The Jewish Week’s Grand Kosher Wine Tasting

Yesterday at the City Winery (155 Varick Street, NYC; Tel: 212.608.0555) The Jewish Week held its annual Grand Kosher Wine Tasting. The most prestigious wine distributors and importers were there with hundreds of wines from all over the world.

Partial views of the crowd…

As always many old friends and familiar faces were there…

Chaim Hezkel, from Liquors Galore, talking wine to an enrapt audience…

Yeruchum Rosenberg, Aron Ritter (center), from the Kosher Wine Society, and Dani Myers, trying to taste some wine…

Nineteen distributors and stores were showing off their best wines, spirits and cocktails, food was available at eight different tables representing meat restaurants, cheese distributors, sausage distributors and chocolate stores.

It wasn’t easy to photograph Brent Delman, TheCheeseGuy.com. His was one of the most popular tables, too many people around waiting to taste his products.

Gershon Bodner of Morad Wines, Estie Wartenberg of Recanati Wines, Shai Germezian of Allied Importers, Zaan Eksteen with Backsberg Wines, Ron Jordan who represents Taanug Wines from Spain, Mayer Jacobovits from Israeli Wines Direct, Michael from Skyview Wines & Spirits were, Shlomo Blashska and Jay Buchsbaum from Royal Wine Corporation were just some of the people manning the tables.

As always it was a pleasure to see Alyson Nathan from Abigael’s, and Yossi Horowitz, Esq., who over the last few weeks served as a judges –  in choosing the 18 Top Wines for each of the nine Jewish Week lists – together Miriam Morgenstern from Wine Spectator, and Aron Ritter from Kosher Wine Society among others.

Though I took copious notes, there were just too many wines to post on all of them, but I will discuss a few new selections I discovered here…

Backsberg Wines from South Africa…

Backsberg Chardonnay Paarl 2013 –  With a very fresh lemon, melon and hazelnut tones combine to a give it a delightful aroma; its natural acidity is balanced by sweet fruit flavors of white peach, providing a medium bodied palate with a long, rewarding finish.

Backsberg Brut Paarl – A strong flavored mix of green apple and pear, with a long refreshing finish.

Backsberg Pinotage 2011 – With strong mulberry and strawberry notes, with hints of herbs, all combining to a very fruity finish.

Taanug Cava – Three grape varieties (Macabeo, Parellada, and Xarel-lo), are fermented separately, then blended and fermented again together in the bottle for 12 months. Intensely fruity on the nose, it is smooth on the palate and has a long finish; with a pale straw color and considerable effervescence.

TheCheeseGuy.com featured a selection selection of cheeses including a very creamy brie style from Vermont (my new favorite!!). Sabra presented their hummus variations and Greek yogurt dips. La Brochette Restaurant, as expected, had a nice meat selection but they run out way to early. Grow and Behold served some delicious, juicy sausages. I only wish I hadn’t been too full to taste the rest of the food.

All in all it was a very enjoyable and educational evening, and of course… delicious!

CS

Kosher Food & Wine Experience 2012 – Part 1

Yesterday, we spent the afternoon and well into the evening at Pier 60, in Manhattan’s Chelsea Piers for the Kosher Food and Wine Experience 2012. We taped interviews with wine makers, wine executives, restaurants, etc., for tomorrow evening’s two hour show special at BlogTalkRadio.com/kosherscene at 7:30pm (Eastern Time). We started by interviewing our long time friend, Jay Buchsbaum (the walking wine encyclopedia I consult on all my wine and spirits’ questions). As Vice President of the Royal Wine Corporation, and after a few decades with the company, no one is better qualified than Jay to introduce us to this event.

We followed that intro with Asaf Paz and Sasson Ben Aharon, winemakers at Israel’s Binyamina Winery…

The owner/founder/winemaker of Elvi Wines in Spain, Dr. Moises Cohen came next, not only did he describe his wines, he shared some fascinating vignettes from his life. It was interesting to hear how his vineyards helped him discover some aspects of Jewish history, in the region, predating the Spanish Inquisition and the expulsion of the Jews in the 15th century. It also gave some great insights into his passions and personality.

Phillip Jones, the colorful owner/winemaker at New Zealand’s Goose Bay and Oregon State’s Pacifica was next…

Jürgen Wagner, winemaker at Capçanes in Spain, spoke to us next…

Domaine Netofa‘s owner, consultant to the Royal Wine Corporation and to some of France’s greatest wine making châteaux – Pierre Miodownik spoke to us next…

Wine writer, seven times published cookbook author (together with his wife), owner/winemaker of Napa Valley’s Covenant – Jeff Morgan – joined us next. His writing on wine led him to some unintended, but fascinating places in his life’s journey…

Mordy Herzog, Royal Wine Corporation Vice President and Spokesman talked with my co-host, Geila Hocherman (author of Kosher Revolution)  and I, about the history of eight generations of winemakers in his family…

Next, Geila and I spoke to my dear friend Jeff Ingber, a trained Chef who graduated from Johnson and Wales University in Providence, RI – where he still resides – and volunteers as manager for the wine shop at the Providence Hebrew Day School. The wine shop is a fundraising tool to help defray the cost of tuition for frum parents who don’t have the means. Jeff told us about his favorite wines on the show and how he would pair them with various dishes in Geila’s cookbook.

Finally we spoke with the charming, young owner of Guilty Pleasures – Maureen Sussanah. She left a successful real estate career to pursue her dream of creating shapes, colors and incredibly delicious chocolate treats.

Please listen in to our upcoming two hour broadcast special, tomorrow evening at 7:30pm to 9:30pm (Eastern Time) on Blogtalkradio.com/kosherscene. We’ll be waiting for you!

Meanwhile, in case you missed it, listen to our archived Bitayavon – A Talk with Shifra Klein. Shifra is Editor-in-Chief of Bitayavon, an award winning kosher foodie magazine.

CS

No Broadcast Tonight

Kudos to our dear friend, Rabbi Yaakov Spivak at the Jewish Radio Network, for hosting the past eleven episodes of The Kosher Scene Radio Show. We’re so excited to announce that starting next week, we’ll be moving to a terrific new net station.  We’ll be bigger and better than ever with new tech abilities and worldwide coverage. Check The Kosher Scene Radio for updates and details about our new and exciting venue. This week, however, we will be taking a week hiatus from radio while we make the necessary transitions.

Last week’s show featured Moshe Aaron Zimmerman from Liquors Galore (1212 Avenue J; Brooklyn, NY 11230-3702; Telephone: 718.338.4166), if you missed it here is the archived show. In the past, Aaron has shared some basics of wine tasting on this blog’s pages, with a four part series on Enjoying Your Wine (Buying, Tasting, Storing and Grape Varieties). His talk on our show was interesting and very informative.

Here are the links to our past guests’ audio files:

• Pastry Chef Paula Shoyer – Author of The Kosher Baker.
• Sol Kirschenbaum – Owner of Teaneck’s NoBo Restaurant (1400 Palisade Avenue; Teaneck, NJ 07666, Telephone: 201.837.1000), partner at Presidental Tours and Israeli wine expert.
• Elizabeth Bland – Blogger, writer (for various trade magazine) and lecturer on all subjects cheese.
• Gil Marks – author of the Encyclopedia of Jewish Foods and more.
• Nina Shapir – Owner and operator of Natural Village Cafe in Brooklyn.
• Jay Buchsbaum – Executive Vice President of Royal Wine Corporation.
• Chef Lévana Kirschenbaum – Author of three cookbooks (with a fourth one due out this summer), the visionary trailblazer behind the legendary Lévana’s Restaurant and cooking teacher extraordinaire.
• Chef Jack Silberstein – Partner at Jack’s Gourmet.
• Tammy Cohen – Partner at 18 Restaurant .and marketing expert
• Rabbi Yaakov Spivak – Radio and TV personality and blogger at the New York Daily News

We have a great lineup of upcoming guests, enjoy a quiet night off tonight, but be sure to listen our new show. We’ll give you the details at the beginning of next week.

CS

There Is Still Time…

The Kosher Food & Wine Experiences 2010 was very good, this year – with more restaurants and caterers exhibiting, with more Chefs demonstrating and answering questions, with more wines – it promises to be better!

There are a few days left, you can still get your tickets, you can still get your 10% discount

As always, the star of the show is the food and wine on offer. This year over 300 wines from all over the world will be available from wineries including Herzog, Yatir, Castel, Capcanes, Elvi, Goose Bay and more! In addition, Royal Wine will be launching some new wines at KFWE2011 including the Herzog Special Edition Chalk Hill Warnecke Vineyard 2008, the Oak Knoll Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon and a new line of GamlaReserves. Additionally, the wines of Alexander Winery in Israel will be making their debut in the United States market.

Guests will also be able to taste delicious food from some of the top rated kosher restaurants and caterers in the Tri-State area. “This is an opportunity to try some exceptional wines and great food, we don’t hold anything back,” said Mr. Landsman, “KFWE is our gift to our customers. We want to give people a chance to try the wines they are hesitant to buy, the special occasion wines they read about or see in the store.” Another benefit of this event is its proximity to Passover, giving people the opportunity to trywines that they would like to feature at their Seders.

A notable addition to the event this year will be the attendance of celebrity cookbook authors/food personalities Joan Nathan, Jamie Geller, Suzy Fishbein, Lévana Kirschenbaum and Jeff Nathan who will all be available to discuss food and wine pairing and their newest books.

KFWE 2011 will take place on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 6:30pm at Pier 60 – Chelsea Piers, NYC. For more information on the 2011 Kosher Food & Wine Experience or to order tickets, please visit: www.kfwe2011.com .

Don’t forget to enter KSCENE10, as your discount code, when you buy your ticket(s). Hope to see you there, gentle reader!

CS

And Our Internet Radio Show’s Guest, This Week, Will Be

Last Wednesday we had a very interesting show with Nina Shapir as our guest. She spoke about a life’s journey that culminated in her opening the Natural Village Cafe, an organic food restaurant, located at 2 Avenue I in Brooklyn.

A tiny sampling of Natural Village Cafe's delectable dishes

You can hear the broadcast here.

Jay Buchsbaum

This week’s guest on our upcoming Wednesday’s show will be Jay Buchsbaum, Executive Vice President at the Royal Wine Corporation. His knowledge of wine types, wine history, wine making, etc, is encyclopedic as you will hear. Some of you may already knew him, some may not, but everyone is in for a treat! So, please, give us a listen at 8:00pm on Wednesday, January 26th on Jewish Radio Network. Enter the site and click on the red “here” under the white “Radio,” then wait about 30 to 90 seconds for the application to start streaming.

We have some very interesting guests lined up for the coming weeks, chefs, experts, authors and more. If there is someone you wish to hear interviewed, let us know and we will do our best to schedule him/her. Email us at: kosherscene@gmail.com or make the suggestion in the comment section of this post (at bottom of post).

Well, gentle reader, here we are hoping you’ll send us in your guest suggestions, we hope to see your comments soon and – above all – we hope you’ll be listening to us tomorrow at 8:00pm on the Jewish Radio Network.

CS

The Kosher Scene on Internet Radio, Tonight

Last week, on Wednesday the 15th of December 2010, at 8:00pm, we did the first of our weekly radio shows on Rabbi Yaakov Spivak‘s Jewish Radio Network. Though normally we are scheduled for Wednesday evenings at 8:00pm, this week and this week only, we will be on tonight at 9:00pm because of a scheduling conflict.

Our first show had some technical glitches, which the engineer promised to correct by tonight (I could not always hear my guest, nor could the guest always hear me), even so, French trained, Washington, DC, based, acclaimed Pastry Chef and cookbook author Paula Shoyer proved to be very informative and delightfully entertaining, many listeners want her back. To listen to last week’s broadcast, please click here.

Tonight’s guest will be Jay Buchsbaum, Executive Vice President at the Royal Wine Corporation. His knowledge of wine types, wine history, wine making, etc, is encyclopedic as you will hear tonight. Some of you may already knew him, some may not, but everyone is in for a treat! So, please, give us a listen tonight at 9:00pm on Jewish Radio Network.

We have some very interesting guests lined up for the coming weeks, chefs, experts, authors and more. If there is someone you wish to hear interviewed let us know and we will do our best to schedule him/her.

Well, gentle reader, here we are hoping you’ll send us in your guest suggestions, we hope to see your comments soon and – above all – we hope you’ll be listening in this evening.

CS

Sweet Wines Tasting

This past Wednesday evening, Avi Ashman’s Israeli Wine Lovers Club held a tasting with the theme “How Sweet it ISrael”. We tasted and discussed 6 selections.

The wine selection

Jay Buchsbaum, Director of Wine Education at the Royal Wine Corporation, started the evening by talking about wines in general, methods of manufacture and sweet wines specifically. He then took questions from the audience

Jay Buchsbaum sharing his encyclopedic knowledge of wines in all their nuances.

The tasting started with Carmel Moscato di Carmel 2009, a very nice fruity light wine. It’s sweet with hints of peach and citrus. It is meant to be consumed within the first 2 years of production as it doesn’t age well.

Next we had a Carmel Vineyards Selected EmeralRiesling and Chenin Blanc 2009. Drier than the first, most of us agreed that it would have more fair to this bottle had we tasted it before the Moscato. Even so it exhibited some interesting qualities. I would not have classed it among dessert wines, however.

We then tasted a Gamla White Riesling 2007 from the Golan Heights Winery. It tasted better than the previous one, exhibited some floral notes and tropical fruits. It can be enjoyed as an aperitif, would likely do very well in conjunction with spicy food.

Then we turned our attention to Zion Dolev Muscat Hamburg 2009. Made from Musct Hamburg grapes grown in Galilee, it was was pleasantly sweet and silky. A very nice dessert wine, a perfect complement to any pastry.

Carmel Sha’al Gewurztaminer 2006, very flavorful it evoked some exotic fruits bringing to mind the Chinese litchee among others. Produced from gewurtztraminer grape grown in the Sha’al Vineyards, this wine has a lively flower aroma. Sweet with just the right touch of tartness. This wine will taste better as it’s allowed to age.

The last selection was a very unusual wine, Zion Dolev Cabernet Sauvignon Semi-Sweet 2009. Cabernet Sauvignon, is the prime grape used for dry wines. None of us expected the subtle sweetness of this bottle. A superb wine that would go well with more than just a sweet dessert.

Eran's delicacies...

As usual Eran Elhalal, the group’ resident chef, prepared a great selection of cheeses, grapes, and walnuts. This time he also added some very nice desserts to help us pair the wines. Not only were they delicious but they made the wines taste better!

CS

2010 Kosher Restaurant & Wine Experience – The Event

Last week Monday, February the first, Pier 60 at the Chelsea Piers in Manhattan hosted the Royal Wine Corporation’s organized the 2010 Kosher Restaurant & Wine Experience. Restaurants, a caterer, a supermarket, a salsa manufacturer presented some of their food creations while dozens of wine producers from around the world showed off  their potables.

Some of the early crowd, a couple of hours before the the 6:30pm general admission

In the back of the room in the photo above, behind the restaurants, between two glassed walls and directly overlooking the Hudson River Nesher Caterers (4023 13th Ave; Brooklyn, NY  11218-3501; Telephone: 718.437.3631). Their huge display sporting chairs and tables consisted of a full fare with many choices of appetizers, fish, meat, salads and desserts. The food was delicious and I walked away convinced Nesher should be a natural choice for anyone’s simcha.

Pomegranate had a huge display I sampled all their meat selections, the Heimische Brisket however was among the best I ever tasted. Juicy, tender and oh, so flavorful!

Abigael’s, Carlos & Gabby, China Glatt, Cho-Sen, ClubHouse Cafe, Colbeh, Dougie’s, El Gaucho Steakhouse, etc steakhouse, Fumio, Glatt A La Carte, Le Marais, Noah’s Ark, Nesher, Noi Due, Tevere. were the restaurants represented at this venue. Each eatery, offered tantalizing samples of some of their favorite dishes.

While most preferred posed shots, I opted for candids…

Hard at work, warming up some of those delectable Cho-Sen Lo-Mein Noodles

Jose Mireilles, owner of Les Marais and Clubhouse Cafe, taking orders...

I discovered some delicious salsas at My Brother Bobby’s Salsa booth, their recently introduced Bruschetta topping was superb. It’s no wonder they won so many accolades in various upstate fairs. Valerie and Robert Gropper, the owners, are a very energetic couple with an infectious – yet fully justified – enthusiasm for their excellent products. Their fresh products include: Original Red Salsa, Tropical Black Bean Salsa, Hot Tomatillo with Corn Salsa and Bruschetta topping. Selected “Best Bruschetta 2008” and “Best Salsa 2009” by Hudson Valley Magazine.

Giving out samples, talking product

If I can ever find these products in Brooklyn or Manhattan I’ll have to do an in-depth review. They tasted great!

There were more than 200 wine selections from around the world, the French Collection by Pierre Miodovnick attracted a lot of attention. I sampled two white sweet ones, 2001 Chateau Piada and a 1999 Chateau Guiraud, made from grape from the Sauternais region of the Graves section in Bordeaux.

The Chateau Piada – from Semillon grape – was sweet, luscious and full flavored, with a long, lingering finish. I could see it being served with full flavored cheeses and sweet desserts. The Chateau Guiraud was even better as it also includes some Sauvignon Blanc, which made it less sweet and more delightful to my palate.

For a dry French wine I tried a 2003 Chateau Pontet-Canet Paulliac, it has an intense color, strong on the nose with blackberries, rapberries well balanced with liquorice and other wooden tones. It’s made up of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot. This one will certainly occupy a place of honor in the pantheon of the best wines I’ve ever tasted!

There were some Israeli wines that I also liked, notably a 2006 Petit Castel, 2006 Yatir Cabernet Sauvignon (quite fruity and with subtle vanilla tones), Alexander Gaston Reserve (40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 30% Shiraz), the 2006 Alexander Syrah (90% Syrah, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon) and, of course, my all time favorite Israeli wine… 2005 Benyamina The Cave!

Before leaving I attended a session by Pierre Miodovnick where he explained about the great wine producing chateaus and their wines. After him, Jay Buchsbaum explained some wine terms and how to read a wine label.

Pierre Miodovnick, Jay Buchsbaum

This event proved informative and delicious, I can barely wait until next year!

CS

SIMILAR POSTS FROM AROUND THE WEB

Thoughts and Musings on the 2010 Kosher Restaurant & Wine Experience

2010 Kosher Restaurant & Wine Experience

Over 200 wines from all over the world and including an extensive French collection. Seventeen of Greater New York’s top restaurants will be represented and feature their top dishes.

Wine seminars will be given by Jay Buchsbaum (Director of Wine Education at Royal Wine Corporation) and Pierre Miodownick, renowned French winemaker. Celebrity Chef Jeff Nathan from Abigael’s will present a cooking demonstration.

Some the featured restaurants include: Abigael’s, Carlos & Gabby, China Glatt, Cho-Sen, ClubHouse Cafe, Colbeh, Dougie’s, El Gaucho Steakhouse, etc steakhouse, Fumio, Glatt A La Carte, Le Marais, Noah’s Ark, Nesher, Noi Due, Tevere.

Some of the wines represented include: Alfasi, Baron Edmond de Rothschild, Barkan, CAPÇANES, Domaine de Castel, Flegman, Gamla, Goose Bay, Herzog Reserve Wines, Laurent-Perrier, Louis Royer, Porto Cordovero, Segal’s,  Selection Bokoska, Teal Lake, Tzubah, Yatir and many, many more!

Tickets are $100.00 each, two for $175 – – Tickets available by calling 888.710.2439 or visiting www.royalwines.com

Shuttle bus to pier 60 from 8th Avenue and 23rd Street A, C, E, Subway Station.

If You love food, if you love wine, this is an event you don’t want to miss!!!