After the perfectly timed, strategized, and executed Kosher Wine Tasting events in 2024, the 2025 events had massive shoes to fill. While there were some clear highlights in 2025, there were also some things missing. We sadly did not have the Jewish Link Wine Guide Grand Tasting, and once again, KFWE chose to do the tasting the day after the Super Bowl. Further, can food stop being a part of these events, period? The food options at KFWE NY/NY were Falafel, Pizza, or fruit. At the KWD event it was cholent? These events are not being presented to most as the Food Extravaganza – that nomenclature should be removed, IMHO.

KWD’s Wine and Food Night

However, let’s zoom in and start talking events. Unlike last year, KWD’s event was first on the list—not last. This was a forced matter because of the return of KFWE LA and the fact that KFWE NJ was hosted the day after the Super Bowl! This forced KWD to have their event the week before. Again, as I spoke about in the preamble post, this was a horrible idea!

Still, I think KWD did a splendid job. I will ignore all food for all of these events because food was a non-factor. In ALL the events, food was essentially a non-starter. The only place that is NOT true was KFWE Oxnard, as the food from Tierra Sur was probably the main event along with Herzog Wines. Still, I will comment on the one word that should never be stated at a wine tasting event – Cholent – even worse, Cholent-Off. Apologies to all the Easties, that is as bad an idea or worse than buying Cholent Thursday night at a 7-11. Maybe next year, forget the food and forget about ideas from a promoter, that is more about himself than the product! Now, let us get to the good stuff!

Let us start with the ONLY things that matter regarding wine tasting. First, the wine glasses were great! There is ZERO point in pouring whatever wines you have and forcing me to taste them in a tiny glass. Bravo! Next, there were no drunk people, at least not by the time I left, which was around 9:15 PM. There was water on all the tables, and the spittoons were emptied somewhat consistently (this was the only minor slight). There were crackers and the tables were not overly packed. When you put this together you have a WINNER!

This year’s KWD was even better wine-wise, IMO. Royal’s wines at the event were mid-level with a few higher-level wines. Royal was able to highlight some real winners, like the 2022 Royaumont, Mevushal, the 2023 Vitkin Pinot Noir, and the excellent ESSA wines. The 2023 ESSA Riesling is quite a wine along with the 2020 ESSA Emunah and the 2022 ESSA Cabernet Franc.

The entire M&M lineup was impressive. That table was the REAL WINNER! M&M continues to impress with solid to great wines. I had already tasted those and posted them; otherwise, I would be screaming their praises.

The wines at Narrow Bridge were nice enough, and I see Josh Klapper’s hand all over them. Good on you all! The wines by Ari had a lovely wine – the 2018 Allegory Cabernet Sauvignon, Mount Veeder, that is a sure BUY IT NOW wine. Sadly, I had to leave and missed the wines from Bam, I had tasted them all before, and I hope to taste them again soon.

Red Garden had a couple of lovely wines. The 2024 Bat Shlomo Sauvignon Blanc is a sure QPR WINNER. The 2024 La Foret Blanche Talpiot, Dry White Wine, is not bad, but is not yet available here.

Happy Hearts also had a lovely wine, the 2024 Puzzle Rose. It is a WINNER. Allied had some nice wines like the 2023 Dalton Wild One and the 2023 Dalton Sauvignon Blanc, Family Collection, which is a WINNER.

River Wine had some lovely Shirah Wines, like the incredible 2021 Shirah Pinot Meunier and others.

Overall, I think the crowds, the passion, and the interest people had in the wines more than in getting drunk made for an enjoyable and successful second event by the KWD crew! Bravo, guys!

KFWE NY/NJ

The 2022, 2024, and now the 2025 KFWE NY/NJ needs to change the name. I am sorry, guys, there is no Food Extravaganza here. I know, I said it above, and I am repeating myself, but I feel a poor showing of food actually makes the overall event look lackluster. Make more pizza (the only edible food at the event), or just skip the pizza and the food altogether and stop the charades. Worse were the odors of burning dough and frying Garbanzo beans. Try tasting a 2022 Philippe Le Hardi Clos De Vougeot, Grand Cru with Pizza baking in the background. Yeah. If this event is meant to portray the best that Royal Wines has to offer, then let the wine speak and not Pizza (no matter how enjoyable it may be).

Moving past the only real issue, we can move on to the rest of the event, which for me was all roses. As stated above, let us start with the usual list of basic needs for a wine event to work. Let us start with the ONLY things that matter regarding wine tasting. First, the wine glasses were great! There is ZERO point in pouring whatever wines you have and forcing me to taste them in a tiny glass. Bravo! Next, there were no drunk people, at least not by the time I left, which was at closing time. There was water on all the tables, and the spittoons were emptied consistently (at a better rate than at KWD). There were crackers and the tables were not overly packed. When you put this together you have a WINNER! Do not get me wrong, there were far more people at KFWE NJ than at KWD, but overall the flow worked. Finally, unlike previous times at the Hilton (now called something else) – the hall had no lingering smells of new carpet, formaldehyde, paint, or horribly bad smelling cleaning spray or equipment.

Once you get past the only real issue and the basic needs of a wine tasting event, you get to the MAIN need of a wine tasting event—wine! They had all the wines that I hoped to taste and more. Sadly, I missed a few, and I hope to get to those soon. All of the top French wines were there, minus very few. There were a few 2021 Bordeaux, but it was a 2022 show for the most part! The same can be said about all the wines imported by Royal. The Israeli wines were up-to-date along with the new Italian wines, some of which I sadly missed.

A few years ago, Jay Buchsbaum, the executive vice president of marketing and director of consumer education at Royal Wine, asked me to choose three wines I liked from a KFWE Miami event. Since that year, I have taken it upon myself to find good, new options, with at least two Israeli wines, and once again, I was successful! As usual, I did so minus my usual crutches, like French and Italian wines from the usual suspects, and stuck to new to less-known wines. This was no easy task!

Also, I tasted every single Israeli wine they had at the event. One room was totally Israeli wine and the other room had wines from France, Italy, USA, South Africa, New Zealand, and so on.

So, for all intent and purpose, I tasted every wine at the event (other than the few new Italian wines) and these are the three I chose:

1. 2023 ESSA Riesling (CRAZY GOOD WINE!) QPR WINNER!
2. 2024 Netofa Latour Tzahav Blanc
3. 2023 Raziel Blanc (Though this is not a QPR WINNER, given its price)

I did find some “New” wines from Terra di Seta, the 2022 Terra di Seta Chianti Classico and the 2020 Terra di Seta Chianti Classico Riserva – both QPR WINNERs.

Other interesting wines from Israel, that I want to get a closer look at are:

• 2024 Flam Rose
• 2024 Tabor Sauvignon Blanc
• 2024 Gush Etzion Sauvignon Blanc
• 2021 Shiloh Mosaic Mevushal
• 2020 Shiloh Mosaic Exclusive Edition

M&M also made new wines, which Royal is now distributing. The 2021 Masseria Frattasi Kapnios Aglianico, 2021 Masseria Frattasi Kottabos Merlot, and 2022 Masseria Frattasi Caudium Aglianico. Sadly, I missed these wines, and I hope to taste them soon.

Overall, I think the KFWE NY/NJ event was solid. My main issues are threefold.

• First, this was meant to showcase ALL the wines that Royal sells, and while they were mostly there, Herzog had too many wines missing.
• Next, the time allotted to taste the wines was far too short. Four hours seems really short to me. It started early evening (4PM) and went until 8PM. I guess I would ask why so short?
• Finally, the food was just a poor distraction and needs to go overall. IMO. WORSE, the falafel stand in the Israeli room was all I could smell at times. Fried greasy food smells are hard to get rid of. The same could be said for the Pizza in the other room. Overpowering smells and underpowering food is a poor combination. That said, the Pizza was solid but the burnt dough smell was not!

KFWE Oxnard

As stated – I think KFWE at Oxnard is fantastic! There are no food smells, as the Tierra Sur restaurant is self-enclosed, the glasses are the same, and all the things that need to go right (pourers, spittoons, and so on were on point. The only issue here was the wines! There were far fewer options than in KFWE NJ. However, it has the 100% right to call itself KFWE Oxnard (given there is ACTUAL real food) and the main attraction was Herzog wines and all of them were available at the event.

Along with that, there were a large number of winery representatives. Not as many as in NJ but I would say half as much. If I were asked who the winner of KFWE vs KFWE was – I would say it was a toss-up, with a tiny edge to Oxnard if you could be at BOTH events. However, if you were comparing them in absence of the other, I would have to call it a toss-up. For me, having had the chance to taste most wines at KFWE NJ, I would say Oxnard won. The reason why, in my opinion, this went so well, in Oxnard was because it felt a LOT like the very successful 2024 KFWE VIP Experience in Oxnard!

Food

The food was all from Tierra Sur and I loved it! The layout and food mimicked much of what we had at the 2024 KFWE VIP Experience in Oxnard! At the serving window, were some of the most addictive fries and onion rings I have ever seen. Now, to be clear here, I personally saw people almost eating them out of the metal bowl! As soon/fast as the chef put them in the bowl – they left the bowl! I will admit, I had some, and they were darn good!

Next to that were the now famous hot honey chicken sliders. I will state that I did not love any of the bread that night, but the chicken was solid, as was the slaw on top of it. I do not know if there was hot honey on top or fried in, but either way, I did not taste that—but the chicken was tops (sorry, I could not help myself!). There were also smash burgers and burgers—depending on when you were there—and they were solid!

To the left was a table filled with charcuterie, but sadly, I do not enjoy that food at this time, so I skipped it. But from what I heard, the table was a hit! It was also food people could get while waiting in line, which helped as well, I think!

Then you had a Hummus bar, then some fish and pasta—all were okay, but I passed. Then there was the addictive Beef Wellington, which was overcooked on the first one they set out, but the rest were perfect. The Pastrami Toast was awesome, as was the lamb shawarma.

Wines

The star of the tasting, outside, of the obvious wines like the 2022 Chateau Leoville Poyferre and other old-world wines, was the newly released 2021 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Generation IX, Stags Leap. In my opinion, it is the best Stags Leap release so far. It is a lovely wine and one that has many years ahead of it! Bravo! The other lovely wine was the 2019 Herzog Stags Leaps Limited Edition Cabernet Sauvignon. It is a wine club special but a lovely wine for the price!

The most talked about wine at the event was the 2021 Capio Chardonnay. It was the most poured wine at that table and one that I would never buy. Still, lots of people liked it. The wine is from the same “winery” that made Kasher and it comes in at 16.5% ABV! Go figure that one! It is a fruit and oak monster! The folks at Herzog measured the wine in the winery’s lab – it is 16.5%! yeah, next!

Keeping to my ways – I found three more Israeli wines that are worth looking into.

• 2023 Matar Cumulus
• 2018 Teperberg Cabernet Sauvignon
• 2019 Teperberg Petite Sirah 

That is a wrap of the wine tasting events of 2025, at least so far! I do not know of others. The KFWE London/Europe event, which happened the week after KFWE Oxnard, sounds like a lot of fun! Here’s hoping everyone got back home safely and enjoyed their time!

Wrapup

Look, none of this could have happened without the work of so many people. My many thanks to Royal Wines, all the folks behind KWD’s Wine and Food Night. These were heroic efforts, on the part of the hosts, the wine suppliers, the restaurants, and all the people that attended them. This was a massive Jewish group effort, and all I can say is Bravo! That is a wrap – Miami, you are up – in only a paltry 10 months – unless we have a redo to the VERY successful 2024 KFWE VIP Experience at Oxnard!