Sorry to hear about your run in with Bernie. Any chance of getting something back?
Anyway, back to the wine. The kosher 2000 Leoville Poyferre is fantastic. I bought a double magnum of that and the '02 last year. I still have the 2002. I’ve also got eleven bottles of the '01 Valandraud among others. You can see my list at http://www.KosherCuvee.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
I am trying to come up with a way of giving incentives to “kosher wine evangelists” to help build the list of people willing to commit to buy the Napa kosher cuvee that we’re talking about. As you are among the few who have offered some encouragement, I’d like to know if you have any ideas. I’m thinking of borrowing some concepts from multi-level marketing.
Rafi, on the Bernie front, no, likely no chance of recovering anything other than the taxes we paid on the fiction. All one can do is move forward.
One other person mentioned the Covenant–I found it a bit oaky at first, but a year or two really helped it to settle down in a lovely Napa Cab.
As far as your venture, I wish I had useful advice. It is perhaps the VERY worst of times right now to try something like this in Cali given the economy and the impact on high-end wine pricing.
Frankly, I think one of the single best things that could be done is to introduce more of the world to some of the lovely wines of Israel, Kosher or otherwise. The bulk of what is imported into the US is nowhere near as interesting as a number of things I tried when I was in Israel a couple of years ago. And I say this as someone who is a pretty picky wine snob…
Forgive if we made it sound like a wine, just because it was kosher, was subpar. Folks have offered up many examples of excellent wines that also kosher. There are some good ones.
I would question whether it is advisable at this time for any wine to come out at $200-300 per bottle, kosher or not. I just don’t think there is that big of market for a wine that will sell at that price. There might be a market for some folks who would prefer a kosher wine for Passover and are willing to pay that however, I don’t think there is a big, untapped market of wine afficiandos who the only thing holding them back on purchasing at that level is the lack of superlative kosher wines.
You are correct that making a $200-$300 per bottle wine may not be advisable kosher or not. But that is not quite how I would describe what I am trying to do. I am selling the wine forward to people who are willing to commit to purchasing the wine for delivery approximately three years hence. If I am able to sell it all up front there will be no penalty to me in any way. It will be a risk free proposition. This is not to say that it won’t be hard work.
Thirty years ago there were no forty dollar bottles of kosher wine. Did that mean there was no market for them? It’s a rhetorical question but you take my point. I and others believe that there is a market for premium kosher wine in the price range that I am talking about. It is a potential market, granted, and very niche, but like the market for forty dollar kosher bottles thirty years ago, I believe it will come into its own.
I am just trying to be the catalyst for this change. What is it they’re saying “Yes we can?”
I have had Jeff’s Covenant and it is indistinguishable from any other very good high end Napa Cab. Probably because it is not Mevushal (called “flash pasturization” but means boiled!)
Here are some other Bordeaux wineries that make kosher cuvees: Chateaux Malartic Lagraviere, Rauzan-Gassies, Rollan de By, La Tour Seran, de Valandraud, Quinault, La Tonnelle, La Tour Seran, Le Crockand Leoville Poyferre. Nicolas Feuillatte makes a kosher Champagne. Keep in mind that not all of the above Chateaux wines are kosher. A very good kosher AND organic wine is Yarden’s Odem Organic Chardonnay. Absolutely delicious and very well balanced. And of course, Israel’s Domaine du Castel Grand Vin, a very good BDX blend. Also, Hagafen in CA
Here’s some backgrounder info on kosher from my hubby, who suffered through 12 years of Yeshiva (like Catholic school!) which turned him off completely from religion.
"Israeli wine may or may not be kosher wine. The kosher rules are complicated in Israel but some Israeli wines are kosher, and others are not. Period. And the kosher status may or may not affect the quality and enjoyment of the said wine. For most worldwide wine consumers, a wine’s kosher status is not even an issue. Instead, does it taste good? Foods other than wine (including beer and spirits) are kosher if they contain no non-kosher ingredients and don’t mix meat and milk.
Kosher ingredients: all fruit and vegetables; land animals which split the hoof and chew the cud (beef, lamb, venison, etc., but not pork, horse, rabbit or camel); animals with fins and scales (true fish, but not sharks or shellfish or eels); birds which aren’t predators (chicken, turkey, pheasant, duck, geese, squab, but not eagles, owls, etc.). Wine must contain no un kosher ingredients (like sturgeon bladder. gelatin and oxblood for fining, but also has additional rules. There’s alot of mumbo jumbo here…
With respect, a yeshiva has absolutely nothing to do with a Catholic school. People who are just not cut out for yeshiva (including myself) don’t necessarily need to negate the entire “religion” to justify their experience. Although Catholics do seem to do this. We Jews can’t afford the same self-indulgence.
Take a look at my wine list for mostly kosher Bordeaux.
With the same respect, I am using the allusion of Catholic school to illustrate what has been called by many Catholic school and yeshiva graduates “indoctrination” into religion. Bear in mind that I am quoting my husband whose yeshiva experience did negate religion. I do not believe that he was being “indulgent” in his feelings.
