I have been doing these France trips with my friend David Raccah of Kosher Wine Musings for five years now. Until now, David has always come twice a year – in May and November – while I only joined for the November trip. This was mostly due to work scheduling issues, family commitments, etc., and I have to say, often times I missed out by not being there for the May trip. As I always do this with David, I felt that it would be a bit unfair to both the producers and to David to press for wines that he had already tasted and published notes on. In November though, that changed as I asked IDS to provide a few wines that I had missed out on tasting, and it turned in to one of the most epic tastings we had ever had in terms of scores, as it included the 2019 SHL and the 2020 Domaine de Chevalier wines, as well as a number of others that did really well. From that moment, I knew that I really couldn’t afford to keep missing out. It is near impossible to get most of the wines that we taste in France, and that meant I was simply not getting a full picture. So this year I joined in May as well and I was not disappointed. In the hotel we tasted 60+, at IDS seventeen and at Royal twenty-seven wines. Now at Royal, twenty-seven is a not a HUGE tasting. We have done way more than that previously, but don’t forget, November we did thirty-six, and this coming November there are ANOTHER sixty or so Royal wines to taste! So this May tasting is an absolute necessity – just to keep up!
It is also clear by the numbers of wines being produced that we are absolutely in the golden age of kosher wine production. Almost any major appellation can be found kosher – and anything that isn’t, can be made kosher. For that we have to thank, among others, Mr. Menachem Israelievitch. Simply put, the man is on a mission to deliver high quality wines at all price points from as many varied appellations as possible. There is no other person who has singlehandedly influenced the current wine market more than Menachem. When Royal Europe’s original chief winemaker Pierre Miodownick moved to Israel, Menachem didn’t just step in, he has grown this business tremendously. That’s not to say Pierre doesn’t deserve his props, he’s the man that started it all and proved to the high-end châteaus that this model can work. But Menachem has steadily built on that strong base to get to where we are today. All of us who appreciate kosher wine owe him and the rest of the team at Royal a huge debt of gratitude.
As I mentioned above, this was a modest tasting by Royal’s standards with twenty-seven wines in total – but of those, only three were red. So that leaves twenty-four whites and rosés and out of that, outside of the two low end rosés which scored OK, all of the whites relatively impressed – and all were from sought after appellations, some well-known in kosher circles like Pouilly-Fumé, Sancerre, and some less well known like Coteaux du Giennois and Touraine – and even some well-known, but hard to find kosher like a CdP white and a dry Vouvray!. Again, all of this is thanks to Menachem, who really has done an outstanding job.
A couple of other things: I usually start off my posts with comments about the current vintages and how they might show. Ultimately, we tasted VERY few ’23 reds – so it’s too early to really get a good read on the vintage – but I’ll speak more about this and maybe give more of a read on the ’22 vintage when we discuss the “Hotel Tastings.”
One other note, David and I do these tastings together, but rate the wines separately. Our palates differ. Having said that, I doubt that two people have drunk more wine together than David and I have. When I taste a wine, I know if David will like it – I also know what score he will give it and vice versa. To a degree IMHO our palates have synchronized a bit over the years though we clearly each have our preferences and our own scales. In addition, at these tastings we are tasting the same wines, from the same bottles, in the same order, under identical settings. As such, it is no surprise then that we often are in sync to some extent. Is that a bad thing? I don’t think so. With the “hotel wines” at least we give the wines multiple chances to show best, while with the Royal and IDS tastings, these are snapshot tastings –you can save a wine for a couple of hours to see it develops and even ask for a couple of bottles that you think might show differently here and there. Obviously at those tastings we take a “what you see is what you get” approach. Would this or that wine show better with more air or in two days? Maybe, but those are not the options that we are presented. We do the best we can with what is available to us in each circumstance. And I think I can say that we are both grateful that we have the opportunity to taste through these vintages as thoroughly as we do. There is no one else out there doing this much “work” tasting through all of this wine outside of perhaps my friend Yossi Horwitz, who is the only other writer I know flying around the world to taste. For us, it’s weeks of time and a ton of money. Doing it together makes it enjoyable. We pay for it ourselves – our own flights, our own hotels, and in many cases, we pay for the wines – though the big producers like Royal and IDS are gracious and do give us a significant amount of time by setting up dedicated tasting sessions and providing the wines, while the other major producer, Taieb, sends us the samples to the hotel for tastings. Most of the smaller producers sell us the wines that we then review. We do not get paid by the producers or get remunerated by them in any way. So this has been a labor of love for us both. And for my part at least, I do hope that the reader finds these reviews useful. If at times my style of writing (especially on the “hotel wines” post) comes out a bit more flippant, it is no way meant to disparage the efforts made to produce a given wine. Having said that, after the 65th ’21 Bordeaux tinny wine that tastes of candied Jalapeno, you really have to struggle to write something different and keep the reader engaged. So excuse me, but it’s just the nature of the business.
In any event, enough of my ramblings, on to the wines:
Reds
2023 J. de Villebois, Pinot Noir, Vin de France – 14% abv – Mevushal – Starting off with the reds this time around as there are only a few, this is an entry level Pinot from Royal’s Villebois label, which overall has been a big winner in my eyes. On the nose you get some funk, red fruit, cherry, and cranberry. Dark notes. Simple and nice. In the mouth, you get nice acid and a fair amount of tannin. While not super-complex, the wine hits the right notes with nice cherry, cranberry, herbs, and earth; the finish is medium length adding some smoke and some floral notes. Overall this is a very nice basic PN. 90+
La Maison Bleue is a new line of wines developed by Menachem. Even though they often are sourced from a single appellation, they are all being labeled as “Vin de France” to give enough flexibility to change things up year to year or add missing components as Menachem sees fit. I This year, for instance, the Merlot and the CS were both from Bordeaux; the Chardonnay, though, is from the Languedoc region. The target audience here seems to be catering halls and every day easy drinking wines found in supermarkets, etc.; as such, the wines are all mevushal. They are all made in an easy drinking, style.
2023 La Maison Bleue, Merlot, Vin de France – 13% abv – Mevushal – On the nose, you get bright red fruit with nice earthiness and some herb. Nothing too complex or intense, but nice. In the mouth, the wine is ripe but nothing crazy, with nice red fruit, mostly cherry, red plum, and good earth. The wine feels lively if a little unidimensional. There is just enough acidity here to balance out the fruit, with very little tannin. Again, this wine is built for easy drinking. Truth is, I think the ’23 vintage was difficult for the small wines – at least from the limited exposure that we have had to date – so to get something that is really decent and drinkable that is a statement into and of itself. 87.5
2023 La Maison Bleue, Cabernet Sauvignon, Vin de France – 13% abv – Mevushal – Here the profile is VERY similar to the Merlot, except that we are dealing with dark red instead of bright red fruit and perhaps a little bit of smoke. In the mouth, you have more of the same with that darker profile, blackberry, blackcurrant, and maybe some blueberry, some smoke, and again some nice herb. Very simple, nothing complex. My guess is that if you measured these wines, you would find a very similar pH level, but the acid gets a little more lost here due to the darker slightly heavier profile. Still, it’s a nice easy drinking CS that is well made for what it is. 87
Whites
2023 La Maison Bleue, Chardonnay, Vin de France – 14.5% abv – Mevushal – This is another simple wine made in the same style – that is to say, easy drinking wines for everyday – pop and pour. You get apple primarily on the nose and some sort of floral note. In the mouth, you get ripe apple and pear and some floral notes as well. The acidity here for the most part does its job and balances out the rich ripe fruit. Would I like more? Sure, but again, this wine does the job. I just wish it showed a little lighter. 87
2023 La Maison Bleue, Sauvignon Blanc, Vin de France – 12.5% abv – Mevushal – Batting clean-up for the La Maison Bleue series is the Sauvignon Blanc. I have to say, this is the wine I was most excited to taste, as I had hopes that it would be made in a more old-world style – but while I was disappointed on that front, overall it presents as the most balanced of the bunch, even if it’s in a style that doesn’t really do it for me. On the nose, you get a ton of gooseberry and tropical fruit, mostly passionfruit and guava with maybe a hint of mineral. In the mouth, as with the rest of the wines, you get pretty much the same as the nose, with gooseberry taking center stage. Like I said, while not my favorite, it really is very well balanced by the acid, and the mineral that comes in at the end is a nice touch. I will say, this is a wine you want to drink ice cold. When it warms up it does get a little watery for me. 88
2023 Château Les Riganes, Blanc, Bordeaux – 12.5% abv – Mevushal – I liked this wine a touch better than the Maison Bleue. While the gooseberry is also front and center here both on the nose and in the mouth, it feels slightly less tropic overall, though there is guava, but also some nice lemon and good mineral. The acid here is perhaps not AS present as in the previous wine, but the fruit profile works in its favor and for me is a more enjoyable experience overall, if just by a hair. Again, drink this one ice cold. 89
2023 J. de Villebois, Touraine, Sauvignon Blanc – 12.5% abv – Mevushal – Touraine is a Loire Valley AOC. Many other smaller appellations actually sit within its borders (like Vouvray which we will be tasting later on here, as well as Chinon and Bourgeil on the red side and many others) – this is the larger more generic catch-all. The Touraine side of the Loire valley is primarily known for Chenin Blanc (as opposed to Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé, for instance) and so the labeling here as 100% SB is appropriate. I am not a Sauvignon Blanc guy in general, but we are now moving into the style that I like. Here you get some very nice mineral, some nice floral notes mixed with some flinty smoke. In the mouth, you get a lot of the same with really nice flinty mineral, some pear, a little tropical but just a touch – nothing I can really put my finger on specifically, some grapefruit, and some hay. I actually like this profile more than any other wine so far. There is ample acid here to balance out the fruit. The whole thing works. The only issue I have is the finish, which is short. That is actually a sticking point for me. I am sensitive to when the wine drops off suddenly at the end – and this one does – but overall this is a nice step up. 90+
2023 Domaine de Panquelaine, Coteaux du Giennois, Sauvignon Blanc – 13% abv – Mevushal – Moving into the Loire a bit, Coteaux du Giennois is actually closer to Pouilly Fumé and Sancerre than Touraine, and as expected the primary white wine is made of Sauvignon Blanc. Here is a wine that actually needs to warm up before you taste it. When too cold, the wine smells and taste like nothing. When warm though, you get a ton of orange type of citrus and citrus blossom on the nose. In the mouth you get clementines, oranges, and mandarins and a bit of red grapefruit, plus some nice ripe nectarine (whose taste is VERY different from peach!). Here the finish is long, with more citrus and some bitter pith at the end – which is the only off-note on this wine. Unfortunately, it’s what sticks with you. Still, very nice. 90
2023 J. de Villebois, Pouilly Fumé – 13% abv – Mevushal – Moving even further east within the Loire Valley, we get to Pouilly Fumé. As we move eastward, we are also moving up the ladder quality wise. On the nose, we get a little funk mixed with nice lemon and then that smokey flintiness that for me is a hallmark of good Pouilly Fumé. Now here is another wine that should not be drunk too cold. As it warms up, the mouth really becomes expressive and even aggressive with excellent lemon and lime, great smokey flinty mineral and some funkiness with some saline on the finish that has you coming back for more. 90.5
2023 Domaine de Panquelaine, Sancerre – 13% abv – Mevushal – Now we are into Sancerre, and on the nose, we get those floral notes that I love. Having said that, they are on the faint side. Add to that the nice lemon and grassy notes and boom. The mouth here is the weird thing. When the wine is cold, you can barely taste anything. When the wine warms, you get a really nice mouthfeel, but odd bitter (grapefruit pith?) notes sort of come out, that don’t feel in place – mixed with nice lemon and lime. The other issue is the finish, which again is short here. Just misses the mark for me. 89
2023 J. de Villebois, Sancerre – 13% abv – Mevushal –This wine’s descriptors are very similar to the last – though the nose is richer with great floral notes and good citrus, backed with good mineral. In the mouth, you get the lemon and mineral and you DO get the pith, but it feels like it’s a bit of an undertone and doesn’t take over at any point. The length here is also improved. I’m not going to say that the finish is long, but it doesn’t feel short. 91
Rosés
2023 Château Les Riganes, Rosé, Bordeaux – 12.5% abv – Mevushal – On the nose, we have a nice wine with ripe raspberry, grapefruit, and peach. In the mouth, up front the nose repeats with bitter pith dominating at the end. The acid is nice and balancing here. But the wine then totally drops off with no finish and sort of falls apart and becomes watery. 86
2023 Rosé Adasa, Bordeaux – 12.5% abv – Mevushal – This wine presents much redder and fruitier on the nose. In the mouth, you get really nice raspberry, nectarine, and some good saline to keep you going back for more. The acidity is refreshing and feels natural to the wine. While a number of 2023 whites and rosés are plagued by a lack of finish, this is not one of them., The finish here is medium + with raspberry, cream and mineral. I really enjoyed this bottle. 91+
2023 Château Genlaire, Bordeaux – 12.5% abv – Mevushal – The nose of this wine is interesting with peach, raspberry, grapefruit, and smoke! The mouth unfortunately is peach dominated followed by raspberry and that smoke. It’s not a bad wine, just one that doesn’t really work for me personally as I find peach dominated wines lacking balance overall. (I understand that this is not objective – I find that NO rosé reviews are truly objective. There are huge swings in scores from people whom I respect. It is just obvious that personal preferences are always at play. While I believe this is true to some extent across the board with reviews, it is just very obvious when it comes to rosé. At least I own up to it.) 86.5
2023 Ramon Cardova, Rosado, Rioja – 13% abv – On the nose, there is a funkiness here – which I usually love, but sort of sits at the edge of the wine and doesn’t play out well. I am not sure how to describe it better than that. The rest of the nose is a mix of peach, grapefruit, strawberry, and again smoke. The mouth plays similarly to the nose with the odd funkiness not really integrating – and the grapefruit again turns into these bitter pith notes. The other bigger problem is that this is another wine with a lack of finish – which I know I am very sensitive to, but what can you do? 86
2023 Roubine, R de Roubine, Mediteranée – 12% abv – Mevushal – The IGP Mediteranée covers a big part of the southeast coast of France, including most or all of Provence and even a part of the Rhône Valley. On the nose, there seems to be a recurring theme – with red fruit, grapefruit, mineral, and a little smoke. In the mouth, you get strawberry, mineral, and a little smoke. The acid here is nice and the finish is at least medium in length, with more mineral, and strawberry. Overall, this is a nice baseline rosé. 90
2023 Roubine, Hippy, Mediteranée – 12% abv – On the nose, we get a ton of stone fruit with a little red fruit at the very end. In the mouth, again, stone fruit up front – nectarine, apricot, peach with some nice floral notes and some strawberry in back. In the mouth, again a replay of the nose – balanced nectarine, apricot, peach (it’s NOT over the top), strawberry and some nice saline, keeping you coming back for more. There is medium acidity, which does the job, and the finish is also medium length. Overall this wine gets the job done in nice way. This is a huge step up over the previous vintage IMHO. 90.5
2023 Sainte Beatrice, B Rosé, Côtes de Provence – 12.5% abv – This wine presents darker and maybe a touch sweeter than the rosés tasted until now, and that’s fine by me. On the nose, it’s basically strawberry, raspberry, and mineral. Really nice. In the mouth, you get ripe strawberry and raspberry, crème fraiche, a bit of grapefruit, and some nice flinty mineral. The acid is medium + and does a nice job of balancing, and the finish is also medium + with more red fruit, mineral, and some nice saline. Overall, this is a really nice bottle. 91.5
2023 Château Roubine, La Vie en Rose, Côtes de Provence – 12.5% abv – The nose on this wine shows flowers up front followed again by a bit of a darker profile of ripe red fruit and a little smoke. In the mouth, we get good ripe strawberry and even some plum, with nice minerality. It is a touch sweet but that doesn’t bother me. What is missing here is the finish, which is on the short side. Still a nice wine overall. 88
2023 Château Roubine, Premium, Rosé, Cru Classé, Côtes de Provence – 13% abv – On the nose, we get another dark profile with ripe dark red fruit, smoke, and mineral. In the mouth, while the profile is as dark or even darker and riper than the previous two wines, with strawberry, dark red cherry, crème fraiche, and some nice flintiness, the acidity here is really nice and does a great job balancing things out. Overall, the wine feels lighter and more elegant than the previous two despite having a touch more alcohol. I found the finish to be medium in length and actually would have preferred it keep going a bit longer, as it was mineral driven and refreshing, but it’s a minor qualm. 91
2023 Clos de Caille, Anomis, Côtes de Provence – 13% abv – On the nose, a very similar wine to what we have seen before – ripe red fruit, some flint, and this time some floral notes. In the mouth, this wine has some of the problems that we have seen in the wines until now – first, the wine feels ripe and heavy (especially coming after the super elegant wine that preceded it) and I guess could use some acid to brighten it up. Otherwise the profile is pretty nice with strawberry, raspberry, nectarine, and flint. The next problem is the finish, which was really short. Overall, this is not bad, it just could be better. 87
Higher-end Whites
2023 Clos de Caille, Côtes de Provence – 13.5% abv – This wine is 100% Role (Vermentino). On the nose, we have a really complex nose of stone fruit, hay, pear, apple, and nice smoke. In the mouth, the wine is peach forward – but there is enough acid here to balance out the rich peachiness. There is also some nice pear, hay, floral notes, and of course smoke. What can I say, this is a peach heavy wine, and maybe not something that I am going to reach for (again, personal preference), but it is really well made and super balanced. 90.5
2023 Domaine Bourillon D’Orleans, La Coulee d’Argent, Vouvray, Sec – 13.5% abv – Mevushal –It is SO nice to see a Vouvray on the table. In general you get Vouvray in 3 overall styles – dry (Sec) and semi-dry (demi-sec), still wines, dry and semi-dry sparkling wines, and sweet wines (Moelleux and Doux in ascending levels of sweetness). All of these are almost always 100% Chenin Blanc. Menachem made two out of three this year (and if you are looking for a kosher sparkling Vouvray, you might be able to find one that Bokobsa makes that was excellent the last time I had it) . First – this is yet another wine that really needs to warm up a bit to show at its best – PLEASE do not serve this ice cold. One the nose, we get hay, pear, apple, a bit of lemon, and floral notes – pretty classic Chenin Blanc. In the mouth, though you get a wonderful full mouthfeel with nice yeasty notes (all from bâtonnage, this wine saw no oak) with all of the notes we have on the nose repeated in the mouth, but you also get some nice smokey mineral notes as well along with a nice streak of saline. The finish here is nice with hay, quince, and more mineral. This wine is a pleasure to drink – and impressive that they pulled this off mevushal! 92
2023 Domaine Raymond Usseglio & Fils, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Blanc – 14% abv – Let me get this out of the way right now. This wine blew me away. What goes into white CdP you ask? Well in this case, we have five grapes – Grenache Blanc, Clairette, Roussanne, Bourboulenc and Piquepoul. You can smell the mineral and sea air on this wine, followed by stone fruit, green apple, citrus, and then more mineral. In the mouth, you have a powerhouse with beautiful rich ripe fruit nectarine, orange, lime, apple, apricot – and then really nice salinity and minerality that run the whole way through. The acid is intense but well integrated. The finish is long and comes at you in waves and is so complex – you get more mineral and saline more of the fruit and some nice grassy and floral notes. Wow! This wine is a dream for anyone who loves whites. On top of that, this wine has room to GROW and develop. I would likely score higher if I had any experience with it. The score for now is a stunning 93.5
2022 Philippe le Hardi, Bourgogne Côte-D’Or – 13.5% abv – This wine presents VERY differently than the wine we had this past November – though I understand it is the same wine (though for whatever reason, the label now omits “Clos De La Chaise Dieu, Monopole”). There is real depth here. You get some nice, charred notes on the nose that were not present at the other tasting with really nice clean fruit – apple, nectarine, hay. In the mouth, the char sort plays against the fruit in a way that makes you not think of oak, but more “oak adjacent,” giving some real depth. The fruit is all there, with nice saline and good minerality as well. The finish is nice with again more char, apple, pear. Very nice stuff. What a difference a few months can make. 91+
2021 Château Gazin-Rocquencourt, Blanc, Pessac-Leognan – 12.5% abv – To be clear, this is the NON-mevushal version During our last trip, we tasted the mevushal version of this wine – and quite honestly, we always like to taste both versions side by side when possible. I think it would have been great in this case as the wine shows very differently. I can’t tell if it’s the extra six months in the bottle or fact that it’s non-mevushal. In any event, the oak here on both nose and mouth is MUCH more pronounced. But this wine is well made, and it is in check and only adds to the complexity. The primary profile on the nose is the same, gooseberry, grapefruit, and a bit of paraffin – but add to toasty oak notes, which enhance the complexity. In the mouth, we have the same story; the oak is well integrated and adds another dimension to the wine. And the issues with the short finish are now gone (I am quite sure that this difference is mevushal related). It is now long with more paraffin and nice flinty mineral. This wine is really very nice indeed and a big improvement over the mevushal version. 91.5
2023 Domaine Bourillon D’Orleans, La Laviere, Vouvray, Moelleux – 12.5% abv –On the nose, you get the classic honeyed apricot that you would expect, plus nice tropical notes. In the mouth, you have excellent acid balancing out the mango(!), honeydew, apple, apricot, lime, and a nice funkiness that sort of runs through the wine from start through the finish as an undercurrent. Really nice complexity here. The finish long and adds some nice, sweet spice along with fruit and, of course, the wonderful bright acidity. Excellent 92.5
I have to say, our trip to Menachem is always a high point, and this trip did not at all disappoint. Look at the scores on whites across all price-points and various styles and appellations. It’s a masterclass in wine production. Just incredible. My thanks to Menachem and the folks at Royal for hosting as always for these tasting. And on personal note specifically to Menachem and his family for allowing us to take over his home for a day in order to do this at such a professional level. It is very much appreciated.