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IDS tasting of a few new wines in Paris – January 2025
As stated in my previous post Avi Davidowitz, from the Kosher Wine Unfiltered blog, and I went to Paris and had three organized tastings. This was the second organized tasting of the trip and it was with IDS. IDS is officially called Les Vins IDS and IDS stands for International Distribution Service. On a lovely Wednesday afternoon, Avi and I jumped in an Uber and went to see Ben Uzan at IDS’s offices.
Le Vin IDS Wines
These wines are newly released, and the tasting was enjoyable, as always. Ben was so kind to air out the office room before we came in, as the smell of tobacco ash is always insufferable. I understand France is one of the few advanced nations in the world where smoking is still a thing. I have never tolerated it; the smell makes me retch, so Ben is always so kind as to air out the room before we begin tasting his excellent wines.
The list of wines was short, but they were lovely. The most unique wines were the newly released mirror Jeeper Champagne, aka Luxe. These wines are not the same blend, and the notes made this clear. These wines are made for show but also deliver on the product. The mirror glaze on the glass is cool, and it shines nicely. They are produced in limited quantities and made for clubs and other low-light environments where the mirror glaze pops.
Whether these wines are available in the USA, the vast majority are indeed imported by M&M Importers and should be available in the NYC area. I am not sure about the Jeeper Luxe, time will tell.
Champagne
The two mirror Luxe Jeeper Champagne were quite nice. They are a more rich and more opulent wine in comparison to the baseline Jeeper wines that we had in May 2024. These two Luxe wines show quite nicely, and while I think the prices are a bit extended, the process and their exclusivity are how the prices come to be.
White, Rose, and Red Wines
The white and rose wines from Chateau Sainte Marguerite Cuvee Fantastique are always consistent in their quality and access.
The Chateau Sainte Marguerite Cuvee Fantastique’s Red wine is also quite nice. I liked the smokey notes and the good acidity.
The 2022 Chateau Trianon is a wine I have already spoken about, and I like it. It is a wine that checks all the boxes for me. Acidity, body, and focus. Trianon has had a good track record so far.
The 2021 Virginie is one of the better wines from this winery. While the other wines are normally too ripe for me, the 2021 is closer to what I like. The only thing I wanted was more acidity and pop.
My many thanks to Ben Uzan for setting up the meeting, sharing his wines with us, and taking time out of his busy schedule to meet with us.
My thanks to Avi for the pictures, I was too lazy, and he is far better anyway!! The wine notes follow below in the order they were tasted – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here, and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
N.V. Maison Jeeper Luxe, Brut, Champagne – Score: 92+ (QPR: EVEN)
This Champagne has 8 grams per liter for the dosage, and all the grapes are sourced from a single plot versus the multi-plot for the baseline Jeeper Champagne.
The nose of this wine is pure yeast, with a lovely perfume of brioche, apple, pear, quince, and lovely minerality. Nice! The mouth of the medium-bodied wine is lovely, fresh and vibrant, elegant, and calmer than the main Champagne, showing bracing acidity, lovely small-mousse bubbles, creme Fraiche with dry grass, smoke, lovely apple, baked quince pie, and hints of lemon/lime/orange. The finish is long, bracing, and tart with great tension, smoke, creamy, and rich, with more salinity and citrus over the base Champagne. Lovely wine indeed! Drink now. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12%)
N.V. Maison Jeeper, Luxe, Grand Rose, Brut, Champagne – Score: 92+ (QPR: EVEN)
The color is very sparkly and shiny as light is shone on it. The nose of this wine is ripe with raspberry, and there is little to no strawberry, unlike the base Champagne, creamy and slightly oxidative, with lovely brioche, yeasty and driven by minerality. It is fresh even with the slight oxidative notes, but it has the unique aspect of minerality, slate, and slight oxidation that lifts the wine and makes things lovely. The mouth of this medium-plus bodied wine is richer than the Brut Luxe, riper, and more layered, with ripe raspberry, highlighted by its peak note of quince and Asian Pear, and creme, the mousse bubbles are persistent, the acidity is intense, and the mouthfeel is plush and creamy with some orange peel, orange notes, and the orange blossom notes that interplay with the raspberry and small bubble mousse. Bravo! The finish is a beast, with rich minerality, intense acidity, and layers of attack that show the power and precision of this wine. Bravo! Drink until 2027. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12%)
2023 Chateau Sainte Marguerite Cuvee Fantastique Rose, Cru Classe, Cotes de Provence – Score: 90 (QPR: EVEN)
This wine’s color is Gris, less Rose-colored. It shows nicely with ripe strawberry, raspberry, peach, smoke, clean lines, bitter notes, and tangerine. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine shows nicely with good acidity, peach, strawberry, and nice minerality. The fruit works well to tamp down the bitter notes, the weight helps as well, showing an almost oily rounder approach, but the finish ends without the joy. The finish is a bit short, the acidity helps, but the fruit is missing at the end. Drink now. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)
2023 Chateau Sainte Marguerite Cuvee Fantastique Blanc, Cru Classe, Cotes de Provence – Score: 91 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is lovely, showing tart peach, apricot, rich minerality, slate, funk, smoke, rock, and flinty, very nice! The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice; it has enough acidity, with lovely minerality, rich peach, apricot, and sweet pear, with nice tannin and nice tension, along with an oily structure that comes from the sweet oak, and the acidity is slow to come out, but it does eventually. The finish is long, tart, and balanced, with excellent minerality, nice smoke, and slightly bitter, with slate and flint and the acidity and oak that lifts the wine. Very well done! Drink until 2026. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)
2022 Chateau Sainte Marguerite Cuvee Fantastique Rouge, Cru Classe, Cotes de Provence, Cru Classe – Score: 91 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is stinky, earthy, dirty, smokey, and funky, with rich minerality, charcoal, flint, and wet loam. The fruit is blue and black, with rich black pepper and smoke, and a lovely perfume of fruit, smoke, and dirt—lovely! The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is lovely, bracing acidity, with lovely smoke, dirt, rich blackberry, plum, blueberry, lean but bracing. If asked blind, I would guess Rhone, but leaner, cleaner lines, really fun. The finish is enough for me, with bright fruit, dirt, minerality, and blue and black fruit, lovely! Drink by 2026. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)
2022 Chateau Trianon, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru – Score: 93 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is really lovely. It is the best 22 Bordeaux I have had so far, with cherry, plum, tar, minerality, green herbs, sweet spices, oak, and dark fruit. It is really nice. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is ripe, layered, and concentrated, showing milk chocolate, good acidity, rich minerality, nicely extracted, with dark plum, candied blackberry, cassis, and rich cherry, so lovely, bravo. The finish is long, ripe, and concentrated, with great acidity, lovely fruit focus, not tense but very professional, with more tar, minerality, graphite, rock, and sweet herbs. Drink from 2028 until 2036. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5%)
2021 Virginie de Valendraud, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru – Score: 91+ (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is the most controlled Virginie I have ever tasted. It is lovely, well-controlled, dirty, and smoky, with nice milk chocolate, showing nice pop, lovely minerality, smoke, and dense dirt.
The mouth of this full-bodied wine is beautiful. Bravo! It shows that the 2021 vintage can be made into a great wine. The mouth is full-bodied and rich, with good acidity and lovely mouth-draping tannin. It shows great minerality and elegance with velvety tannins, blackberry, plum, raspberry, and dark cherry. The tannin and minerality are the focus.
The finish is long and tannic, balanced with good fruit, smoke, and graphite. I would have loved a bit more acidity and pop, but it’s still lovely. Drink from 2027 until 2032. (tasted January 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)
Hotel Wine tastings – the final tastings from my trip to Paris – Late May 2024
As stated in my previous post, I was in Paris in Late May, with Avi Davidowitz from Kosher Wine Unfiltered. The number of boxes in our room was not nearly as insane as two years ago. That was a tower of boxes. Still, we had a lot of wines to taste through and some good wines to talk about.
Two years ago, we had some 80 wines, this May we were at 60 wines. There was one wine that Avi missed and there are a couple of wines I think were bad bottles, so I will not post them, so I guess it comes to some 58 or so bottles.
Half of these wines were tasted blind and the rest were not. Let me make this simple, unless we can find someone to pay to help us manage the tastings, tasting blind, and then gathering all the metadata and the forms, and sheets, it is just INSANE! We really need to get a helper, who understands English enough and can handle sheets and the such, in Paris and wherever else we taste wines. Until then, we will have to give up on tasting blind.
The wines were tasted in classic region/style order, whites, reds from Burgundy, Rhone-like areas, Bordeaux/Blend wines, and I think that is it.
Barbera, Rhone, Burgundy, Provence, Loire, and Germany
These were some of the blind wines we tasted. I honestly grabbed bottles shaped in anything other than Bordeaux and we did the tasting blind. It was eclectic and we retasted them twice, so they got their chance. There were two wines in the lineup that were off, and they were removed from the scoring. Otherwise, the wines fell into what I expected, with the real find being the Rhone from Ventoux. The German red wine was nice while the white wine, we tasted later, was a total loss.
There were a total of 13 wines on this flight and one of them was a bad bottle, so we have 12 wines scored below. Six of the 12 were from Taieb Wines. Yoni and his family continue to make well-priced wines and garner QPR WINNER scores. This tasting was no exception, with two WINNER for the Burgundies and other QPR WINNER scores for other wines we tasted in the hotel.
I have posted often about Taieb wines and if you want to read the full background read the first post I made here.
There were four Burgundies made by kosher Taieb in 2022 and we received three of them for tasting. The notes on these wines changed a bit but the scores were consistent. We also got some Loire Valley wines and they showed well as well. There was a Burgundy from Ribeauville that I had already tasted but needed to have Avi taste it, so I made sure to make that happen.
The real find was the Rhone from Ventoux, I have no idea who made the wine, maybe the winery did, but it is a nice wine. I have no idea why it sat around until now, nor do I know why the 2016 wine we tasted later sat around until now!
White and Sparking Wines
We tasted through a lot of white wines and sparkling wines. The Sparkling wines came from Taieb and they were nice to WINNER. The Elvi Vina Encina were both solid and the Herenza White are lovely WINNER wines. I have no idea why the Herenza Whites do not sell in the USA, no idea! Folks buy a few and try.
On a slight rant, I will start with the positives, thankfully, we have more kosher white wine available now than ever before, PERIOD! However, what is clear is that the kosher-buying public has made Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay their next Cabernet Sauvignon! I am happy you are all starting to enjoy white wines – finally! But good Lord, there are OTHER white wines out there! As stated, I am firmly on the ABC train, outside of a few Cali and France. Sauvignon Blanc is a wonderful grape and please ignore EVERYTHING that Avi says to the contrary, it is not his fault, he has issues with good wine!
Now, all I see is that white wines that are not Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc linger on physical or virtual shelves. Thankfully, most of you get Riesling, almost. But that is it! You guys killed the only good Albarino from Ramon Cardova because you all refused to buy it! The Herenza is the same, and this wine is 30 to 40 percent Sauvignon Blanc! OK, I’ll give up and stop my rant here! TRY OTHER white wines – please!
There was a new Sancerre and the new 2023 Domaine Lebrun Pouilly-Fume and they were nice. The 2023 Domaine Lebrun Pouilly-Fume is truly exceptional, it keeps up with the great 2021. Though I would be drinking the 2021 already! This one will be good for a few years.
Also, Avi brought an Israeli white wine! Yes! The 2021 Recanati Sauvignon Blanc, Odem Vineyards, Atelier! Lovely wine, and further proof that what Israel needs is good white wine!
The rest of them are wines that you can try and see if you like.
Italy, Spain, and Bordeaux
OK, half of the wines we tasted fall into these two categories and they garnered 8 QPR WINNER scores. Once again, Taieb had many GREAT to WINNER scores here along with some new Italian wines. There was one SHOCKER from Luzzatto, who until now have been really uninspiring wines. However, the 2019 Luzzatto Barolo is a clear WINNER, and yes, it is Mevushal. It started out very slow but with time, it came out of its shell, and showed nicely!
Avi brought the 2022 El Orador Rioja, Rioja Alta from Israel, and that also started very slowly, but it came out of its shell as well. We then tasted three Elvi red wines, which I had last year after Avi had already left. Those were the 2021 Elvi Clos Mesorah, the 2020 Elvi EL26, and the 2019 Elvi Adar. I had the 2019 Elvi Adar in Israel, and the EL26 at home.
The rest of what mattered was a mix of Bordeaux wines ranging from 2016 to 2023. Yes, we tasted a 2016 Chateau Croque Michotte! Why it was not released until now is beyond me. Sadly, I think that wine was oxidized. I have no idea if it was the wine or the bottle. I tried to get another and no matter the emails/WhatsApp chats I could not get another one to try.
The 2023 Baron David and the 2023 Palais de L’Ombriere were solid wines that are available now in Paris and ones I would pick up for a nice Shabbat! Two great wines from Taieb.
Then we had three mid-level quality wines from the 2022 Bordeaux vintage. If these wines prove to be the flag-bearer for that vaunted vintage I may come around and have as much faith as Avi does. Avi believes every vintage is innocent until proven guilty, sadly, I see things differently. I guess, I see wine as uninteresting until the glass proves me wrong.
The three QPR WINNER wines were the 2022 Chateau Tour Perey, 2022 Chateau La Fleur Perey, and the
2022 Chateau Tour Seran. We had issues with the 2022 Chateau Rollan de By. One bottle was bad and one bottle was OK to bad. At this point, if you buy it, I would not hold it for long, if at all. Buy it, open it, and enjoy!
We also tasted a 2012 Chateau Cru DuCasse, a wine I had not tasted for two years and it was on crazy sale at Winess.com. This was a wine that Avi had not yet tasted, as I tasted it back in June of 2021 when Paris was just coming to life from under the cloud of Covid. It had evolved a fair amount and was deeply closed at the start. Another crazy closeout wine I saw at Winess was the 2020 Chateau Taillefer Pavillon de Taillefer. It was selling for 40 or so dollars. I tasted that wine last year May 2023, a trip Avi missed, so I wanted him to taste the wine.
We tasted the white and rose wines from Cantina Giuliano and they are fine, I am sure some people will like them more than I did.
The one wine that Avi was not around for was the 2023 Cave D’Esclans Whispering Angel. It reminded me of the 2021. A solid showing.
Where can you buy these wines?
The Taieb wines will find their way to the USA through a menagerie of importers. Those include Liquid Kosher, Kosher Wine, and Victor Wines which I continue to be baffled at where these wines actually sell, outside of Florida! The Elvi wines are in the USA already. The Cantina Giuliano wines are in the USA already. The 2020 Chateau Haut Brisson is already in the USA, the other Corcos wines, I am not sure.
The Mercier wines will find their way here once the previous vintages are sold. As for the rest of the wines, I have no idea!
Thoughts on this tasting
OK, so overall, this tasting was solid! This was better than previous tastings because the 2021 vintage is mostly played out, unlike other hotel wine tastings. Still, Kosher plonk exists in spades in all regions of the world! The USA may have the largest availability to them, but Paris is not far behind! I am still not buying into the 2022 hype but as stated before, I will reserve happiness until I taste good wine!
Regarding other wines from France that people will ask me about, the answer is we tried. We sent out emails and got initial responses and then all follow-up emails went into the Spam Bucket. Sometimes, I wonder if French people hate us Americans! Anyway, the winning lineup, which always is the heading photo for the hotel wine-tasting posts, was solid, and wines I would drink! Sadly, that winning lineup photo is nowhere because I got really sick at the end of the week. I barely made it into Shabbat. I slept it off all Shabbat.
Before I forget – Avi took all the pictures from this trip so if you dislike them, blame him. If you love them disregard the previous sentence! Thanks, buddy!! I was flat out and Avi was trying to get out for his flight back to Israel. Sorry buddy I could not help.
Finally, 90% of the the deliveries were to the hotel this time, my man Ari Cohen, AKA El-Presidente of Bakus Wines, was totally AWOL this trip! I think the more I go to Paris the less I get to see him – maybe I am finally becoming a Parisian! Thanks as always! Thanks for all the help as always buddy!
The wine notes follow below in the order that they were tasted. The explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
2022 Jean-Philippe Marchand Aloxe Corton, Sous Chaillots, Aloxe Corton – Score: 92.5 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is quite nice with darker plum, raspberry, cherry, and sweet spices, along with sweet herbs, floral notes, lavender, dark smoke, and minerality. The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine feels rich, layered, and smokey, dirty, with nice mushroom, forest floor, nice funk, lovely minerality, plum, ripe raspberry, dark cherry, herbal, with nice tannin, and great acidity. The finish is long, tannic, herbal, and funky, but also richer, a bit rounder, but tannic, tart, and refreshing, Bravo! Drink until 2032. (tasted May 2024) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%) (tasted Blind)
A tasting of M&M Importers’ current wines – February 2024
I did it again, too much time has passed from my previous post on M&M imports, and this follow-up post is some 9 months apart! This post is meant to not only catch up with the wines that I missed in my last post but also to show ALL the current wines available from M & M Importers.
It is always a pleasure to taste the wines from Ralph Madeb, president and CEO of M&M Importers. The BIG news is that now some of his wines are available on kosherwine.com! I really hope this helps to spread the good word about the work that Ralph and his team do! More info on M & M Importers can be found here.
Where can you find the wines?
Let us get the obvious out of the way first, it is very hard to track what M&M imports and where they are for sale. As stated above kosherwine.com is selling some of them and IDrinkKosher.com also sells them. Neither is the best option because KW has a limited number of the total portfolio, more of that in a moment and IDK is solid, both in pricing and in what they buy. However, knowing what is ACTUALLY available is almost impossible unless you show up at the store. I have been at the store a few times and they have great prices and good storage – again the issue lies in knowing what is actually for sale, as the website is never updated. Calling in does not help much either, but this post is here to shed more light on the matter. I know Ralph is working very hard on this matter and I hope we get more news on this soon.
UPDATE: You can now buy many of the SKUs from elkwine.com! Elchonon Hellinger is a dear friend and as always, I make NOTHING from your purchases, but if you live or are visiting the Miami area, please look him up! If you do not find what you need on the site, text him on Whatsapp: 17867501019, he is adding more SKUs as fast as he can!
Portfolio
If anyone wants to get a bird’s eye view of Ralph Madeb they should listen to the great podcast series from Simon Jacobs – The Kosher Terroir. The episode that focuses on Dr. Ralph Madeb and M&M Importers is this one.
From a Fifty Thousand Mile view, Ralph started his adventure as a mixture of importing IDS wines while also creating his own. Even when he was bringing in some IDS wines, it was not all of them, and access to them was almost impossible.
Since then, things have grown, by leaps and bounds and now they produce or import more than 70 wines.
Again, aside from the accessibility to/of these wines, for the average guy, not living in/near/around NYC, let us talk about what they are and where they come from.
IDS makes wines from all around France and you can find all my wine notes from November 2023, here. Between, Pinot Noirs from Burgundy, famous estates from Bordeaux, and now famous estates from Alsace, Provence, and Sancerre, IDS has expanded its portfolio over these past 10 years.
Names like Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte, Domaine de Chevalier, Chateau Lafon-Rochet, Chateau Marquis d’Alesme Becker, Virginie de Valandraud. Chateau Labegorce, Chateau la Tour de By, Chateau de Valois, Chateau Leydet-Valentin, Chateau Trianon, Chateau Sainte Marguerite, Domaine Aegerter Gevrey-Chambertin, Domaine Aegerter Nuits-Saint-Georges Premier Cru, Domaine Aegerter Nuits-Saint-Georges, Domaine Aegerter Beaune Premier Cru, Gustave Lorentz, Tokaj-Hetszolo, Domaine Vacheron Sancerre, Jean Luc et Paul Aegerter Pouilly Fuisse, Jean Luc et Paul Aegerter Meursault, Clos des Lunes Lune D’Argent.
These are wines made by and for IDS and M&M imports them and sells them locally here in the USA.
Mercier Wines
When you see names Chateau Cantenac Brown, Château Saint Martin Rouge and Rose, Domaine Lebrun Pouilly Fumé, Château Rayne Vigneau, Chateau Fayat, Chateau Olivier Red and White, Chateau Clement Pichon, Alphonse Mellot Sancerre, La Moussiere, Chateau Haut-Marbuzet, and Carillon d’Angelus, these are all made under the auspices of Maison Mercier.
Some of these wines are imported and sold by Royal Wines and some are imported and sold by M&M Imports.
They make many other wines and they import a large portfolio of Israeli wines into France as well. Most of the French wines are made under the watchful eye of Pierre Miodonick, whom I have written up on a few times.
These are really big names for Kosher, much like Royal makes with Pontet Canet, and IDS makes with Smith Haut Lafitte. Any time we can get kosher wines from Angelus and Pichon things are moving in the correct direction. Still, the prices are sky-high because of the added partners in the process.
Honest Grapes
Tom Harrow and Nathan Hill (a man I met for a few hours recently, more on that in a few posts) built an impressive wine club system. They are happy to sell you wine here and there, but their business is built on wine clubs and events. They have been in business since 2014 and they started a kosher line in 2017. Like much of their business and clubs, they run using a mix of crowd-sourcing and partnerships.
The 2017 and 2018 vintages were all sold out long ago as they were both crowd-sourced and sold to those who signed in to the En Primeur. The 2019 vintage was a change, they expanded and with that expansion came a bit more space for non-club access. They expanded a bit because of demand and also because of the appearance of M&M. That was a bit ahead of schedule, and there was no real extra access, at that time, mostly leaving the wines to be sold En Primeur.
The 2020 vintage was when the partnership helped Honest Grapes to expand and make more of the small winery plots kosher. Remember, it is not like they can go from 1000 bottles to 1100 or 1200 bottles. Everything is still barrel based. Either the barrel (25 cases of 12 bottles) is kosher or it is not! These plots are so small, for the most part, that it was not long before the plots were vinified 100% kosher.
The impressive wines in this portfolio are a mix of Bordeaux and Burgundy:
- Chateau Teyssier (QPR Homerun)
- Vieux Château Mazerat
- Le Dôme Kosher
- Pontet Labrie
- Domaine de Montille Pommard Premier Cru ‘Les Grands Epenots’
- Domaine de Montille Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru, Les Chalumeaux
- Domaine de Montille Volnay Premier Cru ‘Les Brouillards’
- Domaine de Montille Nuits-Saint-Georges Premier Cru ‘Aux Thorey’
- Domaine de Montille Beaune Premier Cru ‘Les Perrières’
- Domaine de Montille Monthelie Premier Cru ‘Les Duresses’
- Domaine de Montille Bourgogne Blanc
- Domaine de Montille Bourgogne Rouge
Right now, M&M only has two wines for sale from Honest Grapes, the 2019 Chateau Teyssier (QPR Homerun), and the 2020 Domaine de Montille Volnay Premier Cru ‘Les Brouillards’.
The rest of the 2020 Bordeaux and the 2021 Burgundies are still in route and will be here soon enough.
Read the rest of this entry
IDS tasting of current releases in Paris – a second time – in Nov 2023
As stated in my previous post Avi Davidowitz, from the Kosher Wine Unfiltered blog, and I went to Paris and had three organized tastings. This was the second organized tasting of the trip and it was with IDS. IDS is officially called Les Vins IDS and IDS stands for International Distribution Service. On a lovely Wednesday afternoon, Avi and I jumped in an Uber and went to see Ben Uzan at IDS’s offices.
Le Vin IDS Wines
Many of the wines I tasted that day were wines I had tasted 6 months earlier in May 2023. There were two wines that I had not tasted earlier, the 2022 Chateau Sainte Marguerite Cuvee Fantastique Blanc. In May it was the 2021 vintage. The other new wine was the 2020 Chateau Trianon, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru. We got the chance to taste the 2018, 2019, and 2020 vintages side-by-side, which was very cool!
Ben was so kind to have aired out the office room before we came in, as the smell of tobacco ash is always insufferable. I understand France is one of the few advanced nations in the world where smoking is still a thing. I have never tolerated it, the smell makes me retch, so Ben is always so kind to air out the room before we begin tasting his wonderful wines.
Once that was done I took in the room and I realized this was going to be an awesome tasting. I was not expecting a full replay of the May tasting, it was a true treat, and my many thanks. The full outlay was not for me, this was a very kind gesture by Ben for Avi and Ben’s other guests/friends, I was just a lucky recipient. It also gave me the time to take in this tasting in a far less rushed approach, as the wines were mostly tasting the same as they were 6 months ago. However, and this is important, it did give me a chance to better appreciate some of the wines. So, you will see some scores and note changes from the previous tasting. I will note those by RESCORED at the start of the notes.
This tasting was beyond comprehensive, this tasting was essentially the entire current wine portfolio of IDS. If IDS sold the wine it was at the tasting. There will be new 2021 wines released soon, if not already, in France, but the wines in this tasting are all available in France unless they are sold out. For example, maybe the 2019 Chateau Smith Haut-Lafite, but again, I have no idea of IDS inventory stocks!
In regards to whether these wines are here in the USA, the vast majority of them are indeed imported by M&M Importers and should be available in the NYC area.
White and Roses
The first 8 wines we tasted were the current whites and roses from Les Vin IDS. One of them is a favorite of mine, the 2018 Clos des Lunes Lune D’Argent – a lovely white Bordeaux that started a bit slow for me in 2019 but it has blossomed recently and I love it!
We started with the lovely 2022 Chateau Sainte Marguerite Cuvee Fantastique Rose, Cotes de Provence, followed by the 2022 Chateau Sainte Marguerite Cuvee Fantastique Blanc, Cru Classe, Cotes de Provence. There is only one rose and white this year, the Cuvee Fantastique.
Then came the lovely 2018 Clos des Lunes Lune D’Argent, it continues to impress, improve, and show its age-ability. I have been so badly burned with poor aging white wines, even from France/Europe, that I pull back hard on my DW. I would rather enjoy than curse at my wines! This is one of the RESCORED notes.
Then came a wine, the lovely 2021 Gustave Lorentz Riesling, Grand Cru, Alsace, a baby of a wine from Alsace made in the way I love, dry, and screaming with acidity and minerality. The Petrol joy will come later!
Ben did not pour the Gewurtztraminer, as Avi had it earlier, it is a nice wine but the off-dry approach is one I have a hard time with. Still professionally made and a real wine that may come around for me in a few years.
Then came the 2021 Jean Luc et Paul Aegerter Pouilly Fuisse, Premier Cru, Vers Cras, Pouilly Fuisse. It is a wine we have not had in Kosher for a long time now. A lovely mineral bomb! I am not sure of the exact vintage of the last one, but it has been a while!
Then came a lovely Sancerre, the 2021 Domaine Vacheron Sancerre, Grand Champs. Lots of fun! This is one of the wines that I did do a RESCORED on. It has truly moved along since May.
Followed by the 2021 Tokaj-Hetszolo Sarga Muskotaly, Tokaji, a unique and fun wine.
Finally, there was the beautiful 2020 Domaine de Chevalier, Blanc, Pessac-Leognan. This is a famous white wine and it was a joy to taste. In the non-kosher market, the white Chevalier is more expensive than the red, as in this kosher production as well! This too, is one of the wines that I did do a RESCORED on.
Red Wines
The next 23 wines – yes TWENTY-THREE wines were all red. I had tasted them all before in May and other times before that, other than one, the 2020 Chateau Trianon.
We started with a run of Burgundy wines. I can hear it now, 2021 red Burgundies, they must have all been horrible! As I stated in May, I was not expecting much, even now after only 6 months, but they were exactly the same as they were 6 months earlier. They are all well-made, balanced, and enjoyable. In the end, nice wines indeed! There are three 1er Cru wines and 2 Village wines.
That was followed by the red Cotes de Provence, a blend of Grenache and Syrah, the 2021 Chateau Sainte Marguerite Cuvee Fantastique, Rouge, Cru Classe. A nice, tart, refreshing red wine.
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Final Tasting from my trip to Paris – May 2023
As stated in my previous post, I was in Paris in May, without Avi Davidowitz, from the Kosher Wine Unfiltered blog, his lame excuse this time was not even a good one, like marrying off a daughter! Nope, I will not say something like a four-letter word on this blog! Whatever, you were missed buddy! Mostly for the IDS and Royal tasting! This part you missed nothing!
I kept to my hotel room for much of the trip. All these wines were tasted in my room. There were very few Roses available and what I could find, at that time, I have posted here.
White & Roses
After tasting roses from IDS and Royal I had a few more that I found around town. They were all very poor. I got to taste more roses in NYC, which was later in June, I will post those after this last Paris post.
Two red wines from Bakus Wines
Ari Cohen has a startup wine company called Bakus Wines. He shared two wines with me and this year’s vintages are solid! No issues with being over-oaked or overripe. Solid wines. Nice!
Two Chateau Peyrat Fourthon wines
This was the first big boy that I tasted from the 2021 vintage and scares me what these wineries will do with all the stock. These wines will not move quickly, short of drastic pricing, or just dumping. They are not the only ones sitting on palates of 2021 Grand Cru wines. Some wineries will weather the vintage and feel the satisfaction of the killing they will be making from the 2022 vintage. However, some wineries, like Chateau Peyrat Fourthon make very large batches of kosher wines and will be sitting on these for a long time and that makes me sad!
Understand that Chateau Peyrat Fourthonis one of the very few wineries that make the kosher wine by themselves and they therefore do not have the large “kosher stamp markup”. They sell the wine for a few more euros than the non-kosher sells for in France and Europe. It will be sad if the 2021 vintage stops them or slows them down from this approach. Here is hoping for another few years from Chateau Peyrat Fourthon!
Mercier Wines
I tasted two wonderful wines from the Mercier group and two basic ones that are okay. The 2021 Chateau Saint-Martin Rouge and 2021 Domaine Lebrun Pouilly-Fume! There were also some simple wines, three 2022 Le Grand Castellan and two L’enclos de Zeide Reserve wines.
The Rest
The rest were okay, though the lovely 2018 Ribeauville Riesling, Rosacker, Alsace Grand Cru is a wine that should be imported into the USA! Like its brother the 2018 Cave de Ribeauville Riesling, Vendanges Manuelles (which I have tasted two times in France – great wine!).
Thoughts on this tasting
Overall, most of these wines are not available in the USA, but you are missing nothing other than the Ribeauville and the Terra de Vinyaters. The rest are in the USA, including the Mercier wines and the Chateau Peyrat Fourthon 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:
2021 Chateau Saint-Martin Rouge, Cotes de Provence – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER (France))
This wine is a blend of 25% Grenache, 25% Syrah, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, & 25% Mourvedre.
The nose of this wine is ripe and juicy with floral notes, violet, blue, and red fruit, smoke, graphite, and roasted meat. With time, the more savory, earthy, dirty notes come out as well and add complexity and depth to the wine.
The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is fun, floral, juicy, and tart, with boysenberry, plum, dark cherry, herbs, graphite, searing acidity, nice mouthfeel, and a good fruity, balanced expression. The savory notes come out after a few hours and add complexity, Bravo!
The finish is long, tart, and juicy, with nice acidity, graphite, roasted herbs, and red/blue fruit. Drink by 2025. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)
2021 Domaine Lebrun Pouilly-Fume, Pouilly-Fume – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER (France))
This wine is stunning, concentrated, focused, mineral-laden, and so tart/juicy, that my palate was salivating long after I spit the wine out. Nice!!
The nose of this wine is lovely, showing notes of sweet fruit, lovely orange blossom, intense minerality, honeysuckle, honeyed peach, honeydew, and intense smoke/flint.
The mouth on this lovely medium-plus-bodied is truly fresh, ripe, and well-balanced with screaming acid, smoke, flint, gooseberry, cat pee, grapefruit, orange, lovely screaming acid, and layers upon layers of flint/slate! Showing a lovely weight and mouthfeel.
The finish is long, green, ripe, and well balanced, with crazy mineral, screaming acid, and lovely rock, flint, and mineral. WOW!! Drink until 2024. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)
Yavine Wines aplenty – May tasting 2023
OK, let me start by saying Shana Tova to all and my apologies for being so late with these posts – but I will be getting all my posts up within the next 6 weeks, so get ready for a bunch of posts, God Willing. In the meantime, let’s get to the wines.
Nathan Grandjean and his partners have been producing wines for many years now, the first wines were the 2017 and 2018 Les Vins de Vienne. Since then he has added the fantastic wines from Vignobles Mayard, and now comes a slew of wines from the Languedoc and Chinon.
All of these wines can be found on Yavine.fr in Europe. Grandjean will/can ship to almost anywhere in Europe for you! For all of you USA readers, they are available but it will take some effort to find them. Israel is still in the works from what I hear.
Chateau La Baronne
Château La Baronne is a family-owned winery located in the Corbières Massif in the south of France. The estate was founded in 1890 by Louis Lignères and has been passed down through five generations of the family.
The vineyards are situated at an altitude of 100 to 200 meters on the Montagne d’Alaric, one of the highest points in the Corbières. The soils are a mix of limestone, clay, and sandstone, and the climate is Mediterranean with hot, dry summers and mild winters.
The Lignères family cultivates 35 hectares of vines, with the main grape varieties being Grenache, Syrah, Carignan, and Mourvèdre. The wines are made using traditional methods and are aged in oak barrels.
Château La Baronne is committed to sustainable viticulture and has been certified organic since 2007 and biodynamic since 2012. The estate is also a member of the Terra Vitis association, which promotes sustainable wine-growing practices.
The wines of Château La Baronne are known for their freshness, elegance, and minerality. They are made to be enjoyed young, but they can also age gracefully for many years.
The soils come from limestone, clay, and sandstone formations, mainly from the Tertiary and Quaternary periods. Fond of protecting nature, Jean and Anne are eager to make the most natural wines possible, using ancient winemaking methods (jar, cement, ceramic, eggs) as well as new ones.
There are 7 new wines made kosher and they are all GOOD to WINNER in QPR (Quality to Price Ratio).
Read the rest of this entry
Jacques Capsouto Vignobles Cotes de Galilee Village – latest 2018/2019 vintages
After two years, Jacques Capsouto Vignobles Cotes de Galilee Village is back, and just in time, as the 2016 vintage was getting over the hill.
I have written extensively on the incredible story of Jacques Capsouto, both here and here. I have been waiting for the new vintage to hit the store and as usual, it is difficult to find, but they are in many stores in the great NY/NJ area. I got mine directly from the distributor – Solstars.
As much as we have seen Israel continue to move away from the Cabernet and Merlot, few have such a plethora of grapes from the Rhone Valley, like Jacques Capsouto. The sheer plethora of varietals and their impact on the wine shows where Israel can find their future. Whenever I get the chance to smell and enjoy a wine with Clairette or Cinsault, it always brings a smile to my face. The wines did show nicely but I would not hold them for too long, they are nice now with a bit of decanting or bottle open time and enjoy!
My many thanks to Selvi Uludere and everyone else from SolStars, along with Pamela Wittmann, as well. The wine note follows below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here:
2018 Jacques Capsouto Cuvee Albert, Grand Vin Blanc – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
The Grand Vin Blanc has returned with the lovely 2018 vintage. The 2016 vintage was lovely and so is 2018. The blend is 44% Roussanne, 28% Marsanne, and 28% Clairette. The nose on this wine starts a bit closed, still, the aromas are dry, mineral, straw, with green apple, pear, lovely straw funk, white flowers, green notes, and white tea. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is quite nice, old-world in style, with lovely funk, good balance, nice minerality, with Asian pear, with hints of French oak, followed by green apple, tart notes, and smoke. The finish is long, funky, balanced, with flint, richness, nice weight, and mouthfeel. Drink now. (tasted April 2021)
2019 Jacques Capsouto Cuvee Samuel, Rouge – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is a blend of 55% Cinsault, 25% Mourvedre, 10% Grenache, 5% Counoise, and 5% Syrah. The nose on this wine starts Syrah-like, but with time it comes around to show better as a whole than as its parts. Very much like a Rhone-style Pinot Noir. The nose starts ripe but calms down to show lovely notes of rosehip, rhubarb, watermelon, dried rose petals, with soy sauce, berries, and minerals. The mouth on this medium-plus bodied wine is well controlled with lovely acidity, nice dirt, floral notes, sweet oak, rhubarb, dark cherry, plum, currants, and nice sweet spices, all wrapped in elegant tannin, mineral, and saline. The finish is long, ripe, but well balanced, with sweet cloves, cinnamon, sweet candied cherry, Asian spice, and sweet red fruit wrapping a dark chocolate bar, with great acidity that helps to balance the fruit. Bravo! Please drink this now, yes, it can make it until 2023, but why? It is good now, will not improve, drink now. (tasted April 2021)
2018 Jacques Capsouto Cuvee Marco, Grand Vin Rouge – Score: 90 (QPR: EVEN)
This wine is a blend of 40% Grenache, 40% Mourvedre, and 20% Syrah. The nose on this wine starts ripe, it is riper than its younger 2019 brother, the Cuvee Samuel. The blend is different as well, and there is much more oak on the Marco. The nose on this wine is ripe, it feels like a Cali Rhone wine more than how the 19 Samuel felt, with black and blue fruit, sweet oak, soy sauce, ripe plum, floral notes, dark and brooding, with roasted animal, and loam. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is ripe, balanced, with good acidity, blackcurrant, blackberry, boysenberry, nice draping tannin, sweet oak, loam, and black tea. The finish on this wine is ripe, with dense black fruit, loam, mushroom, graphite, milk chocolate, and nice smoke. Please drink this now, yes, it can make it until 2023, but why? It is good now, will not improve, drink now. (tasted April 2021)
Jacques Capsouto Vignobles Cotes de Galilee Village – latest 2016 vintage
I recently received the entire line of the new 2016 wines from Jacques Capsouto Vignobles. I have written many times about this winery, that broke onto the kosher wine scene without many knowing anything about them, and shocked us all with really impressive wines starting from the inaugural release.
The 2015 vintage was not kosher in the end, having to do with how or when the grapes were picked, the 2014 and 2016 vintages are perfectly fine and bear the OK kosher symbol.
I have yet to interview Mr. Capsouto personally (though I did talk with him at Sommelier briefly), but there are many good articles out there and I recommend that you read them all – as each has a nugget of information that the other lacks. The first is the oldest of the articles that I enjoyed – maybe the first one written; when the vines were planted. The next one is an article written by the ever wonderful Dorothy Gaiter, written in the Grape Collective. Next, you have the in-depth article by Haaretz – with really good insights. Finally, there is the best article, IMHO, from one of the better kosher wine writers today; Adam Montefiore.
Through all the articles – you get a common story of Jacques Capsouto, an immigrant from Egypt, who built Capsouto Frères with his family, a classic French restaurant in Tribeca – before anyone cared about Tribeca! Throughout the entire journey of Capsouto Freres, he showed his never-ending passion, and drive, but sadly it ended in sorrow after the effects of terrorism and natural disasters destroyed almost half a lifetime of sweat and tears. To me though, there is another story in there, one of love for Israel, wine, and a deep understanding that Rhone varietals have its place in the Galilee!
Rhone Rangers
The Rhone Rangers are a group of California winemakers who in the 80s started an association to promote Rhone varietals in California. They have single-handedly pushed Rhone Valley varietals into the wine buyer’s subconscious. In 2011, Mr. Capsouto planted a subset of the 22 official varietals (9 in total) that make up the Rhone Rangers list of promoted grapes. In doing so, he became Israel’s first and ONLY truly 100% Rhone varietal winery, in other words, Jacques is all-in on the Rhone Valley in the Galilee!
Look around Israel for those betting on the Rhone varietals, there is, of course, Netofa Winery (who planted Rhone and Loire Valley grapes), Recanati Winery (which has access to Bordeaux grapes for the reserve series and Rhone grapes for their Mediterranean Series), Kishor Winery, and Vitkin Winery. Still, no one has staked 1.7 million dollars to start a boutique winery in the Galilee, featuring some of the most obscure grapes to ever grace Israel! The 9 varieties planted are Carignan, Cinsault, Grenache, Mourvèdre and Syrah for the reds and Clairette, Grenache Blanc, Marsanne and Roussanne for the whites. Carignan is nothing new in Israel, I just posted an article about Carignan wines from Israel. Cinsault is not one I know of in Israel, or anywhere else in the kosher wine world. Grenache is slowly making its way around the country and has been in Israel for some time now. Same with Mourvedre and Syrah of course. Clairette and Grenache Blanc are new to Israel, though Vitkin also has Grenache Blanc. While Marsanne and Roussanne are in the Golan and other places as well. Read the rest of this entry
Capsouto Winery – Israel’s only all-in kosher Rhone Ranger
PLEASE NOTE: The 2015 vintage was actually not kosher in the end – so please do not consume. The issue was not with the winemaking but rather with Israel’s many issues surrounding grapes and when/how they can be picked.
I wrote last year about Capsouto Winery, and I really enjoyed them. This year, the 2015 vintage is nice, but overall, I think the 2015 vintage caught up to them. The 2015 vintage is a Shmita vintage, and as such some do not drink it, but being that the wine was made through Heter mechira, it makes it easier – especially if you are a Sephardic Jew, but as always ask you local area Rabbi.
I was sent the newest wines from the winery along with two of last years reds. Like last year, I have yet to interview Mr. Capsouto personally (though I did talk with him at Sommelier this year briefly), but there are many good articles out there and I recommend that you read them all – as each has a nugget of information that the other lacks. The first is the oldest of the articles that I enjoyed – maybe the first one written, when the vines were planted. The next one is an article written by the ever wonderful Dorothy Gaiter, written in the Grape Collective. Next you have the in-depth article by Haaretz – with really good insights. Finally, there is the best article, IMHO, from one of the better kosher wine writers today; Adam Montefiore.
Through all the articles – you get a common story of Jacques Capsouto, an immigrant from Egypt, who built Capsouto Frères with his family, a classic French restaurant in Tribeca – before anyone cared about Tribeca! Throughout the entire journey of Capsouto Freres, he showed his never-ending passion, and drive, but sadly it ended in sorrow after the effects of terrorism and natural disasters destroyed almost half a lifetime of sweat and tears. To me though, there is another story in there, one of love for Israel, wine, and a deep understanding that Rhone varietals has its place in the Galilee!
Rhone Rangers
The Rhone Rangers are a group of California winemakers who in the 80s started an association to promote Rhone varietals in California. They have single-handedly pushed Rhone Valley varietals into the wine buyer’s subconscious. In 2011, Mr. Capsouto planted a subset of the 22 official varietals (9 in total) that make up the Rhone Rangers list of promoted grapes. In doing so, he became Israel’s first and ONLY truly 100% Rhone varietal winery, in other words Jacques is all-in on the Rhone Valley in the Galilee!
Look around Israel for those betting on the Rhone varietals, there is of course Netofa Winery (who planted Rhone and Loire Valley grapes), Recanati Winery (which has access to Bordeaux grapes for the reserve series and Rhone grapes for their Mediterranean Series), Kishor Winery, and Vitkin Winery. Still, no one has staked 1.7 million dollars to start a boutique winery in the Galilee, featuring some of the most obscure grapes to ever grace Israel! The 9 varieties planted are Carignan, Cinsault, Grenache, Mourvèdre and Syrah for the reds and Clairette, Grenache Blanc, Marsanne and Roussanne for the whites. Carignan is nothing new in Israel, I just posted an article about Carignan wines from Israel. Cinsault is not one I know of in Israel, or anywhere else in the kosher wine world. Grenache is slowly making its way around the country and has been in Israel for some time now. Same with Mourvedre and Syrah of course. Clairette and Grenache Blanc are new to Israel, though Vitkin also has Grenache Blanc. While Marsanne and Roussanne are in the Golan and other places as well.
Still, no one has bet the farm on Rhone varietals – NO ONE! Everyone has hedged with either Bordeaux or in the case of Netofa, Loire Valley’s Chenin Blanc. Netofa is the closest to Capsouto in their brazenness and chutzpah and BRAVO for them both!! Here are two gentlemen, Messrs Capsouto and Miodownick who have built lives in separate worlds but who have chosen their next project to plant Rhone grapes in the north – very interesting! Read the rest of this entry
Jacques Capsouto Vignobles Cotes de Galilee Village – kosher wines
As I have been lamenting recently, there really is no way to get kosher wines from small producers that are imported by anyone other than Royal Wines, on the West Coast. One of the best examples of that is the brand new Jacques Capsouto wines that appeared in 2015 on the east coast – imported to the USA from Israel by: Road House Wine – a small but respected wine importer out of New York, of course!
People who read this blog have a few choice words for it, the most common complaint – that it is too long. Well this post will be far shorter – I promise you that. I had the opportunity to taste the two wines and the notes will be found below. However, I did not have the chance to talk or interview the man for this post – Jacques Capsouto, but the story is wonderful, and I could never do it honor as the esteemed and true Israeli Wine promoter could – Adam Montefiore. So please read his article on Jacques Capsouto – it is beautiful, as they all are, and very compelling indeed!
My personal take on Mr. Capsouto is that he is DEAD on with what will work in Israel and what may get by in Israel, grape wise. The Rhone Valley, Spain, and Portugal varietals should be the template for most wineries going forward. Fo this man to create a winery based solely on Rhone varietals is genius and one that I am sure will continue to reap rewards for him going forward.
I hope to meet with the man and visit the winery the next time I am in Israel, till then I hope you work as hard as I did to find these wines and enjoy them for what they are – first-rate product from a new wine producer, who is deeply passionate about his love for Israel and his love for Israeli wine! Also any person who can say these words and put his money behind it – IS MY KIND of man!!! Capsouto is convinced that Israel is a Mediterranean country and as such should plant Mediterranean grape varieties. He also believes Israel should make blends in the Southern Rhone style, “less fruit forward and less like California”. All I can say is AMEN!!!!!
Sadly, I never tasted the 2014 rose till it sold out in NYC. The next rose will be from 2015 Shmitta, which I do not drink. Also, the reserve wine is not yet released – look for it in the spring of this year. As I hope you read Adam’s article, Eva is used in honor of Jacques’ mother, Samuel is used in honor of his grandfather and brother, while Marco is for his father (the unreleased reserve red wine), and Albert is named after his younger brother who passed away for the other unreleased white reserve wine.
Another side note – that I think many will see and one that I will surely ask him when I meet him in the future, is that this direction follows another winery we all love – Netofa Winery. The varietals are all Rhone in style, the unoaked whites and rose are released early, followed by the unoaked reds 6 months later. Then the reserve white and red, both oaked, are released a year later. This is not particular in any way to Pierre and Netofa Winery, this is the classic release cycle of almost all wineries in the Rhone. Just interesting to see two men building an entire wineries off Rhone varietals and whose styles are very close in nature – but we will have to taste the reserve wines in the future to see how close they hew to each other’s styles.
In closing – I was really impressed by what he has created in his first year, the white wine is insanely good, both quality and cost wise. The red wine is nice, but a bit too floral for me. Still, the ability to take a fair amount of capital and plant it into the ground in the Galilee – with varietals that he believes will work, while almost none of it exists there – is very gutsy! I am not sure of this – but I wonder if he was the first to ever plant Clairette, Grenache Blanc, and Counoise in the Galilee!! There is not much Grenache up there either, with Roussanne and Marsanne having been planted already. Bravo to Mr. Capsouto, may you have more successes in the coming years!
My wine notes follow below for the white and red:
2014 Jacques Capsouto Vignobles, Cotes de Galilee Village, Cuvee Eva Blanc – Score: A- (and more) (MAD QPR)
This is the second kosher wine that I know of that is made mostly to all with Grenache Blanc, the other one being the epic Hajdu Grenache Blanc, but double or more the price!
That said, this is one of the best whites coming out of Israel, and that is a VERY long list, given the new trends there. This blend is very unique and clearly the only one that I know of with Clairette, the other grapes have been part of Recanati wines, along with Shirah, Hajdu, and others. Still, by itself – it is one of the most unique and complex blends in the kosher world – hands down!
The blend is 60% Grenache Blanc, 19% Roussanne, 14% Clairette and 7% Marsanne. These are all grapes that have been taken up by the Rhone Rangers, as they are all Rhone varietals (though some of those grapes grow elsewhere in France as well).
This wine needs air, please do not pop it and drink it, you will regret it. It does not need to be decanted, that is absurd, but please open it two hours in advance and you will enjoy it far more, IMHO. The nose on this lovely wine is redolent with straw, floral notes, orange blossom, citrus, and earth. The mouth on this light to medium bodied wine is fresh, spirited, and live, with nice acid, great mineral, slate, along with green apple, peach, apricot, pear, nectarine, all very restrained if I must, really shocking for an Israeli wine, along with spice, herb, and lovely nutty qualities. The finish is long and salty, with lovely saline, olives, great orange pith, and more refreshing aspects. This is a shocking wine for Israel a crazy QPR and a very unique blend! BRAVO!!!
2014 Jacques Capsouto Vignobles, Cotes de Galilee Village, Cuvee Samuel Rouge – Score: B to B+
After tasting the very nice (solid QPR) Capsouto Blanc, I had hopes for this next wine, another unique blend for Israel. This wine is unoaked and a blend of 40% Mourvedre, 31% Grenache, 31% Counoise, and 3% Syrah. Wait what??? Yep there are clearly Grenache and Counoise vines in Israel! Like WHAT!!! I had never heard of Counoise until I tasted this wine, and that alone is a sure-fire buy for most people who see this wine because most have never had a wine with that varietal in it, if you drink kosher or NOT! The first two varietals are classically termed GM (Grenache Mourvedre blend), the Syrah three-some is called a GMS. But the GMCS is a new one for me in the kosher wine world!
That said, the other varietals are almost common to us Cali lovers, but still other than Syrah – the other varietals are not exactly commonplace like an internet Kardashian-sighting! So, I had high hopes times two. At first this wine opens to floral mouth that is overpowering, but with time that relaxes and becomes a very nice wine indeed.
The nose on this wine is lovely and one of its clear winners with rich blueberry, boysenberry, rich floral notes, root beer, dirt, and nice roasted animal that I love and commonly associate with Cali GM and classic Australian Shiraz. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is very nice with ripping acid, nice raspberry, plum, blue fruit, floral notes, followed by very nice mouth coating tannin, coffee, and good sweet herb. The finish is long and blue with more floral notes, boysenberry, rose hips, rose water, and tannin, tobacco, and sweet herbs. Very impressive first release and while I would take the Netofa Red side by side with this lovely wine, this is still an impressive wine – VERY NICE!
Wine Musings Blog 