This post will (finally) wrap up my trip with my friend David Raccah of Kosher Wine Musings to France this past November. I have to say the most fun part of each of these trips is the time that we get to spend together when we are NOT at formal tastings with other people. Its hard to find someone (outside of your spouse) whom you can tolerate let alone enjoy this much one-on-one time. But we do manage to have a lot of fun together – and when we are tasting alone that fun really is amped up. No worries about offending the host with a comment about this wine or that. We just can be ourselves. Having said that, I have tried to keep these notes as professional as I can while still keeping within the spirit of the tasting and my writing and speaking style. I do hope I achieved a balance – though I know I was not always successful (I see I called one wine a dumpster fire, another putrid swill, etc). This year, due to the time constraints, we had less time to taste in the hotel than usual. In all there are 54 wines compared with the over 80 we tasted in the hotel last year. This resulted in sometimes more abbreviated notes than usual. That’s the cost of touring a little on day one (though I do think to an extent that’s always the case with the lower end hotel wines we taste)! Hopefully I’ll be able to make up for it by coming a second time this year for another very short trip.

For now here are my notes:

Rose & White Wines

2022 Chevalier De Marmorières, Rosé, Vin de France – Mevushal – 13% abv – Nice overall – good simple Rosé with strawberry, stone fruit, and some nice acid to hold it together. Nice. 89

2022 Chevalier De Marmorières, Blanc, Vin de France – 12.5% abv – On the nose, you have citrus and gooseberry.  In the mouth at the start, you do get a slight bubbly sensation on the tongue, but this blows off. Otherwise, you are getting the same notes in the mouth with some nice tart citrus. In actuality, on the finish, you sort of feel that the wine is slightly off-dry, but it is nicely balanced by the healthy acid, making this a crisp wine.  Another simple but nice bottle. 89

2022 Alphonse Mellot, Sancerre, La Moussière – 13% abv – This wine bears no resemblance to Sancerre. It barely resembles SB. I mean, it’s OK – there is nothing wrong here – but it tastes like a standard slightly off dry balanced generic white wine. It does have nice mouth feel but more than that it’s basically VERY similar to the de Marmorières Blanc we just tasted – except for the body – which is nicely heavy, and some minerality. Overall, a nice simple wine – though I would have expected more Sancerre characteristics to really make this something I would want, especially based on the price.  89.5

2021 Château Olivier Blanc, Grand Cru Classe, Pessac-Leognan – 13.5% abv – This is a BEAUTIFUL wine. On the nose, primarily gooseberry with a bit of hay and citrus. In the mouth, this is a layered complex wine that is also FUN to drink. First, of course, the gooseberry followed by grapefruit and a bit of passion fruit. All balanced by very nice acidity – but really this is a mineral driven wine. What is incredible, is that usually with those characteristics you would expect a lithe lighter body, but this is a near full bodied white with excellent weight to it. The finish is all mineral with wet stone and flint and some really nice salinity. This is the BEST wine we had in the hotel – and the best white wine we had on this trip. 94+

2019 Les Vin de Vienne, Condrieu, La Chambée – 15% abv – Crazy ripe peach. You can actually smell the alcohol on the nose. There are floral notes that are overpowered by the crazy ripe peach and oak that dominate the wine. There is really nice acidity – but it’s simply not enough to make this something I would drink. That and the peachiness compounded with the alcohol makes this a miss for me – even if it wasn’t this expensive! 86

2019 Les Vins de Vienne, Crozes-Hermitage, Les Palignons – 13% abv – On the nose, there is some nice stone fruit (mostly apricot), hay, flint, and floral notes. In the mouth, there is some peach, though not overpowering, apricot, and something floral. When first opening, there is a bit of that effervescence playing on the tip of the tongue – but thankfully, this does blow off eventually. Besides the fruit, we have nice salinity, good mineral, and then some yellow plum. Overall, it’s a nice well made, balanced wine – though not overly complex. Still a very nice wine indeed.  91

2021 Maison Arnoux et Fils, Vieux Clocher, Blanc, Côtes du Rhône – 13% abv – This is a blend of 60% Grenache Blanc and 40% Viognier – but when you taste it, you wouldn’t know. It is dominated by stewed sweet peaches – my favorite. There is SOME acidity but not nearly enough. The wine gets worse as time goes on. Ultimately, it’s a dumpster fire. Good luck.  83

Red wines

Rhone

2022 Domaine La Martinelle, Côtes du Rhône Villages, Visan – 14.5% abv – This is NOT the way you want to start tasting. On the nose, you smell primarily alcohol and ripe black fruit. In the mouth, you are tasting tannic cough syrup for the most part. Those are my cleaned-up notes – best I can do to not sound like an a-hole. 75

2022 Vignobles Vuillemin de Valois, Côtes du Rhône Villages, Bonne Etoile– 14% abv – On the nose, you get mostly classic Rhône blue fruit with a little red on the edge, with some nice earth, herb, and smoke. Pretty classic. In the mouth, you get some nice earthiness, blueberry, some herb, and raspberry. The wine has the acid to carry it and just enough tannin to hold it together. This is a simple wine – but it does the job.  Score: 88.5

2022 Vignobles Vuillemin de Valois, Côtes du Rhône Villages, Les Achenaux – 14.5% – On the nose, ripe blue and black fruit with some heavy smoke. Mouth basically follows the nose – basically just non-discernable ripe dark fruit. As opposed to the previous wine, no acid to pull off this profile. So you end up with a muddled wine that is not balanced. Having said, that it’s not in the same league of bad as the first wine we tasted. 82.5

2022 Domaine Aimé Arnoux, Vacqueyras – 13% abv–   Here we have a blend of 60% Grenache and the balance of Syrah and Mourvèdre in equal amounts.  On the nose, we have again just a tone of non-descript ripe blue fruit. Moving on, all we have is a mouthful of ripe blue and red fruit as well – with nothing else – with barely enough acid to balance. The finish is on the short side. Basically, a boring slightly cloying wine. Which is unfortunate because this might be the first Vacqueyras that I know of. It just misses the mark. 85

2022 Maison Arnoux et Fils, Vieux Clocher, Côtes du Rhône – 13.5% – On the nose, all you have is blueberry pie filling. In the mouth, nothing more than weak blueberry with NOTHING else. The wine has holes throughout – and while there is some acid, it is lacking in concentration to the point where it dissipates in your mouth. Forget about a finish. 75

2022 Aimé Arnoux, Châteauneuf du Pape – 13.5% – On the nose, nice red and blue fruit, smoke, lead, and some oak. In the mouth – you get a classic profile of blueberry, raspberry, and some cherry, with some smoke and some nice saline. Decent acidity. Decent concentration. Where this lacks is on the finish – it’s not bad – and actually has decent complexity with pepper, saline, earth, and more fruit. The problem for me is depth, which wanes, and length – which is acceptable but no more. A pity because this has the building blocks to be a true winner of a wine. In the end, it’s just good enough. 88

2022 Aimé Arnoux, Gigondas – 14% abv – By far the best nose of the bunch so far. Nice mix of blue and red fruit. Nice black pepper with a bit of white pepper for heat – in a good way – and tar. The mouth is not really complex – but nicely balanced with good acidity. You pretty much get the nose repeated – but with little depth The fruit is not overdone, the finish is nice tar, pepper, more fruit etc., and decent length. The heat might be bit much – but the issue here really is a lack of depth of flavor. But other than that, its fine. Again, this feels like a missed opportunity wine, which has the building blocks to be a better wine than it is. 89.5

2020 Domaine de Corps de Loup, Côte-Rôtie, Fusion – 14.5% – Next we tasted two versions of what I assume is the same wine – except that the first one has a small amount of Viognier blended into the Syrah and the next does not. Unfortunately, the peach notes color the wine in a way that makes it unpalatable for me. The Syrah component has everything I want – but then the Viognier comes in and makes this wine something I really don’t like. On the nose, you get notes of candied blue fruit and chocolate.  In the mouth – the peach just shines through on top of the nice Syrah and it just doesn’t do it for me – though this may just be my personal preferences kicking in here. I am self-aware enough to know that I am reacting poorly to this wine. Overall, It’s a well-made wine – in a style that I simply can’t connect to. 87 (I think that’s very fair!)

2020 Domaine de Corps de Loup, Côte-Rôtie, Le Lievre – 14.5% – What a difference the lack of a little Viognier makes! You get a redolent Rhône nose of ripe black and blue fruit, black pepper, some smoke, and tar. In the mouth, It is everything I would expect in a well-made Rhône Syrah   – ripe blackberry, black plum, black pepper, some blueberry, and smoke. While the fruit is ripe and near candied, the kicking acid just keeps it all in check. Wow! The finish is long, layered, ripe with more smoke, a bit of tar, and a ton of ripe blackberry, but again held in check by the acid, which gives it almost a fresh feeling despite the ripeness. I really enjoy Rhône style Syrah and this one check all the boxes (except for the absurd price). 92.5

2019 Les Vins de Vienne, Crozes-Hermitage, Les Chaponères – 14.5% abv – Another beautiful Rhône Syrah (it’s not how you start, but how you finish!) Really nice nose, just what you’re looking for in Rhône Syrah. Mostly blue fruit, with a bit of meat, smoke, rich earth, and some mint.  In the mouth, it presents very ripe but with excellent balancing acidity – with blueberry, blackberry, dark raspberry and black plum, some nice black pepper, tar, and mint. The tannin is nice and chewy. The finish is long, with more black fruit, smoke, tar and mint. Excellent stuff! 93

Bordeaux

2021 Château Massieu Boutet, Bordeaux – 12% abv – On the nose and in the mouth, a standard 2021 Jalapeno tinny thin wine. Nothing more to write, other than I am really tired of writing the same notes for the ’21 vintage. 82

2021 Château Massieu Boutet, Cuvée Noir, Bordeaux – 12% abv – Crazy candied green nose as we have come to expect in 2021 nose. In the mouth, you get the Jalapeno you’d expect and some vague red fruit. This is less bad than the last wine – but nothing I want to drink. 84

2022 Château Haut Perdrias, Reserve, Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux – Mevushal – 14.5% abv On the nose, candied red fruit with milk chocolate and lots of oak. In the mouth, you get red raspberry, and TONS of milk chocolate. There is some nice acid here, but this is like a wine for kids. It actually tastes like the Joyva jell rings that I grew up on, which we had around Pesach time. This is not for me, but it might have a place for someone.  85

2022 Château du Vieux Put, Malbec, Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux – Mevushal – 13.5% abv – Horrible wine. No nose, no body, no real flavor – just a watery mess. 70

2021 Chateau la Garricq, Moulis-En-Medoc – 12.5% abv – Actually, for a simple 2021 this wine is NOT bad. The nose has some green and ripe red notes. That’s about it. In the mouth, dark red nondescript fruit. Nice acidity. Some mineral, good acid. Again – for a simple wine, this is perfectly acceptable. 87

2022 Haut de Grava, Bordeaux – 13.5% abv – Nice nose of primary red fruit with crushed herbs and nice earth. In the mouth, you get another nice but simple wine – with ripe raspberry, cherry, and some herb. It has just enough acidity to hold it together and a nice core of tannin. Very simple, but more than gets the job done. 88

2022 Château l’Haur Du Chay, Merlot, Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux – 13% abv – On the nose, we have red fruit, herbs, and dirt. In the mouth, more of the same with a short finish that is mostly green. There is enough acid and tannin – and outside of the finish, there is nothing wrong with it, but it’s not something I am going to want to drink. 86

2022 Château l’Haur Du Chay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux – 13% abv – The nose on this wine is slightly nicer and more interesting than the Merlot version – with both black and red fruit, moist rich earth, and nice herb. In the mouth, you get the nose repeated again – but MUCH riper with a bit better definition – blackberry, raspberry, black plum, nice herb, and earth. The finish is medium + with some more herb, earth and a little tobacco. The ripeness throws me, though. 85

2022 Château’ l’Haur Du Chay, French Blend, Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux – 13% abv – Take two mediocre wines and blend them together – and you get an even worse wine. Somehow the worst qualities of both of the above wines are accentuated here. The wine feels super ripe, yet green and watery with a short finish. 80

2022 Château Meilhan, Médoc – 13.5% abv – On the nose, you get blue and black fruit with some nice smoke and some cola. In the mouth, more of the same with good acidity and ripe tannin on this near full-bodied wine. The finish is long and expressive with more dark fruit, nice earth, espresso, and some lead. This is a nice little wine! 90.5

2022 Château Bois-Cardon, Médoc – 13.5% abv – This wine is SWEET, almost like a cough syrup both on nose and in the mouth – with some acid mixed in. Not for me. 81

2022 La Chenaie du Bourdieu, Médoc – Another over-ripe candied berry drink. Finish drops off and you are just left with bitterness of an indeterminate origin. 82

2020 Marquis Haut-Médoc, Haut-Médoc – 12.5% abv – Hmm – a 2020. I found this wine to be super simple and boring. Red fruit and herb on the nose. In the mouth, you get candied raspberry and herb – and then the acidity comes at you – so it is not in concert with the fruit (maybe the acid was corrected here?) In any event, this wine didn’t do it for me. 84

2021 Château Clement-Pichon, Haut-Médoc – 13% abv –On the nose and in the mouth, you get a perfect representation of the 2021 vintage – milk chocolate covered candied jalapeño. In the mouth you get the same – but you can tell it’s been finished in an expensive barrel. Ultimately good winemaking gone to waste on bad fruit from a horrible vintage. After a day, the nose vastly improves to controlled green pepper, ripe red fruit, and some espresso. In the mouth, you now get ripe crazy red fruit and really a mouthful of rich milk chocolate with good acidity and nice tannin. The finish is long and rich with nice herb, chocolate, and coffee. This is now an 89.

2022 Château Tournebrise, LaLande de Pomerol – 14.5% abv –On the nose, you get ripe and blue fruit with a nice funkiness. In the mouth, there is blackberry, boysenberry, cassis, and raspberry, basically a hugely fruit-forward wine that is balanced out by the excellent acidity. There is some nice chocolate on the end, which lingers long. After a day though, the acid wholly disappears, and you basically are drinking a Hawaiian fruit punch. Scoring this is hard as it started at a 92.5 but it ended at an 84. I guess I’ll go down the middle – with the caveat to finish this in one sitting. 88

2022 Château Merigot, Côtes de Bourg – 14.5% abv – On the nose, we have nice ripe red fruit, with raspberry, cranberry, and ripe cherry with fresh green herb. The mouth repeats, with nice acidity and smooth tannin. A really nice basic simple wine in a year that seems to have an over-ripeness issue at the low end. Really nice. 91

2022 La Colonne, Lalande de Pomerol – 14.5% abv – On the nose, we have ripe blue and black fruit, tar, roasted herb, and some smoke. In the mouth, we get ripe blueberry, blackberry, and some nice mineral balanced by nice acid. The finish is long and earthy with milk chocolate and cigar. Overall, this is another relatively simple wine that will likely not hold long (seems to be a theme with the lower end 22’s), but nicely done. 91

2022 Pavillon du Vieux Chantre, Puisseguin Saint-Émilion – 14% abv – Everything you want in a basic Right Bank wine. On the nose, controlled ripe red fruit, smoke, and earth. In the mouth, rich blue and red fruit – blueberry and raspberry primarily, along with earth, tar, and nice herb. This wine has a bit of character with some depth as well. The tannin is chewy and the acid is nice. This is a wine that, while not super complex, hits all of the notes. But this is a DRINK NOW wine – this will not last long – even overnight the wine loses something – though is still very nice bottle IMHO. 91+

2022 Château Rocher Gardat, Montagne Saint-Émilion – 14.5% abv – Another blueberry nose. In the mouth, there is a streak of pure blueberry, with nice acid and good tannin surrounding it. Unfortunately, calling this wine not complex is an understatement. It really is one note – though there is nothing wrong with it at all.  88

2021 Château La Bessane, Margaux – 12.5% abv – Chocolate covered candied jalapeno on the nose (sound familiar?).  In the mouth, water, tannin, and the ghost of candied jalapeno. After a day, the wine does improve and loses the jalapeno. It stays green (with a little red fruit as well), but not bad – just boring. 84

2021 Château Olivier Grand Cru Classe, Pessac-Léognan – 13% abv – Another well-made wine that is the victim of a really poor vintage. On the nose, we have primarily green notes (some green pepper and herbs) along with some earth and roasted meat. The mouth shows better with nice red fruit, primarily raspberry, herbs, lead, earth, and a little cherry. On day one, I felt a little bit of a hole in the middle – but that closed up when we retasted. The finish was rather short with mostly herbs, tobacco, and red fruit. This wine might improve with time – but I had no more time to give. 89

2021 Marquis de Saint-Estèphe, Saint-Estèphe – 12.5% abv – Another 2021. Enough already. In this version, on the nose we have jalapeno with some mushroom and herb.  In the mouth, you get watery, spicy jalapeno and herbs. Not much else. 78

2021 Marquis de Pez, Saint-Estèphe – 12.5% abv – On the nose and in the mouth, you have green pepper, herbs, and some red fruit. The acid is OK.  Short finish. Could be worse, but of course could be a lot better – 81

2021 Château Haut-Marbuzet, Saint-Estèphe – 13.5% abv – Floral notes with nice dirty earth and red fruit on the nose. In the mouth, we start with menthol and herbs, followed by tart raspberry, and only then do you get some acid and then the crazy tannin. The wine is disjointed as each of these pieces comes separately. On day two, it pulled together a bit and I think It has potential – but for now – 88

2014 Château Serilhan, Saint-Estèphe – 13.5% abv – On the nose, you have mushrooms, earth, soy sauce, with some red fruit behind it. In the mouth, you have raspberry, cherry, mushroom, earth, some nice tannin, and just enough acid. The finish is nice with more raspberry, earth, some roasted meat, and toasted herb. Nice – but beware, with time, the finish becomes watery. Still a nice enough wine – just drink now! 89-90

2015 Château Serilhan, Saint-Estèphe – 13% abv – Similar profile to the 2014, with nice earth and mushroom followed by red fruit and smoked meat on the nose. In the mouth, you do have some mushroom, raspberry, earth, bacon, and a small dose of Jalapeno. 89-90

Wines from other parts of France and Europe

2022 Domaine Bousquet, Alavida, Mendoza – 15% abv –On the nose, you have some ripe red fruit and earth. In the mouth, you get cherry and watermelon candy, with some nice acid mixed in and not much else. This wine is really not my thing. 80

N.V. Cantine Di Ora Amicale, Rosso, Limited Edition, Corvina Oak Aged, Veneto – 13% abv – Horrible putrid sweet crap. I almost choked. 50

2021 Château de Marmorières, Les Amandiers, La Clape, Languedoc – Mevushal – 14% abv – On the nose, candied red fruit that is overpoweringly sweet. In the mouth, it’s just sweet alcoholic juice. 65

2021 Chevalier de Marmorières, Cabernet Sauvignon, Vin de France – Mevushal – 14.5% abv – On the nose, you have green pepper, jalapeno, and sweet red notes. In the mouth you have cloyingly sweet grape juice with no acid and barely there tannin. Yup, even worse than the last one. 60

2022 Philippe Pain, La Petite Métairie, Bourgueil – 12.5% abv – Candied red fruit on the nose, in the mouth, more candid red fruit and herbs with no acid or tannin to speak of. 75

2022 Philippe Pain, La Petite Métairie, Chinon – 12.5% abv –Flat and simple red fruit juice with some alcohol. No finish. Truthfully, do notes even matter at this point? 75

Elvi Wines

On my last day we did get a shipment from Elvi, and I made an effort to taste these as soon as we got them and then again the next day early in the morning before I left.

2022 Elvi Wines, Herenza, White, Alella – 12.5% abv – The nose here is overwhelmingly citrus with grapefruit, orange, and clementine taking center stage. In the mouth, you get all of those citrus notes, plus some quince and a hit of saline, backed up by some excellent minerality. The finish is long and mineral driven. Very nice! 91

2020 Elvi Wines, Herenza, Rioja, Crianza, Collection – Mevushal – This wine will be loved by many in the US and will be a welcome addition to the restaurant scene. It is an oak bomb that seems tailor made to that clientele. On the nose, all you get is sweet oak, vanilla, and heaps of red fruit. In the mouth, I would almost say that this tastes like an unsweetened vanilla cherry coke with a bit of smoke. There is acid and tannin here, though not enough. The wine is professionally made, but it just seems that what they were requested to do was appeal to a VERY specific clientele that would want this, as the style is very un-Elvi. 85

2020 Elvi Wines, Herenza, Rioja, Crianza – Sweet oak, coffee, cherry, tobacco, and soy sauce on the nose.  Really ripe red fruit like raspberry and cherry, with some sweet tobacco and smoked meat. This wine will make some people happy, I guess.  But my assumption here (though I may not be right) is that this wine was made two ways based on the same spec. They cut down on the oak and of course didn’t do bishul, but the base wine after fermentation is likely similar or identical to the mevushal version and so is really still not my thing. 85

2018 Elvi Wines, Herenza, Rioja, Reserva – 14.5% abv – This wine I tasted previously at KFWE London. I loved it then, and I love it now. This wine is wonderful with mushroom, soy sauce, and all of that umami goodness, with nice red fruit and a hint of black licorice. In the mouth, you get excellent toasted herbs, juicy tart raspberry, and plum, which play nicely with some baking spice and then some mushroom. All of this is balanced out by some truly excellent acidity and some nice silky tannin rounding out the picture. The finish is long and elegant. With more baking spice, mushroom chocolate and a little bit of meatiness. Great stuff. 94+

2021 Elvi Wines, Clos Mesorah, Montsant – 14.5% abv – Another great nose of ripe but controlled blue and red fruit, roasted meat, mushroom, and (I couldn’t get this at first, but David called it) craft Root Beer. In the mouth, you have ripe blueberry and raspberry, rich earth, mushroom and bramble. The acidity here is perfectly balanced and keeps the wine bright and elegant with the tannin silky.  The finish is long and comes at you in waves of rich earth, blueberry, roasted meat, and some charcoal. Excellent stuff. 93+

Summing up the current French vintages

All in all, I have now tasted almost all of the 2021 French wines that will be released. (I still have the De Montille Burgs and the IDS ’21 Bords, but hopefully I’ll take care of all of that in the next couple of months.)  Ultimately, my opinion of 2021 has not changed since we started tasting these wines in November of ’22. 2021 is a horrible vintage in Bordeaux overall. There were no real bright spots. It was uniformly bad across the board for reds. Even the big wines were not great. They were drinkable, but hardly worth the price other than a couple of wines here and there. Whites fared better. Now, coming into this set of tastings, winemakers were touting the 2022 vintage. One of the best in the last decade, people said. I can say that this is NOT true of the small wines. Where the 2021 vintage tasted green and tinny with candied Jalapeno and milk chocolate notes, the 2022 vintage tasted overripe and sweet with little balance or finesse. I have to say though, that I am hopeful about the big wines of 2022. I think that with proper management and good professional winemaking, there is potential for these wines to actually meet expectations or at least, not disappoint. Looking at 2023, what David and I heard in France was NOT encouraging. It was another tough vintage. So, as I keep on mentioning whenever I write up these trips, just because it’s French, doesn’t mean it’s good. In fact, France produces as much sub-par wine as any other country. What France does have are some professionally run estates that have sometimes been in business for hundreds of years in the same location – and so, they have seen it all and often (but not always) can turn out a reasonable product even in poor growing conditions – something that Israel and even the US seem unable to match.

In any event, sorry these posts took so long. I have a couple of other posts to catch up on now and will try not to be as tardy in the future. Thanks again to my friend David for dealing with all of the logistics on these trips – I certainly would not be able to have the headspace to put this all together myself.

Wishing us all Besorot Tovot.