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More simple white, red, and rose Kosher wines, with some mid-range reds – with more WINNERS
As I close out the QPR posts for each of the wine categories, I forgot a few of the simple white wines – so here is a post of them. Please look at the past simple white wines post for more on QPR and the simple white wine category. Again, QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) is where kosher wine needs to go. QPR means well-priced wines. Still, people do not get QPR. To me, QPR WINNER is what I describe and explain here. The overall revised QPR methodology is described here (and linked from the WINNER post as well).
One more reminder, “Simple” white wines is a wine that will not age more than seven or so years. So, please no hate mail! There are many WINNERS here, enjoy! I also threw in a few roses with one WINNER, but it is a 2019 Rose, and 2020 roses are about to be released, so drink up those 2019 roses already. I also tasted a few reds, with the 2017 Les Lauriers de Rothschild getting a slightly higher score.
The clear WINNER of this tasting is the 2019 Chateau Lacaussade, Vieilles Vignes, Saint-Martin. That along with the 2018 Koenig Riesling, which I like more now than I did a year ago. Also, the 2017 Les Lauriers de Rothschild. The 2017 Les Lauriers de Rothschild, Montagne Saint-Emilion was a winner in my previous post, I just slightly raised the score on it.
The wine note follows below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
ROSE Wines (DRINK them now – if you must)
2019 Rubis Roc Rose – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is a blend of 50% Cinsault and 50% Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a weighty and food-required style rose than a refreshing rose. The nose of this wine is fresh and alive, with meaty notes, showing red and blue fruit notes, with nice citrus, with good attack and herbs. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is solid, a drop less acid than I would like, but still very good with hot peppers, green notes, blue fruit, raspberry, dried lime/lemon, with mineral, and nice spice. The finish is long, green, and enjoyable, with good structure and nice minerality, nice! Drink now. (tasted Oct 2020)
2019 Yaacov Oryah Pretty as the Moon Rose– Score: 89+ (QPR: POOR)
This rose is a blend of 45% Syrah, 40% Grenache, and 15% Petite Sirah. The nose on this wine is divine – a lovely nose of floral violet, loads of rosehip, followed by a bit of nice funk, dried and tart cranberry, along with loads of mineral, this smells like what I want from a Provence wine, with dried/tart red fruit, a bit of reductive oxidation, and green notes as well. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is nice but the acidity is where the wine fails, it has acidity, but the wine’s profile, which has nice fruity and refreshing characteristics lacks the punch of bright acidity to bring it all together, still, showing mineral, and lovely red fruit, with tart strawberry, lovely green/tart apple, quince, watermelon, hints of passion fruit, and loads of mineral. The finish is long, complex enough, with slate, graphite, more flowers, and lovely freshness, WOW! Bravo! Drink now! (tasted Oct 2020)
Tasting of Royal Wine’s 2018 and some 2019 French wines in California
Well, it is official, 2020 continues to take, and though my annoyances are minor in comparison to the pain others are feeling, it still has impacted my routine, which I guess is the story of 2020. For the past three years, I have been tasting Royal’s latest wines with the man in France for Royal, Menahem Israelievitch. Sadly, this year, no matter how much I planned and tried, it is a no go. So, for the first time, in a long time, the tasting will be here in Cali and it will only be a small part of the 2018 and 2019 wines, such is life.
So, no there will not be a picture with all the wines, and some of the wines from last year are still not here right now! But, I will post here what I did taste so far, and my overall feeling of the 2018 and 2019 vintages.
In a previous post about the most recent French wines (at that time in 2017) that were arriving on the market – I already spoke about pricing and supply, so there is no need to talk that over again in this post.
While the 2015 and 2016 vintages were ripe, and the 2017 vintage was not ripe at all, the 2018 vintage makes the 2015 ripeness look tame! Now that is a very broad-stroke statement that cannot be used uniformly, but for the most part, go with it!
I see no reason to repeat what Decanter did – so please read this and I will repeat a few highlights below.
For a start, the drought came later in 2018,’ says Marchal, pointing out that early July saw less rain in 2016. ‘But when it came in 2018, it was more abrupt, with the green growth stopping across the whole region at pretty much the same time’. He sees it closer to 2009, but with more density to the fruit. … and high alcohols!
Alcohols will be highest on cooler soils that needed a long time to ripen, so the Côtes, the Satellites, and the cooler parts of St-Emilion have alcohols at 14.5-15%abv and more. I heard of one Cabernet Franc coming in at 16.5%abv, but that is an exception. In earlier-ripening areas, such as Pessac-Léognan and Pomerol, alcohols are likely to be more balanced at 13.5% or 14%abv, as they will have reached full phenolic ripeness earlier.
‘Pessac-Léognan did the best perhaps because it’s an early ripening site,’ said Marie-Laurence Porte of Enosens, ‘so they were able to get grapes in before over-concentration. If you had to wait for phenolic ripeness, that is where things could get difficult’.
The final averages per grape, according to Fabien Faget of Enosens, are Sauvignon Blanc 13.5%abv, Sémillon 12.5%abv, Merlot 14.5%abv, and Cabernet Sauvignon 14%abv’.
The Mevushal push, from Royal wines, is continuing for the USA labels, a fact I wonder about more and more. Look, if you are going to force Mevushal wine down our throats, why not import BOTH? If you look at the numbers for wines like we will taste in the post, the majority of the buyers are not restaurants or caterers. Sorry! No matter how much Royal Wines wants to fool itself into thinking. Throw in COVID and FORGET about this INSANITY, please! I beg of you!
There is no denying that it affects the wine, it does. I have tasted the Chateau Le Crock side by side, the Mevushal, and non-Mevushal and while I feel that Royal does a good job with the boiling, it is still affected. If you want to have Mevushal wines in the USA, then bring them BOTH in! Royal does this for Capcanes Peraj Petita and the undrinkable Edom and others in Israel. So what Royal is saying is – that could not sell the Chateau Le Crock numbers that they import into the USA without boiling it? Why else would they feel forced to boil it and import it if not otherwise? To me, it makes me sad, and in a way, it disrespects what Royal is trying to do to its French wine portfolio, IMHO. They should, at minimum, import both! Allow for the caterers and restaurants (like anyone needs that nowadays – HUH???) to have the Mevushal version and sell the non-mevushal version to us, as you do with Edom and Petita. There I have stated my peace, I am 100% sure I will be ignored – but I have tried!
The Mevushal wines from France for the 2018/2019 vintage will be, the 2018 Barons Edmond et Benjamin de Rothschild, Haut-Medoc, 2018 Chateau Greysac, 2018 Chateau Chateau de Parsac, 2018 Les Lauriers, Des Domaines Edmond de Rothschild, 2018 Chateau Le Crock, 2019 Chateau Les Riganes, Red, 2018 Chateau Genlaire, along with the whites wines, the 2019 Bourgogne Les Truffieres, Chardonnay, the 2019 Les Marronniers, Chablis, and the 2019 Chateau Les Riganes, Blanc.
Now does mevushal impede the long-term viability of aging in regards to the wine? Well, that too is not something that we have scientific proof of. I have tasted a mevushal 1999 Herzog Special Edition and it was aging beautifully! So, would I buy the mevushal versions of the wines I tasted below – yes! Would I age them? Yes, I would hold them for slightly fewer years.
Other than the mevushal aspect, there are no differences between the European version of the wines and the USA version of the wines. While that sounds obvious, I am just stating it here. The wines will be shipped now and the temperature issues that affected Israel’s wines of old, have not been a factor here.
The “other” wines not here yet or I have not had
There is the just-released 2018 Château Cantenac Brown Margaux (will post that when I get it), along with these yet unreleased wines. The 2019 Chateau Gazin Blanc (2018 was/is INCREDIBLE), 2018 Chateau Fourcas Dupre, 2018 Château Meyney Saint Estèphe, 2018 Chateau Giscours, 2018 Chateau Lascombes, 2018 Chatyeau Tertre, and 2018 Chateau Royaumont.
I understand this is a sub-optimal situation and blog post. It does not cover Royal’s 2018/2019 European wine portfolio. Still, it covers what has been released (or very close to it), here in the USA, and hopefully, it will help you. One day soon, I hope and pray, things will return to some semblance of normalcy, and we will all travel around again. Until then, this is the best I can do. Stay safe!
Final comments, disclaimer, and warnings
First, there are a TON of QPR winners but there are also a LOT of good wines that I will be buying. Please NOTE vintages. The 20016 Haut Condissas is a disaster while the 2017 vintage is fantastic! So, please be careful!
These wines are widely available in the USA, so support your local wine stores folks – they need your help! If you live in a wine-drinking desert, like California, support the online/shipping folks on the side of this blog. They are folks I buy from (as always – I NEVER get a bonus/kickback for your purchases – NOT MY STYLE)!
Sadly, there was no plane trip, no hotels, no restaurants, nothing. So, no trip to talk about – just the wines and my lovely home! Stay safe all and here are the wines I have had so far. I have also posted many scores of 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 wines which are still for sale here in the USA. My many thanks to Royal Wine for their help in procuring some of these wines. The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here:
The first Rose QPR WINNER, along with two other QPR Winners, and even more roses and whites from 2019, and a few Sparkling wines as well!
Sorry, it has been so long before I have posted here, but I am back and lets start with a few good wines and well, the rest of the 2019 wines white and rose wines that I could find.
QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) is the non-qualitative score I have been giving to wines recently. In my last update to QPR, a week after I posted the QPR revised methodology, I defined the QPR score of WINNER. A QPR score of WINNER is defined as a wine that scores a qualitative score of 91 or more, a score I define as a wine I would buy happily while also being a wine that is cheaper than the respective median wine category.
This week we have a mix of 27 wines 10 whites and 14 roses, and 3 Sparkling wines. One of the whites I have already posted about, a winner of the QPR GREAT score, the 2018 Domaine Netofa, White. The wine is a bit hit and miss and I wanted to update folks about it.
However, the absolute clear QPR WINNER of this week’s post is the FIRST 2019 Rose that gains the QPR WINNER title! Bravo!!! The wine is the 2019 Carmel Rose, Appellation. There were two other Sauvignon Blanc WINNERS, the 2019 Goose Bay Sauvignon Blanc (being released soon), and the 2019 Hagafen Sauvignon Blanc (Just released). 2019 white wine WINNERS are ALL Sauvignon Blanc and I am stocked!
The 2019 Teperberg Rose, Essence is another wine that got close to WINNER status, yet sadly, it did not, as the price is too high. This is a wine that should sell for less, like so many others from Isarel, yet that is just not the case.
The 2019 Herzog Rose, Pinot Noir, Tasting Room Reserve was a lovely wine for me. The weight and the acidity and the refreshingness of it really made it quite a fun wine indeed!
I continue to stand by my opinion that 2019 is one of the very WORST vintages for white and rose wines in the last 10 years for Israeli wines. I continue to dream of the 2013/2014 vintage for Israeli whites. Some of the very best Israeli whites came from the 2013/2014 vintages. Yes, I have not had as many of the 2019 whites and roses from Israel, as I would normally have had by now, sadly, the current circumstances do not let me do that. There are many roses still in France and Israel that I have not had, but of the ones I have had from Israel so far, I am fine with my statement.
Roses have continued to disappoint. We finally have a QPR WINNER for Rose, from Israel, but the vast majority of them this year have been an absolute letdown. There are now 8 QPR winners in whites (plus two in this post, and one from this post), it is clear as day to me that white wines are the way to go this summer.
Probably the saddest and maybe controversial wine note in this post is my score of the 2019 Chateau Les Riganes Blanc. What can I say, I did not love the wine. I LOVED the 2018 vintage! That wine had it all! The 2019 is just not as good and that is life sadly. I was really hoping for a repeat, like the 2019 Goose Bay Sauvignon did.
Finally, Royal has just released THREE newly disgorged Drappier Champagne! In this post I give you the score – it is AWESOME, I hope to taste the other two soon!
The wine note follows below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
2019 Hajdu Rose – Score: 90+ (QPR: EVEN)
The 2019 Rose market has been so weak, it is nice to see Jonathan Hajdu and the Shirah brothers picking up the slack with their 2019 Roses, even if the QPR score is not as good as I would have wished for.
The nose on this wine is classic Cali rose notes, bright, sweet, ripe, yet well-balanced notes of blueberry, yes blue fruit, followed, by pomegranate, with raspberry, and sweet plum notes, this sounds riper/sweeter than I like, but it is more tart fruit than it is ripe fruit. The mouth on this medium-bodied plus rose is really fun, truly tart, refreshing, with great acidity, along with balanced sweet fruit, of blue fruit, tart strawberry, raspberry, grapefruit, sweet/tart collage of nice plum, strawberry, sweet and tart strawberry, and really tart red peach. The finish is long, sweet, tart, with nice mineral, body, freshness, and refreshing qualities that are truly a lovely summer wine – Bravo!
2019 Shirah Rose – Score: 90 (QPR: GOOD)
This is a nice wine, and with my new QPR scoring even though it is more expensive than the median price for rose wine, it garner’s a quality score that is in the 2nd quintile, so the math says the QPR score is GOOD.
This rose is a blend of Grenache, Nebbiolo, Cabernet Franc, and Aglianico, using the Saignee method. The nose on this wine shows nice notes of peach, sweet and juicy strawberries and creme, along with cranberry, cotton candy, and vanilla, with a touch of heat, and rhubarb. The mouth on this light to medium-bodied wine is well balanced, with good enough acidity, showing little in complexity, but this is not a pure fruit bomb, it has acidity and pith to bring the wine around, with sweet notes of grapefruit and pomelo, with hints of orange, sweet orange pith, and flint. Drink now.
2019 Teperberg Rose, Essence – Score: 91 (QPR: GOOD)
This is a nice wine, and with my new QPR scoring even though it is more expensive than the median price for rose wine, it garner’s a quality score that is in the 2nd quintile, so the math says the QPR score is GOOD.
This is the best of the three roses with Grenache and Barbera. This wine is a blend of 45% Grenache Noir, 35% Mourvedre, and 20% Barbera. The nose on this wine is fruity, it has clear sweet notes of candied strawberry, and lychee, with bright melon, gooseberry, and passion fruit, with hints of white flowers. The mouth on this wine is a REAl winner, lovely acidity, the acid hits you like a ton of bricks up front, though the finish, at this point, is a bit shallow, with clear and lovely notes of strawberries, rhubarb, loads of gooseberry, pink grapefruit, and lovely overall refreshing mouthfeel and a bright and easy-going freshness that has enough complexity for me to make this the best Israeli rose by far, that I have tasted this year. With time, the finish fills out and then you get lovely rocks, slate, saline, and more tart and bright red fruit, with flowers, and crazy lemon/lime lifesavers lingering long on the bright and floral finish. BRAVO!!!
2019 Five Stones Rose, D vs G – Score: 86 (QPR: BAD)
This is a wine that is just good enough, but with my new QPR scoring it is one quintile more expensive than the median rose price and it is not as good as the median score so that is why this wine gets a BAD on the QPR score.
The nose on this wine is fruity, too fruity for me, the fruit needs to be there, but when it is so obvious it feels like overkill, The wine is a blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. While I liked the 2019 white D vs G, the rose is not interesting to me.The nose on this wine is fruity, showing clear sweet notes of candied plum, red fruit, and too much heat for me, at 13% ABV. The mouth on this light to medium-bodied wine is flat, not showing a lot, really lacking, there is a nice hit of acidity, but then it falls apart in the middle and disappears at the finish. The mouth is just acid and crazy fruity fruit, with candied and overly ripe strawberry, grapefruit, and melon, bummer. There is some refreshing notes if you like fruity wines to this extent. Drink now!
2019 Herzog Rose, Pinot Noir, Tasting Room Reserve – Score: 91 (QPR: GOOD)
This is truly a lovely wine but it is a bit more expensive than the Median. With my new QPR scoring, it is one quintile higher in price than the Median, however, it scores in the 2nd quintile, so that makes it a GOOD QPR score.
I have liked this version of their rose lineup for a long time now, yes it has oak, and yes it is a fuller-bodied wine, but it is also very enjoyable!The nose on this wine is classical in its rose styling, with lovely dark strawberry notes, with lovely red fruit, and peach, with citrus, and sweet cedar. The mouth on this full-bodied rose, yes I wrote that is actually quite fun, the acidity is lovely, maybe their best acid showing in this wine so far, with crazy Kirche cherry, tart grapefruit, plum, and sweet notes of cedar, followed by saline, gooseberry acidity, and very tart pomegranate. The mouthfeel is tart, juicy, with great weight, but yes so very refreshing! The finish is long, tart, with lovely acidity, with sweet watermelon, hints of candied fruit, but really impressive precision with the acidity and refreshingness. Bravo!!! Drink now.
2019 Chateau Sainte Marguerite Rose – Score: 87 (QPR: POOR)
Sadly, this wine is right on the Median line for quality and it is more expensive than the median price, so this lands it as a POOR QPR wine.
Lovely nose with classic leanings for a Provence rose, showing lovely mineral, rosehip, citrus, gooseberry, classic ripe and juicy strawberry, and red fruit, but I am shocked by the ripeness/sweetness of the fruit on the nose and mouth. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is ripe, and while there is a load of pith, it lacks the acidity to make this work, it has crazy pith and hints of tannin, the mouth shows sweet peach, apricot, guava, and strawberry, with lemon, and yet more pith. That is about it, mineral-wise it is loaded, but the lack of acid is really surprising, IMHO. In regards to my refreshing scale, this one is low, now acidity and the pith is more aggressive than it is balancing. Drink now.
2019 Carmel Rose, Appellation – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is in the 2nd quintile of quality scoring and it is RIGHT on the median price line, so this wine SHOULD get a score of GREAT for QPR. However, it is ALSO the ONLY rose from the 2019 vintage, so far, that scored at least a 91, and that has a price that is at or below the median price line, so this wine gets the coveted score of WINNER for QPR. Bravo!!!
This wine is a blend of 65% Marselan and 35% Grenache. The nose on this wine is really fun, truly Provence in style, with loads of mineral, red forest berry, yellow flower, rosehip, citrus galore, and passion fruit. This is a fun and funky wine, I like how the Israeli Rhone varietals, used ina rose style wine, get funky in the right ways, with a lovely core of screaming acid, followed by luscious and tart strawberry, raspberry, currants, loads of rosehip, floral notes, with mineral, dirt, and crazy fun and refreshing acidity, it may well be the best rose from Israel. The finish is crazy long, refreshing, with saline, slate galore, and pith to round out the attack. On the refreshing scale, this one is off the charts, showing the best so far maybe for 2019! Bravo!!! Drink Now
2019 Binyamina Rose, Grenache Barbera, Reserve – Score: 75 (QPR: NA)
This wine is a blend of 90% Grenache and 10% Barbera. Let us start off by the fact that those two varietals do not belong together, at least not by any territory. In regards to this rose, it is up for debate. The nose on this wine is funky, and no, not like the funky aromas, I mean the aromas are all over the place, with sweet fruit, yet tart, with dark aromas, and also peach-like aromas, there is no clear approach of style here. Like I said, up for debate.
The nose on this wine is sweet, almost like it has some RS, with peach and apricot notes, followed by raspberry, and very ripe and maybe too-ripe strawberry, with floral notes, and almost a peach perfume. Ok, this mouth is not for me, sorry, the nose is maybe debatable, but this is really unbalanced, and the RS is really off-putting, throw on the oak, and goodbye. The mouth on this wine is unbalanced, it is really all over the place like a kindergarten kid hopped up on adrenaline and Adderall. Sure there is some fruit, loads of RS, and much of the nose’s fruit, along with Pineapple, and guava, essentially, not a wine for me, though the acid is OK. Drink now.
2019 Yatir Rose, Judean Hills – Score: 84 (QPR: BAD)
This is a wine that is honestly not even good enough, so with my new QPR scoring it is one quintile more expensive than the median rose price and it is not as good as the median score so that is why this wine gets a BAD on the QPR score.
This wine is a blend of 53% tempranillo and 47% Mourvedre. This wine does not work for me, sorry, first it has sweet, I mean really sweet notes, even if it comes in at 12.5% ABV, this wine is ripe! The nose on this wine is ripe, with over the top and fruit-forward notes of blackberry, raspberry, and mulberry, with nice floral notes. The mouth is OK with the acid, but right after the acid front, the mouth behind it is sweet, unbalanced, with currant, mulberry, and black fruit, that is really not put together. The finish is ripe and it does not work. Drink Now.
2019 1848 Rose, 2nd Generation – Score: 78 (QPR: NA)
This is the 2nd blend of Grenache and Barbera of the tasting and the third from Israel, with the lovely Tepperberg also using that blend. This one is a blend of 85% Grenach and 15% Barbera.The nose on this wine is far more put together than the Binyamina but not nearly as good as the Teperberg. The nose shows notes of mineral, red forest berry, and floral notes, the noes is less expressive than I would have liked. The mouth though is highly expressive and once again, this blend reminds me of a hopped kindergarten child, it is a mess. It has more acidity than the Binyamina and a bit of funk, the acid is really intense, but wow, this is all over the place and no, it is not refreshing. It is a hard pass.
2019 Pacifica Rose – Score: 89 (QPR: GREAT)
This is a nice enough wine, but with my new QPR scoring it is still is not as expensive as the median and its score is also above the median, so it is a GREAT QPR, though not a wine I would run after. Still, for the heady prices of rose today, this is a solid buy if you like this kind of wine.
This may well be the highest scoring off-dry rose I have ever scored. The nose on this wine is sweet and IMHO it is the PERFECT sleeper agent rose to get people to like roses, it is super bright, well balanced, and respectful to both sides of the fence here.
The nose on this wine is ripe, and sweet, with nice pineapple, guava, and red fruit, followed by tart gooseberry, and lovely floral notes. The mouthfeel on this medium to full-bodied wine is lifted by the RS and sweetness, but it has crazy good acidity and the fruit and winemaking style respects the concept of rose, with lovely sweetness, followed by much of the fruit in the nose, along with crazy pineapple again, passion fruit, and intense grapefruit, and pith. The finish is long, sweet, and well done with sweet pomelo, and its citrus pith lingering long. Nice!
2019 Tulip White Franc – Score: 75 (QPR: NA)
I know, this is not an official rose, I get it, blanc de noir, I get it, but it looks rose, so in the rose list it goes, but sadly, rose or white, this wine misses the mark. Look at the 2019 Pacifica, which is off-dry but hits the mark well. This one is semi-sweet/off-dry, who cares, it is just off.
This wine is a blend of 60% Cabernet Franc and 40% Sauvignon Blanc. This wine tastes like they tried to pair sweet Cabernet Franc fruit with dry Sauvignon Blanc fruit, and for me, it is once again a crazed kindergarten child running all over the place. No focus and no approach. The nose on this wine shows intense fruity and sweet aromas with pineapple, guava, and gooseberry in the background, followed by flint, and pear. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is indeed all over, with sweet and tart fruit trying to meld together, but all I get is the sweet pear and apple with the pineapple fighting horribly with tart gooseberry and apple. Sorry, this one does not work.
2019 Dalton Rose, Alma Coral – Score: 86 (QPR: EVEN)
This wine is below the Median line for quality and it is below the median price, so this lands an EVEN QPR score.
The nose on this wine is nice enough with red and white fruit, showing some citrus, with floral notes, and hay. The mouth on this wine is boring, with no acid, a little fruit, and some mineral. Bummer. Drink now.
2019 Jerusalem Hills Rose – Score: NA (Mevushal) (QPR: NA)
This wine is a rose from Cabernet Sauvignon. The nose on this wine is sweet and cooked rosehip, followed by cooked strawberry, sweet cherry, and candied and sweet fruit galore. This wine may win the award for the worst rose from 2019, it is pure evil, there is nothing but cooked cherry compote and residual sugar sweetness. There is some acidity, but the wine is painful.
2019 Hagafen Don Ernesto Beret Rose – Score: 89 (QPR: POOR)
While this wine is nice enough it is two quintiles higher in price than the median and as such even with a quality score higher than the median the price pulls it down to a POOR QPR score.
This wine is a rose of Syrah. The nose on this wine is lovely, showing bright yet ripe fruit, with good strawberry, somewhat dull pear, melon, and jasmine flowers, with compote of rhubarb. The mouth on this medium-bodied rose has a nice weight and enough acidity, but again I wish it had more, with a lovely pith and sweet fruit mouthfeel, that is still refreshing with jasmine, strawberry/raspberry compote, followed by candied grapefruit, and tart melon. The finish is long, sweet, with red fruit, dried flower petals, and rosehip, and sweet red fruit. Nice. Drink Now.
White Wines
2019 Hagafen Sauvignon Blanc – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
It was awesome tasting this side-by-side the 2019 O’Dwyers Creek Sauvignon Blanc – they are REALY close, with the O’Dwyers Creek winning by a nose. This is tropical but so well balanced! Another white wine WINNER for the 2019 vintage!
The nose on this lovely Sauvignon Blanc is crazy tropical and almost over the top, but still well controlled, and really fun, with lovely notes of gooseberry, pineapple, intense and aromatic passion fruit, and lovely smoke/slate, wow, fun! The mouth on this wine is equally enjoyable and refreshing, with nice acidity, wish it had a drop more, with nice fruit of passion fruit, grapefruit, tart melon, and rich saline, with gooseberry, and slate/flint. The finish is long, green with lemongrass, ginger, and overall fun and refreshing approach. Nice!!! Drink now.
2019 Hagafen Riesling, Lake County, Robledo Ranch – Score: 89 (QPR: POOR)
Sadly, this wine is right on the Median line for quality and it is more expensive than the median price, so this lands it as a POOR QPR wine.
The nose on this slightly off-dry Riesling is too young to get those lovely petrol notes. Petrol takes a good year to really evolve in the bottle. The nose on this lovely wine is sweet, but very bright, with bubblegum, watermelon, with tiny hints of mineral and petrol, followed by lovely honeysuckle, lemon, lemongrass, with lovely melon, hints of pineapple, and rich saline. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is screaming for more acidity, but it is still nice, with lovely sweet notes of pineapple, sweet guava, honeysuckle, honeydew melon, and more watermelon in the background, with sweet pomelo, and nice salinity. A nice wine with a good saline/tart citrus finish but a bit simple and uni-dimensional. Drink now until 2023.
2019 Hajdu Vermentino – Score: 90 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose on this wine is fun, it takes a bit to open, but with time, say an hour, the nose is really fun, showing notes of orange, orange blossom, daffodil, with lovely citrus, ginger, and hints of nectarines. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is really fun, with good acidity, showing a slight miss in the mid-palate, that is covered up by the nice acid profile, with a nice almost oily texture, with orange, pink grapefruit, lime, and sweet yellow apple. The finish is long, really tart and green, with lovely acidity, slate, mineral, and more sweet fruit notes. Very nice! A shockingly good balance for a 14.5% ABV white wine!
2018 Goose Bay Chardonnay – Score: 88 (Mevushal) (QPR: POOR)
Sadly, this wine is right on the Median line for price and it has a lower quality score, so this lands it as a POOR QPR wine.
The nose on this wine is clearly showing its oak at this point, with a nice toasty approach, followed by lovely yellow apples, melon, and nice oak spices. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is nice e enough but it is too simple, it has a nice weight, but the overall package is lacking, with a very simple focus, but nice enough, with more apple, quince, creme brulee, and a bit of the creamy notes one gets from oaked Chardonnay. The finish is sadly short, it is hidden behind the nice acidity of this wine, but that is not enough to make up for the short length. Drink by 2021.
2019 Psagot Viognier, M Series – Score: 83 (Mevushal) (QPR: BAD)
This is a wine that is just not good enough, and with my new QPR scoring it is one quintile more expensive than the median price and it is not as good as the median score so that is why this wine gets a BAD on the QPR score.
This wine has real potential, sadly this was cooked and it feels it. The nose on this wine starts off nice, but within a minute of opening the bottle, it has that slightly extra-fruity note that is not from the fruit. The nose on this wine is a nice Viognier, showing really tart and well-controlled peach, apricot, perfumed jasmine, and loads of yellow flowers and honeysuckle. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is nice, excepting for that ripe fruit that sticks out from this lean and sleek profile, with an annoying spike of ripe honeysuckle, followed by peach, apricot, and honeyed and sweet mango, with nice grapefruit, and an overall sweet mouthfeel. The finish is long, green, in a way, yet sweet, with pomelo and citrus, along with apple, slate, and absurd pith on the long finish. Drink now.
2019 Chateau Les Riganes Blanc – Score: 86 (Mevushal) (QPR: EVEN)
This wine is below the Median line for quality and it is below the median price, so this lands an EVEN QPR score.
I was hoping for another home run from this chateau, and sadly this vintage lacks the acid of 2018. The nose on this wine is lovely but closed with orange pith, orange notes, apple, and orange blossom, ginger, with mineral in the background. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is nice but flat, with no acid, what it has instead is a load of pith and mineral, followed by gooseberry, straw, mineral, and more floral notes, with orange, nectarines, and more pith. Drink until 2023.
2019 Goose Bay Sauvignon Blanc – Score: 91 (Mevushal) (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is in the 2nd quintile of quality scoring and it is well below the median price line, so this wine SHOULD get a score of GREAT for QPR. However, it is ALSO the another Sauvignon Blanc from the 2019 vintage that scored at least a 91, and that has a price that is at or below the median price line, so this wine gets the coveted score of WINNER for QPR. TWO years in a row for Goose Bay Sauvignon Blanc! Bravo!!
The nose is closed and does not show the classic creaming notes, right now the notes are subdued but they are present, with time the wine really opens up, with cat pee, gooseberry, straw, grass, mineral, and Asian pear. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine needs a few minutes and with time it shows a far more restrained version but still quite enjoyable, with intense acidity, followed by loads of pith, straw, cut grass, mineral, dirt, and lovely orange, nectarines, citrus, Asian pear, and lemongrass. The finish is long, green, with passion fruit, more gooseberry, and mineral galore, straw, pith, slate, and flint. Bravo! With time the fruit will come out from under the pith and straw haze. Drink until 2023.
2019 Recanati Yasmin, White – Score: 87 (Mevushal) (QPR: EVEN)
This wine is below the Median line for quality and it is below the median price, so this lands an EVEN QPR score.
This wine is a blend of Chardonnay and 40% Sauvignon Blanc. The wine is all over the place with the Chardonnay being so sweet that it takes over and really makes this wine unfun. The mouth and nose are too all over the place. Not fun, but the Sauvignon Blanc is nice and tart with good gooseberry and straw, but the sweet Chardonnay fruit showing apple, pineapple, and nectarines make the wine a bit of a mess. Drink now.
2019 Recanati Sauvignon Blanc – Score: 86 (QPR: EVEN)
This wine is below the Median line for quality and it is below the median price, so this lands an EVEN QPR score.
This wine is overall boring, with no complexity, but it ha enough acid and fruit to make it a bit interesting. The nose is really not interesting, but the mouth has acid, some good fruit of citrus, lemon, orange, and gooseberry, make it a bit interesting. Drink now.
2017 Pascal Bouchard Chablis, Le Classique – Score: 88 (Mevushal) (QPR: BAD)
This is a wine that is good enough, but with my new QPR scoring it is two quintile more expensive than the median price and it is not as good as the median score so that is why this wine gets a BAD on the QPR score.
The nose on this wine is nice enough, showing notes of smoke, green notes, green apple, quince, lemongrass, and pear. The mouth on this light to medium-bodied wine is nice enough, but the fruit is less focussed, though the acid is nice, with orange pith, orange notes, and the mineral of saline and slate, is nice. Drink until 2024.
2018 Domaine Netofa White – Score: 90 to 91 (QPR: GREAT)
I keep trying to figure out this wine and I think I finally understand it – this wine has crazy bottle variation, plain and simple. Some bottles, like the one I am greatly enjoying now, is ROCK solid and an easy 91. Then I can have a bottle that is tropical and lacking all the acidity I love. If you look at the past posts, this is what I have written:
The good version looks like this – it is evolving in a great way, showing even more hay and plum. The nose on this wine shows a lovely nose of straight-up hay, mineral, and fruit, with apple and quince galore, and lovely fruit and blossom. The mouth on this wine is crazy good, with a clear ripe backbone, yet steely tart and bright with crazy saline and herb, with mineral galore, with crazy apple, and rich quince, with an incredible tension between the ripeness and the tart/dry fruit and minerality. The finish is long and green, with slate, more hay, and lovely freshness and minerality! Bravo! Drink by 2021.
The bad version looks like this – at this point, the nose on this wine has moved past the mineral and into pure tropical notes, with apple and quince galore, and lovely fruit and blossom. The mouth on this wine has lost a step, with a clear ripe backbone, and the steely backbone is barely keeping it afloat, nice quince, with what used to be an incredible tension between the ripeness and the tart/dry fruit and minerality. The finish is long and green, with slate, more ripeness than I would desire, and minerality! Drink up!
What can I say, this is hit and miss. When it is a hit the wine is so good, showing great minerality, saline, hay, straw, and yellow plum, with citrus and quince. So, here is wishing you a good one!
Sparkling Wines
NV Drappier Brut Nature – Score: 92 (Mevushal) (QPR: GOOD)
This wine is a Brut nature, and as such, it does not have the added fruit or liquor as other Champagnes have. This shows extremely clearly in the notes. This is a clean, austere, grown-up approach to Champagne while having a downside as well, which is these do NOT last long. This wine has a disgorgement date of June 2020, meaning this wine is crazy fresh. Look at the bottom of the bottle – below one of the labels (back or front) and you will see a date etched into the bottle.
The nose on this wine is EXACTLY that, crazy fresh with lovely green and yellow apple notes, followed by bright citrus, lemongrass, waxy notes, and of course, loads of yeast. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is dry, rich, and super focused, with incredible saline, quince, and yellow grapefruit notes, intense acidity, with loads of graphite, and hints of tannin, with an incredibly focused small bubble mousse, that comes at you in layers and lingers forever. The finish is so long, so tart, with more mineral, dirt, saline, graphite, and quince/apple/citrus lingering long – Bravo!!! Drink until June 2021. You know my feeling about Brut Nature wines, they are NOT for holding, drink them NOW!
2017 Hagafen Rose, Brut – Score: 87 (Mevushal) (QPR: POOR)
The nose on this wine is very inviting with tart cherry, ripe strawberry, with some heat on the nose, loads of rosehip, and rhubarb. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is tart and refreshing but it has no complexity and is uni-dimensional in nature, with tart fruit, rhubarb, fine mousse bubble attack, and nice mineral. The finish is long and fruity, with mineral, hints of tannin, and loads of bubbles and acidity on the long refreshing finish. A very nice quaff. Drink until 2024.
2015 Hagafen Brut Cuvee, Reserve, Prix – Score: 89 (Mevushal) (QPR: POOR)
70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay, late disgorged recently. The nose on this wine has a lovely aroma of baked rhubarb pie, balanced well with citrus, earth, dirt, and lovely smoke, followed by minerals, strawberry, and some oxidized notes. The mouth on this medium-bodied bubbly starts off with a shot of mushroom, oxidized fruit, followed by lovely strawberry, and then some lovely citrus, tart raspberry, baked apple, and pear pie, and some more rhubarb, with a lovely small bubble, nice focus. Nice. The finish is long, tart, green and red, and loaded with smoke and almonds. Drink now.
We have a new white wine QPR WINNER and some other roses
Another week and another batch of white and rose wines to enjoy. The summer is quickly approaching and while we have yet to find a single QPR WINNER in the world of kosher 2019 roses, we have some new entries.
QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) is the non-qualitative score I have been giving to wines recently. In my last update to QPR, a week after I posted the QPR revised methodology, I defined the QPR score of WINNER. A QPR score of WINNER is defined as a wine that scores a qualitative score of 91 or more, a score I define as a wine I would buy happily while also being a wine that is cheaper than the respective median wine category.
This week we have a mix of 7 wines 3 whites and 4 roses. One of the whites I have already posted about, a winner of the QPR GREAT score, the 2018 Koenig Riesling, Alsace. The wine is lovely and well worth the effort to find it and buy it.
However, the absolute clear QPR WINNER of this week’s post is the FIRST 2019 wine that gains the QPR WINNER title! Bravo!!! The wine is the 2019 O’Dwyers Creek Sauvignon Blanc. The 2018 O’Dwyers Creek Sauvignon Blanc was not a wine I liked while the 2017 O’Dwyers Creek Sauvignon Blanc was a solid WINNER, even when we did not have the WINNER QPR category at that time.
NOTE: I state the 2019 O’Dwyers Creek Sauvignon Blanc is the FIRST 2019 WINNER because even though the 2019 Herzog Sauvignon Blanc, Lineage, I listed in my last post, it is not actually available yet.
The 2019 Domaine Netofa Rosado, Latour, is another wine that got close to WINNER status, yet sadly, it did not. A nice wine, but with the price and score it received a solid QPR score of GOOD.
In an interesting twist, the Domaine Netofa Rose, which comes in at 7 dollars below the Latour Rose price, is not as good but given its price is below the Median for rose wines it has a better QPR score. There lies the issue of cost! Either we are going to bend to the needs of higher quality at all costs or we will go with slightly lower quality for less money. Sadly, for 2019 Roses that is LITERALLY our story! There are NO QPR WINNER roses, at least so far, 2019 is one of those years. The rest is a hodgepodge of QPR scores.
I continue to stand by my opinion that 2019 is one of the very WORST vintages for white and rose wines in the last 10 years for Israeli wines. I continue to dream of the 2013/2014 vintage for Israeli whites. Some of the very best Israeli whites came from the 2013/2014 vintages. Yes, I have not had as many of the 2019 whites and roses from Israel, as I would normally have had by now, sadly, the current circumstances do not let me do that. There are many roses still in France and Israel that I have not had, but of the ones I have had from Israel so far, I am fine with my statement.
Roses, so far this year have been an absolute letdown and honestly, without a SINGLE QPR WINNER in roses and 8 QPR winners in whites, it is clear as day to me that white wines are the way to go this summer (and the 19 days from now before that)!
The wine note follows below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
2019 O’dwyers Creek Sauvignon Blanc – Score: 91+ (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is in the 2nd quintile of quality scoring and it is below the median price line, so this wine SHOULD get a score of GREAT for QPR. However, it is ALSO one of the few white wines that score at least a 91, and that has a price that is below the median price line, so this wine gets the coveted score of WINNER for QPR. Bravo!!!
Lovely notes of passion fruit, incredible cat pee, gooseberry, and loads green notes for the cat to pee on, with incredible saline, such a wonderful and classic New Zealand nose. This is a very fruity, yet extremely well-balanced New Zeland Sauvignon Blanc, it is more tropical than the 2018 Goose Bay Sauvignon Blanc, but also more New Zeland – in nature. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is lovely. well balanced, with good acidity, extremely refreshing, with loads of grapefruit, guava, passion fruit, lemon/lime, and lovely loads of crazy tart gooseberry, and incredible slate. The finish is long, green, with lovely salt, intense saline, rock, and more citrus. Bravo! Drink until 2024. Read the rest of this entry
Easy drinking white wines for 2020 – better than I expected
Well, the roses from the 2019 vintage, so far, are not inspiring, and initially, I thought the same for the white wines, thankfully, as I tasted through the last 15 bottles of wines things shifted. There is a reason why I have been pushing Price in relation to its quality, AKA QPR (Quality to Price Relationship).
For this tasting, I tasted more than 70 wines, however, I posted only some 49 wine notes here. Rest assured, the others were either not worthy or I did not have detailed enough notes to make it here on this post.
Interestingly, initially, I had zero hope for the white wines, much as I felt about the roses. However, all of this is data-driven and other than my wines notes, the rest is all prices defined by the USA market. The more, I tasted, the more I felt that there are options in the simple white wine category. I was really ready to give up hope, but thankfully, folks like Shirah, Kos Yeshuos, and other Europen wines really pulled their weight. Sadly, of the top 27 wines, there were a total of 11 from 2019. Of them, only two were from Israel. The rest hailed from California, France, and New Zealand. In the end, so far, the vast majority of the Israeli white wines I have tasted from 2019 are also highly uninspiring.
With that said, the median price for the wine category of non-aging white wines is going up! There lies in my over-arching issue, prices keep going up!! The median price for non-aging white wines, here in the USA, is now 24 dollars! Seriously!! COME ON!! This is crazy! As the kids say, total Cray Cray! Turned around, the total number of wines below the median price of 24 dollars that received a 90 or higher was 12, and many of those are our QPR WINNERS. Overall, 2019 is still a dud in Israel, of those that have made their way to the USA, and Califonia is saving the day, so far.
All the wines here are scored both quantitatively, AKA using my classic wine score described here, and using the newly revised QPR score described here. So, yes, there will be more of the QPR discussion that will arise from this post. Thankfully, we have a good number of wines, 7 from my count, that received the QPR score of WINNER, sadly, they are mostly from 2018. Therefore, I repeat again, I am highly unimpressed with how many 2019 white wines I had and how many are subpar. Please be careful with the ones you buy.
Finally, in order of price, the first of the 7 QPR WINNER wines come in at wine #38, sorted by price! That means there are loads of other wines far less interesting than the 2018 Ramon Cardova Albarino, the most expensive of the 7 WINNER QPR wines. This is the kind of data that makes me scream. This is what needs to change! Wineries are willing to produce wines that are more expensive and less interesting, than more than HALF of the wine I tasted! This is what needs to change, kosher wine has gotten out of control, price-wise.
Do yourself a favor, check the price, you do it for everything else you buy! Check the wine, check the price, and then decide!
The wine note follows below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
2018 Ramon Cardova Albarino, Rias Baixas – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is in the 2nd quintile of quality scoring and it is just below the median price line, so this wine SHOULD get a score of GREAT for QPR. However, it is ALSO one of the few white wines that score at least a 91, and that has a price that is below the median price line, so this wine gets the coveted score of WINNER for QPR. Bravo!!!
The 2018 vintage of this Albarino, in its second vintage, shows less tropical and ripe than the first vintage, 2017. This bottle also had the thermal active label, and it shows up when the bottle is at the proper drinking temperature. My only REAL and serious complaint is the cork, why would Royal waste the money and my money of a real cork? Use a Diam or any other amalgamated cork, like almost everyone else is. I really hope I do not hit a bad cork for the wines I have.
The nose on this wine is better than the 2017 vintage, Lovely nose of rich mineral, with loads of straw, with which salinity, and lovely peach and dry pear, with honeysuckle, gooseberry, along with green notes galore. Lovely! The mouth on this lovely green and acid-driven wine has a more oily mouthfeel than the 2017 vintage, showing rich salinity, green olives, with lovely dry quince, green apples, more peach, green apple, but also with lovely lime and grapefruit, no sense of guava or melon-like on the 2017 vintage, with a tinge of orange notes. The overall mouth is lovely and it comes at you in layers. The finish is long, green, with gooseberry, tart fruit, with an incredible freshness, and orange pith, slate, rock, and incredible acidity lingering long. Incredible!! Bravo!! Drink until 2022.
2018 Hagafen Dry Riesling – Score: 91 (Mevushal) (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is in the 2nd quintile of quality scoring and it is below the Median price line, so this wine gets a GREAT score for QPR. However, it is ALSO one of the few white wines that score at least a 91, and that has a price that is below the median price line, so this wine gets the coveted score of WINNER for QPR. Bravo!!!
The nose on this wine is tropical and sweet fruit-focused, with pineapple, guava, melon, peach, but now THANKFULLY the petrol is in full gear, and it commands your attention, with the tropical fruit still very present, along with some nice mineral. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is fun, tart, nice acidity, with more petrol funk, showing nice balance, with good acidity, still, the mouth is sweet and ripe, the petrol and tart notes help, with green apple, tart grapefruit, tart stone fruit, and slate galore, with waxy notes, and tart pineapple. The finish is long, green, with intense mineral, slate, flint, and lovely petrol that gives way to nice acidity, and hints of tannin. The wine has indeed come around and now petrol is more present and the hole in the middle is gone. Drink until 2024. Read the rest of this entry
Kos Yeshuos Winery’s new U.S. releases for 2020
A couple days ago, Josh Rynderman, “The California Kid“, and Chana, “The Joburg Girl”, came by and we tasted this year’s new wines. As, I stated in last year’s post, doing this dual-hemisphere winemaking is a real drag on life. Besides the crazy flying, you never really feel at home, where is home? I could never find myself living that kind of life, but Josh and Chana both find joy in this life and wine – one underpinned by the art of winemaking and the passion that drives it.
To see more about the story and life of Kos Yeshuos and the Ryndermans, you can read my post here about last year’s wines, and this post about the wines made under ESSA Wine Co.
2019 vintage in Northern California
This vintage Josh tried some brand new varietals for him and honestly, a new varietal for the kosher wine world, from what I know anyway. There is the 2019 Falanghina, which to me is the only kosher wine from that varietal. It is a crazy acid bomb and two days later it is still an acid bomb, though the mouth rounds out well underneath that bed of acidity.
Besides that, the Viognier has returned, but it is an oaked version this time. I am crazy for white wines, and Viognier has been a passion, but the oaked ones, while nice in their oaky peach perfume, lacked what Josh got out of last year’s oak-free Viognier. Who knows, maybe this will come around, but for me, while this wine is absolutely solid, it is a slight step back from last year’s yumminess.
Finally, there are two new oaked wines as well. The blend called The Joburg Girl, which is a nod to Chana, and it is a really fun wine. The oak does not take over and the acidity really shines. The final one is the Pinot Gris, which was macerated for a few days. Now, this is not an Orange wine, though it does show some of the nuttiness and sherry-like notes, far in the background, that you find in the longer macerated wines, like Yaacov Oryah’s masterpieces. For those that fear that kind of wine, I stress, the note is far in the background, and I pick it up having cut my teeth now, on a few years of enjoying Oryahs wines. It is perfectly balanced and one that you will truly enjoy.
If you look at the image below you can see the impact of oak and extended maceration on the wines. The lightest color belongs to the Falanghina, which was unoaked and had little to no maceration. The next one, the Viognier in 2019 had oak aging, while the next two, in degrees, had both oak aging and extended maceration, on account of the Pinot Gris is a large part of The Joburg Girl. It is truly fascinating to see the color progression on such young wines. Read the rest of this entry
My latest round of both new and old winners and some more losers for 2019
After my long hiatus, I am happy to say that this post brings me current to wines I want folks to know about, both good and bad. Thankfully for you, it does not include at least 45 roses, white, and red wines that were so horrible that I see no value in posting their NA scores here.
However, two wines that need warning are the 2017 Chateau Lacaussade Saint-Martin
and any wine from Capcanes Cellars made from 2015 and on, other than the 2015 Capcanes Pinot Noir and the lovely 2015 Capcanes Samso Carignan. To me, this is truly sad Capcanes was a rockstar and a perennial goto and QPR wine, other than there roses. Now, they have soldout to Parker’s view of wine and I cannot fathom for even a second what they gain from this. Their wines sold perfectly well so sales cannot be the reason. Yes, there is a new winemaker, Anna Rovira, who recently won the prestigious female winemaker of the year for the 2019 award from Selection magazine! Congratulations! She replaced the longtime winemaker of Capcanes Angel Teixidó. Sadly, from my perspective, the wines are far riper than they used to be, they also show less acid and less balance. They are wines that I no longer buy, the last Capcanes I bought was from the 2014 vintage. With that said, I hope this shift is a byproduct of some rough years and that the 2017 vintage will return to its old self, one can always hope!
On another aside, please folks – STOP drinking 2017 whites and 2018 roses – they are dead! I have had loads of 2018 roses recently, they are dead or on the way down from jumping off the cliff. Sure, there are whites that are still young from the 2017 vintage, like full-bodied Chardonnays or white Bordeaux, other than Lacussade. Sadly, many of the 2018 whites are on their way down as well. The 2018 Tabor Sauvignon Blanc is already losing its acid and so many others as well. Please be careful, taste before stocking up. The simple whites are like roses, drink them by fall.
On the good news side, the 2017 vintage from Bordeaux is so far so good! The much scorned 2017 vintage from Bordeaux so far is holding up very well. I really liked the 2017 Chateau Mayne Gouyon, which is simple and mevushal, and very tasty. The 2017 Chateau Moulin Riche was lovely, maybe even better than the 2016 vintage. I hear the 2017 Chateau Le Crock and the 2017 Chateau Royaumont are also showing very well, all-around great news for the much pooh-poohed 2017 vintage.
Finally, bravo goes to Herzog Wine Cellars, they continue to impress with their number one grape – Cabernet Sauvignon. They are predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon heavy, which makes sense given the current kosher wine market. When you go to KFWE and other wine events, just listen to people, their number one desire is the best Cabernet Sauvignon on the table or just whatever wine you have that is Cabernet Sauvignon-based. It is both sad and totally hilarious at times. So, sure Herzog goes where the money is. The accolades, at least from me, anyway, is for the raising of the bar and for the sincere effort that they put into making world-class Cabernet Sauvignon wines. Bravo!
I wanted to keep this simple, so the wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here:
2014 Chateau Haut Condissas – Score: 91
This wine is ripe, and really oaky, with nice mineral, green notes galore, but front and center is mounds of dark fruit, sweet oak galore, and lovely garrigue. The mouth is lovely, and rich, with medium-bodied structure, showing with lovely sweet fruit, earth galore, and lovely extraction, that gives way to green notes, layers of sweet but balanced fruit, with blackberry, cassis, dark raspberry, and rich forest floor. The finish is long and mineral-based, with intense tobacco, mineral, pencil shavings, and sweet fruit that gives way to dill, earth, forest floor, mushroom, and sweet oak. Drink from 2023 until 2028
2013 Chateau Grand-Puy Ducasse, Pauillac – Score: 91
To me, the 2013 Moulin Riche and 2013 3 De Valandraud were two of the best wines from the poor 2013 Bordeaux vintage, though this one always held potential.
This wine has evolved now to show even more tertiary notes than when I had this two years ago. The nose on this wine is lovely but still stunted, with clear and lovely notes of mushroom, dirt, and loam, followed by ripe fruit, showing red and black, with floral notes of heather and English lavender, with foliage and sweet notes. The mouth is nice on this medium-bodied wine but it is thinner than the younger 2015 (which is a superstar), with a balanced mouth, showing nice acidity, followed by cherry, raspberry, blackberry, with more foliage and forest floor, lovely garrigue, graphite, sweet tobacco, sweet dill, nice mineral, and mushroom. The finish is long, tart, yet very fruity, with great balance and attack, though showing little complexity, more like a dirty and green/garrigue/foliage and herb-infused fruit-forward wine, with mineral, acidity, and nice mouth-coating tannin bringing it all together. Drink by 2024. Read the rest of this entry
The latest crop of Kosher QPR wines and some losers
It has not been long since I last posted a new list of QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Kosher wines. But I am always looking for more winners, and I am sure some of these will be on the QPR wine list of 2019.
To me, Terra di Seta continues to prove that Italian wines can go mano-a-mano with the rest of the kosher wine world. They continue to excel in delivering QPR wines and they continue to prove that you can create impressive to great wines for less than 40 dollars. I have yet to taste the 2015 Terra di Seta Riserva and sadly I was not a fan of the ALWAYS QPR worthy 2017 Terra di Seta Chianti Classico. The 2017 Elvi Rioja Semi, another perennial QPR winner was not my cup of tea but the 2018 vintage is a ripe wine, Mevushal, but still nice and QPR winner.
Another of those QPR superstars, in the sparkling wine world, is, of course, the Yarden Winery. Gamla is their second label behind the Yarden label, but when it comes to bubbly, the Gamla label is always well accepted. Of course, the stupid spat between Yarden Winery and Royal Wine means that we have a single wine called Gamla in Israel and Gilgal here. Why? Because these two wine businesses cannot make nice long enough to come to their senses and figure out a way to be civil with each other. I am so surprised that this is still going on today. The Gamla label, a wine made by originally by Carmel in Israel for this label in the USA, and now who knows who makes it, either way, it is not a wine worthy of this bickering, but sadly, here we are.
Now, back to the wine, I wrote about the new Gilgal Brut back in January, and the wine has moved beyond its insane acid lemon trip and it is now rounding out a bit, with some added complexity and richness.
Domaine Netofa was always on my QPR list, but sadly that was just for Israel, but thankfully Royal and Kosherwine.com have combined to bring the entire line back to the USA! I hear it is going well so get on these before they disappear!
Now, I also wanted to add a list of losers as people have been asking me what I thought of some of the newer wines and here is my response, so I have a QPR list and a NOT so QPR list.
I wanted to keep this simple, so the wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here:
2017 Domaine Netofa, Red – Score: 91 (QPR Superstar)
This wine is now exclusively imported by Kosherwine.com and I hope they are selling well. This has really stabilized now. It is a bit fruity still, but it also has some nice old-school style and swagger. The nose on this wine is nice and smoky, with great control and roasted animal. The fruit is blue and black and lovely. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is layered and with nice blueberry, blackcurrant, great acid, and great control showing earth, raspberry, root beer, that give way to spice, vanilla, and loads of dirt. The finish is ribbons of mineral, charcoal, graphite and bitter coffee, Solid!! Drink by 2021.
2017 Domaine Netofa Latour, White – Score: 91 to 92 (QPR)
Crazy Oak nose with yellow pear and apple, quince and rich saline with hay and dry herb. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is crazy good, layered, extracted and richly round, but tart, and saline bomb, with lovely tension and rich herb, and lovely sweet spices and sweet Oak. The finish off long, green, with vanilla, herb, and mint, and lemongrass, with tart lemon curd and spices. Drink by 2023.
2017 Domaine Netofa Latour, Red – Score: 91 (QPR)
The 2017 vintage is less austere than 2016, it is more accessible now and will still hold. The nose on this wine is really nice with rich black currant, blackberry, and blue notes that give way to smoke, Oak, toasty notes, and lovely tar. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is super tart and really bright, with great acid, blackberry, blueberry, black currant, with garrigue, sweet but well-balanced note, with mouth-coating elegance and layers of concentrated fruit and earthy notes, with chocolate and sweet spices. The finish is long, bright, tobacco, mineral, pencil shavings, with tar, and root beer. Lovely! Drink now until 2022. (To be released soon I think)
2016 Domaine Netofa Latour, Red – Score: 92 (Crazy QPR)
This wine is a blend of 65% Syrah and 35% Mourvedre. The nose on this wine is lovely, ripe and balanced, with sweet oak, blueberry, boysenberry, with bright fruit, and loads of dirt. This wine is really still very young, showing great potential, with incredible tannin, great acid, rich layers of blue and black fruit with great aging potential, loads of chocolate and rich spice, dark fruit, and herb, all wrapped in a plush yet elegant mouthfeel. The finish is less green than past vintages, showing a more ripe fruit profile, but still clearly balanced, with foliage, tobacco, mint, and sweet spices and herbs. Bravo!! Drink from 2020 till 2024.
2018 Ramon Cardova Albarino, Rias Baixas – Score: 92 (QPR Superstar)
The 2018 vintage of this Albarino, in its second vintage, shows less tropical and ripe than the first vintage, 2017. This bottle also had the thermal active label, and it shows up when the bottle is at the proper drinking temperature. My only REAL and serious complaint is the cork, why would Royal waste the money and my money of a real cork? Use a Diam or any other amalgamated cork, like almost everyone else is. I really hope I do not hit a bad cork for the wines I have.
The nose on this wine is better than the 2017 vintage, Lovely nose of rich mineral, with loads of straw, with which salinity, and lovely peach and dry pear, with honeysuckle, gooseberry, along with green notes galore. Lovely! The mouth on this lovely green and acid-driven wine, has a more oily mouthfeel than the 2017 vintage, showing rich salinity, green olives, with lovely dry quince, green apples, more peach, green apple, but also with lovely lime and grapefruit, no sense of guava or melon-like on the 2017 vintage, with a tinge of orange notes. The overall mouth is lovely and it comes at you in layers. The finish is long, green, with gooseberry, tart fruit, with an incredible freshness, and orange pith, slate, rock, and incredible acidity lingering long. Incredible!! Bravo!! Drink until 2022. Read the rest of this entry
Kos Yeshuos and ESSA Wine Co. creating wines in each Hemisphere
Before the Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) Josh Rynderman from Kos Yeshuos wines and his wife who owns ESSA Wine Co. swung by to taste the new wines from their inaugural vintage from the Southern Hemisphere. Josh and Chana Rynderman are dear friends and as I posted here, we went to their wedding in South Africa.
I have written a couple of times now about Kos Yeshuos and the wines that Josh has made here in Califonia. The wines they brought over were the new 2018 wines from South Africa and the 2018 wines from California.
The two 2018 white wines had changed some from the last official tasting last year, with the Califonia Kid showing incredibly well and the Viognier losing some of its flint madness and turning into a wonderful glass of true peach-driven wine.
The new wines were the red wines that will be made available under the name of ESSA Wine Co. For the 2018 vintage, they made three red wines in South Africa. They are almost all Bordeaux grapes, excepting for the small amount of Cinsault in the red blend. That said, they are not made in the Bordeaux style, these wines are far more New-World in style, but still well controlled and impressive for their first wines from South Africa.
There is no real name yet for the red blend, that is made from Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cinsault. The wine starts off quite austere in style, but that blows off and becomes a truly New-World wine in style. It should be ready in a couple of months and will last for a couple of years. The wine is the ripest of the batch and while I liked the wine it is not built to last. The bigger brother, in terms of style and elegance, is the 2018 Essa Wine Co. Collaborative, a mix of fruit from ESSA Wine Co. and Alex Rubin’s winery, that is unnamed as of this point. It is a beautiful wine that shows just how wonderful New-World wines can be the incredible potential of what can be made in South Africa!
Finally, there is the beast of the group, the 2018 Malbec. This wine is a true beast, ripe but with wonderful acidity to make it all come together. Yes, it is a new-world wine, however, I still enjoyed it much like I enjoy Cali New-world wines. It is ripe, but the blue and black fruit meld together wonderfully, with juicy fruit, acidity, smoke, and loads of animal. A truly enjoyable new-world wine.
Now, before you ask, when will these wines be available here in the USA, I have no idea. This is the issue with posting about wines that are not generally available. Still, to me this is the chicken and egg problem, folks need to know they exist and hopefully, a desire for them to be here will create enough of a market for them to be brought here. So, I am trying to help make that a reality. Still, as stated above, Josh is a good friend, so my notes should always be understood with that in mind.
I hope they make their way to our hemisphere. Until then, get some of the California Kid which I have enjoyed recently and is showing beautifully now.
The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here:
2018 Kos Yeshuos California Kid – Score: 91 to 92
Ok, so this is the fifth time I have had this wine and it really ready to go. Also, the sweeter side of the wine has moved to a drier side, the orange and nectarines are gone, with more passion fruit, and citrus galore lingering.
This wine is a blend of Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc. The nose on this wine starts to show like a 100% Sauvignon Blanc, showing crazy gooseberry, fresh-cut grass, cat pee, with herbal notes, and nice peach in the background, lemongrass, and really fun and bright citrus notes, with loads of green notes, with peaches and creme in the background! The mouth on this medium plus bodied wine is rich and acidic, with a lovely acid core, followed by more peach, grapefruit, and more lovely gooseberry, with salinity that is off the charts, now the orange and nectarines are gone, and now what we have is more lemongrass, more saline, and hints of melon. The finish is long, green, tiny hint of orange, and tart. Bravo!!! Drink by 2021 Read the rest of this entry
