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Hotel Wine tastings – the final tastings from my trip to Paris – May 2025
As stated in my previous post, I was in Paris in Late May, with Avi Davidowitz from Kosher Wine Unfiltered. This trip was not about numbers, but rather about sheer logistics. The number of boxes across the number of hotels was more than I wished for! Of course, this was totally self-inflicted, as Avi was coming in for business the week before, and I was juggling too much at home. In the end, it was a far more relaxing trip, as the sheer number of wines was more in the 40s than the usual 60 or 80 wines. A lot of that can be blamed on the number of 2024 or new 2023 wines on the market – there are just ZERO new wines out there. There are loads of old 2022 and 2023 roses in the stores in Paris, and the same can be said for older whites and reds. Wines are not moving, and as such, there was less new stuff to taste.
Two years ago, we had some 80 wines; this May, we were at 40+ wines. There were a few wines that Avi missed, and a few I wished he was able to see evolve, but that is the game as we know it!
The wines were tasted in classic region/style order: Rosés, whites, Wines from Spain and Italy, a single Burgundy, Bordeaux/Blend wines, and I think that is it.
Rose Wines
We had a total of 10 Roses, and there was just one 2024 Rose in the stores. The rest of the wines came from a combination of Mercier Wines, Capcanes Winery, Terra di Seta Winery, and Taieb wines. The hands-down best Rose I had so far this year is locked away in Paris, and that is the 2024 Château Sainte Roseline Lampe de Méduse – Cru Classé Rosé. This is the first time I have tasted this wine, and it was clean, controlled, and refreshing. That is a wine to BUY lots of for the summer.
I have often posted about Taieb wines, and if you want to read the whole background, read the first post I made here.
The 2024 Cave D’Esclans Whispering Angel and the 2024 Château Sainte Roseline Lampe de Méduse – Cru Classé Rosé are the two Rose WINNERS from the tasting. The 2024 Elvi Wines Vina Encina Rosado was a solid wine, along with the N.V. Summer Ice Rose.
White Wines
We tasted through a lot of white wines. One of them I brought from the USA for Avi to taste was the 2023 Alex Rubin Arinto. That is a wine that I posted about earlier and one that Avi loved as much as I did. The 2023 Chevalier De Marmorieres Blanc was a shocking WINNER find along with the always enjoyable Herenza White. I have no idea why the Herenza White doesn’t move well in the USA; I have no idea! Folks buy a few and try.
On a slight rant, I will start with the positives, thankfully, we have more kosher white wine available now than ever before, PERIOD! However, what is clear is that the kosher-buying public has made Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay their next Cabernet Sauvignon! I am happy you are all starting to enjoy white wines – finally! But good Lord, there are OTHER white wines out there! As stated, I am firmly on the ABC train, outside of a few Cali and France. Sauvignon Blanc is a wonderful grape and please ignore EVERYTHING that Avi says to the contrary, it is not his fault, he has issues with good wine!
Now, all I see is that white wines that are not Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc linger on physical or virtual shelves. Thankfully, most of you get Riesling, almost. But that is it! You guys killed the only good Albarino from Ramon Cardova because you all refused to buy it! The Herenza is the same, and this wine is 30 to 40 percent Sauvignon Blanc! OK, I’ll give up and stop my rant here! TRY OTHER white wines – please!
The rest of them are wines that you can try and see if you like.
Italian and Spanish Wines
Overall, the red wines were split between Italy/Spain and Burgundy/Bordeaux. However, the hands-down leader in QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) WINNER scores was Spain and Italy. Spain and Italy had 12 wines, and 7 of them won the QPR score of WINNER.
I must be honest here, I drove everyone crazy! Moises at ElviWines, Jurgen at Capcanes Wine Cellars, and Daniele at Terra di Seta. All of them were very kind to send us samples. The cool thing is, we got to taste Terra di Seta wines long before they appear on the USA shores, or at least before they are released for sale. The same can be said for Elvi Wines; we tasted yet unreleased wines here in the USA. Finally, the Capcanes wines may be released, but either way, they are solid. Our sincere thanks to all of them for taking the time and sharing their excellent work with us!
The seven QPR WINNERS were the
- 2022 Elvi Wines Adar
- 2022 Elvi Wines Herenza, Crianza
- 2023 Capcanes Peeraj Ha’abib
- 2021 Terra di Seta Chianti Classico, Riserva
- 2021 Terra Di Seta Guiduccio
- 2022 Elvi Wines El26
- 2019 Terra di Seta Chianti Classico, Assai, Gran Selezione (which Avi did not taste).
The 2022 EL26 was another stunning Grenache-based red wine, and I cannot say it enough, Elvi is crushing it over and over and over again! The Adar is a lovely Mevushal option that is not sold here in the USA, though it sells nicely in Israel. The 2022 Elvi Herenza Crianza is equally impressive.
Terra di Seta has once again released some lovely new wines, but they will not be available in the USA for a bit. The 2021 Terra di Seta Chianti Classico, Riserva is beautiful, along with the 2021 Terra Di Seta Guiduccio, which shows more refined than the 2020 Guido. Finally, the wine that Avi did not taste, the 2019 Terra di Seta Chianti Classico, Assai, Gran Selezione, is mind-blowing! Pure mushroom and soy sauce heaven.
A single Burgundy and Bordeaux Wines
As is familiar with our hotel wines, they open slowly and they are very hard to get a grip on until we are almost on a plane home. I have no idea why this is the case; it feels like it is the curse of the hotel, but we have stayed in different hotels, and the theme remains the same. Also, this phenomenon happens ONLY with Bordeaux wines. The rest of the red wines we taste and the whites open as we expect. The 2020 and 2021 Chateau Olivier Blanc are wines that took 6 days to come around. The 2023 Chateau de Rayne Vigneau Grand Vin Blanc Sec took 6 days to open! I have no idea, no explanation. I am not a chemist, and I am not going to speculate. What I will state is FACT! Wines we taste in the hotel room, for reasons unexplained, just take a LONG time to come around.
So, it was NO surprise when the main wines we were looking forward to tasting went silent for three days. The 2022 Château Angelus Carillon de l’Angélus was closed for four or more days. The 2022 Relais de La Dominique was literally red water for three days. The 2022 Chateau Haut Condissas Prestige was an open book from the start. The 2022 Château Tour Baladoz was closed for two or more days. The 2022 Chateau Haut Brisson may have been the WORST of the bunch – changing over four days from red water to a lovely wine. The 2022 Chateau du Courneau was there and available from the start! The 2022 Vieux Chateau Chambeau Reserve was as open as the time I had it in San Jose. I bought it to make sure that Avi tasted it.
The TRUE SHOCKER was the 2022 Chateau Rocher Gardat! Yes, you have a good memory. We tasted this wine back in 2024. However, my memory isn’t as good, so when I am walking around Paris, I buy what I see. Turns out it was indeed a wine we had tasted and given time to come around, and it never did. HOWEVER, this time, the wine was a shocking WINNER! It showed incredible acidity, pop, and fruit structure, and for the price, GOOD LORD, that is a clear WINNER for Bokobsa! The joy of a feeble mind when in Paris!
In case you were wondering there were four QPR WINNER wines. I will leave it up to you to guess, or you can look below. One of them should be STUPID obvious, the other two, not so much, but hey, that is the joy of wine!
The rest of the wines were average and available, but not exciting.
Where can you buy these wines?
The Taieb wines will find their way to the USA through a menagerie of importers. Those include Liquid Kosher, Kosher Wine, and Victor Wines, which I continue to be baffled at where these wines actually sell, outside of Florida! The Elvi wines are already available in the USA. The Capcanes Cellar wines are already here. The Terra di Seta wines are now available in the USA, but their release will be delayed until the current stock is depleted. Then you have the Mercier Wines, none of which are here, I think. The 2022 Chateau Haut Brisson, 2023 Chateau Angelus Tempo d’Angelus, and the 2022 Château Angelus Carillon de l’Angélus are either available in the USA or on their way; I’m not sure. I saw a bottle on social media, but we can’t be sure if it’s actually here or was brought in by hand.
The 2022 Vieux Chateau Chambeau Reserve is readily available in the USA,
The Mercier wines will find their way here once the previous vintages are sold. As for the rest of the wines, I have no idea!
As always, the 2022 Pavillon de Leoville Poyferre is the Non-Mevushal version of the wine, and is only available in France, the UK, and Israel. We bought it because we couldn’t get a tasting of it – sadly, it didn’t show any better than its Mevushal version.
I have no idea what is going on with all the 2022 Rollan de By wines. These were all made by Taieb, but for some reason, they are not being imported into the USA, and they are hard to find in France, as well. The Condissas is a clear WINNER, but that only helps if you can find it!
Thoughts on this tasting
OK, so overall, this tasting was great! This was better than previous tastings because the 2022 vintage has shown far better than I originally imagined, unlike other hotel wine tastings. Of the 40+ wines that we tasted, 31 of them garnered scores that would be acceptable to most people. That is a great showing! 31 of 40+ wines! Good stuff! Still, Kosher plonk exists in spades in all regions of the world! The USA may have the largest availability to them, but Paris is not far behind!
Regarding other wines from France that people will ask me about, the answer is that we tried. We sent out emails and received initial responses, but all subsequent follow-up emails were directed to the Spam Bucket. Sometimes, I wonder if French people hate us Americans! Anyway, the winning lineup is impressive and holds wines that you should be buying. I sure will! There are a couple of wines that were not in that picture, but the scores will make clear they deserved to be there. The issue was that one wine was not delivered until after Avi left, and the others improved after that time as well. So, like I said, these wines take time to come around.
Before I forget – Avi took all the pictures from this trip, so if you dislike them, blame him. If you love them, disregard the previous sentence! Thanks, buddy!! Thankfully, this time we got all the wine pictures!
Finally, 100% of the deliveries were to the hotel this time. I have essentially stopped bothering my man Ari Cohen, AKA El-Presidente of Bakus Wines. He has essentially become totally AWOL on our trips. I think the more I go to Paris, the less I get to see him – maybe I am finally becoming a Parisian! Thanks for all the help, as always, buddy!
The wine notes follow below in the order that they were tasted. The explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:
2023 Jean-Philippe Marchand Aloxe Corton, Sous Chaillots, Aloxe Corton – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is solid, with pomegranate, dried cranberry, plum, cherry, rich smoke, roasted herbs, minerality, and red floral notes. The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is lovely; it is ripe, not candied, more like a Pommard or Volnay, with incredible acidity, nice balance, along with layers of ripe and juicy pomegranate, dried cranberry, tart and juicy Bing cherry, all wrapped in mouth-draping tannin, rich smoke, and lovely roasted herbs. The acidity, juicy fruit, and smoke take center stage. Bravo! The finish is long, ripe, balanced with smoke, ripe, tart, and juicy fruit, with floral notes, and bitter mint flavor. Bravo! Drink by 2030, maybe longer; it feels missing in the tannin. (tasted May 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)
2024 Elvi Wines Vina Encina Tinto, La Mancha (M) – Score: 82 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose of this wine is a bit too ripe and shows more like a Beaujolais than a Tempranillo. Showing candied lifesaver and blue fruit. The mouth of this light-bodied wine is ripe, candied, without the acidity it needs, but it has fruit that is candied and is a bit green as well. Drink by 2025. (tasted May 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)
2022 Elvi Wines Adar, Ribera del Jucar (M) – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is ripe, but more controlled than previous vintages, with nice minerality, smoke, soy sauce, and roasted meat aromas. The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is ripe, and the acidity is great, with notes of soy sauce, sweet oak, blackberry, plum, nice graphite, soft tannin, and roasted herb. The finish is long, ripe, and candied, yet balanced with acidity, featuring notes of charcoal, sweet vanilla, roasted meat, and soy sauce. Drink by 2027. (tasted May 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 13%)
2022 Elvi Wines Herenza, Crianza, Rioja – Score: 91 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is nice, showing good acidity, pop, tart fruit, loads of smoke, intense sweet dill, hickory, ripe fruit, nice coffee, and umami. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is lovely. There is nice sweet oak, but the wine is balanced, with great acidity and smoke. At first, it is closed, but with time, it reveals blackberry, plum, and dark cherry flavors, along with a smooth mouthfeel, fine tannin, and lingering smoke. The finish is long, ripe, and balanced, with more sweet oak, intense sweet dill, lovely vanilla, and deep loam. Nice!! Drink by 2028. I think this vintage will not last as long. (tasted May 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 14%)
2023 Capcanes Peraj Ha’abib, Montsant – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
This is a return to what I liked about Peraj Ha’abib in the past: smoky, dirty, earthy, charcoal, and tar-driven wine, with nice red and blue fruit. The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine, with ripe blackberry, plum, juicy boysenberry, smoke, tar, charcoal, intense tannin, and layers of fruit that come at you, and yet you are almost refreshed – an intense experience that has the bracing acidity to pull it all off. The finish is long, spicy, with smoke, cloves, vanilla, cinnamon, and more tar and charcoal. Bravo! Drink until 2030. (tasted May 2025) (in Paris, France) (ABV = 15%)
Another awesome list of Elvi Wines
OK, so this week was the craziest one I have had both professionally and communally in a very long time, but I refuse to not post every week and hopefully more until I catch up.
So, enough about me, and Gemar Chatima Tova to you all. May you all be blessed with a year/life filled with all the good you can carry and then more, health, happiness, success, and many good wines to share with friends and family!
So, now back to wine, this post is about Elvi Wines, I have written many times about Elvi Wines, and the first post I wrote about Moises and Elvi Wines is this. Truthfully, nothing has changed about that post, in regards to Elvi Wines, other than the labels and a few wines being dropped to streamline the marketing of the wines. My next main post on Elvi Wines was when I visited the winery with my wife. The longest post, wine-wise was when I flew over for two days and we did a crazy number of verticals with Moises and Anna!
Before, in between, and after, I have been consistently posting their wines in my QPR posts, wines of the year, and so on. Why? Because they make exceptional wines at reasonable prices and they make a great selection of them under many labels. The labels have evolved, and some wines dropped, but overall, since I met Moises one day in San Francisco, tasting through the wines, I heard the story, the dream, and we have all been blessed to watch the trajectory of the winery. It continues to evolve, creating wonderful wines for a reasonable price while proving that Cabernet Sauvignon is not the only red wine that you can sell to the kosher wine buyer.
It is still harder to sell wines as diverse and different as Elvi does. There is no Cabernet, and there is no Merlot, they find their way into the EL26 blend, but overall, Elvi is an expression of Spain – not an expression of the kosher wine palate. Elvi typifies Spain to the kosher buyer more than any other option and it has continued to excel in doing it. Sadly, we have seen Capcanes, which is a 5-minute drive from Clos Mesorah, take a large step backward. They too showed the potential of Spain, as a new-world wine in old-world clothing. Sadly, they have drunk from the same fountain of fruit, that so many Israeli wineries have, and they have lost their way. Thankfully, Elvi Wines, Clos Mesorah, and Vina Encina continue to not only execute great wines they also are improving and growing with new vineyards and winery plans.
Many of these wines were sent to me by Moises in May and I tasted them in my Paris Hotel room, an absurdity I am want to do! That happens when your friends bail on you! Yeah, you know who you are!! LOL!
The wine that made me wake up, from my jetlag, and take notice was the 2017 and 2018 Elvi Wines Herenza, Reserva, Rioja. A pair of lovely wines. The 2018 outshined the older brother. We have had great Reserva wines from Elvi, but this one, the 2018, is at a different level, BRAVO!! We had it again, at the KFWE London and there I marveled at it again. Just a crazy good wine!
There are another SIX QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) WINNER wines out of 11. Bravo Moises and Anna, you guys keep raising the bar. Achieving what few can do and blessing us with wines to truly enjoy, wines that are refreshing, captivating, and enjoyed by all! There is FIVE Mevushal wine hiding in here, yes Mevushal! I know! Overall Moises does Mevushal well so that is not a big issue here. Still, thankfully, Moises is not boiling Clos Mesorah or Reserva!
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A lovely and expansive vertical tasting at Elvi Wines Clos Mesorah in Montsant – Nov 2021
So, a quick recap of my life over the past 45 days. I was in Paris in November along with Avi Davidowitz of Kosher Wine Unfiltered. Avi and I tasted lots of wines and more posts about those wines are forthcoming. Avi left a few days after he arrived to return to his family in Israel for Shabbat and I stayed Shabbat in France. On Sunday I flew to Spain to taste wines with Moises and Anne, which I will be posting here. Then I flew back to Paris, hung out with family, and then flew home.
Two weeks later, I was back on a plane to Tanzania to climb Kilimanjaro. During the 2 weeks I was home I was training or working the entire time, so I barely got the Royal Wine tasting post up! Thankfully I climbed it safely and returned home. The 7 days on that mountain was the longest stretch of my adult life away from a computer, totally surreal for me! Anyway, I am now home and I will be working on my posts, God willing!
So, now back to wine, this post is about Elvi Wines, I have written many times about Elvi Wines, the first post I wrote about Moises and ElviWines is this. Truthfully, nothing has changed about that post, in regards to Elvi Wines, other than the labels and a few wines being dropped to streamline the marketing of the wines. My next main post on Elvi Wines was when I visited the winery with my wife. Before, in between, and after, I have been consistently posting their wines in my QPR posts, wines of the year, and so on. Why? Because they make exceptional wines at reasonable prices and they make a great selection of them under many labels. The labels have evolved, some wines dropped, but overall, since I met Moises one day in San Francisco, tasting through the wines, I heard the story, the dream, and we have all been blessed to watch the trajectory of the winery. It continues to evolve, creating wonderful wines for a reasonable price while proving that Cabernet Sauvignon is not the only red wine that you can sell to the kosher wine buyer.
It is still harder to sell wines as diverse and different as Elvi does. There is no Cabernet, there is no Merlot, sure they find their ways into the EL26 blend, but overall, Elvi is an expression of Spain – not an expression of the kosher wine palate. Elvi typifies Spain to the kosher buyer more than any other option and it has continued to excel in doing it. Sadly, we have seen Capcanes, which is a 5-minute drive from Clos Mesorah, take a large step backward. They too showed the potential of Spain, as a new-world wine in old-world clothing. Sadly, they have drunk from the same fountain of fruit, that so many Israeli wineries have, and they have lost their way. Thankfully, Elvi Wines, Clos Mesorah, and Vina Encina continue to not only execute with great wines they also are improving and growing with new vineyards and winery plans.
I arrived a few hours late because the train systems in Spain are massively antiquated and stopped running for a few hours. Once I arrived, we had the opportunity to start tasting through many a wine. The plan was simple, taste through the wines of Elvi, in a few verticals. A Vertical tasting, in this example, is when you taste the same wine across many vintages. After some tasting, we would have dinner and then go to sleep. The next day we would taste more, go out and see some lovely architecture, then swing by the new vineyards in Priorat, and then finish the tasting, get dinner, and then sleep early as the flight back to Paris is early.
As stated, eventually I got to the winery and the first vertical we did was all the Clos Mesorah wines from 2009 through 2019, except for the 2011 and 2012 vintages that do not exist. That was followed by a partial vertical of Herenza White (AKA InVita) wines. I appreciate tart and acidic wines like the Invita and they showed well, including some with age on them.
The tastings were really fun because tasting through Clos Mesorah is an opportunity to taste through the years of Priorat. Some vintages were very unique, while others were much akin to each other. Each one spoke of the vintage in their own ways, really inspiring. The one constant is acidity, deeply rooted, much akin to Four Gates and Chateau Malartic. Of course, Clos Mesorah is not as old-world as Chateau Malartic, but it has the acidity from its old-world terroir to balance some of its new-world fruit structure. Four Gates Merlot has the same staying power because of the acid that is so deeply core to its very being.
Tasting with Moises Cohen and Anne was a real joy. I have tasted with them before but this time the lineup was far more extensive and that gave me a chance to see what they look for in wine as they described what they thought they liked about the wines and what stood out in each of them, from their perspective. My notes are always what I taste, but my blog will attempt, at times, to emote some of what I hear from the winemaker or the host. In this case, Anne is very clearly passionate about the wine, it shows from the conversations and the notes she describes. Moises is equally passionate, but you can see him defer to Anne when it comes to the wine. Moises cut his teeth in the wine world on the vines and the terroir but eventually, that comes to the wine. The saying goes; wine is made in the vineyard. Together they make a dynamic duo that comes out in many ways. The artistry of the wine, the labels, the overall style they want – that is a duality between Anne and Moises, but Anne seems to take the lead there. In regards to the vineyards, the plushness of the wine, the weight, the overall mouthfeel, there Moises tends to lead, though Anne is side by side as well. The dance is fascinating to watch, explore, and just stand to the side and let happen. Overall, this tasting left me super happy for many reasons. First of all, Clos Mesorah is one of the most consistently great wines out there, even if the track record is a bit short. However, what stood out is the dance between Moises and Anne and the mutual respect they have for each other. Fun times indeed.
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The start of 2020 roses and whites and six QPR WINNERS
I am going to keep this post real short. I am catching up on some wines that I have tasted over the past month or more. Sadly, most of these are a mess or just good enough. Thankfully, there were six QPR (Quality to Price) Winners. That included the 2017 Carmel Riesling, Kayoumi Vineyards. I have said this a few times, Rieslings need time! 2017 is no different. It needed time to come around and now it is a solid QPR WINNER.
Roses are slowly trickling in and on kosher wine sites, you can see as many as 20 2020 roses. Sadly, it takes time for them to get to me, so I will start my usual procession of rose wines in a subsequent post, as they get to me here in California. So far, like 2019, they are a mess, and they feel like a total waste of my money.
In the end, the QPR WINNERS are no surprise! The 2020 Covenant Sauvignon Blanc is a solid wine and one that has lovely control and acidity. Having a wine like this with all that mother nature threw at California in 2020, I say Bravo to Covenant Winery! There are two Netofa Latour QPR WINNERS and OMG they are absolute ROCK stars. Please do me a favor and GET THEM! They will move fast! The 2016 Terra di Seta Chianti Classico, Riserva is another absolute Rock Star! Finally, the last QPR WINNER was the new vintage of the Flechas Gran Malbec a lovely wine that is not ready yet but will be nice when it is.
There were a few wines that were not winners:
- The much-ballyhooed 2018 Capcanes Peraj Ha’abib. I had it and it was a mess to mess. It was ripe from the start and while that ripeness did calm a bit it never really came around and for the most part, it was just OK.
- I was not a fan of any of the Carmel Mediterranean Vats wines. The 2019 Mediterranean 2 Vats white wine was ok, but it felt to me like it has RS (Residual Sugar) and that does not fly with me at all.
- The 2017 Marciano Terra Gratia was shockingly ripe and is probably the most elegant Date-juice driven wine I have ever tasted. I could be convinced, at gunpoint, to enjoy that wine, based solely on its elegance.
- The 2018 Dalton Petite Sirah was nice enough, but for the price, and the overall quality, it was a miss for me.
- Sadly, the 2018 Koenig wines continue to not impress, other than the lovely Riesling
- I tasted a large number of Victor Wines and none of them were any good.
While these other wines were not WINNERS they were quite enjoyable:
- I got to taste the new 2018 Dampt Freres Bourgogne. It is a much better version than the 2017 vintage. Sadly, the wine will probably sell for a price that does not let it be a QPR WINNER. I hope future wines will be priced lower. The sad truth is that there are few good QPR WINNER wines in the simple red wine category. It is a very hard nut to crack both in regards to making good wine and keeping it at the QPR price for that category, which is 20 or so dollars, at this moment.
- There were two nice 2019 Vitkin Wines the 2019 Vitkin Pinot Noir and the 2019 Vitkin Israeli Journey. These wines are solid, both a 90 score, but the prices are still too high for such wines. They are both simple reds and they price above the 20 dollar price range for simple red wines. They punch MUCH higher in regards to quality. The median score for simple reds is 87, at this moment. Again, getting a red wine to score WINNER in the simple red wine category is really tough!
- The Twin Sun white and Rose wines have been doing a great job, which is no surprise, as the Weiss Brothers know how to make great white and Rose wines. The 2018 Twin Suns Chardonnay-Viognier is a nice wine and at a very good price! Nice!
- The famous Matar Sparkling wine was nice enough, but it is not nearly as good as the Yarden Sparkling wines and it is more expensive. The bottle is nice!
- I had the chance to taste the 2017 Chateau Leoville Poyferre again, under less than perfect conditions, NO NOT the KFWV bottle, and I have revised notes, but the score stays the same.
The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here:
2020 Rose Wines
2020 Flam Rose – Score: 89+ (QPR: EVEN)
The nose on this wine is nice, with floral notes, with strawberry, flint, and red fruit. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is nice, with good acid, nice mouthfeel, with a good fruit-focus, nice strawberry, currants, and good grapefruit. (tasted January 2021)
2020 1848 2nd Generation Rose – Score: 84 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose on this wine is nice enough with notes of rosehip, floral notes, citrus, and mineral The mouth on this medium-bodied wine is nice, with good acidity, and not much else, with more citrus, grapefruit, currants, and strawberry. The finish is long, acidic, and more currants and flowers. (tasted January 2021)
2020 Herzog Lineage Rose (M) – Score: 80 (QPR: NA)
Sadly, this is off-dry, it has sweet notes and not my thing. The nose on this wine has a Muscat feel, with floral notes, pineapple, cooked cabbage, and red fruit. The mouth on this medium-bodied wine has no acid, is sweet, ripe, guava, melon, and no citrus, no acid, tropical, and not much else. (tasted January 2021)
2020 Shiloh Rose (M) – Score: 73 (QPR: NA)
The nose on this wine is tropical and ripe, with hints of mineral, and citrus. The mouth on this wine is where it all goes bad, sweet, unbalanced, bitter, a mess. (tasted January 2021)
Wines ordered in score order
2016 Terra di Seta Chianti Classico, Riserva – Score: 93+ (QPR: WINNER)
This is one of the most balanced versions of the Riserva in a very long time. The Riserva is normally undrinkable for a few years, this one is far more accessible than any previous version – WOW! The nose on this wine is incredible, with mushroom, truffle, soy sauce, tar, with floral notes of violets, and earth, smoke, and rich dark fruit, WOW! The mouth on this full-bodied wine is incredible, tannic, gripping, earthy, smoky, and fruity, with lovely tart cherry, currant, plum, and ripe blackberry, with rich earth, loam, mushroom, intense saline, black olives, with intense acid, and mouth-drying and draping aggressive tannin, wow! The finish is long, black, green, and earthy, with umami, soy sauce again, with incredible floral notes, leather, tobacco, tar, and richness, wow! Bravo!! Drink from 2025 until 2033. (tasted January 2021)
2017 Chateau Leoville Poyferre, Saint-Julien – Score: 93+ (QPR: EVEN)
The nose is beautiful and well-controlled with crazy pencil shavings, rich black, and blue fruit, followed by tar, earth, smoke, and licorice. The mouth on this medium to full-bodied wine is closed to start with layers upon layers of currants, dark cherry, blackberry, with mouth draping tannin, crazy mineral, pencil shavings galore, with plush elegance that is plush, mouth-coating, yet the ripeness in the background is ripe and scary, but hedonistic and voluptuous, with layers of tar, earth, licorice, bell pepper, and loads of tannin galore, showing elegance and plushness, with clear hedonistic leanings and graphite/acid core that makes it all work. The finish is long, black, green, and tannic, with plush fruit and smoke, with tobacco, chocolate-covered coffee bean, and earth galore. Bravo!! Drink from 2028 until 2037 (tasted February 2021)
Domaine Netofa Winery – 2019 winery visit
For the first time in a long time, my post on Netofa winery is not months after I visited! I went with Avi Davidowitz of Kosher Wine Unfiltered, and as always Pierre Miodownick, head winemaker of Domaine Netofa Winery was beyond gracious with his time and his wines.
I have already posted my feelings about the 2017 whites and the 2016 reds in my previous post on the Domaine Netofa Winery in December 2018. I have also already posted some of the 2018 whites and rose wines as part of a large blind tasting after the winery visit. Domaine Netofa is a winery I have posted about often, and it may well be a winery I post the most of on my blog, besides Tzora Vineyards. That kind of tells you what I think about those two wineries. Pierre Miodownick is the head winemaker at Netofa, and he has been there since the winery’s inaugural 2009 vintage.
Thankfully, the winery is still one of the last bastions of normalcy, when it comes to white and red wines in Israel, along with a few others. I have found Netofa’s white and rose wines from the 2018 vintage to be quite lovely and unique. The red wines are solid with only the red Tel Qasser from 2016 being a wine I still cannot bring myself to love.
Sadly, the availability of these wines continues to be an issue here in the USA. I really wish Netofa could find an importer already and get us some fun Israeli red and white wines to enjoy here in the USA. Until then, you need to go to Israel to buy and enjoy them.
Yes, I know the rumors, I know. However, until their wines are in the USA and in my house I will reserve my optimism. That is in no way a judgment on Netofa, but more of a hope and a way to not jinx the return of one of the best kosher wineries in Israel from returning to our shores.
Wines to come:
- There will be a 10-year Tawny port released soon from the 2010 vintage.
- There will be a 2018 wine based upon Mourvedre, with a bit of Syrah. Look for it in a year or so.
My many thanks to Mr. Miodownick and the winery for letting me come by and enjoy the wines with him! The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here:
2018 Domaine Netofa, White – 90 to 91
I have had this wine 4 times now. Some shows like pineapple juice and others show beautiful like this one here. What can I do, I think this wine has a deep-rooted tropical backbone, but the mineral up front is so good that it hides the backbone.
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.
2017 Netofa Latour, White – Score: 91 to 92
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. Read the rest of this entry
Domaine Netofa Winery – March and November 2018
As always, I am super late on posting notes, and this post is no different. This past year, I have been really busy, and while I am thankful for that fact, it has put a crimp on my wine posts. Well, now I have been freed up a bit, and I am catching up on lost time.
In March 2018, I visited with Mr. Miodownick and on my latest trip in November, I had no time to get up north. So, I got all the current wines from Pyup and tasted them as part of the two blind tastings. Domaine Netofa is a winery I have posted about often and maybe the most posted about winery on my blog, besides Tzora Vineyards, that kind of tells you what I think about those two wineries. Pierre Miodownick is the head winemaker at this winery, as he has been since the winery’s inaugural 2009 vintage.
Thankfully, the winery is still one of the last bastions of normalcy, when it comes to white and red wines in Israel, along with a few others. Sadly, at the blind tasting, the 2017 Domaine Chenin Blanc was corked, but my notes for it from the March tasting can be found here. The 2016 red wines were a bit of a mixed bag, with some of them showing more ripeness, even for Netofa. The 2017 roses were fun, but they are all sold out already, and that is good, as 2017 roses should not be around anymore. The 2017 white Latour seemed to feel lacking in the blind tasting, though it was still elegant.
Sadly, the availability of these wines continues to be an issue here in the USA. I really wish Netofa could find an importer already and get us some fun Israeli red and white wines to enjoy here in the USA. Until then, you need to go to Israel to buy and enjoy them.
My many thanks to Mr. Miodownick and the winery for letting me come by and enjoy the wines with him, even if this post is many months late! The wine notes follow below – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here:
2017 Domaine Netofa Chenin Blanc – Score: 91
Really lovely wine, showing hints of oak which does not exist in this wine, along with lovely flint, peach, dry straw, and yellow pear, with mineral. The mouth is really lovely with nice bracing acid, followed by tart grapefruit, citrus, quince, and great mineral. The finish is crazy fun, with intense pith, spice galore, and lovely herb, slate, and pith. Lovely! Drink by 2020. (Sadly this is only available in Israel).
2017 Domaine Netofa Tel Qasser, White – Score: 91 to 92 (tasted blind in November)
Lovely wine, sadly I knew what it is, lovely Roussanne, showing earth, mineral, rich brightness, with loads of heather, lovely floral notes, with straw, yellow plum, and apple. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is layered, rich, and nicely extracted, showing rich oily structure, with layers of green apple, quince, lovely richness, with mineral, grass, straw, and lovely acidity showing long with flowers, and rich lemongrass. Lovely!! Drink until 2022. (Sadly this is only available in Israel). Read the rest of this entry
Domaine Netofa Winery – when once is not enough
In late November, 2016, I asked Pierre Miodownick if I could come by the winery to taste his new 2014 Latour Netofa red, and he was very kind to let me come by again. I normally visit Netofa Winery once a year in February, and I taste the new wines of that vintage. This time, there was no 2015 vintage, yet I came anyway to taste the new 2014 Latour White, and re-taste some older wines, in early 2016.
When I arrived – Mr. Miodownick was there and we tasted through many of his wines again. I must say, that netofa reds and whites age so well, like classic French wines. I have posted often about Netofa Winery in the past four years, and I think it is one of the top 5 wineries in Israel, when you look at its quality, price, and the fact that they rarely to ever have duds. Add in the fact, that they make great old world wines in a New world climate, for both the reds and whites, and you quickly understand why they are in my top 5 of Israeli kosher wineries.
This time we once again tasted some lovely older wines, side-by-side some newer ones and once again I was blown away from how old-world the wines tasted. Mr. Miodownick really has it down pat by now, and as the vines grow older and get more in tune with their environment, the wines will only get better and better.
In case you missed it, I made the 2014 Domaine Latour Netofa red one of my top 25 wines of the year.
My many thanks to Mr. Miodownick and the winery for letting me come by and enjoy the wines with him! My wine notes follow below:
2011 Domaine Netofa Latour White – Score: A-
WOW what a nose! This wine is also 100% Chenin Blanc, but was aged in French oak for 7 months. The nose on this lovely wine is stunning, with rich smoke, flint, green notes, with intense straw, and hay, really lovely floral notes of cassia, and ripe apple but dried fruit as well, lovely. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is rich and viscous, with ripe but dried tart fruit of green apple and quince, with beautiful brioche and straw, along with beautiful mineral, Asian pear, with saline and herb, WOW. The finish is long and buttery with great viscosity, but perfectly balanced with lively acidity, butterscotch, caramel, and lemon, lovely. BRAVO!!
2014 Domaine Netofa Latour White (QPR) – Score: A- to A
So the previous vintages of this wine were medium bodied but this one was full and layered and viscous – impressive! As I said before, these wines are improving and changing as the vines have more age under their belts! WOW what a nose! This wine is also 100% Chenin Blanc, and was aged in French oak for 7 months.
The nose on this wine is equally redolent with notes that are far more Sauvignon Blanc in style than the lees driven funk that I have come to find in this lovely wine, however, it does show the lovely straw, dry grass, mad honey, peach, honeysuckle, and more mineral. While this mouth is full-bodied as the 2013 vintage, it has even more acid, more focus, with dried quince, quince, all balanced well with grapefruit focused citrus, an overall impressive mouthfeel, viscous, tart, bright, with balance of oak influenced notes. The finish is long with saline, hints of bricohe that will show later in the aging process, and honeysuckle! BRAVO! Read the rest of this entry
Domaine Netofa Winery – a world-class shmita observant winery
If you have never heard of Shmita – I doubt you live in Israel. Last year, like many past Shmita years, was very complex for haredi Jews in Israel, as they were not allowed to consume fruits from Israel. Every 7 years, the land needs to lie fallow, and in doing so farmers are without income for the year. The Torah describes that when the Jews are following the laws and abiding by his commands, God will give double or more in the 6th year for the 7th year and the 8th – till food is once again harvested.
Nowadays, that promise is not working, so what happens to the farmers that still want to leave their land fallow? Well, the Israeli government supported some, while other organizations from around the world collected funds to support these courageous farmers. Once such organization; Keren Hashviis, collected some 22+ million dollars. According to this article from vosizneias, Keren Hashviis said that in total 33,000 hectares of land, or 81,500 acres, were left fallow this shmita year, and some 3,500 farmers ceased their work. However, according to the ministries of Agriculture and Religious Services, approximately 200 farms totally ceased agricultural work during the shmita year, or made use of another alternative, while 4,656 farms signed up to the heter mechira system. The article goes on to explain the discrepancy – but what is very clear to me is that this past year was one of the more concerted efforts by Israel and its religious Haredi Jews to move Israel towards truly leaving its lands fallow.
In terms of kosher wineries, there were not many that followed the Shmita concept to its fullest. Interestingly, Vitkin Winery chose 2015 to turn kosher – now that is not an easy plan to work out, though to Vitkin, like many wineries in Israel nothing changed for them by going kosher, and whomever was buying their wines before would not know or care that they were now kosher! Read the rest of this entry
QPR Kosher wine options that I have been enjoying recently
In my state of kosher wine industry post – I lamented at the lack of QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) options in the kosher wine world. Now that is not to say that the options do not exist, as you can see by the number of QPR options on my top wines for Passover last year. Still, given the sheer number of wines in a kosher wine store (many hundreds) and the number of kosher wines on the open market (many thousands), we are left with a very small minority – sadly.
So, I thought I would list the most recent QPR wines I have enjoyed over the past 6 months. I wanted to catch up with wines I had not had till later last year and place them in a single easy to find place.
My hope is that people will enjoy the wines and demand more of them. For instance, the lack of many of the QPR wines from Elvi Wines on the open market. I can find them on Royal’s website and on Elvi’s website, but sadly I cannot find them at many wine stores. Thankfully, Kosherwine has gotten the Elvi Cava back along with the Gilgal Brut, but they have older vintages or no vintages of the Elvi options. Onlinekosherwine.com, also has many of the older Elvi wines. I have spoken with Moises and he says they exist here somewhere in the USA – only God knows where though!!! Sadly, the exact same can be said for Netofa wines – another QPR superstar! Where are the wines? I taste them at KFWE – but they are not at stores, online or at shops!
I hope to one day write a post about wine cellaring, but till I do, understand that certain wines are made to enjoy early, like Cava, most 2014 white wines, and lighter reds. The richer and tannic reds can use time in the cellar and that is normal. This list is not a list of wines that are meant for cellaring, though many can withstand a few years. The idea here is to enjoy these wines now while you let the long-term wines cellar and age. We all have that interest to drink interesting wines and while I agree with that, that is NO excuse to raid the cellar when u have a hunkering for a complex note or flavor. Many of these wines will scratch the itch while the beasts’ lie and settle.
Finally, some of these wines are hard to find and they may have different siblings – I will point out when an older one will be an issue or a newer vintage would not be on the list (like the 2011 Ella Valley Cabernet Franc versus the 2012). The 2012 Ella Valley Cabernet Franc would never be on this list. The 2011 is a fine wine for another year, after that I fear it will turn to date juice.
Also, many of the white/rose/bubbly wines will be repeats from the various posts I made, as most of the 2015 whites and rose are not coming to the USA as they are shmita in Israel. I tried to keep these wines under 30 dollars or so, some are more most are less and that is the point of this list. Of course, that means that for some wineries there will be one or no options, like Matar or Four Gates Winery. Though I could have thrown in the Four Gates Chard – which is a lovely wine, it is still far from my goal to add into this bucket. The same can be said for many more wineries. Also, 2015 Israeli wines are not on this list, actually no 2015 wines are on this list, though Hagafen Winery, has released their 2015, but I have yet to taste them and the 2014 Hagafen wines are the ones on the market anyway. Finally, wines that can only be found in Israel like the epic Tabor Rose of 2014 and the 2014 Reca Gris du Marselan and the yatir rose and the new 2014 Yatir Viognier – and so on. All of these wines are not on this list because they are hard to find, but they are on previous lists I have posted.
So, without further ado – here is my list of kosher QPR winners so far and if you have any more please tell me!! They are listed below without any real order.
2014 Domaine Netofa White – Score: A- (Crazy QPR)
I must say this is clearly the best Netofa white so far, and I hope they continue to impress! The wine is 100% Chenin Blanc sourced from the slopes of Mount Tabor. The nose is redolent with rich and bright quince, straw, mineral, lemongrass, and wet grass. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is lovely and rich mineral bomb, with more hay, spiced quince, now dry fresh cut grass, green apple, Asian pear, along with a crazy dry and insanely tart crab apple. The finish is long – spicy, dirty, and mineral based, with dry fruit, rich ripping acid, cloves, and nutmeg – BRAVO!!!
2013 Domaine Netofa Red – Score: A- (and more) (QPR!)
This wine is a clear step up from the 2012 Netofa Red, that is not putting the 2012 down in any way, it is just that this wine is even better! This wine is a blend of 65% Syrah and 35% Mourvedre. The nose on this wine is redolent and packed with mineral, lovely smoke, flint, ripe plum, lovely blueberry, with currants in the background. The mouth on this full bodied wine is attacks you first with lovely currants, followed by layers of blueberry, floral notes, richer and more extracted than the 2012, with great mineral, dried strawberry, all wrapped in ripping acid, and lovely tannin. The finish is long, extracted, and richly mineral in style, with blackcurrant, draping tannin, while being spiced with cloves, black pepper, sweet her, and hints of pith and lovely acid. BRAVO!!!
2012 Weinstock Cabernet Franc, Cellar Select – Score: A- (Mevushal) (QPR!)
This is not the same wine as the 2011 vintage, which was crazy and great this vintage started off closed and disjointed, but is now showing far better. The nose on this wine is mad green with red fruit notes, and herb. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is nice and round, with green notes, well balanced with good acid, raspberry, plum, earth, more bell pepper, crazy sweet dill, mouth coating tannin, and green foliage. The finish is long with nice enough acid, forest floor, nice butterscotch, good sweet tobacco, cedar, with tannin adding weight. Read the rest of this entry
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