This latest QPR post weighs in at 60 wines, with 25 of them garnering the coveted QPR score of WINNER.

As you may have noticed from the last QPR post, which was in December 2025, I am streamlining the sections and not listing every wine in every section, but rather touching on the wines that stand out for various reasons.

There are some surprising QPR WINNERS in this group, along with wines from familiar producers, difficult-to-find wines from unusual regions, expensive wines where the quality may or may not justify the price, and several wines that simply do what a QPR wine is supposed to do: provide real quality without demanding an absurd investment.

QPR (Quality-to-Price Ratio) Wines

It has been six or so months since my last QPR (Quality-to-Price Ratio) post, and many people have been emailing me about unique wines I have tasted and lovely wines that are worth writing about. The wines you have all asked about are in this post. With this post, I will be up to date. HOWEVER, Avi and I have not yet gotten to France, and those posts are still in the works.

Thankfully, no matter how much garbage and pain I subject myself to, we are still blessed with several excellent QPR wines.

Throughout the year, I post many QPR posts for almost all of the main categories. I will continue down this road until I find a better way to categorize and track QPR WINNER wines. People are still asking me what a QPR (Quality-to-Price Ratio) wine is and what the WINNER score denotes. Once again, those are explained here in this post.

A wine’s quality score and its QPR score are not the same thing. A very expensive wine can be objectively excellent while still failing as a QPR opportunity. Likewise, a simpler wine can earn a strong QPR score because it delivers more quality, enjoyment, and interest than its price would suggest.

That distinction is especially important in this post. Some of the highest-quality wines here are not QPR WINNERS. Their quality is real, but so is their price. At some point, every person must decide whether the experience is worth the money being asked.

Liquid Kosher

We will start with Liquid Kosher, much as we did in the last QPR post. There are four wines from Liquid Kosher here.

The 2021 Petit Moulin Audace is a shocking wine, mostly because it comes from the challenging 2021 Bordeaux vintage. I do not need to give away the result here. Look at the note. It is interesting, and it is a wine worth paying attention to.

The 2023 Château Tour Baladoz is a different story, but I want to be precise: it is not a miss. There is quality in the bottle, and the wine is perfectly fine. The problem is the high price. There is enough quality to appreciate the wine, but not enough to overcome the QPR peak created by its cost. That distinction matters. This is not a bad wine; it is simply not a compelling value at the asking price.

Liquid Kosher also has two interesting California wines in this group: the 2025 Otter & Fox Fiano and the 2025 Timbre Rare Groove #3 White Blend. Both are worth examining in the notes. They are different, enjoyable, and fit naturally into the kind of QPR opportunity people should be looking for.

I also tasted two new Rose imports from Taieb Wines; the price moves them out of the QPR WINNER circle, but they are solid wines.

Domaine de Montille

The Domaine de Montille wines were previously imported through M&M Importers in conjunction with Honest Grapes. They are now being brought into the market by a new importer, Beaune Imports, and Elk Wine, which I discussed in the last post, has many of these wines available.

Most of the Domaine de Montille wines in this post are retastings of wines I first tasted as barrel samples in London in December 2023. For the most part, the wines have remained remarkably consistent. Some are essentially unchanged, while one or two have evolved or emerged as outliers. Those differences are highlighted in the individual notes.

There is no need to overcomplicate this section. These are serious Burgundy wines, and the prices reflect that. Read the notes, compare the quality and pricing, and decide which of them make sense for you.

M&M Importers and Honest Grapes

The 2021 Vieux Château Mazerat is connected to M&M Importers. The price is elevated, but the quality is clearly there. At that point, the decision becomes personal. Read the note, look at the price, and decide whether the experience is worth it for you.

The same basic discussion applies to the 2021 Rocca di Frassinello Baffonero. There is real quality, but this is not an inexpensive wine. Once again, you need to decide how much that level of quality is worth to you.

The 2022 Les Astéries also belongs in this broader grouping. It is a serious wine with a serious price. The wine’s quality is not the question. The question is whether the price-to-quality relationship works for your wallet and your priorities.

ESSA Wines

The ESSA wines tasted for this post are not currently available in the United States. I want to make that very clear. At this time, these wines are available only in Israel.

Royal Wines chose not to bring these wines into the American market. Josh Rynderman then smartly sold them to an importer in Israel. A friend brought the wines back for me; I allowed them to rest properly, and then I tasted through them over four days with my friend Binyamin Cantz.

The 2024 ESSA Acacia Semillon is a retasting and is very much in line with my previous experience, though it has continued to evolve. The 2024 ESSA Pinot Noir is also consistent with the previous tasting.

The 2023 ESSA Nebbiolo and 2023 ESSA Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon are new wines for me. Both are very much in line with the broader ESSA quality level and style. As always, the detailed notes explain where each wine succeeds and where it falls short for my palate.