To start – I really must state something in advance. I am sorry that I missed the chance to properly remember the 10th Yahrzeit of Daniel Rogov’s passing, which occurred on September 7th, 2011 (it may have been the 6th but Israel time and all).

I wrote two of my posts about the man, you can read them here and as such, I will simply say that I miss him as do most of the kosher wine drinking public. So much has changed in the past 10 years, since his passing, and I wonder what kosher wine would be like today if he was still with us. So much of the world is open to the kosher wine world, which was not the case 10 years ago. I wonder if Rogov would have embraced the opening. I wonder if he would have liked or disliked the fact that Israel is producing and importing loads of kosher wine from France and Italy, specially made for the Israeli kosher wine buying community.

I think, in the end, he would have loved all that is changing and we are all worse off by his lack of presence in our lives today. So I raised a glass of 2011 Yarden Blanc de Blanc in his memory and may we all be blessed for having known such a man!

QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Wines

It has been a few months since my last QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) post and many people have been emailing me about some unique wine I have tasted and some lovely wines that are worth writing about.

Thankfully, no matter how garbage and pain I subject myself to, we are still blessed with quite a few wonderful QPR wines out there. This post includes superstars like Herzog Wines’s new 2019 Herzog Eagle’ Landing Pinot Noir, and a few others. It goes to show that when wineries reasonably price superior wines, even 46 dollar wines can be a QPR winner! Sadly, the Eagle’s Landing Pinot Noir is the most superior wine on this list. There are other nice wines to come but for now – this QPR wine list, overall, was not as good as previous lists.

We have an OK list of QPR WINNERS:

1. 2019 Herzog Eagle’ Landing Pinot Noir
2. 2017 Netofa Dor
3. 2019 Chateau Genlaire Grand Vin de Bordeaux
4. 2019 Elvi Vina Encina Blanco
5. 2019 Pacifica Riesling, Evan’s Collection
6. 2020 Domaine Guillerault Fargette Sancerre

There were also a few wines that are a slight step behind with a GREAT or GOOD QPR score:

1. 2020 Domaine Joost de Villebois Pouilly Fume
2. 2019 Domaine du Castel Grand Vin
3. 2019 Nana Chenin Blanc
4. 2019 Nana Cassiopeia
5. 2015 Mad Aleph Blaufrankisch
6. 2019 Aura di Valerie Zaffiro Super Tuscan
7. 2020 Vitkin Israeli Journey, Red
8. 2020 Domaine du Castel La Vie Blanc de Castel
9. 2019 Herzog Malbec, Lineage, Clarksburg – GREAT Value for a varietal I am not a huge fan of
10. 2020 Herzog Variations Be-leaf
11. 2018 Binyamina Sapphire, The Chosen
12. 2020 Tabor Sauvignon Blanc
13. 2020 Bodegas Faustino VI Rioja
14. 2020 Yatir Darom Rose
15. 2020 Recanati Marselan Rose
16. 2020 Arroyo del Imperio Chardonnay

There are a few wines that got a QPR Score of EVEN – meaning expensive or average:

1. 2020 Herzog Sauvignon Blanc, Acacia Barrel Series – very unique but expensive
2. N.V. Herzog Methode Champenoise, Special Reserve – Nice but expensive
3. 2020 Herzog Chardonnay, Chalk Hill, Special Edition – Nice but expensive
4. 2019 Castellare di Castellina Chianti Classico – very unique but expensive
5. 2020 Matar Chardonnay
6. 2019 Capcanes Peraj Ha’abib, Flor de Primavera – Still too ripe for me
7. 2019 Weinstock Cabernet Sauvignon, Cellar Select
8. 2020 Psagot Sinai, White
9. N.V. Drappier Rose de Saignee, Champagne
10. 2018 Les Lauriers de Rothschild
11. 2020 Pacifica Rattlesnake Hills Viognier
12. N.V. Vera Wang Party Prosecco, Brut
13. 2019 Or Haganuz Elima
14. 2019 Binyamina Chardonnay, Moshava

The others are essentially either OK wines that are too expensive, duds, or total failures:

1. 2018 Covenant Cabernet Sauvignon, Lot 70 – Lovely wine but expensive for the quality
2. 2019 Hagafen Family Vineyard Red Blend – Lovely wine but expensive for the quality
3. 2020 Binyamina Moshava Rose
4. 2019 Yatir Creek White
5. 2019 Domaine du Castel La Vie, Rouge du Castel
6. 2017 Barons Edmond & Benjamin de Rothschild
7. 2018 Domaine du Castel M du Castel
8. 2020 Padre Bendicho Rose
9. 2020 Carmel Private Collection Rose
10. 2020 Yatir Darom White
11. 2019 Nana Chardonnay
12. 2019 Segal Marawi Native
13. 2019 Mia Luce Blanc
14. 2019 Nana Tethys
15. 2018 Odem Mountain 1060 Cabernet Franc
16. 2018 Odem Mountain 1060 Red Wine
17. 2017 Odem Mountain Alfasi, Special Reserve
18. 2019 Mia Luce Syrah and Stems
19. 2019 Mia Luce C.S.M.
20. 2017 Tabor Merlot, Adama
21. 2017 Tabor Cabernet Sauvignon 1/11,000, Limited Edition
22. 2019 Chateau de Parsac
23. 2019 Gurra di Mare Tirsat
24. 2017 Tulip Espero
25. 2019 Psagot Merlot
26. 2019 Psagot Cabernet Sauvignon
27. 2018 Jezreel Icon
28. 2019 Psagot Edom
29. 2017 The Cave
30. 2018 Carmel Mediterranean
31. 2020 Yatir Mount Amasa Rose
32. 2020 Flam Camellia
33. 2020 Netofa Latour, White

Some things that made me stand up and take notice (AKA QPR WINNERS):

The real WINNER here, from the entire list, is the lovely 2019 Herzog Eagle’s Landing Pinot Noir, another STUNNING Pinot Noir from Herzog – BRAVO!

There were other high-scoring wines in this overall list, nice wines from Covenant and others, but the prices of those wines put them at a disadvantage in comparison to others in their wine categories, and as such, they have poor to bad QPR wine scores.

In the end, IMHO, the overall list has less quality than the previous QPR list but there are a few nice wines here indeed.

The other WINNERS were the incredible 2019 Elvi Vina Encina Blanco, a lovely Macabeo for 13 dollars! Just lovely! The 2019 Pacifica Riesling, Evan’s Collection, is not as good as previous vintages – but another solid wine that many will enjoy. Finally, we have a Sancerre that I can get up and cheer about and that is the 2020 Domaine Guillerault Fargette Sancerre. It is here in the USA and it is nice!

Other wines worth of note (AKA QPR GREAT or GOOD):

Of these GOOD to GREAT wines – the most interesting of the list, for me, is the 2020 Domaine Joost de Villebois Pouilly Fume. No, it is not as good as the lovely 2019 Jean Pierre Bailly Pouilly Fume, still, it is a Mevushal wine that is reasonably priced, so it gets a solid QPR score. The 2019 Nana Chenin Blanc is nice, but for the price, it is not worth it, and it is DRINK NOW!

The 2019 Domaine du Castel Grand Vin, is nice, yes, but it is too ripe for me and the price is too much for the quality it is, so yeah, nice wine for those that like this style. The 2019 Nana Cassiopeia, is a wine that I found I could taste and at a decent enough price, so yeah, good going.

The 2015 Mad Aleph Blaufrankisch has so many stories revolving around it, that all I can say is, drink it if you like the style. I found it OK, but I do not need to buy any more.

The 2019 Aura di Valerie Zaffiro Super Tuscan is nice enough, but really, why did you need to put those words on the bottle? A Super Tuscon is a term used to describe red wines from Tuscany that may include non-indigenous grapes, particularly Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah. The creation of super Tuscan wines resulted from the frustration winemakers had towards a slow bureaucracy in changing Italy’s wine law during the 1970s (from WineFolly). Why would you place those words on a wine bottle??

The 2019 Herzog Malbec, Lineage is a solid example of what reasonably priced wine from California can taste like! Finally, the newly released 2020 Herzog Variations Be-leaf – handily beats all other no-added sulfite options!

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