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California Dreamin’ about more 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 vintages and a Herzog Event
The last large post on California wines was at the beginning of 2025. Then life took over, and I have been dribbling posts out. It was time to get the next big California post out! This will not be a retrospective, like I did here. This will be more like the 2024 post I did here, covering the California wines I have recently enjoyed.
It has been a long time since my last post, and I am a good 100 wines behind, at this point, so these next few posts will be short and to the point.
In September, I got into my car and drove to Hagafen Winery. Covenant Winery sent me their samples. There are no new wines from Marciano Estates or Shadybrook Estates. I also had many wines shipped to me from Herzog and Shirah. I also went down to a large event at Herzog Wine Cellars and tasted all their new wines, more on that below. So, this is not as full a tasting of California wines as last time, but very close. This is NOT a list of available wines and scores for each of these wineries’ wines, but rather a set of tastings of what I have not yet had from these wineries. I have two Invei wines, too!
The plan here is to list the wineries and their wines in the order I tasted them (since I did taste some wines more than once). As I stated before, Covenant continues to impress, as does Shirah, recently, with some of their new wines, which are pretty remarkable!
Many thanks to each and every winery here for putting up with me and sharing their excellent wines.
My overall feelings about the California 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 vintages
Let us start with the facts: the 2021 vintage for California was the best I can remember. Yes, better than 2012 or 2014, and all around, everyone, and every winery came out with fantastic wines. Why? Because God gave each winery enough time to not screw it up, and even when they wanted to screw it up, he made sure they could not! DONE! Look, God gave them a raw deal in 2020, across the state – and we all know it! So, in 2021, he made up for it in spades (whatever that means)!
The 2021 vintage stood out in BOTH the Mevushal and non-Mevushal wine categories. For white and red wines. It was a shockingly good season all around, and everyone came out smelling like roses!
Fast forward to 2022, and yeah, things were quite different! The wines are classic Cali ripe, and while that works for some, I prefer my wines balanced and focused.
The 2023 vintage is looking good, but the REAL focus here is on the non-Mevushal wines! The Mevushal wines are showing success, but side-by-side with their non-Mevushal counterparts, they are paling in comparison. Add to that, scale and winery focus, and I am finding some REAL steals in 2023 and 2024! Read the notes, but focus primarily on the non-Mevushal wines in 2023, IMHO!
The 2024 vintage is a bit early to call. So far, I have found the white wines lovely, and some of the reds have exceeded my expectations. The vintage was smoking hot; I live here, so I would know. However, some wineries managed this by picking earlier, using water in the vineyards or in the wine, or improving canopy management. The intense heat waves came at the end of the very hot summer, but there were some cooler times in between. In the end, time will tell, but what I have enjoyed so far, and posted here, shows promise!
Read the rest of this entry
The Best and Top 20 Kosher Mevushal wines of 2024
If you have ever wondered what Kosher wine or the Mevushal process is, I made a post these many years ago and nothing has changed about those facts, because Kosher wine is Kosher wine! The Mevushal process has evolved a bit over the years, but the premise is still the same, and the best craftsman in this space are Hagafen Cellars and Herzog Wine Cellars.
Royal Wine Europe does a good job as well, though from time to time, the white wines do not show as well after they go through the Mevushal process. The red wines are indeed done very well.
The whole premise for Mevushal wine is really a U.S. concept. Europe and much of Israel do not care for or need the wine to be Mevushal to serve at restaurants or events. The USA Rabbinic leaders think that there are too many issues and potential concerns at events and restaurants – given the vast number of servers being non-Jewish. As such, they demand Mevushal wines be served at the events. I have been to events where the pourers were all Shomer Shabbat Jews and that is what they do in Europe and Israel, but those are far and few between, here in the USA.
Overall, the 20 Mevushal wines scored higher than my previous post of 2023 options. These top Mevushal wines scored between 92 and 93! The vast majority of these wines come from the Mevushal leader, Herzog, and Hagafen, from the 2021 and 2023 California vintages. This year we have more quality Mevushal wines and we can mainly thank Cali for that!
Last year we introduced the 2021 Covenant Cabernet Sauvignon, Black Label. This year we have its third iteration with the 2023 Covenant Cabernet Sauvignon, Black Label. Not only is it the Mevushal Wine of the Year but it is also a darn good cup of wine! Bravo!
Mevushal – done incorrectly absolutely does cause damage to wine, and I have had many a “cooked” Mevushal wine. However, Herzog and Hagafen do not have these issues. Royal Europe does a good job, but not as well as the previously mentioned wineries. The Covenant Mevushal Cabernet Sauvignon and the Pinot Noir (started in 2023) can be added to that growing list of trustworthy Mevushal Wine Producers.
Also, we do not have examples of Mevushal wines that scored 95 points, again, this is not a cause and effect but rather the issue that people do not yet have Mevushal Pontet-Canet! Mind you, as I stated before, it is not from a lack of desire, on behalf of Royal Wines, they would boil anything to be able to sell more Mevushal wines. Still, so far, of the top wines that I have scored, the highest-scored Mevushal wine is now the 2021 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley, Special Reserve. Besides that bottle, we now have Covenant and the 2022 Royal French wines. Time will tell if we ever get a Mevushal wine with that kind of quality.
More and more wines are Mevushal to meet the needs of restaurants and caterers that want high-end Mevushal wines for their venues and events. The theme of the wines here is mostly Hagafen or Herzog with some smattering of European names as well.
Here is my list of the top 20 Mevushal wines that are available here in the USA. They are listed by score and after that in no particular order. The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
2023 Covenant Cabernet Sauvignon, Black Label, Sonoma County, CA (M) – Score: 93 (QPR: WINNER)
WOW! This is the third Mevushal (Black Label) Covenant Cabernet Sauvignon, and it is lovely! I am also getting used to the amalgamated corks, and I am happy.
The nose of this wine is lovely, controlled, ripe, California, creamy, and rich. It shows iron shaving, minerality, rich smoke, tar, anise, black pepper, ripe black and red fruit, lovely pop, and dirt. Bravo. This is the best Mevushal one so far.
The mouth of this full-bodied wine is lovely, showing great acidity, nice mouthfeel, creamy and rich, but with good pop, blackberry, plum, cassis, beautiful minerality, graphite, nice smoke, mouth-draping tannin, rich and layered. This is an impressive showing for a Mevushal wine, showing power, plush mouthfeel, finesse, almost elegant (though with all this power it is tough), some sweet oak, but it is not in your face, and nice dirt. Bravo!
The finish is long, dirty, ripe, balanced, with sweet tobacco, milk chocolate, graphite, and lovely tannin/acidity. Bravo!!! Drink until 2034. (tasted January 2025) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 14.8%)
Herzog Winery Visit and KFWE VIP Experience 2024 – another successful event
Six-plus months ago, Kosher Wine had its start to the wine-tasting season, for 2024. First, it was a trade-only KFWE (Kosher Food and Wine Festival in New Jersey), then the Jewish Link Grand Wine Tasting (also in New Jersey), and then A Wine & Food Night by KWD, in Brooklyn. I wrote about the three-day extravaganza here in this post. In the long post, I wrote that I thought it was time to move from the public-laden KFWE Kiddush to the more nimble area-based tastings. The scale of the three tastings, even the KFWE-trade tasting was far more in line with what people needed to taste and be educated. Still, there was no public option for Royal wines, but actually, the two tastings were better for Royal than KFWE could ever be. The point of the area-focused tastings was to make sure that the people who live in those areas are represented by what they may wish to taste. I hope that in the coming years, the wine stores will be allowed to weigh in on what wines should be showcased at these area-specific events, from massive portfolio distributors, like Royal.
In the post, I wrote that the ball was now in Herzog Winery’s court to bring back the IFWF of old. The vast majority of the people at the KFWE VIP Experience 2024 event at the Herzog Winery in Oxnard, this past week, came and left experiencing EXACTLY what I hoped for 6+ months ago. Herzog did exactly what it was supposed to do, it highlighted the quality of their wines and the quality of their restaurant, and it allowed Royal to curate the wines it wanted to promote to the folks in Southern Califonia, whether that was actually implemented or not.
I will say, that I hope Herzog Winery continues this idea, having a more intimate interaction/experience for their customers, by hosting the event at the winery. It showcases what they do/have best. The naming (AKA KFWE) I think is a mistake. The point here is that it was NOT a KFWE, it was a Wine and Tierra Sur Tasting at Herzog Wine Cellars, with a smattering of other wines. That overall approach used to be called IFWF (International Food and Wine Festival). However, that was also a misnomer, as the focus was more on Herzog and some French wines, even in 2008. In the end, trying to sell this event as anything more than Herzog and Tierra Sur undermines what Herzog sells. With that said, no one left there unhappy, to me, and from whom I spoke at the event, it was a hit and it should be continued!
Herzog Wine Tasting
A few hours before the KFWE event took place, Elchonon Hellinger, owner of Elk Wines, and I made our way to Herzog Wine Cellars to taste some Herzog wines I had yet to taste. Before Elk arrived I was speaking with Joseph Herzog (Vice President and Partner) and David Galzignato (Director of Winemaking and Operations) about many a thing and the California 2021 vintage came up. Up until this tasting, I had tasted all of the 2021 wines that were released, except for a few. With all of them, I was highly impressed and posted about them a few times, here, here, and here. The wines before me, other than a few 2021 wines, were all from the 2022 vintage. I can tell you now, the 2022 vintage does not show as well as the 2021. Simple. It is riper, less controlled, and feels like one that may not age as well. That said, at the end of the wine tasting I made this statement, the work you have done over these past two years clearly shows that you have raised the floor for Herzog Wine Cellars. The issue I have is that fewer wines push the ceiling, at least these past two years, than in previous years. I am sure that has a lot to do with the viticulture and the direction of the winery, as a whole, and I think that overall it is a win.
With that said Herzog Winery continues to win as the top Mevushal wine option every year. They also do very well with the QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Wines. I expect them to be on those lists every year, Herzog Wine Cellars excel at the Mevushal Process and they excel at making quality wines for a reasonable price, across their portfolio, and with the work of David and his team, they have raised the floor of those wines over the past two years.
The Yesod Wines, a new wine label, does not show the name Herzog anywhere on them. It is their first foray into making some of the best wines in the world. While tasting them I said that while I feel the work in these wines, the clear effort to raise the floor of the overall wine approach, it lacked the pop for me. The best wines in the kosher world, when you smell them, make you salivate, they make you want to taste more, and the alcohol levels on them allow you to do that without feeling off-kilter. The Yesod wines, in my opinion, are well-made wines for the sort of Kosher wine drinkers that are targeting. Classic Napa wines with a big body, enough acidity, and loads of fruit.
The wines I oohed and aahed about were the 2023 Herzog Chenin Blanc, Clarksburg Reserve (mevushal), and the 2022 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, Special Reserve. Why? Because, in the past, these two wines (Herzog white wines in general) and the Napa Blue Label Special Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, were rarely on point. These two wines showed me the biggest change, the raising of the floor, and the focus, overall. A steady-eddy approach to winemaking, which may not garner you as many ceiling-pushing wines, at the start, but an approach that raises everything and one that I am sure will eventually get Herzog to even further heights.
My many thanks to Joseph Herzog, and David Galzignato for setting up the meeting, sharing your wines with us, and taking time out of your busy schedule (the day of the event!) to meet with us. 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:
2023 Herzog Chenin Blanc, Clarksburg Reserve, Clarksburg, CA (M) – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
The fruit had botrytis, modeled after Savennieres, old vines Chenin Blanc. The nose of this wine is lovely, showing white peach, pear, apricot, quince blossom, rich honeysuckle, pear blossom, sweet Lipton lemon tea, and sweet oak. The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is fun, it is bone dry, showing great acidity, lovely mouthfeel, almost oily, with a lovely plush mouthfeel, starting with Lipton tea, honeysuckle, honeyed melon, pear, white peach, lovely mouthfeel, a true joy! The finish is long, tart, funky, and rich, with green notes, floral notes abound, and bone dry and rich sweet oak. Drink by 2028. (tasted September 2024) (in Oxnard, CA) (ABV = 14.50%)
2023 Herzog Chardonnay, Russian River, Russian River, CA (M) – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is lovely, tropical, fruity, smoky, and ripe, with hickory, sweet vanilla, butterscotch, sweet dill, and peach/pear. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is ripe, and balanced, with lovely acidity, with rich pear, apricot, sweet oak, butterscotch, buttery brioche, and sweet dill, with rich sweet fruit that works with the American Oak. The finish is long, ripe, and a bit candied, but balanced with great acidity, smoke, rich vanilla, hints of banana, and oak. Drink by 2028 (tasted September 2024) (in Oxnard, CA) (ABV = 14%)
2023 Herzog Chardonnay, Chalk Hill, Special Edition, Chalk Hill, CA (M) – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is nice with great bright fruit, lovely tart peach, pear, melon, and great sweet oak. The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is lovely, tart, and balanced, with rich acidity, nice smoke, and good weight, showing pear, peach, melon, and hints of tropical, but balanced, and nice focus with good oak. The finish is long, and tart, with no butter here, great wine, more Chablis than Burg in style. Nice! Drink by 2028 (tasted September 2024) (in Oxnard, CA) (ABV = 14.50%)
Another round of QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Hits and Misses, Seven QPR WINNERS – Aug 2024
This may be one of the smallest QPR roundups I have done. The last one I did was in December of 2023, and that one had many more wines than this one. I will be having a follow-up QPR post to this one, but I wanted to get this one out now.
There are 26 total wines with 7 QPR WINNERS, so that is a good average to me. With this post, I will finally be caught up, though I have a bunch more wines to get through and more to come. That will lead us into the 9-Days, and I wish you all an easy, meaningful, and hopeful two weeks ahead.
QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Wines
It has been seven or so months since my last QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) post and many people have been emailing me about some unique wines I have tasted and some lovely wines that are worth writing about.
Thankfully, no matter how much garbage and pain I subject myself to, we are still blessed with several wonderful QPR wines out there.
We have a SOLID list of QPR WINNERS:
- 2021 Shirah Pinot Meunier, Santa Maria, CA – LOVELY and unique wine that should improve!
- 2018 Golan Heights Winery Blanc de Blanc, Yarden, Galilee – the bubbles return!
- 2022 Chateau Hauteville, Saint-Estephe – solid 2022 Bordeaux
- 2020 Chateau La Tonnelle, Haut-Medoc – nice 2020
- 2022 Dampt Freres Bourgogne, Bourgogne – a SOLID Burg without Burg pricing
- 2020 Chateau Greysac, Medoc (M) – Nice Mevushal Bordeaux
- 2022 Lovatelli Nebbiolo, Monferrato (M) – Nice Mevushal Italian red
There were also a few wines that were a slight step behind with a GREAT or GOOD QPR score:
- 2021 Netofa Latour, Red, Galilee -Showing better than I had in Israel
- 2022 Capcanes Peraj Ha’abib Pinot Noir, Catalunya – Not a great vintage
- 2022 Chateau de Parsac, Montagne Saint-Emilion (M) – 2022 will be hit and miss for sure
- 2022 Rocca delle Macie Chianti Classico, Chianti Classico – Good enough just simple
- 2022 Chateau Le Petit Chaban, Bordeaux (M) – Again 2022, hit and miss
- 2022 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Special Reserve, Alexander Valley – off year for the Alex
- 2020 Elvi Wines Herenza Crianza, Collection, Rioja (M) – The Mevushal version is nice enough
- 2021 Pacifica Malbec, Washington – Nice but a bit too rough for me
There are a few wines that got a QPR Score of EVEN – meaning expensive or average:
- 2021 Lovatelli Toscana Rosso, Tuscany – Solid wine just a bit overpriced for the quality
- 2021 Cantina Giuliano Super Tuscan, Tuscany – This entire line disappointed me
- 2022 Cantina Giuliano Cabernet Sauvignon, Tuscany – Same as above
- 2021 Chateau Mayne Guyon, Blaye Cotes de Bordeaux (M) – 2021 Bordeaux – tough year
The others are essentially either OK wines that are too expensive, duds, or total failures:
- 2023 Nana Grenache, Negev – Average wine for a crazy high price
- 2020 Cantina Giuliano A Mano Cabernet Sauvignon, Tuscany – Expensive and poor
- 2021 Cantina Giuliano Chianti, Tuscany – poor quality
- 2022 Capcanes Peraj Ha’abib, Montsant (M) – poor quality and expensive
- 2021 Cantina Giuliano Merlot, Tuscany (M) – poor quality
- 2021 Le Pletzl, Bordeaux (M) – poor quality
- 2022 Herzog Pinot Noir, Lineage, Clarksburg, CA (M) – poor quality
Some things that made me stand up and take notice (AKA QPR WINNERS):
The real stunner here is the 2021 Shirah Pinot Meunier, Santa Maria, CA! I have posted already about how the 2021 vintage SAVED California. Sadly, that may have been short-lived, with the recent raft of vineyards being ripped up and wineries closing. Still, the 2021 vintage has been a boon for Cali after the horrific 2020 fires.
The 2021 Shirah Pinot Meunier has to be one of the most unique and wonderful wines I have had in a very long time. It is not quite a Pinot Noir and yet it is also captivating. Sim ply said, read the notes, and buy!
The 2016 vintage of the Golan Heights Winery Blanc de Blanc, Yarden was a miss, but that is fine, they are normal in the wine business. The 2018 returns the bubbly to its crown position as the QPR sparkling wine.
The 2022 Chateau Hauteville, Saint-Estephe continues the streak for this wine. It is another WINNER after how well the 2021 vintage showed and the 2020 before that.
The 2020 Chateau La Tonnelle, Haut-Medoc, is a return to its status. This vintage is nice.
The 2022 Dampt Freres Bourgogne is the answer we need for non-Burgundy-priced wines from Burgundy. It is 2022, so it is ripe, but it is balanced and refreshing, and in the end, that is what Burgundy MUST BE!
The 2020 Chateau Greysac, Medoc, is a solid option for those who want a simple but fun and refreshing Mevushal Bordeaux.
Finally, this wine surprised me, the 2022 Lovatelli Nebbiolo, Monferrato (M) came in under a fair amount of internet chatter. However, I found it refreshing and for a Mevushal wine – a solid showing.
I was UNIMPRESSED by Royal’s new import – Cantina Giuliano, all of the wines were a hard miss. The Lovatelli wines are either a miss or a hit. The 2021 Lovatelli Barbera d’Asti and the 2022 Lovatelli Nebbiolo are WINNER to me. The other Lovatelli are either hard misses or just OK, so far. Still, two hits for a new brand is a good average!
Other wines worth noting (AKA QPR GREAT or GOOD):
I tasted this wine in Israel blind and I found it less than desirable. This time the 2021 Netofa Latour, Red showed better.
I had hoped for the 2022 Capcanes Peraj Ha’abib Pinot Noir, Catalunya, but it did not have the refreshing approach that I needed.
The rest of this group is just good enough wines to get these QPR scores. The miss here is the 2022 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Special Reserve, Alexander Valley. It used to be that even vintages were the WINNER, but with 2021 things switched, 2021 was the WINNER vintage, and 2022 was a miss. Still a nice wine, but it lacks the refreshing aspect I expect.
Wines that are either good but too expensive or average (AKA EVEN):
As stated above, this post includes almost all the wines from Cantina Giuliano and in the end, for me, they lack balance, plain and simple. Two of the Lovatelli have that balance.
Wines that are either OK but far too expensive or bad wines (AKA POOR/BAD):
Not much here mostly poor-scoring wines. There are also, many duds to losers and I will just leave you to peruse the names and scores down below.
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 Shirah Pinot Meunier, Santa Maria, CA – Score: 92.5 (QPR: WINNER)
This may well be the first time I have tasted the single varietal called Pinot Meunier. Of course, it is the grape used to make Champagne but I have never tasted a single varietal that I know of. How does Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier differ? Pinot Noir is leaner and richer, earthier, dirtier, all of what you crave from Pinot, Meunier is fruitier, ripens faster, grows in very hard areas, and colder regions, and has citrus notes that a truly unique! Bravo Weiss Brothers!
The nose of this wine is unique, yes I would have said this was Pinot Noir, sorry, this is new, tasted blind I would have also said it was a riper Pinot, and the citrus would have made me think of a blend, but I am really not sure. The nose is ripe, not candied, blunted a bit by the oak, with rich floral notes, yellow and jasmine, very unique, with oolong tea, orange/Meyer Lemon, like what! Followed by sweet oak, roasted meat, and rich red fruit. Bravo! The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is on point, showing great acidity, lovely cranberry, dark cherry, Cherry Cola, and hints of blueberry, this is one strange cat, with nice mouth-draping tannin, and yes, sweet orange. The finish is long, plus, almost round, but with great acidity, and sweet notes that carry this wine. Bravo!! Drink by 2027. (tasted July 2024) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 14%)
The Top and Best 28 QPR Kosher Wine WINNERS of 2023
In May 2020 I wanted to drive home the need for QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) wines. So I set out to create what I thought a QPR metric should be! Gone were arbitrary price ranges and such. Instead, I let the market define what the QPR price range should be. I did this by grouping the wines by their type (white, red, rose, sparkling, and dessert) and then further refined the grouping by age-ability within the white and red wines. This gave me the following groups:
- Drink “soon” White Wine (Simple whites)
- Rose Wine (always drink soon)
- Drink “soon” Red Wine (Simple reds)
- Mid-range aging Reds (4 to 11 years)
- High-end Red wines (11 and more years)
- High-end White wines (7 and more years)
- Sparkling Wine (No need here for extra differentiation)
- Dessert Wine
I then made the mistake of trying to create an Orange wine range/group – that was a HUGE mistake. Again, the wines themselves were not the issue, the issue revolved around trying to group such a small sample set into its group. They will go into their respective white wine category, next year.
Throughout the year, I posted many QPR posts, for almost all of the main categories. I will continue down this road until I find a better way to categorize and track wines that are QPR WINNERS. Talk about WINNERS, that secondary QPR score was a 2.1 revision to my QPR scoring, and that is explained in this post. All the wines listed here are QPR WINNERS from my tastings in 2023.
Let us discuss the approach
I have heard from a few of you. I do not understand your QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) scoring. So, let us take another shot at this! Every time a customer comes into a shop or goes online to buy kosher wine they have a choice of a few thousand wines, online, or many hundreds in a store. The question is how does a buyer differentiate one wine from the next?
If they like Terra di Seta wines, as I do, and it costs 30 dollars then he/she will compare other wines to that wine, in regards to the wine and the price. That is the same for any wine they like and any wine they are looking at buying. Price matters! Now, the real question is how can you compare two wines to each other. Any two wines in the world of kosher wines? What characteristics can you use to compare them?
Let us say they like the 2018 Elvi Wines Clos Mesorah, the 2022 wine of the year (AKA best-priced QPR wine). It is a red wine from Montsant, Spain. OK, what other wine can you compare with it? You can compare other Montsant kosher wines, like the Cellar Capcanes wines. However, the Cellar Capcanes wines have an issue – they have been poor for many years! As the ratio states it is QUALITY to price! Quality is primary; once you have a good wine, you can attempt to compare it with similarly good wines.
OK, so we need equal or comparably equal quality and that is it??? So, let us say there exists a rose from Montsant that scores the same quality score as Clos Mesorah are they comparable? What about a white wine – same? Can/should compare them? I will tell you that no one would act in such a manner. People will compare similar items. OK, so are we then forced to compare Montsant wines with Montsant wines – again I will tell you no! People will compare like-scored red wines with like-scored red wines. Further, there are literally SIX Monstant Kosher red wines on the market. How can one compare six wines to each other? It has no value.
OK, but what is “like” – that is the body of work that my QPR approach works to answer. If you agree that people will attempt to compare items that are similar in nature but not locale, region, or price, what is that characteristic that they will use to compare two arbitrary kosher wines? Price IS NOT the answer.
So, let us recap – we have two similarly scored wines (AKA quality) but they are very different in many ways. Let us look at three of the wines below, two of which are from the greater Medoc region:
- 2020 Chateau Clarke, Baron Edmond de Rothschild, Listrac-Medoc – Score: 92.5 (QPR: WINNER)
Drink from 2025 until 2032. - 2020 Chateau Fourcas Dupre, Listrac – Medoc – Score: 92.5 (QPR: WINNER)
Drink from 2024 until 2035. - 2019 Chateau Royaumont, Lalande de Pomerol – Score: 92.5 (QPR: WINNER)
Drink from 2024 until 2032.
These wines priced were between 38 dollars to 55 dollars. The question you need to ask is are they comparable? I would state they are and I would further state that wine buyers compare them every time they read my lists and other lists that like these wines. Again, the primary requirement is quality – and these all scored the same quality score.
So, next, would you at least compare two Listrac-Medoc wines to each other? The Chateau Fourcas Dupre and the Chateau Clarke? I would say yes for sure. Well, why is the Royaumont any different? They are very different wines, of course, but in the end, what do oenophiles buy such wines for?? To store them and share them at a later date, meaning that wine buyers classify wines by regions but ultimately they classify them by their ability to age gracefully or not! This means some wines age beautifully and many are good to enjoy in the coming years.
So, now you see the logic to the categories I use to compare wines – this is the list once again:
- Drink “soon” White Wine (Simple whites)
- Rose Wine (always drink soon)
- Drink “soon” Red Wine (Simple reds)
- Mid-range aging Reds (4 to 11 years)
- High-end Red wines (11 and more years)
- High-end White wines (7 and more years)
- Sparkling Wine (No need here for extra differentiation)
- Dessert Wine
Essentially, ignoring sparkling, rose, and dessert wines, there is white wine and red wine. Each of those two major categories is broken into their age-ability. Red wines have three age ranges while white wine has two. Then there are the other three aforementioned groups, rose, sparkling, and dessert wines.
Once you have scored a wine – IRRELEVANT to the price – this is KEY you are then required to place that wine into one of the 8 categories listed above. Once you have done that any wine in that category is available for comparison. Using the median approach wines are stacked and ranked by their price, within that category, and some rise above others, by having an equal or better quality for a lower or equal price. Please read more about this here and here.
The Summary
Before we get to the list of the best QPR wines for this past year – I wanted to give some raw stats. I tasted more than 1200 wines this past year. In actuality, it is probably far more, I just did NOT care to write notes on hundreds more because all it would have said was NO. I made sure to taste all the Israeli wines at three KFWE and almost none of them were worthy of a wine note. The pain was all I remember. In the end, of the actual number of wines I noted, 155 of them were scored with a QPR score of WINNER.
I have stated it over and over again now, there is no way we can buy all the good wines out there unless you have a local warehouse to store them and you drink two or more bottles a day. That is the great news about Kosher Wine today! I hope we have not yet hit peak QPR Winner. Remember, this INCLUDES the 2021 Bordeaux season which was a total failure on all accounts.
This year, the list came to a total of 28 names, and none had to dip below 93 in the scores, which is a large number and better scores overall than last year, but again, the pool from where they are culled continues to grow, and the diamonds in the rough are getting harder and harder to find. There are 28 or so QPR WINNER who scored 93 this year but not in a single area.
The 4 regions that encompass the 28 WINNERS are in order of size, France (11), USA (9), Italy (5), and Spain (3). Within France, it is not all Bordeaux! You have 6 from Bordeaux, Sancerre, Alcase, Burgundy, Languedoc, and Chateauneuf du Pape.
Of the 28 WINNER, 5 of them are white and 23 are red. However, at the lower price and quality QPR WINNERS (think 20 dollars 91 scoring wines), you will find that white wines are the majority!
This year there are no cross-WINNER scores. Meaning, a WINNER in Europe but not the USA. Many of the wines that are WINNER are not available in Europe, but I do not denote that.
Sadly, there were no new Sparkling or Rose wines to make it to the score of 93 and to meet its counterpart pricing. To me this is a HUGE issue in the kosher wine market! The kosher wine market has lifted up one of the previous sad wine categories, white wine! Which is HUGE! Sadly, we have not moved from there. We have a dominating red and white kosher wine scene. What is lacking sorely, is quality, sparkling wines! The rose wines will never reach the upper echelons, at least in the Kosher wine markets! But Sparkling wines – there is real demand there and sadly the products being sold are pathetic!
Maybe, Avi Davidowitz, from Kosher Wine Unfiltered, can create a list like that for Israel, this year, a bunch of wines became available there, and a proper QPR list would be worthwhile!
The wines on the list this year are all available here in the USA, and in Europe, and a few can be found in Israel, as well. The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
2018 Elvi Wines Herenza Rioja, Reserva, Rioja – Score: 94+ (QPR: WINNER)
I crave this in wine – balance, complexity, elegance, and all bottled for a price that makes it a WINNER! The nose of this wine is beautiful, balanced, and complex, showing a drop hotter than in 2017, but still bold, rich, and expressive, with soy sauce, umami, rich mushroom, loam, spices, blue and red fruit, and sweet star anise, lovely!
The mouth on this medium-plus-bodied wine is lovely, balanced, juicy, elegant, herbal, smoky, and dirty, with intense acidity, juicy and ripe boysenberry, plum, spiced raspberry, and sweet spices that give way to a mouth-draping tannin structure, plush, nicely extracted, elegant, with soy sauce, sweet nutmeg, and cinnamon, beautiful. The finish is long, and balanced, with leather, root beer, sweet baking spices, cloves, cinnamon, sweet cedar, milk chocolate, soy sauce, and lovely acidity that brings this wine all together. Bravo!! Another smash! Drink from 2025 until 2032. (tasted May 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5.%)
2021 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Special Reserve, Alexander Valley, Alexander Valley, CA (M) – Score: 94 (QPR: WINNER)
This may well be one of the best Alexander Valley wines in the past 10 years, better than 2014, just impressive. The 2021 vintage has been a blessing for California. The nose of this wine is ripe, it is even riper after a few hours as well, showing notes of ripe and juicy boysenberry, squid ink, black fruit, anise, white pepper, cocoa liqueur, sweet oak, milk chocolate, smoke, and nice minerality. The mouth of this ripe but balanced full-bodied wine has nice acidity, blackberry, ripe and juicy boysenberry, plush, rich, concentrated, extracted, and elegant, all at the same time, with nice tension, sweet oak, milk chocolate, elegant and draping tannin, and a plushness that helps to balance the extraction, with salinity and lovely minerality. The finish is long, ripe, extracted, balanced, and earthy, with nice loam, and smoke but the finish shines with its ribbons of graphite, saline, and tense tannin that lingers long. Bravo!! Drink until 2034. (tasted December 2023) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 14.5%)
2021 Chateau Olivier Blanc, Grand Cru Classe, Pessac-Leognan – Score: 94 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is stunning, captivating, redolent, and elegant, with rich fruit, grapefruit, minerality, saline, dry grass, gooseberry, and passion fruit, a beautiful wine that hits the mark! BRAVO! The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is stunning, layered, complex, plush, and concentrated with rich acidity, minerality, slate, flint, and saline wrapping the gooseberry, grapefruit, peach, orange peel, and passion fruit, showing an impressive complexity. The finish is long, mineral-driven, dense, weighty, and plush, with rich salinity, flint, wet rock, and slate, and extremely refreshing and mouthwatering. BRAVO!!! Drink by 2027. (tasted November 2023) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%)
The Best and Top 12 Kosher Mevushal wines of 2023
If you ever wondered what Kosher wine or the Mevushal process is, well I made a post these many years ago and nothing has changed about those facts, because kosher wine is kosher wine! The Mevushal process has evolved a bit over the years but the premise is still the same and the best craftsman in this space are Hagafen Cellars and Herzog Wine Cellars.
Royal Wine Europe does a good job as well, though from time to time, the white wines do not show as well after they go through the Mevushal process. The red wines are indeed done very well as I saw this past November 2023.
The whole premise for Mevushal wine is really a U.S. concept. Europe and much of Israel do not care for or need the wine to be Mevushal to serve at restaurants or events. The USA Rabbinic leaders think that there are too many issues and potential concerns at events and restaurants – given the vast number of servers being non-Jewish. As such, they demand Mevushal wines be served at the events. I have been to events where the pourers were all Shomer Shabbat Jews and that is what they do in Europe and Israel, but those are far and few between, here in the USA.
Overall, the 12 Mevushal wines scored higher than my previous post of 2021 options These scored higher without a single 91 or 91+ in the bunch! Of course, the 2021 California harvest has the majority of these wines (7 of the 12). You can find a single 2019 Rouge Bordeaux, a 2022 Blanc Loire Valley, and a 2023 White New Zealand Wine. The rest are still from the USA but from other vintages than 2021. To be clear, California makes up 9 of the 12 top-scoring Mevushal wines.
The new kid on the block is the 2021 Covenant Cabernet Sauvignon, Black Label. It is a lovely expression of Napa Valley.
Mevushal – done incorrectly absolutely does cause damage to wine, and I have had many a “cooked” Mevushal wine. However, Herzog and Hagafen do not have these issues. Royal Europe, does a good job, but not as good as the previously mentioned wineries. The new Covenant Mevushal Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, not their first entry into the Mevushal market, seems like a success, but we will need more examples to be sure.
Also, we do not have examples of Mevushal wines that scored 95 points, again, this is not a cause and effect but rather the issue that people do not yet have Mevushal Pontet-Canet! Mind you, as I stated before, it is not from a lack of desire, on behalf of Royal Wines, they would boil anything to be able to sell more Mevushal wines. Still, so far, of the top wines that I have scored, the highest-scored Mevushal wine is now the 2021 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley, Special Reserve.
More and more wines are Mevushal to meet the needs of restaurants and caterers that want high-end Mevushal wines for their venues and events. The theme of the wines here is mostly Hagafen or Herzog with some smattering of European names as well.
Here is my list of the top 12 Mevushal wines that are available here in the USA. They are listed by score and after that in no particular order. The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
2021 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Special Reserve, Alexander Valley, Alexander Valley, CA (M) – Score: 94 (QPR: WINNER)
This may well be one of the best Alexander Valley wines in the past 10 years, better than 2014, and truly impressive. The 2021 vintage has been a blessing for California. The nose of this wine is ripe, it is even riper after a few hours as well, showing notes of ripe and juicy boysenberry, squid ink, black fruit, anise, white pepper, cocoa liqueur, sweet oak, milk chocolate, smoke, and nice minerality. The mouth of this ripe but balanced full-bodied wine has nice acidity, blackberry, ripe and juicy boysenberry, plush, rich, concentrated, extracted, and elegant, all at the same time, with nice tension, sweet oak, milk chocolate, elegant and draping tannin, and a plushness that helps to balance the extraction, with salinity and lovely minerality. The finish is long, ripe, extracted, balanced, and earthy, with nice loam, and smoke but the finish shines with its ribbons of graphite, saline, and tense tannin that lingers long. Bravo!! Drink until 2034. (tasted December 2023) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 14.5%)
The Best and Top 25 Kosher Wines of 2023, including the Wine of the Year, Winery of the Year, the Best Wine of the Year, and the Best Mevushal wines of the year awards
Like last year, I wanted to make this post short and sweet – so the criteria are simple. I could care less about price, color, or where it was made. All that matters is that it is/was available this year sometime to the public at large that I tasted it in a reliable environment, not just at a tasting, and that it scored a 93+ or higher.
We are returning with the “Wine of the Year”, “Best Wine of the Year” “Winery of the Year”, and “Best White Wine of the Year”, along with a last year’s new addition the – “Best Mevushal Wine of the Year”. Wine of the Year goes to a wine that distinguished itself in ways that are beyond the normal. It needs to be a wine that is easily available, incredible in style and flavor, and it needs to be reasonable in price. It may be the QPR wine of the year or sometimes it will be a wine that so distinguished itself for other reasons. The wines of the year are a type of wine that is severely unappreciated, though ones that have had a crazy renaissance, over the past two years. The Best Wine of the Year goes to a wine well worthy of the title.
The Mevushal wine of the year is something I dread. I understand the need for a wine that can be enjoyed at restaurants and events, but when we start seeing Château Gazin Rocquencourt and Chevalier de Lascombes go Mevushal – we know we have a problem. As I have stated in the past, if this is what needs to happen, then please sell both options as many do with Peraj Petita/Capcanes, Psagot wines, and many others. Still, it is a wine and as such, it needs a best-of-the-year moniker, so we do it once again!
This past year, I tasted more wines than I have ever, in the past. Now to be clear here, I did not taste many Israeli wines as they have proven to me over and over again, even with the much-ballyhooed 2018 vintage that they are not worth my spending my money on. Still, I did taste a large number of Israeli wines both in my home and at KFWE events. I spent a fair amount of time tasting all the French and European wines I could get my hands on and I feel that is where I added the most value, IMHO. For those who like the Israeli wine style – other writers/bloggers can point you in some direction. This past year, was a return to below-average because of the massive failure in Bordeaux and all over Europe in the 2021 vintage.
We were spoiled with the 2019 wines from Bordeaux and all over Europe, even the 2020 vintage had OK options. This year, there are FOUR wines from Royal Wine’s portfolio (really three) they are the 2017 and 2018 Elvi Herenza, Reserva, the 2021 Domaine Raymond Usseglio & Fils Chateauneuf du Pape, and the 2021 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley. Overall, 2021 from California is what I am buying from the 2021 vintage, worldwide, outside of a few wines, for vertical interests, and the CDP.
The vast majority of wines on this list are from M&M Importers and a couple from Andrew Breskin’s Liquid Kosher portfolio. This is a FIRST for me and these lists and I am truly happy to see Italy and other regions rising to the top of the lists. There are a couple of Four Gates wines as well.
There are also interesting wines below the wines of the year, think of them as runner-up wines of the year. There will be no rose wines on the list this year, none were close to this star-studded group. This year we had a crazy large number of WINNER wines, 152 in total, but the top-shelf wines were smaller with fewer.
Now, separately, I love red wines, but white wines – done correctly, are a whole other story! Sadly, in regards to whites, we still had no new wines from Germany, still. Thankfully, we have some awesome entries, from the incredible 2021 Gustave Lorentz Riesling, Grand Cru, 2020 Domaine de Chevalier, Blanc, 2020 Domaine de Montille Puligny Montrachet 1er Cru Les Chalumeaux, 2021 Chateau Olivier Blanc, Grand Cru Classe, and the 2021 Domaine Vacheron Sancerre, Grand Champs. This will be the largest number of white wines in the top wine list for any given year – I hope we have NOT hit peak White Wine! We need more options. Thankfully, there are also many good lower-priced white wine options as well in the kosher market a large shift is underway!
The wines on the list this year are all available here in the USA, and in Europe, and a few can be found in Israel, as well. The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
The 2023 Kosher Winery of the Year
This award continues to get harder and harder each year. The sad cold, hard truth is that there are too few great kosher wineries. When I started this award, some 4 years ago I thought it would only get easier. Sadly, there are a few truths that limit my ability to give out this award.
First, as much as we have been blessed with great Kosher European wines, in the past 6 years, most of those blessings come under the auspices of single-run kosher wines. Chateau Leoville Poyferre, Château Smith Haut Lafitte, you name it, are all based upon kosher runs. What we have in Europe, kosher-winery-wise, is Terra di Seta, Cantina Giuliano, and Elvi Wines (including Clos Mesorah). Along with this year’s winner, Domaine Roses Camille. Officially, Domaine Roses Camille only became 100% kosher in 2020, but for all intent and purpose, they have been producing the vast majority of their wines in kosher, since 2011.
The requirements to receive this award are simple, the winery must be kosher, not a kosher-run, the quality must be consistent, and the wines must be readily available. The last requirement is the main reason why Four Gates Winery has yet to win the award, but at this point, it is only a matter of time, as kosher wine availability is becoming less of an issue overall, given the sheer number of cult-like kosher wineries that exist today.
This year the award goes to Covenant Winery. I have been pounding the table about the good wines coming out of there over the past two years. Yes, there are a couple of wines I do not love, but given the vast swath of wines they make, the vast majority scored a 91 or higher.
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California Dreaming – 2021 is quite the vintage – part #2
The 2020 fire-riddled vintage in much of Northern California has thankfully given way to a stunning vintage of 2021! After suffering drought, fire, and extreme temperature swings, Cali has been gifted a vintage that while low on yields, in some locals, is high on quality.
This is the second post on California wines that I have tasted recently and this one is less complimentary of the wines than the previous one. Please go read the first post and see those wines before reading this post.
I will say I was unimpressed by the Chardonnay from 2021 and even though the Oakville came in with the highest score I wished it had more acidity and more verve. I am still trying to get my hands on the Herzog Lake County Cabernet Sauvignon, it is just impossible sometimes to get wine, such is life! I hope I finally have a line on it for next week!
The real WINNERS for me were the 2023 wines from Covenant. I have been banging the drum for their wines for around a year-plus now. dating back to the tasting I had in Berkeley in September of 2022. They have really not missed a step these past two years. and the 2023 vintage is starting with a bang! The Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc are both Fruity but balanced and refreshing, and that is the word you want to see in my posts, sometimes more than the Nice or Bravo (keywords).
Read the rest of this entry
California Dreaming – 2021 is quite the vintage
The 2020 fire-riddled vintage in much of Northern California has thankfully given way to a stunning vintage of 2021! After suffering drought, fire, and extreme temperature swings, Cali has been gifted a vintage that while low on yields, in some locals, is high on quality.
Tasting through much of Herzog Wine Cellars (it is really difficult at times to get wine), Covenant Wine, and Hagafen Wine Cellars, along with some Four Gates Wine as well, it is clear to see that 2021 is a true gift. The alcohol levels are all down, the acidity is brighter and the wines all show less oak and more balance. Herzog’s new winemaker, David Galzignato, has been championing different oak regiments but the vintage overall cannot be summed up with just the use of different oak. That can be said for all the wineries. The acidity shines and the fruit is balanced.
You can read more about the fabulous vintage here and here. Ok, on to the wine notes!
Wines in this post
The 2021 Herzog Napa wines were the best I have had in a long time. The Napa and the Rutherford wines were both lovely and I have never scored them this high. The 2021 Alexander Valley may well be the best one in a very long time, yes a bit better than 2014 and 2016.
Since I am posting about some 2021 California wines I thought I should also post the other wines I tasted at different wineries at the same time. Further, some of these wines were tasted at the wineries (like Hagafen and Covenant) and some were tasted at my home. The location is stated in the notes.
The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
Hajdu Wines
2022 Hajdu Zinfandel, Ancient Vines, Califonia – Score: 90 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is ripe, with a bit of heat, nice fruit, strawberry, raspberry, good dirt, loam, and floral notes. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is ripe, layered, and a bit over the top, but controlled enough, with classic strawberry, cherry cola, smoke, black plum jam, rich tannin, mouth-filling, almost refreshing, with lovely acidity. The finish is long, ripe, layered, and jammy, nice! Drink until 2027. (tasted August 2023) (in Berkeley, CA) (ABV = 14.5%)
2022 Hajdu Grenache, Califonia – Score: 90 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is lovely, controlled, spicy, earthy, and smoky, with watermelon, root beer, and lovely red fruit. Nice! The mouth of this medium-plus bodied wine is ripe, layered, and not overly concentrated, with nice extraction, and good enough acidity, with lovely raspberry, cranberry, strawberry, ripe Kirsche cherry, mouth-draping tannin, and nice coffee. The finish is long, ripe, and controlled, with enough acidity, coffee, sweet tobacco, sweet spices, cinnamon, and cloves. Drink until 2027. (tasted August 2023) (in Berkeley, CA) (ABV = 14.5%)
2022 Hajdu Aglianico, Califonia – Score: 90 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is ripe, fruity, smoky, and spicy, with raspberry, Red Oolong tea, root beer, red floral notes, and smoke. The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is ripe, with enough acidity, red floral notes, dark raspberry, intense tannin, strawberry, and raspberry jam, with plum, candied berry, and sweet spices. The finish is long, spicy, ripe, and floral, with sweet tobacco, and sweet spices. Drink until 2027. (tasted August 2023) (in Berkeley, CA) (ABV = 14.5%)
Covenant Wines
2022 Covenant Chardonnay Lavan, Sonoma Mountain, Sonoma County – Score: 92.5 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this Chardonnay is lovely, showing melon, ripe peach, apricot, yellow apple, brioche, and bright fruit under a veil of smoke, oak, and sweet spices. Lovely! The mouth of this full-bodied wine is nice, with enough acidity, baked apple, smoke, brioche, elegance, smokey, and grippy, with a refreshing and captivating mouthfeel, rich, layered, and expressive, showing peach, melon, citrus, and sweet oak that lifts the wine and helps round out the lovely acidity, nice!! The wine is lush, balanced, elegant, round, yet acidic, tart, yet accessible, WOW! The finish is long, ripe, layered, and spicy, with sweet oak, more fruit, candied citrus, chamomille, and cinnamon/cloves. Nice!! Drink by 2027. (tasted August 2023) (in Berkeley, CA) (ABV = 13.9%)
2021 Covenant Solomon Cabernet Sauvignon, Lot 70, Napa Valley, CA – Score: 93 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is lovely, ripe, controlled, elegant, and new-world, with intense minerality, iron shavings, graphite, and black and red fruit, lovely! The mouth of this full-bodied wine is ripe, layered, elegant, and balanced, with lovely acidity, minerality, blackberry, cassis, plum, earth, smoke, and dense, with layers of concentration, extraction, and rich smoke. Bravo!! The finish is long, dense, ripe, elegant, mineral-driven, and smoky, wow! With scraping minerality, sweet tobacco, dark chocolate, leather, and sweet spices/smoke. BRAVO!! Drink until 2033. (tasted August 2023) (in Berkeley, CA) (ABV = 14.5%)
2022 Covenant Solomon Blanc, Bennett Valley, Sonoma County, CA – Score: 92 (QPR: GREAT)
This is the 3rd year of this lovely wine, I think this one sits right between the 21 and 20 vintages, which means this is another WINNER. Bravo! The nose of this lovely wine is impressive with intense bright fruit, bright acid, tart lemon/lime, sweet orange blossom, lanolin, sweet bright pear, sweet Honeydew melon, and lovely oak influence. The mouth of this medium-plus bodied wine is intense, layered, and complex, with rich layers of tart orange, lemon/lime, melon, Asian pear, yellow apple, and piercing acidity, with an impressive expression, of fruit and oak, sweet oak, smoke, sweet mint, and sweet fruit. Bravo! Though I liked the wine at the start it felt a bit lacking with time. It may turn into what I hope, for now, a solid wine! The finish is long, tart, ripe, and fruity, with some oak influence, and hints of vanilla, but really the finish is a focus of acidity, melon, orange, and lemon, all wrapped up beautifully! Bravo!! Drink until 2030. (tasted September 2023) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 13.4%)
2021 Covenant Cabernet Sauvignon, Black Label, Napa Valley, CA (M) – Score: 92 (QPR: GREAT)
WOW! This is the first Covenant Cabernet Sauvignon that is Mevushal! OK, there is a first for everything! Also, this is the first vintage of Covenant Cabernet Sauvignon using an amalgamated cork. Just wondering – I drove for this for so long, just wondering.
At the start, the wine shows riper than I was expecting and used to from Covenant Cab, but with time it calms. The nose of this wine is ripe, dense, and fruity, with ripe purple and black fruit, dense smoke, tar, anise, chili pepper, white pepper, iron shavings, and an extremely spice-driven nose. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is on the edge of balance or anarchy. On one side, is an elegant bold wine showing dense fruit, with fruit focus, herbal notes, tart/sharp chili pepper, blackberry, blueberry, smoke, roasted herbs, anise, and a dense yet elegant mouth-draping tannin. On the other side is a wine that thankfully calms and becomes what I expect. The finish is long, fruity, ripe, dense, herbal, smoky, spicy, and mineral-driven, with lovely iron, graphite, intense and elegant mouth-draping tannin, juicy boysenberry, blackberry, Asian spice, cloves, vanilla, chili pepper, and anise lingering long. Lovely! Drink until 2030. (tasted September 2023) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 14.8%)
The Top 24 QPR Kosher Wine WINNERS of 2022
In May 2020 I wanted to drive home the need for QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) wines. So I set out to create what I thought a QPR metric should be! Gone were arbitrary price ranges and such. Instead, I let the market define what the QPR price range should be. I did this by grouping the wines by their type (white, red, rose, sparkling, and dessert) and then further refined the grouping by ageability within the white and red wines. This gave me the following groups:
- Drink “soon” White Wine (Simple whites)
- Rose Wine (always drink soon)
- Drink “soon” Red Wine (Simple reds)
- Mid-range aging Reds (4 to 11 years)
- High-end Red wines (11 and more years)
- High-end White wines (7 and more years)
- Sparkling Wine (No need here for extra differentiation)
- Dessert Wine
I then made the mistake of trying to create an Orange wine range/group – that was a HUGE mistake. Again, the wines themselves were not the issue, the issue revolved around trying to group such a small sample set into its group. They will go into their respective white wine category, next year.
Throughout the year, I posted many QPR posts, for almost all of the main categories. I will continue down this road until I find a better way to categorize and track wines that are QPR WINNERS. Talk about WINNERS, that secondary QPR score was a 2.1 revision to my QPR scoring, and that is explained in this post. All the wines listed here are QPR WINNERS from my tastings in 2022.
Let us discuss the approach
I have heard from a few of you. I do not understand your QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) scoring. So, let us take another shot at this! Every time a customer comes into a shop or goes online to buy kosher wine they have a choice of a few thousand wines, online, or many hundreds in a store. The question is how does a buyer differentiate one wine from the next?
If they like Terra di Seta wines, as I do, and it costs 30 dollars then he/she will compare other wines to that wine, in regards to the wine and the price. That is the same for any wine they like and any wine they are looking at buying. Price matters! Now, the real question is how can you compare two wines to each other? Any two wines in the world of kosher wines? What characteristics can you use to compare them?
Let us say they like the 2018 Elvi Wines Clos Mesorah, the 2022 wine of the year (AKA best-priced QPR wine). It is a red wine from Montsant, Spain. OK, what other wine can you compare with it? You can compare other Montsant kosher wines, like the Cellar Capcanes wines. However, the Cellar Capcanes wines have an issue – they have been poor for many years! As the ratio states it is QUALITY to price! Quality is primary; once you have a good wine, you can attempt to compare it with similarly good wines.
OK, so we need equal or comparably equal quality and that is it??? So, let us say there exists a rose from Montsant that scores the same quality score as Clos Mesorah are they comparable? What about a white wine – same? Can/should compare them? I will tell you that no one would act in such a manner. People will compare items. OK, so are we then forced to compare Montsant wines with Montsant wines – again I will tell you no! People will compare like-scored red wines with like-scored red wines.
OK, but what is “like” – that is the body of work that my QPR approach works to answer. If you agree that people will attempt to compare items that are similar in nature but not locale, region, or price, what is that characteristic that they will use to compare two arbitrary kosher wines? Price IS NOT the answer.
So, let us recap – we have two similarly scored wines (AKA quality) but they are very different in many ways. Let us look at three of the wines below, two of which are from the greater Medoc region:
- 2020 Chateau Clarke, Baron Edmond de Rothschild, Listrac-Medoc – Score: 92.5 (QPR: WINNER)
Drink from 2025 until 2032. (tasted November 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13.5%) - 2020 Chateau Fourcas Dupre, Listrac – Medoc – Score: 92.5 (QPR: WINNER)
Drink from 2024 until 2035. (tasted November 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 12.5%) - 2019 Chateau Royaumont, Lalande de Pomerol – Score: 92.5 (QPR: WINNER)
Drink from 2024 until 2032. (tasted December 2022) (in San Jose, CA) (ABV = 15%)
These wine price from 38 dollars to 55 dollars. The question you need to ask is are they comparable? I would state they are and I would further state that wine buyers compare them every time they read my lists and other lists that like these wines. Again, the primary requirement is quality – and these all scored the same quality score.
So, next, would you at least compare two Listrac-Medoc wines to each other? The Chateau Fourcas Dupre and the Chateau Clarke? I would say yes for sure. Well, why is the Royaumont any different? They are very different wines, of course, but in the end, what do oenophiles buy such wines for?? To store them and share them at a later date, meaning that wine buyers classify wines by regions but ultimately they classify them by their ability to age gracefully or not! Meaning some wines age beautifully and many are good to enjoy in the coming years.
So, now you see the logic to the categories I use to compare wines – this is the list once again:
- Drink “soon” White Wine (Simple whites)
- Rose Wine (always drink soon)
- Drink “soon” Red Wine (Simple reds)
- Mid-range aging Reds (4 to 11 years)
- High-end Red wines (11 and more years)
- High-end White wines (7 and more years)
- Sparkling Wine (No need here for extra differentiation)
- Dessert Wine
Essentially, ignoring sparkling, rose, and dessert wines, there is white wine and red wine. Each of those two major categories is broken into their age-ability. Red wines have three age ranges while white wine has two. Then there are the other three aforementioned groups, rose, sparkling, and dessert wines.
Once you have scored a wine – IRRELEVANT to the price – this is KEY you are then required to place that wine into one of the 8 categories listed above. Once you have done that any wine in that category is available for comparison. Using the median approach wines are stacked and ranked by their price, within that category, and some rise above others, by having an equal or better quality for a lower or equal price. Please read more about this here and here.
The Summary
This year, the list came to a total of 24 names, and none had to dip below 92+ in the scores, which is a large number and better scores overall than last year, but again, the pool from where they are culled continues to grow, and the diamonds in the rough are getting harder and harder to find. There are 24 or so WINNER that scored 92+ this year but not in a single area.
Like last year, we return with QPR for France, the prices for many wines there, are dirt cheap! There is also QPR for the USA, which is the default. Finally, some wines are QPR here in the USA but not in France.
Of course, the first wine on the list is the 2022 Wine of the year! Elvi Wines is a perennial producer of QPR WINNER wines and a most deserving winner of the 2021 Winery of the year!
Maybe, Avi Davidowitz, from kosher wine unfiltered, can create a list like that for Israel, this year, a bunch of wines became available there, and a proper QPR list would be worthwhile!
The wines on the list this year are all available here in the USA, and in Europe, and a few can be found in Israel, as well. The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
2018 Clos Mesorah, Montsant – Score: 94 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine shows more black fruit than the 2019 vintage, with lovely blackberry, smoke, root beer, and roasted animal, more than 2019, with some red fruit, a bit bluer, with white and pink flowers that emerge after time, raspberry, and mineral. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is rich, layered, elegant, and a bit riper than 2019, with rich salinity, sweet oak, black olives, blackberry, plum, boysenberry, root beer, dark currants, anise, and rich mouthfeel and fruit structure, that gives way to saline, roasted herbs, and graphite. The finish is long, dark, brooding, smoky, earthy, forest floor, and blackcurrants, with dirt, loam, clay, leather, and rich spices. Bravo!! Drink from 2027 until 2036. (tasted November 2021) (in Montsant, Spain) (ABV = 15.5%)
2020 Château Olivier Grand Cru Classe, Pessac-Léognan – Score: 94 (QPR: WINNER (France), GOOD (USA))
The nose of this wine is quite nice, a wine I would drink, with a bit of soy sauce, rich salinity, mushroom, earthy, and dirty, like a rich and redolent mud pen, with a bit of heat, and lovely smoke. With time, the heat drops off, ripe, muddy, mushroom haven, lovely! The mouth of the full-bodied wine is dense, layered, rich, and concentrated, with rich extraction, dark and brooding, with juicy blackberry, ripe strawberry, mushroom, forest floor, wet leaves, rich salinity, soy sauce, umami, just a fun, ripe, savory, and dirty wine. The finish is long, dark, and brooding, but well controlled, one of those rare ripe/dirty/earthy controlled monsters, with dense minerality, scraping graphite, ripe fruit, and leather, Bravo! Drink until 2035. (tasted November 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14.5%)
2019 Chateau Tour Seran, Medoc – Score: 94 (QPR: WINNER (France))
This is one of the best wines of our blind tastings here in the hotel. The nose of this wine is lovely, and perfectly balanced, with licorice, smoke, black and red fruit, char, toasty oak, loam, lovely mushroom (that comes out after a few hours), and forest floor. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is dense, ripe, layered, and rich with good acidity, richly extracted, but savory, not overly ripe, a real joy, with blackberry, ripe raspberry, currants, dense loam, forest floor, with scraping minerality, graphite, tar, and rock, this is too much fun! The finish is long, and mineral-driven, with good fruit focus, great graphite, and rock. Drink until 2036. (tasted November 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)
2019 Clos Mesorah, Montsant – Score: 93.5 (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is beautiful with lovely floral notes of rosehip, violet, tisane tea, and red and blue fruit, with roasted herb, smoke, roasted animal, rhubarb, dried cherry, and lovely forest floor notes. The mouth on this medium-plus bodied wine is lovely with screaming acidity, lovely dark raspberry, plum, tart currant, mouth-draping tannin, rhubarb, dark cherry, with lovely green notes, rich saline, mineral, spice, roasted herb, lovely blackberry, smoke, and rich graphite. The finish is long, green ripe, blackberry, with saline, smoke, blueberry, leather, cloves, cinnamon, and sweet oak, bravo!!! Drink from 2026 until 2034. (tasted November 2021) (in Montsant, Spain) (ABV = 15.5%)
2020 Chateau Lafon-Rochet, Saint-Estephe – Score: 93.5 (QPR: WINNER (FRANCE), USA(EVEN))
This wine is a blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon & 45% Merlot.
The nose of this wine is a less ripe wine, with savory notes, lovely green and red fruit, elegant redolence, minerality, lovely iron shavings graphite, beautiful pencil shavings, with incredible raspberry, cherry, and rich smoke. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is lovely, elegant, extracted, rich, and beautiful with ripe and juicy cherry, elegant tart/juicy raspberry, beautiful smoke, intense and elegant charcoal/graphite, just lovely, with red fruit, loam, and mouth-scraping tannin. The finish is long, red, ripe, and smoky, with great tobacco, rosemary, savory notes, dark chocolate, loam, leather, and lovely smoke. Drink from 2023 until 2033. (tasted November 2022) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)
2016 ElviWines Herenza Rioja, Reserva, Rioja – Score: 93.5 (QPR: WINNER)
This is what I crave in wine – balance, complexity, elegance, and all bottled for a price that makes it a WINNER! The nose of this wine is beautiful, balanced, complex, and lighter than 2014, but still bold, rich, and expressive, soy sauce, umami, rich mushroom, loam, spices, blue and red fruit, and sweet anise, lovely! The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is not as bold as the 2014 and it starts a bit ripe, with time the wine opens to show balance, dark blueberry, plum, candied/spiced raspberry, and rich sweet spices give way to a mouth-draping elegance, sweet tannin, plush mouthfeel, and rich loam, clay, and earth, beautiful. The finish is long, and balanced, with leather, sweet tobacco, root beer, sweet baking spices, cloves, cinnamon, sweet cedar, dark chocolate, and rich searing acidity that brings this wine altogether. Bravo!! Another smash! Drink from 2024 until 2032. (tasted November 2021) (in Montsant, Spain) (ABV = 14.5%)
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