gear.
The finish is long and earthy, with mushroom, barnyard notes, rich tobacco, and tar. Bravo! Drink till 2025, maybe longer. (tasted July 2022) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 13%)
Final Tasting from my trip to Paris – May 2022
As stated in my previous post, I was in Paris in May, without Avi Davidowitz, from the Kosher Wine Unfiltered blog, his lame excuse involved something about marrying off his first child, or something like that, whatever! He was missed but yeah, Mazel Tov!
I kept to my hotel room for much of the trip. All these wines were tasted in my room. Also, as tested before, because of supply chain issues and frankly because there were still too many 2020 wines around, there were very few 2021 wines available for me to buy online or in stores and taste. What I could find, at that time, in May, I bought and I am posting here now.
White & Roses
After tasting roses from Taieb and Royal I had a few more that I found around town. The clear winners here were the 2021 Caves d’Esclans Whispering Angel, Cotes de Provence, and the 2021 Chateau Maime Rose, Collection, Cotes de Provence. The 2020 Koenig Riesling is nice and a good rebound for the winery.
Two red wines from Tek Wines
I was sent a few wines from Tek Wine but the two best wines were ones I bought from MesVinCacher, the 2015 Chateau Tour de Bossuet, and the 2015 Chateau La petite Duchesse. The two wines tasted too similar to be different, but try them yourself. The other wines are simple.
Two Israeli wines
As I stated in my IDS Post, Alexandre was in Paris at the same time as I was and he brought along a nice wine from Israel, the 2021 Peer Winery Ayala, another wine with the name Ayala! Anyway, it was nice enough, with good acidity, but a bit short. The other was the 2021 Recanati Sauvignon Blanc, which is too simple to be interesting.
A Magrez wine that works
The 2019 Chateau Pape Clement is the closest thing we have had to a good Magrez wine since the epic 2014 vintage. The wine is nice but the oak and fruit are overpowering and while I liked it to start after a bit of time it felt a bit flabby and oak-driven.
Various Bordeaux Wines
This group had too many poor wines, the nice surprise was a wine from the Ministers of Wine, the 2018 Chateau des Places, Graves. There was also, a non-mevushal Victor 2019 Chateau Guimberteau Graves de Laborde, Cuvee Prestige, Lalande de Pomerol. The rest, were poor.
One Italian Wine
The Aglianico that I had in paris really did not show well and I hope to taste it again soon, maybe here in the USA. But I have posted it here as a baseline.
Thoughts on this tasting
Overall, none of these wines are available in the USA, other than a couple of the roses. The rest will maybe get to the USA eventually or never. If they do get to the USA, by the time you throw in the extra costs, they will not be QPR WINNER.
The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
White Wines
2020 Koenig Riesling, Alsace (M) – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
After the mess that was the Pinot Blanc, I was worried the Riesling would also be oxidized, thankfully, that is not the case! The nose of this wine is what I love in lovely Riesling wines, minerality, fruit, honeysuckle, honeyed yellow fruit, and nice petrol. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is fun, bright, tart, and refreshing, with great intense acidity, gooseberry, honeysuckle, honeydew melon, petrol, funk, tart yellow fruit, and lovely green apple, Nice!!! The finish is long, tart, and refreshing, showing tension, intense minerality, slate, smoke, flint, petrol, crazy acidity, and good fruit focus. Bravo! Drink until 2023. (tasted May 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12%)
Another round of QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Hits and Misses, Nine QPR WINNERS – May 2022
A side note before we get to the QPR list. I just returned, B”H, from Paris and I know many are interested in my notes from the trip, along with all the roses that are NOT on this list. So, for full disclosure, I will be posting the rose list next and then I will be getting to the wines I enjoyed and suffered in Paris. The good news, there are lots of wonderful wines from the Paris tastings and many will be making their way here. Sadly, the rose list is not that interesting at all. Now on to the QPR list, which will catch me up to almost all the wines before my Paris trip, other than the roses.
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 wines 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 some nice wines and some OK wines with the usual majority of uninteresting to bad wines.
I had the fortune of going to Hagafen Wine Cellars with Neal and Elk and the 2018 and 2019 vintages continue to impress. The prices are a bit high but with the price of land and fruit in Napa Valley, the fires, the lack of water, and so much more, the price is what it is. Still, the two QPR winner wines were lovely as were the vast majority of all the wines we enjoyed.
I also had the chance to go to Marciano Estates Winery and the wines showed beautifully there as well. The same can be said about Marciano, in regards to the pricing, both at the price and the reasons for them, so read the notes and make up your minds.
The story of 2021 Israel whites and roses is very unfortunate, it started with a bang. Matar and a couple of others showed very well. Sadly, after that, every other white and rose wine from Israel was not as impressive. They all show middling work and product, very disappointing indeed.
We have a nice list of QPR WINNERS:
- 2019 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Reserve, Alexander Valley, Sonoma, CA
- 2018 Hagafen Pinot Noir, Prix, Napa Valley, CA
- 2020 Domaine du Castel Blanc du Castel, Judean Hills
- 2020 Ramon Cardova Albarino, Rias Baixas
- 2021 Baron Edmund de Rothschild Rimapere, Marlborough
- 2021 Matar Sauvignon Blanc Semillon, Galilee
- 2021 Gush Etzion Sauvignon Blanc, Judean Hills
- 2021 Herzog Sauvignon Blanc, Lineage, Lake County, CA
- 2019 Hagafen Cabernet Franc, Napa Valley, CA
There were also a few wines that are a slight step behind with a GREAT or GOOD QPR score:
- 2018 Hagafen Syrah, Napa Valley, CA
- 2019 Hagafen Malbec, Napa Valley, CA
- 2019 Carmel Gewürztraminer, Late Harvest, Single Vineyards, Galilee
- 2021 Dalton Chardonnay, Unoaked, Galilee
- 2020 Pascal Bouchard Chablis, Chablis
- 2021 Tabor Sauvignon Blanc, Galilee
- 2020 Matar Chardonnay, Galilee
- 2015 Louis Blanc Crozes Hermitage, Vintage, Crozes Hermitage
- 2019 Koenig Riesling, Alsace
- 2019 Matar Stratus, Galilee
- 2021 Or Haganuz Blanc, Galille
The top 10 Kosher Mevushal wines of 2021
If you ever wondered what Kosher wine or the Mevushal process is, well I made a post these many years ago and nothing has changed about those facts, because kosher wine is kosher wine! The Mevushal process has evolved a bit over the years but the premise is still the same and the best craftsman in this space are Hagafen Cellars and Herzog Wine Cellars.
Royal Wine Europe does a good job as well, though from time to time, the white wines do not show as well after they go through the Mevushal process. The red wines are indeed done very well as I saw this past November 2021.
The whole premise for Mevushal wine is really a U.S. concept. Europe and much of Israel do not care for or need the wine to be Mevushal to serve at restaurants or events. The USA Rabbinic leaders think that there are too many issues and potential concerns at events and restaurants – given the vast number of servers being non-Jewish. As such, they demand Mevushal wines be served at the events. I have been to events where the pourers were all Shomer Shabbat Jews and that is what they do in Europe and Israel, but those are far and few between, here in the USA.
Overall, the 10 Mevushal wines below are not great, they are not bad, but not great. Now, this is not a cause and effect – meaning Mevushal does not ruin the wines. Mevushal – done incorrectly absolutely does cause damage to wine, and I have had many a “cooked” Mevushal wine. However, Herzog and Hagafen do not have these issues. Royal Europe, does a good job, but not as good as the previously mentioned wineries. Last year’s mevushal list would have had lovely wines as it would have included the 2018 Herzog wines! Also, we do not have examples of Mevushal wines that scored 95 points that are mevushal, again this is not a cause and effect but rather the issue that people do not yet Mevushal Pontet-Canet! Mind you, as I stated before, it is not from a lack of desire, on behalf of Royal Wines, they would boil anything to be able to sell more Mevushal wines. Still, so far, of the top wines that I have scored, the highest scored Mevushal wine is 2014, 2016, and 2018 Herzog Chalk Hill Cabernet Sauvignon.
More and more wines are being made Mevushal to meet the needs of restaurants and caterers that want high-end Mevushal wines for their venues and events. The theme of the wines here is mostly Hagafen or Herzog with some smattering of European names as well.
Here is my list of the top 10 Mevushal wines that are available here in the USA. They are listed by score and after that in no particular order. The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
2019 Chateau Le Crock, Saint-Estephe, Bordeaux (M) – Score: 92+ (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is a blend of 59% Cabernet Sauvignon and 41% Merlot. While I liked the 2018 vintage some did not, but this is a nice wine either way.
The nose on this wine is perfectly balanced, with lovely fruit, loam, dirt, smoke, bright and ripe plum, black and red fruit, with ripe dried strawberry, Tisane tea, and rich mineral. The mouth on this medium to full-bodied wine is ripe, layered, beautifully controlled, with rich smoke, saline, lovely loam, beautiful graphite, pencil shaving, sweet oak, mouth-draping tannin, blackberry, dark plum, strawberry, elegance, and control, that gives way to some extraction, with sweet tobacco, and mineral. The finish is long, green, loam, dirty, rich, and yet elegant, with roasted meat, smoke, draping elegance, incredible richness without the show, really a wine to hold but one that can be enjoyed now. Drink from 2027 until 2036. If you must have it now decant for 2 hours. (tasted November 2021) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)
2019 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Special Reserve, Lake County (M) – Score: 92+ (QPR: WINNER)
This is a lovely wine, it reminds me of the 2017 lake County Cabernet Sauvignon, just a tad less ripe and more fruit-focused. The nose on this wine is lovely. This is a classic Cabernet Sauvignon, in all the right ways, screaming mineral, insane graphite, pencil shavings, with ripe green, black, and lovely red fruit, with tar, loads of roasted herb, and classic garrigue. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is softer than the 2017 vintage, with nice acidity in the middle, wrapped by intense tannin, nice extraction, blackberry, juicy raspberry, hints of boysenberry, and loads of minerality, all coming together quite nicely. The finish is long, green, mineral-driven, but black and blue, with leather, sweet spices, with mineral lingering long, sweet smoking tobacco, and juicy boysenberry staying long. Bravo!!! Drink from 2023 until 2030. (tasted April 2021)
Lovely white wines to enjoy now – Jan 2022 Tasting
Now that I am done with my Paris posts it was time to finally catch up on many wines I have been tasting since I came back from hiking Kilimanjaro, in December. I know it is cold and wet outside, but white wines belong in everyone’s cellar/wine fridge for when you want to enjoy some easy-drinking wine with your soup, salad, or fish. I love to enjoy it with Tahini but to each their own.
So, as in the past, I will keep this post super short, really just a bunch of notes and I hope you enjoy the three QPR (Quality to price ratio) WINNERs as much as I did. It was really fun tasting 2021 wines in 2021! The two Hagafen wines were both unique and enjoyable. The fact that they were released within the same calendar year that they were produced, just makes it more enjoyable.
The Tzora white wines were quite nice, not quite a return to the early Aughts, but still, well-made wines and ones I would buy, if they were not so expensive. I finally had a Binah wine that I almost enjoyed, the Gruner Veltliner, but even that was missing something and not where I hoped it would be.
Goose Bay continues to crush it. Interesting note, they did not produce wine in 2020, because as you know, they are in the Southern Hemisphere. Harvest time there, for white wines, is around March, give or take a week or so. March 2020, no one was allowed to enter New Zealand, and the OU uses outside kosher wine supervisors. So, they could not produce kosher wine in 2020. I read the OU story of the Masgiach that was in Samoa and had to do crazy travel plans just to get back home. O’dwyers Creek, which is also in New Zealand, and uses the OU, as well, used local folks that Zoom’ed with the OU daily and they managed to produce a LOVELY 2020 Sauvignon Blanc. I was surprised to a 2020 O’dwyers Creek, so I reached out to the OU and that is what they told me happened, very cool, IMHO. Finally, because New Zealand is in the Southern Hemisphere, getting the 2021 wines here in December is not as unique as tasting a California 2021 wine. Either way, the wines were all quite enjoyable from New Zealand and Hagafen.
Finally, the two Viniferia wines were quite enjoyable and well priced. The new 2019 vintage of the Chateau Guiraud G, Blanc-Sec, is quite lovely and would be a QPR WINNER, except for its higher than median pricing.
The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
2020 O’Dwyers Creek Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough (M) – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose on this wine is classically New Zealand in style, cat piss, green notes, gooseberry, passion fruit, fresh-cut grass, and bright fruit all over the place. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is lovely, showing nice flint notes, smoke, rock, saline, gooseberry, lemongrass, guava, lychee, and crazy acid, that comes at you in waves, so much fun! 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 2024. (tasted December 2021) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 12.50%)
Final Tasting from my trip to Paris – November 2021
As stated in my previous post, I was in Paris in November, and while it took forever to post these notes, I am happy to finally be getting to them at this point. The total number of boxes in our hotel room, much like in June, still makes me laugh!
As I stated, in my previous post, I kept to my hotel room for much of the trip. I was joined by Avi Davidowitz from Kosher Wine Unfiltered. Even vaccinated, I was worried, as such we kept to ourselves, where possible. Almost all the wines below were tasted with Avi, in our hotel room, a few were tasted after he returned home to Israel.
Marmorieres Wines
I truly enjoyed the Château de Marmorières Les Amandiers, La Clape, Languedoc we had in June. So, I made sure Avi tasted that along with other wines from the winery, which was only released after I left Paris in June. The rose and white were nice while the Cab and Merlot were less interesting.
White wines from all over France
For the most part, the list was weak as it had too many boring Chablis. There were one or two nice wines, so look for those WINNERS. The best of that group has the worst name I have ever seen – LaCheteau Sauvignon Blanc – like seriously??? Anyway, horrible name – great wine!
Charles Pere & Fils Burgundy Wines
I was hoping to enjoy some 2020 Burgundy wines, but sadly, none of them stood out in a good way. They felt rushed, not complete, and overall, lackluster. I hope subsequent vintages will be better.
Rhone Wines
We had wines from Famille Daubree and Les Vins De Vienne and neither of them stood out. Again, they were very ripe, and we gave them days to come around, they never did. These are not what I am looking for. They are well made but too ripe for me. If you like well-made ripe French wine, try them out.
Various Bordeaux Wines
This group was a total loser, just like in June, except this time – there were no new wines to save me! Thankfully, for Avi, there were many of the wines I enjoyed in June, but for me, there was not a SINGLE red wine I would drink. That is how bad the options were!
German Weingut Gehring Wines
These wines were the most enjoyable and reasonably priced wines we tasted in our own tasting. The wines were made for an Israeli entrepreneur, who was going to sell them to hotels and restaurants, but sadly, he died, and the wines just sat in Germany! Some of them made their way to Israel anyway and that is where Avi and a few others saw them and worked crazy hard to buy them. Avi brought one wine with him, but I wanted to taste them all, there are three of them.
Weingut Gehring made three kosher wines with this gentleman who passed away, a Riesling, Grauer Burgunder (Pinot Gris), and an off-dry muscat. So, while I was in France I called the winery and paid them to ship the wines to my hotel, which worked perfectly! That was how I was able to taste all three of them. The wines that were sent to me all have Hebrew back labels as they were meant for the Israeli market and while the Hechsher is good it is not one many would know.
Thoughts on this tasting
Overall, these wines were unimpressive, but wow did we find some real sleepers! The 2020 LaCheteau Sauvignon Blanc, Les Cimes, Haut-Poitou, Loire Valley is a no-brainer for those in France/Europe. Same for the two german wines. Other than that it was a total mess and I hope the next trip will have better options!
Though none of these wines will ever make it to the USA shores, some are in Israel and I feel bad for you. The LeChateau is in Israel, but I have no idea if there were transport issues, like with many other French wines imported into Israel, in the past. The two German wines were in Israel but I have no idea about their distribution. Either way, thankfully, these wines can stay in France/Europe, there is nothing I want here, other than maybe the German wines, but I think they are all spoken for.
The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
Chevalier Wines
2020 Chevalier De Marmorieres Rose, Vin de France – Score: 90.5 (QPR: GREAT)
Clean smelling rose with good lines, bright fruit, floral notes of violet, honeysuckle, raspberry, honeyed fruit, and tart lemon. Nice job, the mouth on this medium-bodied rose is tart, right on the money, well priced, with lovely strawberry, sweet pomelo, mango, with searing acidity, tart lemon, lemon pith, sweet peach, and nice refreshing acidity to bring it all together – nice! The finish is long, ripe, and well-balanced, with slate, acid, and good fruit. Nice! Drink now! (tasted November 2021)
2020 Chevalier De Marmorieres Blanc, Vin de France – Score: 90 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose on this wine is very fruity, smells a lot like Viognier, with white peach, apricot, funk, guava, and sweet fruit. The mouth on this opens slowly, with nice acidity, that is slow to fully show, nice acidity, with guava, ripe peach, Pomelo, sweet honeysuckle, honeyed tropical fruit, and ripe melon. The finish is long, tart, ripe, and well balanced, with more funk, saline, mineral, and slate. Nice! (tasted November 2021) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12.50%)
Wines I tasted over the past few weeks with five QPR WINNERS
My trip to Paris in November and in June showed me terroir is not enough to make good wine. There are endless shelves of useless wines, at equally high prices, just like here in the USA. Thankfully, there were a few good ones and those will be outlined over the next weeks.
However, I wanted to catch up on a few wines that people have been asking about. The new Yarden wines are all the rave. People are crowing about them, and while they are not classic Israeli Date juice, they are not very interesting at all. I opened a lovely 2018 Baron Herzog Zinfandel, and that was far more interesting, refreshing, and enjoyable, than the 2018 Yarden Cabernet Sauvignon.
There were also two lovely wines from California. First was the return of a kosher B.R. Cohn wine, this time it is not the Trestle Glen wine but a nice Cabernet Sauvignon, nonetheless. It was balanced, well made, and far more enjoyable than the Yarden, any day. Finally, I enjoyed the N.V. Hurliman Pinot Noir. It is a lovely wine made in honor of Joe Hurliman, head winemaker at Herzog Wine Cellars.
Finally, I need to once again highlight how much I like the 2020 Sheldrake Riesling, Dry, Finger Lakes, NY. It is a lovely wine, that may well be the most refreshing and enjoyable wine out there, at this moment. NO, I did not say the best wine out there. I said, refreshing and enjoyable. Some wines are elegant, unique, layered, and expressive, like the epic 2019 Chateau Pontet can’t or the almost equally impressive 2019 Chateau LaGrange. But, not every wine experience is about Pontet Canet. There are times where I want an enjoyable white wine to have during Shabbat lunch. In that case, I will either reach for sparkling wine or an acid-driven but equally refreshing white wine. Ari Lockspeiser’s 2020 Sheldrake Riesling is lovely and meets all of those requirements, nicely done buddy!
The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
2020 Sheldrake Point Riesling, Dry, Finger Lakes, NY – Score: 91.5 (QPR: WINNER)
This is the first year that Ari Wines has made this wine and it is a true joy! First, I love the fact that he makes clear what dryness the wine has. The wine label shows an RS (Residual Sugar of 0.7 which is a bit more than I would have liked but still not within the average person’s opinion of what is “dry”. Officially, 0.5% is off-dry, but that is crazy precise, to most people below .10% you are dry, but everyone has their opinions. Finally, IMHO, this wine is not the best Riesling I have this year, nor is it the most complex wine of this year. However, and this is of great importance, this wine may well be the most refreshing wine I have tasted this year! That could well be because of either the lovely acidity, the low ABV (Alcohol By Volume), or because I love Riesling!
From open until empty this wine is always ready, enjoyable, and fun! The nose on this wine is lovely, showing notes I crave with intense honeysuckle, peach, tart citrus, honeyed notes of apple and pear, more floral notes, spices, and great minerality! The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is where this wine goes into solid WINNER status, it starts with a wave of acid, followed by a wave of balanced mouthfeel, with a weight that is lovely, not oily, but lovely, with ripe peach, tart tangerine, crab-apple like nectarine, and intense acidity. The finish is long, ripe, yet layered and expressive, with an acidic backbone, mineral, flint, rock, and intensity of mineral that makes this wine a true joy! Bravo! Drink until 2024. (tasted Novemeber 2021) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 11.10%)
Another round of QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Hits and Misses, Six WINNERS – October 2021
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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