As stated in the previous post, this is another shared post that David Raccah is writing in his voice, but subsequent posts will be either in a singular voice of David or Avi, or in a shared voice (which will be all new for us).

As stated in my previous post, we were in Paris in January, both Avi Davidowitz and I. The number of boxes in our room was not nearly as insane as four years ago. That was a tower of boxes. Still, we had a lot of wines to taste and some good wines to talk about.

Two years ago, we had about 80 wines; this past tasting, we were at 67. This post will close out 2025, and then we can get to the wines of the year and such! Then we can get to the KFWE post! Yeah, lots ahead!

As stated before. We would love to taste all of these blind. To make this simple: unless we can find someone to pay to help us manage the tastings, taste blind, and gather all the metadata, forms, and sheets, it is just INSANE! We really need to get a helper who understands English enough and can handle sheets and the like in Paris and wherever else we taste wines. Until then, we will have to give up on tasting blind.

The wines were tasted in classic region/style order, Roses, whites, reds from Burgundy, Rhone-like areas, Bordeaux/Blend wines, and I think that is it. The comments are listed by the producer.

Taieb Wines

There were 14 Taieb wines. Sadly, there are no Jean-Philippe Marchand Burgundis for 2024, something that you will hear more about next year. The 2024 vintage in France is not looking great, but time will tell.

The first thing that we tasted was the two new Clos du Moulin wines, which hail from the Bergerac region of Bordeaux. There have not been many Kosher wines made in the Bergerac region, and I think it is one of the underexplored opportunities out there. These two were both QPR (Quality-to-Price Ratio) WINNER wines. The Blanc is a blend of 60% Semillon & 40% Muscadelle. The rose is made from Cabernet Franc. The red wine is a blend of 50% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc, & 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. It was solid enough.

Taieb Wines. Yoni and his family continue to make well-priced wines and garner QPR WINNER scores. This tasting was no exception, with five WINNER wines from the 24 wines tasted and many wines with a GREAT QPR score. I have posted often about Taieb wines, and if you want to read the entire background, read the first post I made here.

The 2024 wines were a step behind what we expect from Taieb wines, but the 2023 wines were all in the range and good options.

Cedev Wines

There were 12 Cedev wines, and many of them were quite good. First, there are three Alsace wines, and while I have never been a big fan of Gewurztraminer, two of the three were QPR WINNERS. The Sylvaner and Gewürztraminer were both QPR WINNER, while the Riesling was solid but a slight step behind.

We saw the lovely Bergerac wines from Taieb and Cedev, and they have two lovely Cadillac wines from Bordeaux, another region that is underrepresented in the Kosher wine market. The red Cadillac is a blend of 85% merlot & 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the white Cadillac is a blend of 85% Sauvignon Blanc & 15% Semillon. Both of them are QPR WINNERS and worth finding.

There is also a bunch of interesting wines to look at, like the 2024 Grof Degenfeld Imperial Topaz Valley, the 2024 Maison Arnoux et Fils Vieux Clocher, Cotes du Rhone (surprising), and the 2022 Plume de Paloumey. Interesting wines, and it makes me happy to know that more regions are getting kosher options.