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 and Wine Extravaganza 2015 – Video Interviews – Part 1

Yesterday, we attended both the commercial and the general sessions of the KFWE 2015. The new venue was bigger, but barely large enough for the number of visitors. We managed to taste many wines and speak to some of the industry’s newest wine makers and here we bring a few of the interviews:

Here is an interview with Jay Buchsbaum from the Royal Wine Corporation, sponsors of the event:

We started our tasting with two Herzog selections: Special Reserve Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2012. The Alexander Valley, which we always liked, was full-bodied wine exhibiting blackberry, cherry and licorice aromas and flavors, it was nicely balanced with ample but smooth tannins

Next we spoke to Matthieu Guyon of Domaines Rollan de By…

The winemaker’s own son spoke to us about his father’s passion for wine, which well explains why we found the two wines we tasted rather superior.

We started with Château Tour Seran 2012, this wine was voted as the world’s top Mevushal Wine. Made from a blend of grapes from the Médoc region, with 65% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc and 10% Petit Verdot. An unusual wine, with a delightful smokiness, floral notes, cassis fruit, perfectly balanced tannins, a very subtle sweet overlay and an elegantly long finish. Decadent taste at its best!

Next we tried the Château Haut Condissas 2012, also made from a Médoc blend with 60% Merlot, 20% Petit Verdot,
10% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% Cabernet Franc. Another interesting wine with mineral and blackberry notes, it exudes nobility from first drop to long finish!

We segued into a short conversation with George Anlou of the Compagnie Vinicole Baron Edmond de Rothschild…

Their Haut Médoc has long been a favorite of mine, in its price range ($27 to $32) and the 2012 did not disappoint. With deep notes of dark juicy cassis and tobacco on the long finish, it is a blend of Bordeaux Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot grapes.

We tasted some superb wines, but there is more to come…

CS

Pre-Kosherfest Kosher Feast 2013

This past Monday, October 28th, my co-blogger SYR and I attended the Pre-Kosherfest Kosher Feast 2013. It was held at J Soho -formerly Jezzebel (323 West Broadway, off Canal Street, New York, NY 10013 – Tel: 646,410.0717) – and was organized by Roberta Scher (Koshereye) and Esti Berkowitz (Primetime Parenting). The beautiful, contemporary, decor would have made it a perfect venue for the event.

I seem to remember different faces in Leonardo Da Vinci’s original, I’m sure neither Woody Allen, nor Albert Einstein, nor Daniel Radcliffe and the others were there. Hmmnn… maybe my memory is just playing tricks on me?

The evening started at 5:00 pm with networking and a wine tasting presented by the Royal Wine Corporation under the able guidance of Shlomo Blashka. Throughout the evening, both for SYR and I, the undisputed favorite wine was Pacifica‘s Cabernet-Merlot 2011. It shows blackberry, dark chocolate, toast and a hint of vanilla, on the palate it offers a soft structure with firm tannins, silky smooth and a long finish. The awardees were called out during the meal… Old friends, familiar faces and the faces behind famous names were just some ingredients contributing to the evening’s success.

Lévana, SYR, Shifra Klein (Joy of Kosher Magazine), Alessandra Rovati (Dinner in Venice) and Gil Marks (Encyclopedia of Jewish Food)

Awards were given to some of the pioneers in the kosher industry such as: Susie Fishbein, Laura Frankel, Norene Gilletz, David Herzog, Gil Marks, Lévana Kirschenbaum, Menachem Lubinsky, Joan Nathan and more.

Lara Frankel (Shallots – Chicago and New York) currently Executive Chef at Spertus Kosher Catering Featuring Cuisine by Wolfgang Puck at the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies in Chicago

Susie Fishbein

Old and new friends, good conversation, superb wines a perfect recipe for a meal and a memorable evening.

CS

This Evening’s Kosher Scene Radio Show

Our guest this evening at 10:00pm (Eastern Time), on our BlogTalkRadio show, will be Estie Wartenberg US sales/brand manager for Israel’s Recanati Winery. Among other subjects we will be talking about next week’s exciting Night of Wine and Art at the Igal Fedida Gallery.

Who is Ms. Wartenberg, what qualifies for her current position? In her own words:

I began my wine journey at the Royal Wine Corp in 2001, where I was hired as a sales representative for Queens, NY. In 2005 I was the first salesperson ever at Royal Wine Corp to receive the “Sales person of the Year” award. In 2007 I left Royal to go to The Beverage Network Publications and worked as the Sales and Marketing Manager out of their corporate office on John Street in NYC. I also wrote articles on Kosher wine for their industry magazines; The Beverage Media and The Beverage Journal. While I was working for the magazine, I got a call from Palm Bay International, the US importer for Recanati Wines. They were looking for someone with a background in Kosher wine to manage their Kosher brand in the US. (Palm Bay International mainly imports Italian non Kosher wine.) Palm Bay hired me in February 2010 to be the US Sales/Brand Manager for Recanati Winery.

Meanwhile, in case you missed it, why not listen to last week’s broadcast with Allison Josephs from Jew in the City?

Don’t forget to tune us in this evening at 10:00pm (Eastern Time), on our BlogTalkRadio show, will be Estie Wartenberg US sales/brand manager for Israel’s Recanati Winery. We’ll be wait’n for ya!

CS

Jew in the City

Last Thursday eve, at Manhattan’s Kehilath Jeshurun, Allison Josephs – blogger extraordinaire at Jew In the City – launched her video (JITC’s Orthodox Jewish All Stars)  featuring 10 Jewish Orthodox celebrities. The event was proudly sponsored by Freeda Wigs, The Patchke Princess, Gift of Life and this very blog (The Kosher Scene), among others.

Allison was interviewed by Marshall Hyman from The Wall Street Journal…

Allison Josephs and Marshall Hyman from The Wall Street Journal.

…as well as by Atara Abersfeld from The Jewish Press, Tammy Marks from New Jersey’s Jewish Star and more.

A delicious latke bar (with lots of topping choices), was presented by mother and daughter catering team of Michicas, as well as a donut fondue bar and a superb selection of Israeli wines by Shlomo Blashka (from the Royal Wine Corporation).

Sara Lasry (The Patchke Princess and Kosher Street) this event’s main organizer, followed Dimitry Salita. She explained the significance of this event and what made it important to the media.

Sara Lasry

A member of the Maccabeats lit the candles for the sixth night of Chanukah…

No event of this kind could be complete without lighting the Menorah.

After the lighting, Allison herself gave an emotional speech about her 7 year journey of breaking down stereotypes about Orthodox Judaism. In describing the occasion and her video she said:

This video celebrates freedom – Chanukah is about freedom and contrary to popular belief, Orthodoxy is freedom – it is freedom to seek our path in an elevated way, to become what we are meant to become, the best possible version of ourselves — in a way that is true and fine and full of substance.

The video features nationally known figures from the world of politics, arts, entertainment, sports, publishing and more. It was not only an enjoyable evening with delicious food and wine, not only was a video launched, but the close to 200 people present saw proof positive (as will anyone else watching it) that being an Orthodox Jew does not in any way shape or form preclude following one’s dreams or reaching the highest pinnacles in one’s profession. Nothing of importance is closed to an Orthodox Jew, and neither does he or she need to sacrifice one’s beliefs.

During immediately after the speeches, a interesting and enjoyable music ensemble took over, The Brooklyn Jazz Warriors

Y.A. Gootblatt, vocalist and keyboard player – Brooklyn Jazz Warriors

Bravo, bravissimo Allison! I’d be remiss if I did not again mention Sara Lasry’s herculean efforts, the driving force, in putting together this beautiful event in just two weeks.

CS

Kosherfest 2012 Highlights

While we will be adding more videos (properly edited) to these post, over the next 2 days, we can’t wait to tell you about last week’s two day event at the Meadowlands Exhibition Center, Kosherfest 2012.

With more exhibitors than ever it was hard to talk to everyone or taste everything, but both Geila Hocherman (kosherrevolution.net) – author of  Kosher Revolution – and I, still managed to find some of the best products at the event.

We spoke to Scott Sunshine (video to follow), chef at OSEM, who spoke to us about the company’s new line of gluten-free products and their improved couscous; Ruti Schwarcz, The Wine Lioness from Happy Hearts Wine, who had us taste us to three superb new wines they are introducing to the American market;  Jack Silberstein, co-founder (with Dr. Alan Bronner) of Jack’s Gourmet (here, here, here and more).

Jay Buxbaum from the Royal Wine Corporation spoke to us about some of the newest healthy foods products recently introduced; Koby Cohen, from Gelato Petrini winners of this year’s Best New Product in it category (video to follow);

Next we spoke to brothers Benjamin and Martin Weisz, from Elegant Desserts, who described their new products for caterers and consumers – especially exciting was the news of their association with a young but seasoned chocolatier.

On Wednesday, we spoke to Rachel Golian, from Simply Bar – whose product won this year’s Best New Snack Food Award; our old friend Gabriel Boxer spoke to us next about his new company and delicious product – Shani’s Tahini Sauce; Leah Haddad, from Voila! Hallah came next; she was followed by the Iron Chef Competition sponsored by the Center of Kosher Culinary Arts  (here, here, here and more) and Jack’s Gourmet Kosher Sausages. Geila then spoke to the competition’s winner, Chef Alexandre Petard from Ladino Restaurant.

Paula Shoyer, one of the judges and author of  The Kosher Baker; we then spoke to Paul BenSabat, coCEO of The Manischewitz Company (here, here and more) who told us of some exciting new introductions. Elan Kornblum, from Great Kosher Restaurants Magazine, spoke to us next…

Our last interview was with Alexander Rappaport, CEO of Masbia, Yaakov Leibowitz, from Agri Star  and Chef Ruben Diaz for the Masbia Soup Kitchens and the wonderful work they are doing by feeding over 1000 Hurricane Sandy victims every day!

CS

KFWE 2012 – Part 4 – Videos

We started our video shoot by speaking to Jay Buchsbaum, Royal Wine Corporation‘s Vice President…

Next we spoke to Sasson Ben Aharon, from Israel’s Binyamina Winery…

Dr Moises Cohen from Elvi Wines a superb winery producing some of Spain’s top award winning wines..

The Directeur Général of Barons Edmond and Benjamin de Rothschild, Bertand Otto and Pierre Miodownik, consultant to the French Wine Industry, consultant to the Royal Wine Corporation and owner of Domaine Netofa, in Israel, spoke to us next…

After talking to just a few winemakers, we turned our attention to the food. Dr Alan Broner from Jack’s Gourmet was next…

The owner of Boro Park’s Glatt A La Carte spoke to us next…

Ari White from Got Tcholent? Inc/Gemstone Caterers spoke to Geila Hocherman and I…

After Ari White told us that Pardes Restaurant was his inspiration, we just had to go to their table. While I’d hoped to see Chef/Owner Chef Moshe Wendel, and/or his wife Shana, we were greeted instead by one of his suppliers Grow and Behold, who more than ably represented Chef Moshe…

Then we turned to Ristorante Tevere…

We ended the video taping by talking to cookbook author, James Beard Award winner, food historian and good friend, Gil Marks…

All in all, between fantastic wines and celebrated winemakers, between top restaurants and incredible delicious foods,  February the 13th was an evening to remember!

CS

RELATED POSTS

Kosher Food & Wine Experience 2012 – Part 3 – Food

Kosher Food & Wine Experience 2012 – Part 2

Kosher Food & Wine Experience 2012 – Part 1

Kosher Food & Wine Experience 2011 – Part 2

Kosher Food & Wine Experience 2011 – Part 1

2010 Kosher Restaurant & Wine Experience – The Event

A Conversation with Royal Wine Corporation’s Gary Landsman

Tomorrow evening at 8:00pm (Eastern Time), on BlogTalkRadio.com/kosherscene, we will talk with Gary Landsman about the new wines and liquors from all over the world the company introduced since KFWE 2011. We will talk about how the Kosher Food and Wine Experience has progressively grown into the mega event it’s billed to be this year. Between the restaurants and wineries at the show there will be plenty to see, taste and enjoy.

Meanwhile, if you missed our show last week, why not listen to the archived recording right here. We spoke with Reyna Simnegar the author of Persian Food from The Non-Persian Bride, a beautifully produced book with delicious Persian and Sephardic recipes and great photography.

Well, gentle reader, please listen to our show tomorrow evening at 8:ppm (Eastern Time). We’ll be wait’n for ya!

CS

Puah’s 20th Anniversary Dinner

This past Tuesday, April 5th of 2011, Puah celebrated its 20th Anniversary with a festive dinner attended by close to 200 persons at Manhattan’s 5th Avenue Synagogue.

Prior to the dinner’s start, Shlomo Blashka from the Royal Wine Corporation gave a wine tasting, featuring wines and spirits from among the company’s many imports.

The honorees were Mr. Mrs. Barry Akrongold, of Fortune Financial and Investment Corporation, received the “Gift of Life Award” on the very eve of their first son’s brit milah . Dr. Lawrence Grunfeld, OB/GYN from Reproductive Medicine of New York, received the “Physician of the Year” award. Mr. Brian Andreoli, Esq., partner at Squire Sanders, received the “Partners in Creation Award.” Mr. Sam and Mrs. Peggy Nitka, from Crown Equities received the “Pioneers of Hope” award.

Rabbi Gideon Weitzman, Director of the Puah Institute addressing the dinner attendees.

The speeches were very moving but brief. Rabbi Yaakov Kermaier, spiritual leader of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue more than ably MC’d the dinner. Rabbi Gideon Weitzman, Puah Institute‘s Director and Visiting Associate Professor at Einstein University, handed the awards to the honorees and shared Puah’s successes and future plans as global leaders in rabbinic halachic counseling, hashgocho and continuing education for both the professional and the layman.  The attendees were deeply moved by keynote speaker Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, spiritual leader at Congregation Bnai Jeshurun of Teaneck, NJ, whose family just endured the tragic loss of a little granddaughter.

The Kosher Scene is grateful to those of our friends who made the effort to join us for this inspiring, heart-warming evening.  The work of Puah, the hundreds of families they help to build each and every year, the amazing support and counseling they provide to couples struggling through the maze of information and disinformation regarding fertility issues is second to none. We support their extraordinary efforts and wish them tremendous success. Some of our friends and fellow foodies in attendance included incomparable Chef Lévana Kirschenbaum, her husband Maurice, their son Yaakov and his wife, Kim Amzallag – Director of Sales and Marketing at Kosher Inspired magazine – among others.

During the dinner we managed to talk about Puah’s work with Kim Amzallag (here), who shared a personal story; Dr Lawrence Grunfeld told us how Puah’s work extended to these shores and how he’s involved (here); with his obvious caring and genuine humanity Brian Andreoli, Esq., singlehandedly – in less than five minutes – managed to dispel all my misconceptions about lawyers (here)

All in all, it was an evening well spent.

If you’d like to find out more about  PUAH’s mission services and partnering opportunities, visit: them at: www.puahonline.org

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