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And the winner of KFWE 2023 (at least so far) goes to the Big Apple
Before we get to judging I need to restate the obvious, Royal Wines is the 800-pound Gorilla of the kosher wine market. The interesting fact is that some might say that the KFWE events are self-motivated and self-aggrandizing, and while this may be true, they are also the leading system for kosher wine self-education that we have! Also, Royal is the only company I know making a large-scale wine tasting before the Passover run. I hear there may be one in March, time will tell. Until then, Royal stepped up, even if it was self-motivated, any motivation that sells/promotes kosher wine is a WIN-WIN for all kosher wine buyers. Finally, making these events on the backend of what is now the COVID-19 wave, shows we have finally returned and that kosher wine will once again have a voice that it desperately needs, no matter the motives. So, BRAVO Royal, and now to the scoring!
One more aside, and I repeat this concept down below, It is great to want wine education and to have events that promote wines but what is even better is TALKING about wine, kosher wines. Two years ago, I dropped the ball, sure the 2021 Virtual-KFWE was a logistical mistake, and I covered that but I missed highlighting the best part of the Virtual-KFWE and something I think Royal should continue, in different ways going forward. True wine, region, and winery education! The Virtual-KFWE included guided wine tastings with Jay Buchsbaum, Erik Segelbaum, and Gabriel Geller. The videos were worth the price of admission! I continue to state this as I missed stating that in my post, and I missed seeing the forest from the trees.
With that said, Royal should go back to this, but I think on a smaller scale, think real bottles of wine, as part of a wine club, that promotes different regions, and different wineries, while promoting Royal Wines and having personal guided tastings with folks like in the virtual KFWE. Just a thought! OK, now, I mean it, on to the scoring!!
KFWE 2023 Scoring
Before I go further, I wanted to define to you my criteria for grading a wine tasting:
- The Venue, of course, its ambiance, and setup
- The wine selection
- The wine glasses
- The number of humans at the tasting
- the food served
- Finally, the reactions of the participants, though for me that is less important to me, as I judge the tasting based more upon the body language of the participants than what they say.
Now, some of these variables are subjective, rather than just objective. Take for example #1, the venue, it is highly subjective though also somewhat objective. Pier 60 is a nice place, but in comparison, the Petersen museum of the past was far more beautiful, but it had its issues as well. Sometimes too much space is actually not a good thing. The Hollywood Palladium, showed its age and issues, this year and left L.A. a bit behind the Eightball. Now, again, this is subjective, some people hate cars. They hated how big the Petersen was, and how spread-out the food and wine were. I loved the Petersen, loved the cars, and while the food and wine were spread out and difficult to find, the roominess and vast space to sit and enjoy art and wine at the same time, was truly impressive. Further, NYC needs a place to sit down, I think the VIP in both places were great for room to sit and relax but the general admission in LA was far better in its use of the space in the middle of the area, allowing for many couches and places to sit and relax.
The App is dead, long live the app!
Thankfully, this has been put to pasture and that is where it belongs. There were too many hoops to jump through from the logistics to the actual content and info. Nice idea, poor implementation. Until it is 100% rock solid – leave it off the menu as it adds more headaches than value to the customer.
Mother Nature took kindly to KFWE in NYC and LA (well mostly)
A quick footnote here, before we dive into the highly contested and dispassionate discussion around which KFWE is the best KFWE, we need to thank the good mother! Mother nature really threw us a pair of bones this year! Yes, I know that flying from NYC to LA was a bit torturous for some, and yes, I missed my upgrade by one, but come on, it was that or we get 0-degree weather and KFWE NYC would have looked more like a Flatbush Shtiebel during the summer, AKA empty!
The weather in L.A. was just divine! Clear skies, 70+ degrees, the only issue I had was that this was all inside. The Petersen of old would have hosted the trade and VIP on the massive rooftop deck, sunshine, and clear skies, I know there were issues with it, but I think that is where the KFWE L.A. needs to return. NYC’s weather was a warm 40 degrees and for February in NYC I will take that all day! It made going between Pier 60 (General Admission) and the VIP much more comfortable.
Venue (Pier 60 versus Hollywood Palladium)
The NYC KFWE was once again housed in Pier 60, while the VIP room was once again in the Current, Pier 60’s newest event space located next door near Pier 59 at Chelsea Piers. The walk over there was fine as the weather was quite acceptable for February.
The main two issues I had with KFWE NYC were a lacking of seating and a lack of a trade tasting. I find that at public tastings like KFWE, I can never get any real notes down. Further, the lack of a trade does not let us folks get a feel for what is being poured, overall. Still, trade is not what NYC is about and I get that.
KFWE LA had ample seating in both General Admission (GA) and VIP, and they had a trade tasting that allowed me to taste the Herzog wines, and a few others, in a professional manner.
Now, let us get to space, NYC GA had ample space because they had pourers that were well-trained, quick, and precise. They moved the tasters as well, via verbal queues, such that the folks behind those at the table were served quickly. Overall, it was the best showing at a KFWE in a long time. The professionalism showed by these pourers was top-notch.
Read the rest of this entry
The 2022-2023 kosher wine-tasting event season is upon us. Updated with time and discount codes for KFWE!
UPDATE:
The times for both the KFWE LA and NYC shows are updated below with coupons as well! Enjoy!
When most people think of seasons – they think of either the 4 environmental seasons, or the holiday seasons (Jewish or otherwise), and then there are the more obscure – seasons, like the kosher wine-tasting season. Yes, it is a once-a-year season and it starts in December and goes through late March. The exact dates are mostly set now, but a few are still missing, as they depend on the Jewish Lunar calendar with the start of Passover. Yup! Passover drives the entire kosher wine-tasting season – and that makes sense since 40 to 50% of ALL kosher wine sold, happens in the month around and before Passover! That is crazy!
Of course, we cannot talk about a wine-tasting season without discussing the white elephant in the room, which is the sad fact that we have not had these for almost two full years! BRAVO to KFWE NYC which had one earlier this year in NJ. Here is my write-up on that KFWE. Also, there was the highly innovative and well-run virtual KFWE of 2021, which had horrible logistical issues, but the idea and the extremely informative live feed were truly impressive! I may have been a bit too harsh in my critique, yeah I can be a bit overhanded at times, sure the operational component was lacking, and the most important portion of the event was a mess, but the preparation, innovation, thought process, and drive along with the live informative feed really should have been given more credit than I did, Mea culpa, such is life.
So, with that in mind let the festivities begin! The first tasting is the first of the KFWE family events, KFWE Miami. With such a slow season, more on that in a bit, it is nice to see that Miami is now officially on the main KFWE page. In the past, it started to call itself, Kosher Food & Wine Miami, but not KFWE. The KFWE family has officially expanded and subsumed what were already really KFWE events (including Israel and Miami) and now just made it official. The last one in Miami, in 2019, was one of the first KFWE Miami where it was not in Chanukah. I quipped that I thought it was a requirement. This year, they pulled out all stops and made it on Thursday night! Like what??? Yup, the geniuses in Miami think calendars are not for everyone!
KFWE – Kosher Food and Wine Experience
KFWE has been around since 2007 in NYC, and it keeps evolving and growing. Originally, the Los Angeles version was called International Food and Wine Festival (IFWF) it started in 2008. It is not the oldest kosher wine-tasting event, that would be the now-defunct Gotham Kosher Wine Extravaganza. Sadly, they stopped hosting those tastings, such is life, their first one was in 2004, and it ran until 2014. In 2015, the first year that the IFWF became the west coast KFWE, David Whittemore, and the gang from Herzog Winery pulled out all the stops and created what I still think was the best KFWE, with the first-ever VIP session, which was copied in almost every KFWE version, and hey “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. Well, this year the L.A. KFWE is back in Hollywood, at the world-famous Hollywood Palladium, a true slice of Hollywood nostalgia if there ever was one. According to Wikipedia, it is a theater located at 6215 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California. It was built in a Streamline Moderne, Art Deco style and includes an 11,200 square foot dance floor, a mezzanine, and a floor level with room for up to 5,000 people. There will be little to no dancing going on or performances from world-class musicians, which is normally what happens at the venue, but instead, it will have an even larger number of wines and food options. I was sad to see the L.A. KFWE move from the Petersen Automotive Museum, where it has been for two years, in 2016, 2017, and 2018. However, the 2019 and 2020 KFWE L.A. at the Palladium were freaking EPIC and I expect more greatness!
As I have pounded on and on in these virtual pages, we need more wine education, and the wine education leader, IMHO, is also the kosher wine 800-pound guerilla, Royal Wines. Recently I did a quick check in my mind of the top kosher wineries or kosher wine runs from around the world, and Royal probably imports about 90+% of them. Sure, there are tons of wineries that they do not import, but they are also not wines that I particularly buy and covet. It is just a very interesting fact IMHO, somewhat scary but also very telling. Here are a wine distributor and importer that gets what sells and what does not, and has successfully found the better options out there and keeps adding more.
Cross distributor tastings
At this moment I know of no cross-distributor wine events this wine-tasting season. To be honest I am not sure why. COVID ushered in what a decade could not into the kosher wine-buying public, a lushness that would make a double-fisted drinking goy blush! Kosher wine, alcohol, and spirits are THROUGH the roof! Why would you not want to bank on that and have a kosher wine event with more than just Royal??? If there was ever a time and place for more kosher wine education it is now!
Besides the Royal wine events – AKA KFWE, there are events in Israel, namely Sommelier, the only wine event in Israel publicizing Israel’s diverse wine culture. That happens every year in and around the month of January, as stated earlier exact dates for any of these events are only locked down a few months in advance and the date changes every year.
Israel wines may be going off the deep end, in terms of date juice and all, but Sommelier continues to do a wonderful job of keeping a continuous focus on Israel and its potential in the wine world. Bravo to them!
There is also the Bokobsa event in Paris, which I went to in 2020, which is NOT officially part of the KFWE family, but Royal wines are represented there as are other wineries that Bokobsa imports into France. They had one this year, in 2022, along with the KFWE London, but I was not able to make it to either of them. Unfortunately, I hear there will be no Bokobsa tasting this coming year after they had one in 2022.
Royal wine imports many Bokobsa wines into the USA, but Bokobsa itself makes kosher wines (like the fantastic 2007 and 2012 Sancerre Chavignol, the lovely 2017/2018/2019 Fume Blanc, and the unimported 2017 Pascal Bouchard Chablis, Premier Cru. I was just in Paris last month and I tasted the new 2021 Anthony Girard Sancerre, L’indiscrete, it is AWESOME and I hope Royal imports it. Bokobsa imports wines into France as well, and they are Royal’s distributors in France. The whole kosher wine import game is what drives these events. These are importers/winemakers that need to sell products and advertise what they are selling, so these events are a win-win for us all!
Besides, Sommelier, there were a couple of wine events that happen closer to Passover, in the past years, that were not about a single importer but rather about kosher wine options overall. These events were not as deep as the Royal or Bokobsa wine events, which showcased almost every single wine these importers make/import. Rather, they were a curated and diverse set of wines that spanned multiple importers and distributors. This gave wine purveyors like Yarden, Allied, Red Garden, M&M, and others the chance to showcase what wines they were selling and what is available.
Sadly, at this point/moment in time, there are no such events on the calendar! The wonderful Grapevine Wines & Spirits Grand Kosher Wine Tasting, sadly, was called off in 2020 and after 7 years of that event, they called it quits.
The Jewish Week Grand Wine Tasting, which was held for 11 years in a row, quite a feat in the kosher wine world, outside of KFWE, sadly came to an end in 2020 as well. Again, I hope someone steps up and creates a proper wine event to allow kosher wine purveyors the opportunity to showcase their wines, outside of Royal wines.
Wine events happening all the time
So there you have a brief history of the wine events that are coming up. There are also a few one-off events going on in NYC (nothing happens in LA or Norcal other than KFWE). Keep an eye open for them!
I will keep updating this page – so bookmark it and I will try my best to keep it up to date!
Kosher wine-tasting events this season – in chronological order:
Name: KFWE Miami – SOLD OUT!Time: 7 PM to 10 PM (6 PM VIP access)
When: December 8th, 2022
Where: JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Resort & Spa
19999 W Country Club Dr, Aventura, FL 33180
Link to signup or for more information: http://www.kosherfoodandwinemiami.com/
Name: KFWE NYC
When: Monday, February 6th, 2023
Time: 3 PM – 9 PM EST (No Trade show in NYC)
Where: Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers, New York, NY
Link to signup: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/472878581567/?discount=MUSINGS (With COUPON)
Link for more information: https://kfwe.com
Name: KFWE LA
When: February 8th, 2023
Time: Trade: 1 PM to 4 PM and 6 PM to 9:30 PM
Where: Hollywood Palladium (6215 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028)|
Link to signup: https://www.universe.com/embed2/events/63757cfa16de3c0027e2f259?state=%7B%22currentDiscountCode%22%3A%7B%22code%22%3A%22MUSINGS%22%7D%7D (With COUPON)
Link for more information: https://kfwe.com
Name: Sommelier
When: February 14th and 15th, 2023
Time: 11:30 AM to 5 PM Trade and 6:00 PM to 9:30 PM Public
Where: Heichal HaTarbut
Huberman St 1, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel
Link to more information: http://www.sommelier.co.il/sommelier/
Name: KFWE Tel Aviv
When: TBA
Time: TBA
Where: TBA
Name: KFWE London
When: TBA
Time: TBA
Where: TBA
Link to signup or for more information: https://www.kfwelondon.com/
The 2022-2023 kosher wine-tasting event season is upon us!
When most people think of seasons – they think of either the 4 environmental seasons, or the holiday seasons (Jewish or otherwise), and then there are the more obscure – seasons, like the kosher wine-tasting season. Yes, it is a once-a-year season and it starts in December and goes through late March. The exact dates are mostly set now, but a few are still missing, as they depend on the Jewish Lunar calendar with the start of Passover. Yup! Passover drives the entire kosher wine-tasting season – and that makes sense since 40 to 50% of ALL kosher wine sold, happens in the month around and before Passover! That is crazy!
Of course, we cannot talk about a wine-tasting season without discussing the white elephant in the room, which is the sad fact that we have not had these for almost two full years! BRAVO to KFWE NYC which had one earlier this year in NJ. Here is my write-up on that KFWE. Also, there was the highly innovative and well-run virtual KFWE of 2021, which had horrible logistical issues, but the idea and the extremely informative live feed were truly impressive! I may have been a bit too harsh in my critique, yeah I can be a bit overhanded at times, sure the operational component was lacking, and the most important portion of the event was a mess, but the preparation, innovation, thought process, and drive along with the live informative feed really should have been given more credit than I did, Mea culpa, such is life.
So, with that in mind let the festivities begin! The first tasting is the first of the KFWE family events, KFWE Miami. With such a slow season, more on that in a bit, it is nice to see that Miami is now officially on the main KFWE page. In the past, it started to call itself, Kosher Food & Wine Miami, but not KFWE. The KFWE family has officially expanded and subsumed what were already really KFWE events (including Israel and Miami) and now just made it official. The last one in Miami, in 2019, was one of the first KFWE Miami where it was not in Chanukah. I quipped that I thought it was a requirement. This year, they pulled out all stops and made it on Thursday night! Like what??? Yup, the geniuses in Miami think calendars are not for everyone!
KFWE – Kosher Food and Wine Experience
KFWE has been around since 2007 in NYC, and it keeps evolving and growing. Originally, the Los Angeles version was called International Food and Wine Festival (IFWF) it started in 2008. It is not the oldest kosher wine-tasting event, that would be the now-defunct Gotham Kosher Wine Extravaganza. Sadly, they stopped hosting those tastings, such is life, their first one was in 2004, and it ran until 2014. In 2015, the first year that the IFWF became the west coast KFWE, David Whittemore, and the gang from Herzog Winery pulled out all the stops and created what I still think was the best KFWE, with the first-ever VIP session, which was copied in almost every KFWE version, and hey “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. Well, this year the L.A. KFWE is back in Hollywood, at the world-famous Hollywood Palladium, a true slice of Hollywood nostalgia if there ever was one. According to Wikipedia, it is a theater located at 6215 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California. It was built in a Streamline Moderne, Art Deco style and includes an 11,200 square foot dance floor including a mezzanine and a floor level with room for up to 5,000 people. There will be little to no dancing going on or performances from world-class musicians, which is normally what happens at the venue, but instead, it will have an even larger number of wines and food options. I was sad to see the L.A. KFWE move from the Petersen Automotive Museum, where it has been for two years, in 2016 and 2017. However, the 2018 and 2019 KFWE L.A. at the Palladium were freaking EPIC and I expect more greatness!
As I have pounded on and on in these virtual pages, we need more wine education, and the wine education leader, IMHO, is also the kosher wine 800-pound guerilla, Royal Wines. Recently I did a quick check in my mind of the top kosher wineries or kosher wine runs from around the world, and Royal probably imports about 90+% of them. Sure, there are tons of wineries that they do not import, but they are also not wines that I particularly buy and covet. It is just a very interesting fact IMHO, somewhat scary but also very telling. Here are a wine distributor and importer that gets what sells and what does not, and has successfully found the better options out there and keeps adding more.
Cross distributor tastings
At this moment I know of no cross-distributor wine events this wine-tasting season. To be honest I am not sure why. COVID ushered in what a decade could not into the kosher wine-buying public, a lushness that would make a double-fisted drinking goy blush! Kosher wine, alcohol, and spirits are THROUGH the roof! Why would you not want to bank on that and have a kosher wine event with more than just Royal??? If there was ever a time and place for more kosher wine education it is now!
Besides the Royal wine events – AKA KFWE, there are events in Israel, namely Sommelier, the only wine event in Israel publicizing Israel’s diverse wine culture. That happens every year in and around the month of January, as stated earlier exact dates for any of these events are only locked down a few months in advance and the date changes every year.
Israel wines may be going off the deep end, in terms of date juice and all, but Sommelier continues to do a wonderful job of keeping a continuous focus on Israel and its potential in the wine world. Bravo to them!
There is also the Bokobsa event in Paris, which I went to in 2020, which is NOT officially part of the KFWE family, but Royal wines are represented there as are other wineries that Bokobsa imports into France. They had one this year, in 2022, along with the KFWE London, but I was not able to make it to either of them. Unfortunately, I hear there will be no Bokobsa tasting this coming year after they had one in 2022.
Royal wine imports many Bokobsa wines into the USA, but Bokobsa itself makes kosher wines (like the fantastic 2007 and 2012 Sancerre Chavignol, the lovely 2017/2018/2019 Fume Blanc, and the unimported 2017 Pascal Bouchard Chablis, Premier Cru. I was just in Paris last month and I tasted the new 2021 Anthony Girard Sancerre, L’indiscrete, it is AWESOME and I hope Royal imports it. Bokobsa imports wines into France as well, and they are Royal’s distributors in France. The whole kosher wine import game is what drives these events. These are importers/winemakers that need to sell products and they need to advertise what they are selling, so these events are a win-win for us all!
Besides, Sommelier, there are a couple of wine events that happen closer to Passover that are not about a single importer but rather about kosher wine options overall. These events are not as deep as the Royal or Bokobsa wine events, which will showcase almost every single wine these importers make/import. Rather, they are a curated and diverse set of wines that span multiple importers and distributors. This gives wine purveyors like Yarden, Rashbi, M&M, and others the chance to showcase what wines they are selling and what is available.
Sadly, at this point/moment in time, there are no such events on the calendar! The wonderful Grapevine Wines & Spirits Grand Kosher Wine Tasting, sadly, was called off in 2020 and after 7 years of that event, they called it quits.
The Jewish Week Grand Wine Tasting, which was held for 11 years in a row, quite a feat in the kosher wine world, outside of KFWE, sadly came to an end in 2020 as well. Again, I hope someone steps up and creates a proper wine event to allow kosher wine purveyors the opportunity to showcase their wines, outside of Royal wines.
Wine events happening all the time
So there you have a quick history of the wine events that are coming up. There are also a few one-off events going on in NYC (nothing happens in LA or Norcal other than KFWE). Keep an eye open for them!
I will keep updating this page – so bookmark it and I will try my best to keep it up to date!
Kosher wine-tasting events this season – in chronological order:
Name: KFWE Miami – SOLD OUT!
When: December 8th, 2022
Time: 7 PM to 10 PM (6 PM VIP access)
Where: JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Resort & Spa
19999 W Country Club Dr, Aventura, FL 33180
Link to signup or for more information: http://www.kosherfoodandwinemiami.com/
Name: KFWE NYC
When: February 6th, 2023
Time: TBA
Where: Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers, New York, NY
Link to signup or for more information: http://kfwe.com/
Name: KFWE LA
When: February 8th, 2023
Time: TBA
Where: Hollywood Palladium (6215 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028)|
Link to signup or for more information: https://kfwe.com
Name: Sommelier
When: February 14th and 15th, 2023
Time: 11:30 AM to 5 PM Trade and 6:00 PM to 9:30 PM Public
Where: Heichal HaTarbut
Huberman St 1, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel
Link to more information: http://www.sommelier.co.il/sommelier/
Name: KFWE Tel Aviv
When: TBA
Time: TBA
Where: TBA
Name: KFWE London
When: TBA
Time: TBA
Where: TBA
Link to signup or for more information: https://www.kfwelondon.com/
The 2019-2020 kosher wine tasting event season is upon us!
When most people think of seasons – they think of either the 4 environmental seasons, or the holiday seasons (Jewish or otherwise), and then there are the more obscure – seasons, like the kosher wine tasting season. Yes, it is a once a year season and it starts in December and goes through late March. The exact dates are mostly set now, but a few are still missing, as they depend on the Jewish Lunar calendar with the start of Passover. Yup! Passover drives the entire kosher wine tasting season – and that makes sense since 40 to 50% of ALL kosher wine sold, happens in the month around and before Passover! That is totally crazy!
Now last year I forgot to add in the Long Island Kosher Wine Expo until it was too late. They are now the start of the wine tasting season, and this year looks even better!
So, with that in mind let the festivities begin! As stated above, the first tasting is the Long Island Kosher Wine Expo, followed by the KFWE Miami, and as of last year, it has finally been “officially” added to the KFWE calendar. The KFWE family has officially expanded and subsumed what was already really KFWE events (including Israel and Miami) and now just made it official. The TRUE shocker this year is that KFWE Miami will not be held during Hannukah! Here I thought it was an actual requirement from the folks down under in Miami, I guess I must be mistaken!
KFWE – Kosher Food and Wine Experience
KFWE has been around since 2007 in NYC, and it keeps evolving and growing. Originally, the Los Angeles version was called International Food and Wine festival (IFWF) it started in 2008. It is not the oldest kosher wine tasting event, that would be the now-defunct Gotham Kosher Wine Extravaganza. Sadly, they stopped hosting those tastings, such is life, their first one was in 2004, and it ran until 2014. In 2015, the first year that the IFWF became the west coast KFWE, David Whittemore, and the gang from Herzog Winery pulled out all the stops and created what I still think was the best ever KFWE, with the first-ever VIP session, which has been copied in almost every KFWE version, and hey “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. Well, this year I hope the L.A. KFWE is back in Hollywood, at the world-famous Hollywood Palladium, a true slice of Hollywood nostalgia if there ever was one. According to Wikipedia, it is a theater located at 6215 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California. It was built in a Streamline Moderne, Art Deco style and includes an 11,200 square foot dance floor including a mezzanine and a floor level with room for up to 5,000 people. There will be little to no dancing going on or performances from world-class musicians, which is normally what happens at the venue, but instead, it will have even a larger number of wines and food options. Last year I was sad to see the L.A. KFWE move from the Petersen Automotive Museum, where it has been for two years, 2016 and 2017. However, the 2018 KFWE L.A. at the Palladium was freaking EPIC and I expect more greatness!
As I have pounded on and on in these virtual pages, we need more wine education and the wine education leader, IMHO, is also the kosher wine 800-pound guerilla, Royal Wines. Recently I did a quick check-in my mind of the top kosher wineries or kosher wine runs from around the world, and Royal probably imports about 90+% of them. Sure, there are tons of wineries that they do not import, but they are also not wines that I particularly buy and covet. It is just a very interesting fact IMHO, somewhat scary but also very telling. Here are a wine distributor and importer that gets what sells and what does not, and has successfully found the better options out there and keeps adding more.
Cross distributor tastings
The Long Island Kosher Wine Expo is actually the first of many cross-distributor wine events, and as stated above will kickoff the wine tasting season. It will showcase many wineries that do not come to other shows, like Jonathan Jadu’s wines, and a few other boutique Israeli wineries, along with many other wineries and wines from around the world!
Besides the Royal wine events – AKA KFWE, there are events in Israel, namely Sommelier, the only wine event in Israel publicizing Israel’s diverse wine culture. That happens every year in and around the month of January, as stated earlier exact dates for any of these events are only locked down a few months in advance and the date changes every year.
Israel wines may be going off the deep end, in terms of date juice and all, but Sommelier continues to do a wonderful job of keeping a continuous focus on Israel and its potential in the wine world. Bravo to them!
There is also the Bokobsa event in Paris, which I went to last year, which is NOT officially part of the KFWE family, but Royal wines are represented there as are other wineries that Bokobsa imports into France. Read the rest of this entry
And the winner of KFWE NYC and L.A. 2019 goes to the City of Angels
If you have been keeping up with my travels around the world to visit the KFWE venues, you will know that I really was impressed with what Bokobsa did in Paris and I was split over the London KFWE, given its posh settings and solid wine selection, though it has where to grow.
Before I go further, I wanted to define to you my criteria for grading a wine tasting:
- The Venue, of course, its ambiance, and setup
- The wine selection
- The wine glasses
- The number of humans at the tasting
- the food served
- Finally, the reactions of the participants, though for me that is less important to me, as I judge the tasting based more upon the body language of the participants than what they say.
Now, some of these variables are subjective, rather than just objective. Take for example #1, the venue, it is a highly subjective though also objective variable. Pier 60 is a nice place, but in comparison, the Peterson museum of the past few years in Los Angeles was far better. Now, again, this is subjective, some people hate cars. They hated how big the Peterson was, and how spread-out the food and wine was. I loved the Petersen, loved the cars, and while the food and wine were spread out and difficult to find, the roominess and vast space to sit and enjoy art and wine at the same time, was truly impressive.
App and its data needs serious work
One more thing, as I stated in my KFWE recommendation list – the KFWE App is a disaster. It rarely worked. When it did, it was so annoying it was hopeless. Take for instance the go back button went back to the main wine list. So if you wanted to go through the list of Elvi or Capcanes wines, you had to go back and forth OVER and OVER. Worse, and I mean far worse, was the data behind the app, the data was all wrong. The wines at the event did not match the wines in front of you at the tables.
I really hope that next year, Royal Wines puts in more effort into building a proper app, with proper data. Even if the wines that are delivered are different than the wines on the app, change the data! Make sure the data matches reality instead of dreams and rainbows.
Mother Nature took kindly to KFWE in NYC and LA (well mostly)
A quick footnote here, before we dive into the highly contested and dispassionate discussion around which KFWE is the best KFWE, we need to thank the good mother! Mother nature really threw us a pair of bones this year! Yes, I know that flying from NYC to LA was a bit torturous for some, and yes, I sat/slept in my middle seat all the way to LA, but come on, it was that or we get 6 inches of snow a day EARLIER and KFWE NYC would have looked more like a Flatbush Shtiebel during the summer, AKA empty!
Sure, traveling to LA was a pain, but it all worked out, even those who flew to LA on the day. Further, while mother nature opened the skies on the day following KFWE L.A., with what the meteorologists loved to call an atmospheric river, it was the DAY AFTER KFWE L.A. On the day of KFWE L.A. there was a light smattering of rain here and there. The next day, God opened the heavens, when we were driving in our Uber to the airport the streets were almost flooded, and this is L.A. which has a massive concrete drain snaking its way through Los Angeles, with which to dump and maneuver billions of gallons of rainwater.
Further, if we had been at the Petersen this year, the VIP and Trade would have been a mess. There was not so much rain, as it was just not nice outside, this is an El-Nino year in Califonia, and that means more rain than normal here in Cali! So, all in all, God was kind to Royal and the KFWE circuit. The weather was just right, along with some intelligent decisions, turned out to be true blessings for all, especially us Californians who really need the rain! Read the rest of this entry
KFWE NYC and L.A.’s must taste wine list
This is not the first time I have been asked to post this list, and shocker, it will have very little Israeli wine on it. So, if you want to concentrate on Israeli wines at KFWE NYC and LA, you can stop reading right now. Domaine du Castel will be on the list, as will Carmel’s Riesling, one Vitkin, one Tabor, and one Or Haganuz, and that is about it for Israeli wines on this list.
Next, yes download the app, there is an app for KFWE, at least for NYC anyway, the data for the L.A. show is not yet in the app, but it should be up soon, according to my main man in Herzog, David Whittemore, the Marketing, and Public Relations Director at Herzog Cellars Winery. Now, totally separately as a software architect that has built world-class systems around the world, this app really sucks. It is slow, illogical in how the application moves, does not keep state, has loads of wrong data (wines and vintages), and for the most part, not a very good looking application. With all the caveats aside, the tables and the wines on those tables are defined, and therefore, I will list the wines to enjoy based upon that information!
So, let us keep this simple – here are the tables and the wines I say are “cannot miss” or make sure to taste.
OVERALL Rules.
- Skip 2013 Bordeaux wines – if any exist
- Skip most whites, unless written here, from before 2015/2016
- Skip all roses unless from 2018
- Taste what you can, the list below is what I liked, but you may like other wines. Learn, explore, and enjoy!!!!
- Finally, the app is horrible but even worse is the data. Many wines and vintages in the app are wrong. So check the wines yourself and follow the guide, in regards to vintages above.
Rothschild Table:
- 2016 Chateau Clarke Baron Edmund de Rothschild
- 2016 Chateau Malmaison (QPR)
Bokobsa Table:
- 2016 Chateau Hauteville
- 2016 Chateau Lamothe Cissac (QPR)
- 2015 Chateau le Cailou
- 2017 Domaine Jean-Pierre Baily Pouilly Fume (QPR)
- 2017 Pascal Bouchard Chablis
Capcanes Table:
- 2015 Capcanes Flor del Flor de Primavera Samso
- 2014 Capcanes Flor del Flor de Primavera Garnacha
Carmel Winery Table:
- 2014 Carmel Kayoumi Vineyard White Riesling (QPR)
The 2018-2019 kosher wine tasting event season is upon us. Updated with new discount codes for KFWE!
When most people think of seasons – they think of either the 4 environmental seasons, or the holiday seasons (Jewish or otherwise), and then there are the more obscure – seasons, like the kosher wine tasting season. Yes, it is a once a year season and it starts in December and goes through late March. The exact dates are mostly set now, but a few are still missing, as they depend on the Jewish Lunar calendar with the start of Passover. Yup! Passover drives the entire kosher wine tasting season – and that makes sense since 40 to 50% of ALL kosher wine sold, happens in the month around and before Passover! That is totally crazy!
Now last year I forgot to add in the Long Island Kosher Wine Expo until it was too late. To be fair they are now the start of the wine tasting season, and this year it was a total blast, well executed!
So, with that in mind let the festivities begin! As stated above, the first tasting is the Long Island Kosher Wine Expo, followed by the KFWE Miami, and as of last year, it has finally been “officially” added to the KFWE calendar. The KFWE family has officially expanded and subsumed what was already really KFWE events (including Israel and Miami) and now just made it official.
KFWE – Kosher Food and Wine Experience
KFWE has been around since 2007 in NYC, and it keeps evolving and growing. Originally, the Los Angeles version was called International Food and Wine festival (IFWF) it started in 2008. It is not the oldest kosher wine tasting event, that would be the now-defunct Gotham Kosher Wine Extravaganza. Sadly, they stopped hosting those tastings, such is life, their first one was in 2004, and it ran until 2014. In 2015, the first year that the IFWF became the west coast KFWE, David Whittemore, and the gang from Herzog Winery pulled out all the stops and created what I still think was the best ever KFWE, with the first ever VIP session, which has been copied in almost every KFWE version, and hey “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. Well, this year the L.A. KFWE is back in Hollywood, no not at the W like in 2015, but rather at famous Hollywood Palladium, a true slice of Hollywood nostalgia if there ever was one. According to Wikipedia, it is a theater located at 6215 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California. It was built in a Streamline Moderne, Art Deco style and includes an 11,200 square foot dance floor including a mezzanine and a floor level with room for up to 5,000 people. There will be little to no dancing going on or performances from world-class musicians, which is normally what happens at the venue, but instead, it will have even a larger number of wines and food options. I will be sad to see the L.A. KFWE move from the Petersen Automotive Museum, where it has been for the past two years, 2016 and 2017. However, this looks like crazy fun, Sunset Boulevard reminds me of so many songs singing about its fame. It sounds like they have listened to my issues with the past LA KFWE, and are shooting to bring back the glitz and success of the 2015 KFWE LA. They will bring back the library wines, continue with the cigar bar, and up the ante with Tierra Sur dining experience. Looking forward indeed. Get your VIP tickets ASAP and use the promo code below for an early bird discount!!
As I have pounded on and on in these virtual pages, we need more wine education and the wine education leader, IMHO, is also the kosher wine 800-pound guerilla, Royal Wines. Recently I did a quick check in my mind of the top kosher wineries or kosher wine runs from around the world, and Royal probably imports about 90+% of them. Sure, there are hundreds of wineries they do not import, but they are also not wines that I particularly buy and covet. It is just a very interesting fact IMHO, somewhat scary but also very telling. Here are a wine distributor and importer that gets what sells and what does not, and has successfully found the better options out there and keeps adding more.
The 2018-2019 kosher wine tasting event season is upon us!
When most people think of seasons – they think of either the 4 environmental seasons, or the holiday seasons (Jewish or otherwise), and then there are the more obscure – seasons, like the kosher wine tasting season. Yes, it is a once a year season and it starts in December and goes through late March. The exact dates are mostly set now, but a few are still missing, as they depend on the Jewish Lunar calendar with the start of Passover. Yup! Passover drives the entire kosher wine tasting season – and that makes sense since 40 to 50% of ALL kosher wine sold, happens in the month around and before Passover! That is totally crazy!
Now last year I forgot to add in the Long Island Kosher Wine Expo until it was too late. To be fair they are now the start of the wine tasting season, and this year looks even better!
So, with that in mind let the festivities begin! As stated above, the first tasting is the Long Island Kosher Wine Expo, followed by the KFWE Miami, and as of last year, it has finally been “officially” added to the KFWE calendar. The KFWE family has officially expanded and subsumed what was already really KFWE events (including Israel and Miami) and now just made it official.
KFWE – Kosher Food and Wine Experience
KFWE has been around since 2007 in NYC, and it keeps evolving and growing. Originally, the Los Angeles version was called International Food and Wine festival (IFWF) it started in 2008. It is not the oldest kosher wine tasting event, that would be the now-defunct Gotham Kosher Wine Extravaganza. Sadly, they stopped hosting those tastings, such is life, their first one was in 2004, and it ran until 2014. In 2015, the first year that the IFWF became the west coast KFWE, David Whittemore, and the gang from Herzog Winery pulled out all the stops and created what I still think was the best ever KFWE, with the first ever VIP session, which has been copied in almost every KFWE version, and hey “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. Well, this year the L.A. KFWE is back in Hollywood, no not at the W like in 2015, but rather at famous Hollywood Palladium, a true slice of Hollywood nostalgia if there ever was one. According to Wikipedia, it is a theater located at 6215 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California. It was built in a Streamline Moderne, Art Deco style and includes an 11,200 square foot dance floor including a mezzanine and a floor level with room for up to 5,000 people. There will be little to no dancing going on or performances from world-class musicians, which is normally what happens at the venue, but instead, it will have even a larger number of wines and food options. I will be sad to see the L.A. KFWE move from the Petersen Automotive Museum, where it has been for the past two years, 2016 and 2017. However, this looks like crazy fun, Sunset Boulevard reminds me of so many songs singing about its fame. It sounds like they have listened to my issues with the past LA KFWE, and are shooting to bring back the glitz and success of the 2015 KFWE LA. They will bring back the library wines, continue with the cigar bar, and up the ante with Tierra Sur dining experience. Looking forward indeed. Get your VIP tickets ASAP and use the promo code below for an early bird discount!!
As I have pounded on and on in these virtual pages, we need more wine education and the wine education leader, IMHO, is also the kosher wine 800-pound guerilla, Royal Wines. Recently I did a quick check in my mind of the top kosher wineries or kosher wine runs from around the world, and Royal probably imports about 90+% of them. Sure, there are hundreds of wineries they do not import, but they are also not wines that I particularly buy and covet. It is just a very interesting fact IMHO, somewhat scary but also very telling. Here are a wine distributor and importer that gets what sells and what does not, and has successfully found the better options out there and keeps adding more.
Cross distributor tastings
The Long Island Kosher Wine Expo is actually the first of many cross-distributor wine events, and as stated above will kickoff the wine tasting season. It will showcase Jonathan Jadu this year, along with many other wineries and wines from around the world!
Besides the Royal wine events – AKA KFWE, there are events in Israel, namely Sommelier, the only wine event in Israel publicizing Israel’s diverse wine culture. That happens every year in and around the month of January, as stated earlier exact dates for any of these events is only locked down a few months in advance and the date changes every year.
Israel wines may be going off the deep end, in terms of date juice and all, but Sommelier continues to do a wonderful job of keeping a continuous focus on Israel and its potential in the wine world. Bravo to them!
There is also the Bokobsa event in Paris, which I went to two years ago, which is NOT officially part of the KFWE family, but Royal wines are represented there as are other wineries that Bokobsa imports into France.
Royal wine imports many Bokobsa wines into the USA, but Bokobsa itself makes kosher wines (like the fantastic 2007 and 2012 Sancerre Chavignol, and the lovely 2017 Fume Blanc, still I wish they made a new Sancerre already), and imports wines into France as well, and they are Royal’s distributors in France. The whole kosher wine import game is what drives these events. These are importers/winemakers that need to sell product and they need to advertise what they are selling, so these events are a win-win for us all!
Besides, Sommelier, there are a couple of wine events that happen closer to Passover that is not about a single importer but rather about kosher wine options overall. These events are not as deep as the Royal or Bokobsa wine events, which will showcase almost every single wine these importers make/import. Rather, it is a curated and diverse set of wines that span across multiple importers and distributors. So, Yarden, Rashbi, and others are at these events and it gives the chance to taste other wines outside of the deep vertical shows like KFWE.
One of them is The Grapevine Wines & Spirits Kosher Grand Tasting, it is a very nice event that normally in the middle of the kosher wine tasting event season, they will be hosting their 7th event in 2019. The last event of the season is always the biggest of this style, the Jewish Week Grand Wine Tasting, they will be celebrating their 10th year this coming 2019, impressive staying power indeed!
I hear there will be a new one to add to the list, but I will wait for them to announce it themselves. I hope it is successful. It will also be a cross-distributor wine tasting. Good luck! We need more education!!!
Wine events happening all the time
So there you have a quick history of the wine events that are coming up. There are also a few one-off events going on in NYC (nothing happens in LA or Norcal other than KFWE). Keep an eye open for them!
I will keep updating this page – so bookmark it and I will try my best to keep it up to date!
Kosher wine tasting events this season – in chronological order:
Name: Long Island Kosher Wine Expo
When: October 28th, 2018
Time: 5 PM to 9 PM (VIP is 5 PM to 6 PM)
Where: Cradle of Aviation Museum. Garden City, New York
26 Bridge St
Brooklyn, NY 11201 United States
Link to signup or for more information: https://kosherwineexpo.com
Admission Options: $125 for VIP, $85 for General Admission, $99 at the door ($15 for bus transportation option see ticket options)
Name: KFWE Miami
When: December 6th, 2018
Time: 7 PM to 10 PM (6 PM VIP access)
Where: Turnberry Isle Miami
19999 W Country Club Dr, Aventura, FL 33180
Link to signup or for more information: http://www.kosherfoodandwinemiami.com/
Name: Sommelier
When: January 28th and 29th, 2019
Time: 11:30 AM to 6 PM Trade and 6:00 PM to 9:30 PM public
Where: Heichal HaTarbut
Huberman St 1, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel
Link to more information: http://www.sommelier.co.il/sommelier/
Sign up link: Will post when it shows up
Name: KFWE Tel Aviv
When: February 4th, 2019
Time: TBA
Where: Tel Aviv, Israel
Link to signup or for more information:
Name: Bokobsa tasting of Grand Cru Cachers
When: February 4th, 2019 (yes the same day as the KFWE Israel)
Time: Pavillon des Princes in the 16th district
Where: 4:30 PM until 10 PM
Link to signup or for more information: https://www.weezevent.com/degustationdevinbokobsa2019
Name: KFWE London
When: February 6th, 2019
Time: 3:30 PM for trade and 6:30 PM for public
Where: Sheraton Grand London Park Lane
Piccadilly, London W1J 7BX, United Kingdom
Link to signup or for more information: https://www.kfwelondon.com/
Name: KFWE NYC
When: February 11th, 2019
Time: 12PM trade, 5:30 PM – 9:30 PM EST (VIP is 5:30 PM)
Where: Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers, New York, NY
Link to signup or for more information: http://thekfwe.com/ (choose New York – then buy a ticket)
USE PROMO CODE: EARLYBIRD (through December 16th)
This looks to be a smash hit – get your VIP tickets ASAP!!!
Name: KFWE LA
When: February 13th, 2019
Time: 1PM Trade, 6:00 PM – 9:30 PM PST
Where: Hollywood Palladium (6215 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028)|
Link to signup or for more information: http://thekfwe.com/ (choose Los Angeles – then buy a ticket)
USE PROMO CODE: EARLYBIRD (through December 16th)
This looks to be a smash hit – get your VIP tickets ASAP!!!
Name: The Grand Kosher Wine Tasting
When: TBA
Time: TBA
Where: TBA
Link to signup or for more information:
Name: Grand Wine Tasting and Kosher Wine Guide
When: April 1st, 2019
Time: 5:00 PM for premium tasting, 6 PM to 9 PM for general admission
Where: City Winery NYC
155 Varick St, New York, NY 10013
Link to signup or for more information:
KFWE NYC and LA 2018 was ruled by European Wines and American Foie Gras
Well, it was another great series of KFWE shows. Sadly, I missed the one in Israel, which many say was the best one so far! Thankfully, I made NYC and LA. What I can say, is that while not much has changed in regards to overall quality, location, and layout, the shows themselves were not overwhelmingly great this year. Each one had its issues, and in the end to me, it was a tie, with neither wines or food really shining through, other than Heritage’s Foie Gras and The European wines.
As always, the events happen in two parts, the trade and then the public. Public again, had the VIP session, which LA started in 2015, and what has been copied all over the KFWE family since then, and the General admission.
Overall Impressions
To me, while the halls were very nice, trade was really crowded in NYC, like nuts. After the first hour it calmed a bit, and in LA it was really busy throughout the entire trade session. Also, the guests were more demanding and in need of face time with the winemakers and winery representatives, which is really good as wine without context is not as poignant, but it gets in the way of the overall flow of the event. It is a point that needs fixing, but I honestly am not sure how to do it.
Next, let’s start with the positives, the public/general admissions were not moshpits. Which is a huge advance over the past years in NYC, still for many there was not much to taste that was new. THAT was the main issue in my opinion. Again, I have spoken of this many times, but shmita is starting to get really annoying.
I mean that in the manner of how it affects subsequent years. The Shmita overhang is getting in the way of at least two years, given the average release cycle of wineries, maybe even longer for the higher end wines. So, Shmita was the 2015 vintage, meaning we never saw the white and roses wines until the 2016 year. Since the USA does not want shmita wines, 2016 was covered with 2014 wines. The 2017 year was covered by what? Well leftovers of the 2014 vintage, of course. What about this year, 2018? Well, finally, we are starting to see 2016 reds, but not in Israel, they are still on 2015 wines. Royal and other importers have forced Israeli wineries to release the 2016s early, and that is why we saw some Vitkin 2016 red vintages. Still, most of the Israeli wines were old vintages that have still not moved in the USA.
So, what we have is the compounded problem of not having new vintages because of the shmita overhang, and the fact that the older vintages on shelves have not moved. Worse, than that, there were a few misses at both KFWE, like the new 2015 Capcanes Peraj Ha’abib, which was a no-show.
Overall, to me, the REAL truth, was that the wines were mostly older vintages or wines we had already tasted throughout the year, like the wonderful but not new 2016 Goose Bay Sauvignon Blanc. There is no fix to this, wine needs to be sold. Yet, pouring 2014 Roses, that needs to stop. The fact that they were pouring more than a few 2016 roses is already bad enough.
Winners of the shows
The winners were, of course, the 2015 and 2016 wines from Europe. Yes, I dislike date juice, that is not new news, and the Israeli wines were all too old or too ripe, with the exception being Flam, Castel Winery and Carmel Winery on the higher-end wines.
The real saviors of the shows were the European wines. All of the French wines showed as expected, with some ill effects to the mevushal process on 2015 Cuvee Hautes Terres, Chateau Fourcas Dupre, 2015 Chateau Le Crock, and to a lesser degree the 2015 Chateau Greysac. The rest of the French wines showed beautifully, as did the European wines of Elvi Wines, Terra de Seta, and Capcanes Winery. In NYC, it was really fun tasting the 2014 Giscours side by side the 2015 Giscours, showing the elegance and power of the 2015 vintage.
The really impressive and hard to implement fact was that the KFWE LA show – had ALL the wines! Other than Flam’s 2017 Rose, all of Covenant wines, and Hagafen wines (as they self-distribute within Califonia), all the wines were at KFWE LA. The entire French collection was there, even the entire Tabor winery line was there. Though they did not pour the Chateau Leoville Poyferre for trade or General Admission in LA.
The other real winner was Heritage’s, Foie Gras. Enjoying that Foie Gras with some of the 2014 Chateau Rayne Vigneau in NYC was heaven. They even had Foie Gras, not as good as Heritage Farms in the trade and VIP in LA. Read the rest of this entry
The 2017-2018 kosher wine tasting event season is upon us!
When most people think of seasons – they think of either the 4 environmental seasons, or the holiday seasons (Jewish or otherwise), and then there are the more obscure – seasons, like the kosher wine tasting season. Yes, it is a once a year season and it starts in December and goes through late March. The exact dates are not set, as they depend on the Jewish Lunar calendar with the start of Passover. Yup! Passover drives the entire kosher wine tasting season – and that makes sense since 40 to 50% of ALL kosher wine sold, happens in the month around and before Passover! That is totally crazy!
So, with that in mind let the festivities begin! The first tasting that kicks off the season happens in Miami, and it has finally been “officially” added to the KFWE calendar. The KFWE family has officially expanded and subsumed what was already really KFWE events (including Israel and Miami) and now just made it official.
KFWE – Kosher Food and Wine
KFWE has been around since 2007 in NYC, and it keeps evolving and growing. Originally, the Los Angeles version was called International Food and Wine festival (IFWF) it started in 2008. It is not the oldest kosher wine tasting event, that would be the now-defunct Gotham Kosher Wine Extravaganza. Sadly, they stopped hosting those tastings, such is life, their first one was in 2004, and it ran until 2014.
As I have pounded on and on in these virtual pages, we need more wine education and the wine education leader, IMHO, is also the kosher wine 800-pound guerilla, Royal Wines. Recently I did a quick check in my mind of the top kosher wineries or kosher wine runs from around the world, and Royal probably imports about 80+% of them. Sure, there are hundreds of wineries they do not import, but they are also not wines that I particularly buy and covet. It is just a very interesting fact IMHO, somewhat scary but also very telling. Here is a wine distributor and importer that gets what sells and what does not, and has successfully found the better options out there and keeps adding more.
Cross distributor tastings
Besides the Royal wine events – AKA KFWE, there are events in Israel, namely Sommelier, the only wine event in Israel publicizing Israel’s diverse wine culture. That happens every year in and around the month of January, as stated earlier exact dates for any of these events is only locked down a few months in advance and the date changes every year.
Israel wines may be going off the deep end, in terms of date juice and all, but Sommelier continues to do a wonderful job of keeping a continuous focus on Israel and its potential in the wine world. Bravo to them!
There is also the Bokobsa event in Paris, which I went to this past year, which is NOT officially part of the KFWE family, but Royal wines is represented there as are other wineries that Bokobsa imports into France.
Royal wine imports many Bokobsa wines into the USA, but Bokobsa itself makes kosher wines (like the fantastic 2007 and 2012 Sancerre Chavignol, though I wish they made a new one already), and imports wines into France as well. The whole kosher wine import game is what drives these events. These are importers/winemakers that need to sell product and they need to advertise what they are selling, so these events are a win-win for us all!
Besides, Sommelier, there are a couple of wine events that happen closer to Passover that is not about a single importer but rather about kosher wine options overall. These events are not as deep as the Royal or Bokobsa wine events, which will showcase almost every single wine these importers make/import. Rather, it is a curated and diverse set of wines that span across multiple importers and distributors. So, Yarden, Rashbi, and others are at these events and it gives the chance to taste other wines outside of the deep vertical shows like KFWE.
One of them is The Grapevine Wines & Spirits Kosher Grand Tasting, it is a very nice event that normally in the middle of the kosher wine tasting event season, they will be hosting their 6th event in 2018. The last event of the season is always the biggest of this style, the Jewish Week Grand Wine Tasting, they are in their 9th year (this coming 2018).
Another event that sadly has stopped was the Kosher Wine Society’s wine tasting which was also one of those cross distributor wine tasting event, but that has gone away with the KWS founder, Aaron Ritter, getting married and I guess being too busy to pull it off any longer. As much as I may miss the event, I am super happy for him and his family!
Wine events happening all the time
So there you have a quick history of the wine events that are coming up. There are also a few one-off events going on in NYC (nothing happens in LA or Norcal other than KFWE), like the upcoming Shirah event on December 3rd and the 2017 Long ISLAND kosher Wine EXPO that just completed on November 7th. Keep an eye open for them!
Kosher wine tasting events this season – in chronological order:
Name: Bon & Oak Tour De France – a pre-Miami KFWE event showcasing Royal’s new 2015/2016 kosher French wines
When: December 11th, 2017
Time: 7 PM to 11 PM
Where: 26 Bridge
26 Bridge St
Brooklyn, NY 11201 United States
Link to signup or for more information: http://www.bonandoak.com/event/tour-de-france-kosher-french-wine-and-culinary-experience – use the code KOSHERWINE15 for a 15% discount!
Name: KFWE Miami
When: December 13th, 2017
Time: 7 PM to 10 PM (6 PM VIP access)
Where: Turnberry Isle Miami
19999 W Country Club Dr, Aventura, FL 33180
Link to signup or for more information: http://www.kosherfoodandwinemiami.com/
Name: Sommelier
When: January 15th and 16th, 2018
Time: 1 PM to 6 PM Trade and 6:30 PM to 10 PM public
Where: Heichal HaTarbut
Huberman St 1, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel
Link to more information: http://www.sommelier.co.il/sommelier/
Sign up link: https://events.eventact.com/runreg2/event/RegForm.aspx?Event=29365&Company=61&Form=24639&Account=0&lang=he&hc&login=383773245964
Name: KFWE Tel Aviv
When: January 29th, 2018
Time: TBA
Where: Tel Aviv, Israel
Link to signup or for more information: http://thekfwe.com/
Name: Bokobsa tasting of Grand Cru Cachers
When: January 30th, 2018
Time: 4 PM to 5:30 PM Trade and Public 5:30 PM till 9:30 PM
Where: Intercontinental Paris – Avenue Marceau
64 avenue Marceau, 75008 Paris, France
Link to signup or for more information: https://www.weezevent.com/degustation-de-vins-11
Name: KFWE London
When: January 31st, 2018
Time: 3:30 PN for trade and 6:30 PM for public
Where: Sheraton Grand London Park Lane
Piccadilly, London W1J 7BX, United Kingdom
Link to signup or for more information: http://thekfwe.com/ (choose London – then buy ticket)
Name: KFWE NYC
When: February 5th, 2018
Time: 5:30 PM – 9:30 PM EST (VIP is 5:30 PM)
Where: Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers, New York, NY
Link to signup or for more information: http://thekfwe.com/ (choose New York – then buy ticket)
Name: KFWE LA
When: February 7th, 2018
Time: 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM PST (VIP is 6 PM)
Where: Petersen Automotive Museum
Link to signup or for more information: http://thekfwe.com/ (choose Los Angeles – then buy ticket)
Name: The Grand Kosher Wine Tasting
When: February 18th, 2018
Time: 6 PM – 9 PM
Where: The Grapevine Wines & Spirits
455 Route 306 Wesley Hills, New York
Link to signup or for more information: https://www.facebook.com/events/331269254056948/
Name: Grand Wine Tasting and Kosher Wine Guide
When: March 12, 2018
Time: 5:00 PM for premium tasting, 6 PM to 9 PM for general admission
Where: City Winery NYC
155 Varick St, New York, NY 10013
Link to signup or for more information: http://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/discount-tickets-grand-wine-tasting/ (discounted tickets from this link)
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