Well, traveling has not stopped in the past few weeks. A week after we came home from our trip to Europe I went to Toronto for a Covenant Winery wine tasting. As you know, my take on Covenant can be found here and here. I posted them because I have a true respect for this winery. I say that because there are truly very few wineries out there with their track record in the kosher wine industry.

Sadly, 5 years ago if I was asked – what is the best kosher winery out there, I would have said Yarden, and to some extent I think there was solid data to back that up. Sadly, as anyone who has read this blog, that ended in 2008, and in many ways is not even constant for previous vintages. Now, a winery should not be just defined by their top wines or their wine’s age-ability, but it does place the correct spotlight on the processes and approach to their wine making techniques. With that said, Yarden is one of the most technologically advanced wineries in the kosher wine world, with insane controls at almost every level from vineyards to wines and their vast and very blatant shift down the sugar-coated date juice rabbit hole – is one that is being done with very distinct knowledge. But I digress, the point I am making here, is that outside of maybe Carmel’s Limited Edition, Castel, Yatir, Tzora, Capcanes, and Four gates – there is no one with Covenant’s high end track record – outside of France.

Without question, France has the clear advantage and track record for kosher wines, and from what I have tasted so far, it is continuing to turn out great wines. Aside from them, Covenant is honestly in the race for one of the top kosher winery, in terms of sheer consistency, quality, and age-ability over the past 10 years – inclusively.

So, when I heard there was an event being put on for NCSY where every Covenant Cabernet Sauvignon will be tasted – I had to be there. Mind, you that was not a simple fact – but that was more an issue of playing musical calendar dates with my clients than it was anything else. But once my calendar was properly rectified, my tickets were booked and I was all set.

I arrived in Toronto Canada on November 17th and drove my way to my unbelievable hosts for the next three days. Once I was happily ensconced into my beautiful room, I took a quick shower and then it was off to see what was next on the agenda for the next three days!

Well, let me start with the premise, we were doing a vertical of Covenant Wines. The wines were each and every vintage of Covenant Winery’s Cabernet Sauvignon from the Napa Valley. they were donated for a 11 wine vertical of the Napa wines and the lucky folks who were invited to taste them, were all very generous donors to the NCSY cause, in the greater Toronto area. Now, in case you have never been to an NCSY event, let me tell you what the definition of exemplary and efficient are – her name is Penny and her unbelievable crew, including Rabbi Black (yes that is inverted, but you had to be there). These wonderful people are the responsible for disseminating Torah values to the next generation of Jewish yutes (sorry I could not help myself). Of course Rabbi Black is the CEO of the group, but once the event started it was all about the amazing crew that setup, managed, and then cleared the home back to its pristine state that they found it!

But I am getting ahead of myself again, the event was being put on by the local chapter of the NCSY for the very kind and generous donors who have supported the NCSY’s great undertaking and steering the next generation of Jewish children to the values that are defined in the Torah; that ancient but very precious text that defines the way that we are meant to be conducting our lives today.