As I mentioned in my last post, until now I had only come to France once a year in November on a dedicated tasting trip, while my friend David of Kosher Wine Musings had come a second time in May. The IDS visit is a perfect example as to why I also needed to come twice. The wines that we tasted through this trip included all of the 2022 Aegerter Burgundies as well as all of IDS’s 2021 vintage offerings, in addition to a one-of-a-kind kosher 6 Puttonyos Tokaji. How could I afford to take a shot at not tasting through these?! As I have noted many times, IDS is by no means the second largest producer of kosher wines in France. The top two are clearly Royal and Taieb. But, following Royal, they are the number two producer of higher end wines in France – all but ignoring the lower end of the scale that Taieb excels at. That leaves Royal’s portfolio as probably the most balanced from a cost perspective. But, just because you target the higher end, that doesn’t mean you are going to produce wines that live up to expectations! We have seen many producers try to do kosher runs of higher end French wines only to fail miserably or create excellent one-offs and then desert the producer – or worse, produce horribly inconsistent results after an initial acceptable vintage. IDS has managed to focus on the high end and deliver year after year. That’s not say there aren’t misses! No one bats 1000. But they consistently produce wines that are of exceptional quality year in and year out. This tasting was no exception – and it included their 2021 releases. Now, not all of the ’21 reds escape the characteristics of the vintage. In Bordeaux, the vintage is the vintage. There is no running away from it. Having said that, there are a couple of wines here that absolutely excellent and one which is a steal. These along with a few of the higher end wines from Royal were really the only good kosher Bordeaux wines that the ‘21 vintage produced. Here are my notes:
Champagne Jeeper
A few words on this interesting backstory. Near the end of WWII, some American soldiers who were stationed in France fighting the Germans encountered a vintner who was having trouble collecting his harvest after being injured protecting American soldiers during the fighting. The soldiers helped the farmer by ferrying his grapes back from the vineyard in their Jeep, providing relative security in an otherwise unsecure time. As a tribute to them he named his wine Champagne Jeeper!
NV Champagne Jeeper, Brut, Grand Reserve, Blanc de Blancs – 12% abv – This release is made mostly from grapes of the 2020 vintage with some 2022 added. The nose here is full of wonderful yeasty notes, crème fraîche, lemon curd, and apple. The mouth is layered with apple, lemon, mellow yeasty notes, and a beautiful creamy mouth feel. Absolutely one of the top champagnes. The bubbles are small and give a creamy mousse, adding to the whole textural experience. Great long finish as well. The wine is excellent. It is really well balanced. Beautiful. 92+
NV Champagne Jeeper, Brut, Grand Rosé Rosé – 12% abv – This release is made mostly from grapes of the 2020 vintage with some 2022 added. It is a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The nose here is great. Strawberries and cream – all day, with some yeasty notes in the background. In the mouth, the yeast, as always on rosé, plays a lesser role, though texturally that creaminess that we saw in BdB is all there. You get wonderful ripe red strawberries and raspberries, beautiful cream, and some nice, sweet citrus. The fruit is balanced by the nice acidity. The finish is a touch shorter than the BdB, but it’s barely worth commenting on, with strawberries, raspberries, and cream really being the stars here. This is one of the most enjoyable sparklers I have had in a long time. 93
Bourdeaux White
2021 L’Esprit de Chevalier,Blanc, Pessac-Leognan – 13% abv – The second wine of Domaine de Chevalier, this wine is made up of 80% Sauvignon Blanc and 20% Semillon. Funk dominates the nose here followed by nice ripe citrus, some smoked meat, and really nice overall gaminess, gooseberry, hay, and sweet herb. Wow! The gaminess and funk here make this wine super enticing for me. On the mouth you get lemon, gooseberry, some apple, and then tons of mineral – all with that funk and gaminess enveloping the wine. The finish is long with more mineral, game, lemon, funk, and hay. The only thing giving me caution here is that they used a DIAM5 closure, putting this wine with a drink by date of about 2026. I would have given it at least 3-5 years more than that. It’s that good and seems built to last. Ultimately, I never put drinking windows here – and it wouldn’t change the score anyway. Listen, this is a QPR steal IMHO. Really great, great stuff. 93
2022 Domaine Aegerter Burgundies
Note: Although finished, these wines are NOT released (Ben had just 1 box of each as samples sent to him for the tasting) – so don’t go looking for them anywhere just yet.
2022 Domaine Aegerter, Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits, Les Petites Corvées– 12% abv – The nose here is absolutely stunning with excellent earthy tones, incredible gaminess, and nice ripe red cherry. In the mouth, you get nice ripe red cherry and dark red plum, nice earth and some toast. The acid is nice and does a good job of balancing the very ripe red fruit. The finish is long with sweet herb, some of that gamey meat, and more ripe red fruit. The truth is, the nose is MUCH nicer than the mouth. That’s not to say the mouth is a slouch – but the nose by itself is much better. The wine is a 91.5
2022 Domaine Aegerter, Volnay, Les Grands Poisots – 13% abv – This wine shows much more floral than the previous wine, with violet and rose up front, followed by cherry, raspberry, bramble, and a little bit of roasted meat. In the mouth, the complexity goes up, and you get a much darker fruit profile – dark red cherry, dark red plum, good moist earth, all balanced by bright acidity and a heathy amount of tannin. The finish is long and brightens up with raspberry, cranberry, and cherry, followed by nice notes of herb, tobacco, and a little cigar box. Very nice. 92.5
2022 Domaine Aegerter, Beaune Premier Cru, Les Reversées – 12.5% abv – The nose here is relatively muted with some dark red fruit and floral notes. In the mouth, though, you get pure elegance, dark cherry, dark red plum, and ripe but tart raspberry with nice, toasted herbs, some sweet cedar, and earth. The acid here is prominent throughout. The finish is long with nice fruit focus, nice earth, and some good roasted meat. Firing on all cylinders. 93
2022 Domaine Aegerter, Nuits-Saint-Georges – 13% abv – This is by far the most floral of the noses we have had until now, with tons of violet, nice cherry, herbs, sweet spice, and excellent rich earth. In the mouth, it pretty much has everything you are looking for – great structure with good tannin and wonderful acid balancing out the rich fruit. You have ripe cherry, plum, fresh herbs, sweet spice, and again more of that rich earth. The finish is nice and really long with more herb, tobacco, coffee, all balanced out by a burst of acidity that helps this wine carry on through. Well done! 93+
2022 Domaine Aegerter, Nuits-Saint-Georges Premier Cru, Les Vallerots – 13% abv – OK – take all of the nose descriptors above, put them on steroids, add wonderful roasted meaty notes and funk, and there you have it. Holy crap. In the mouth, – this wine shows darker than anything we have had until now, with ripe black cherry, black plum, some tart raspberry, and loads of earth. The acid here is rocking and the tannin is mouth-coating. The finish is endless with all of that ripe fruit, balanced by more acid, loads of earth, violet, some of that roasted meat, and some soy. This wine is on par with (or perhaps even slightly better than) the 2019 vintage, which I raved about. It is truly exceptional! 94+
2022 Domaine Aegerter, Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru, Fonteny– 13% abv – On the nose – well, we are really going from strength to strength. There are clear notes of game and sweet, smokey bacon, in addition to ripe red and black fruit, mushroom and earth. Again – WOW! In the mouth, the mushroom and earth are up front followed by nice floral notes and the rich dense black and red fruit – black cherry, strawberry, black plum, and raspberry coming at you in waves. The acid here again does a wonderful job at balancing all of that richness. The finish is long and mushroomy, with more earth a bit of herb, smoke, and some violet notes. From a quality perspective, it’s a dead heat with the NSG 1er Cru above, albeit a different darker smokier profile (and will be much more expensive when released). 94+
Bourdeaux Reds
2021 L’Esprit de Chevalier, Pessac-Leognan– 13% abv – The second wine of Domaine de Chevalier, this wine is made up of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot. The nose is very typical for ’21 and even starts off with some jalapeno – but that quickly blows off and you are left with overall a lot of green notes – herbs, green pepper, etc., with some red fruit in the background. In the mouth, the wine starts off very green but as it opens, the wine settles down and, in addition, you have some nice raspberry smoke and earth in addition to the green. The finish is the best part of the wine. It is long and lush with rich earth, mushrooms, herbs, and some smoke. Very nice. 92
2021 Château Lespault-Martillac, Pessac-Leognan – 13% abv – This wine is a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon and 35% Merlot. There is no green on this nose – so we are off to a good start! What you have is nice dark red fruit, earth, and smoke. In the mouth, you have a mineral driven wine with tart red raspberry, dark red cherry, some toasted herb, mushroom, earth, and some lead. I was surprised by how complex it was in the mouth, as the nose did not give this away for me. The acid is medium plus and the tannin is mouth-coating. If there is one negative note, the wine did feel a little thin for all that was going on, and it would really benefit for a bit more body, but that didn’t really impact my enjoyment here. The finish is long with toasted herb, pipe tobacco, and more earth. Really nice stuff. 93
Domaines Comte de Malet Roquefort
Here we have a new producer in the IDS family – Domaines Comte de Malet Roquefort. The Malet-Roquefort family owns a number of properties throughout Bordeaux, with most being in and around Saint-Émilion. The family has been in Bordeaux and owned Château La Gaffelière for over three centuries! This year IDS made three of their wines.
2021 Clos La Gaffelière, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru – 13% abv – This is the second wine of Château La Gaffelière and is made of 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc. On the nose, you get earth, herb and mint for the most part. In the mouth, you do get those jalapeno notes, which is hard for me to shake. You also do get loads of wonderful mineral, earth, mushrooms, herbs, some raspberry, and smoke. The acid is really nice here, and the tannin is assertive and mouth coating. David had tasted this wine previously and mentioned that in 5-6 hours the jalapeno DOES blow off. I retasted the wine at the end of the tasting to give it a chance, but really there was not enough time. This is one of the downsides of doing these tastings at the IDS or Royal. They are snapshots of the wine as they are presented with a limited amount of time to develop (usually 2-3 hours if you are lucky). As such, I can only grade on what I tasted. The wine does show promise and is incredibly well built. But 2021 is what it is. 91
2021 Château Puyblanquet, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Cru – 13% abv – The Malet-Roquefort family owned this winery for about 150 years. Due the way inheritance and tax laws in France work, they were forced to sell it in 1959. In 2020 the Count Malet-Roquefort was able to purchase it back, and 2021 is the first vintage under their stewardship, so it is a monumental vintage for them. Happily, it is a wine really be proud of. The nose here is mostly dark red fruit (mostly plum), smoke, and earth. In the mouth, while only 13%, the wine FEELS ripe yet balanced! You have wonderful rich moist earth, deep dark ripe red raspberry, black plum, blackberry, dark red cherry, mushroom, more minerally earth, and smoke. The acid balances the fruit perfectly – in that the fruit feels rich and not underripe, yet not at all pushed. The tannin is nice and mouth-coating also in a way that feels mature. The finish is long and mineral driven with tons of earth, lead, raspberry, smoke, and mushroom. Really, this is a super impressive bottle. One of my absolute favorites of the 2021 vintage – and quite honestly a wonderful QPR buy (at least in France). 93.5
2021 Château Edmus, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru – 13% abv – On the nose, you have clear green pepper – and it is firmly integrated– not a passing note, with earth, and a little smoke and some red fruit behind. In the mouth, the acid is up front, and then you do get the nose repeated – so primarily green pepper, but thankfully there is also nice plum, and raspberry there, along with good mineral, smoke, and earth. The finish here is where the wine excels, really long and earthy and full of mineral and nice smoke with some nicely toasted herb and a little mushroom. Not bad overall. 91
2021 Château Marquis d’Alesme Becker, Grand Cru Classé en 1855, Margaux – 13% abv – Thankfully another wine that bucks the ’21 trend. A beautiful dark red and black nose with blackberry and plum up front and mineral just wafting from the wine. Wow! The ripest nose so far in ’21. In the mouth, much like the Puyblanquet, the wine feels full-bodied even though it’s only 13%. Everything is ripe and rich yet balanced. You get loads of black plum, blackberry, and black cherry with nicely toasted herb and mineral wrapped up in dense earth. There is excellent structure here. The wine really does check off all of the boxes. Super balanced, good complexity, ripe and rich all in this nice 13% package. Superb. For me, this is the wine to beat of the 2021 vintage. A couple of others here come close, and perhaps closest is the Giscours from Royal (which is unsurprisingly also from Margaux) – but for me this one is tops. 94+
2021 Château La Gaffelière, Saint-Emilion Premier Grand Cru Classé– 13.5% abv – So this is the star of the Malet Roquefort portfolio. A word about classification. There are tons of arguments about the value of Saint-Émilion’s classification system. But let’s say this. There are hundreds of wineries that are allowed to label themselves as “Saint-Émilion Grand Cru”. That’s right, hundreds. It is just a matter of appellation, not quality for the most part. After that there are another 75 or so that can call themselves Grand Cru Classé – in other words 75 classified wines by the Saint-Émilion classification system, which reclassifies every ten years. On top of that there are fourteen wines that are Premier Grand Cru Classé, of which two are Classé A and twelve are Classé B. Now, I am not going to argue about the value of the system or what that signifies, but this is one of only fourteen wines that are Saint-Émilion Premier Grand Cru Classé (B in this case, still, no slouch). We have another wine that is all red on the nose, with not a hint of green. In fact it is bright red, with some nice mineral poking through as well as some nice earth. In the mouth, the acid is just off the charts – but again balanced as the wine feels full bodied in the mouth. You get bright red raspberry, excellent mineral, cherries, and even some hard red plum. There are tons of nice moist rich dense earth, with excellent mineral. The tannin is again mouth coating but does not at all feel harsh. Really beautifully made. The finish is long and all dark chocolate, tobacco, herb, and earth. This wine is great. Really wonderful. I think the Marquis is a TOUCH better – and perhaps this wine should have been served before the Margaux and it would have shown even better – but we are splitting hairs. 93.5-94
Dessert White
2021 Tokaj-Hetszolo, Tokaji Aszú, 6 Puttonyos, Domaine Imperial Premier Cru Classé since 1772, Tokaj – 11.5% abv – This is a first in kosher – Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos. As such it deserves a little explanation. Wines in the Tokaj regions are usually made primarily of Furmint (especially the dry wines), but there are another five local varieties that are permitted as well. Besides the dry wines, some wines are made in the standard Late Harvest format for dessert. But what the Tokaj region is REALLY known for are the Tokaji Aszú dessert wines. Tokaji Aszú wines, as opposed to Late Harvest, are made of grapes infected with botrytis, much like Sauternes wines are. [Aszú translates to shriveled and, of course, refers to the berries that are shriveled when picked.] The wines are usually rated by how much residual sugar is in the wine. The word putonnyos translates into basket – and in less modern times, it signified how many baskets of Aszú dough, as the pressed botrytis wine is called, was added to the vat, with the more baskets added producing a wine with much more residual sugar. Nowadays it really just signifies how much RS is in the wine. The most common and highest levels of sugar being 5 Puttonyos which signifies 120-150 grams of RS. The highest level is 6 Puttonyos which translates to 150-180 grams of RS. Each of the berries is handpicked, the wine is pressed, and then added to a base wine. The wine then spends a minimum of 18 months in oak. [There is also another type of related wine produced – which is much rarer and has never been produced kosher called Eszencia, which is just the Aszú juice itself and usually comes in at 500 gr of residual sugar, but in exceptional vintages can go as high as 900 grams!! These wines are obviously made in exceptionally small quantities and can run over $1000 a bottle non-kosher – but can also age in excess of 100 years.] Now this wine comes in with an RS of 160 grams per liter. Incredible. While both Sauternes and Toakji Aszú wines are botrytis wines, the style is VERY different. Sauternes tends towards the stone fruit (primarily apricot) and honey while Tokaji wines are slightly leaner – with more tropical notes of lychee and mango, some pear and honeydew. The mouth is incredible and crazy sweet rich and layered – with lychee, honeydew, mango, cooked pear in syrup, some apricot, cloves, and even cinnamon. But the star of the show is the acid. It is POWERFUL and not only balances out the fruit but has your mouth watering despite the sweetness – which makes you of course want to drink more. It’s crazy. I am blown away by this wine. As the acid sort of lingers, the finish shows more sweet citrus like sharp lemon curd (my wife Michal’s lemon curd is always super acidic and balanced – really reminded me of that as I also have a hard time stopping to eat it once I start). Really I can’t get over this and can’t stop drinking. I can say that in the category of dessert wines it is in the top three for sure – this, the 2008 Old Musketeer (original 8-year release), and the 2014 La Tour Blanche. Each of these is VERY different. The 2008 Musketeer is probably number three as it does not develop at all. It’s indestructible, but it has stayed remarkably consistent. The La Tour Blanche has already started to develop and should continue doing so for at least another decade. I would expect the same here – as it has both the sugar and acid to carry it for at least 20 years. So you ask- How do you grade a wine like this where there is nothing to compare it to? This is the only 6 Puttonyos we have had…. But the acid here is what really pushes it over the top. This wine is stunning. I am going to give this a 95+.
I want to thank Ben Uzan and the rest of the folks at IDS. As always they were gracious with both their wines and time. It was a wonderful tasting indeed. Keep it coming guys!