With this year’s Kosher Food & Wine Experience, KFWE, in New York City offering more than 300 wines from around the world, the kosher oenophile is spoiled for choices this Passover.
Jay Buchsbaum, vice president of marketing and director of wine education at Royal Wine Corp, the company that organizes the KFWE, said the expo, now in its 12th year, filled the void of kosher options. “The kosher consumer wants exactly what the non-kosher consumer has; except they want it kosher,” he says. “If there’s a great Château Grand Cru from Bordeaux, they want it too.”
This year, new releases at KFWE included a first kosher run from at least four wineries, such as the Château Lascombes 2015, a second cru classé from Margaux, which is considered to arguably be one of the finest kosher wines ever made.
“Traditionally, kosher consumers’ lives revolve around family, therefore around meals and the table,” Buchsbaum says. “In the last 10 years or so, wine has become an integral part of that… and are eating foods that go along with it.”
The superior quality of kosher wine today has lent to this growing appetite, with producers always aiming to do better than the last harvest. “Israel has just gone through the roof with quality,” Buchsbaum adds.
Buchsbaum also mentions that because of the increase in kosher wine quality, many are trying new wines; sweet drinkers may now try a Cabernet, and Merlot lovers may be likely to try a Chardonnay. “Any new wine drinker will start with a sweet wine, because dry wine is an acquired taste,” he says. “The same thing has happened to kosher consumers. Slowly and surely, as their palate develops, they go for the drier wines.”
Below are some recommendations from Royal Wine, available at various wine stores:
Bartenura Sparkling Rosé
Fresh and new; a beautiful package perfect for gift giving with a crowd-pleasing sparkling rosé in the bottle.
Lineage Chardonnay and Cabernet from Herzog
New and well priced at about $20 retail, very high quality and beautiful packaging from California.
Chateau Lascombes
A Grand Cru from Bordeaux’s made kosher for the first time. A red blend that is bold, fruity, rich, and smooth.
Castel LaVie red and white, Israel
This iconic winery has made their wine accessible to a larger group of consumers through these well-priced high quality red and white wines.
Rothschild Champagne
Made from 100 percent Chardonnay, this is an elegant and classic champagne from this famed family of wines.
Barkan Reserve Cabernet
Usually known for the best priced value wines from Israel, these reserves are well priced too, and their quality is arguably unmatched.
Jezreel Levanim (white blend) and Adumim (red blend), Israel
Yehuda Nahar, the founder/winemaker, has decided to make only wines that reflect the Israeli terroir. These do precisely that at a price that’s approachable to all.
Visit royalwine.com for more information and where to buy these wines.
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