As I posted in my year in review, we all need to educate ourselves in what makes you happy in the kosher wine world. The best way to do that is to attend RCC tastings (that happen monthly), or one of the many kosher wine events that happen in and around the Passover wine buying season.

This year is no different as in the past, thankfully I have the dates for almost all the events – the only one missing, for now, is the Jewish Week wine event that happens every year at the City Winery in NYC. I hope they do something about it though, as last year was a disaster. It was so overcrowded – it made the KFWE NYC look like a playground during class hours!

Anyway, the KFWE NYC listened – thank God, and they are returning to Chelsea Piers, but we will get to that in a bit.

The first and IMHO, the best KFWE in the books is the Tzur tasting in Tel Aviv. The Miami event was actually quite nice, but it happens in December of the previous year and in this case it happened already on December 15th at the Turnberry Isle Hotel, in Aventura Fl.

Though to be 100% truthful the first event (after the Miami one), is the KFWE in Paris which will happen on February 15th. After that wake up the next morning and hop on the Eurostar and you will be whisked to London where you can still get tickets to the VIP session at the KFWE Europe, which will be taking place at the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel, Piccadilly, London, W1.

A new theme throughout the KFWE family is the classic approach of steal what works best! The KFWE system is basically a brotherly rivalry between the cities – with London/NYC/LA being the three official ones, and Miami/Israel/Paris being less so. Still, when one idea works for one of the siblings – you can be sure it will be copied with each others personal tastes. In this case I am talking about the VIP session. I exalted the idea in my post about the KFWE in LA, and while I was in awe of the VIP room, the other area in LA needed more space. So, they too will be moving, but the VIP room/experience is 100% On like Donkey Kong!

Another fascinating aspect of this year’s official KFWE tastings is that there is no love lost between the siblings. By that I mean, there is no cross promotion of any kind between the London, NYC, or LA events! I wonder why that is the case? It is not like these are zero-sum options! People who live in NYC will go there, though many go to the LA event as it has been far more hospitable in previous years than the over crowded NYC event. Still, why not cross promote? It is free advertising!

So, the London event is on the 16th and then you hop on a plane and fly to Israel for the Tzur (not so much called KFWE) tasting on Monday February 22nd in the evening. Then hop on a plane and fly to the Granddaddy of them all – the original KFWE NYC and use the promo code CORKBOARD18.

Sadly, the VIP session has already been sold-out, and the older coupon code has expired. The non-VIP session is available and hopefully its return the Chelsea Piers will make for a far more enjoyable and manageable experience than last year.

Then hop on another plane and make your way to warm Los Angeles! The KWFE LA last year was the hands down winner for its epic VIP session, and the VIP session is back and I would make advise all to jump on them before they sell out! Order tickets here NOW and use my coupon code of MUSINGS to get a 15% discount off the rack rate! This year they moved the event from the hotel to a much larger and more swanky LA experience location! It is being held at the Petersen Automotive Museum. It is a lovely location and one that will have space to expand the VIP session to have even more madness – so look for that!

After that – you would think you should be exhausted and ready for a break and I am sure you will need it and it will be well deserved. However, soon afterwards it is time to go to The Grand Kosher Wine Tasting on March 6th at 5:30 PM to 8:30PM at The Grapevine Wines & Spirits, in Wesley Hills, New York! When your there say hello to Yehoshua Werth, he is the wine man at the Grapevine!

UPDATE: The Jewish Week’s Grand Wine Tasting at the City Winery is on March 28, from 5:30 to 8:30.

Well there you have it! I will post again once I have purchase links for the Jewish Week event. The event I am hoping will come back is the Gotham Kosher Wine Extravaganza! It took off a year again last year and I hope it will be back for good this year!

If I were you – I would recommend you buy the tickets of the KFWE that apply to you ASAP and then go to the events with the mind of enjoying yourself, but also with the mind of learning! These events are the best opportunity to see what wines you like, love, crave, and most importantly hate!