Before we get to judging I need to restate the obvious, Royal Wines is the 800-pound Gorilla of the kosher wine market. The interesting fact is that some might say that the KFWE events are self-motivated and self-aggrandizing, and while this may be true, they are also the leading system for kosher wine self-education that we have! Also, Royal is the only company I know making a large-scale wine tasting before the Passover run. I hear there may be one in March, time will tell. Until then, Royal stepped up, even if it was self-motivated, any motivation that sells/promotes kosher wine is a WIN-WIN for all kosher wine buyers. Finally, making these events on the backend of what is now the COVID-19 wave, shows we have finally returned and that kosher wine will once again have a voice that it desperately needs, no matter the motives. So, BRAVO Royal, and now to the scoring!

One more aside, and I repeat this concept down below, It is great to want wine education and to have events that promote wines but what is even better is TALKING about wine, kosher wines. Two years ago, I dropped the ball, sure the 2021 Virtual-KFWE was a logistical mistake, and I covered that but I missed highlighting the best part of the Virtual-KFWE and something I think Royal should continue, in different ways going forward. True wine, region, and winery education! The Virtual-KFWE included guided wine tastings with Jay Buchsbaum, Erik Segelbaum, and Gabriel Geller. The videos were worth the price of admission! I continue to state this as I missed stating that in my post, and I missed seeing the forest from the trees. With that said, Royal should go back to this, but I think on a smaller scale, think real bottles of wine, as part of a wine club, that promotes different regions, and different wineries, while promoting Royal Wines and having personal guided tastings with folks like in the virtual KFWE. Just a thought! OK, now, I mean it, on to the scoring!!

KFWE 2023 Scoring

Before I go further, I wanted to define to you my criteria for grading a wine tasting:

1. The Venue, of course, its ambiance, and setup
2. The wine selection
3. The wine glasses
4. The number of humans at the tasting
5. the food served
6. Finally, the reactions of the participants, though for me that is less important to me, as I judge the tasting based more upon the body language of the participants than what they say.

Now, some of these variables are subjective, rather than just objective. Take for example #1, the venue, it is highly subjective though also somewhat objective. Pier 60 is a nice place, but in comparison, the Petersen museum of the past was far more beautiful, but it had its issues as well. Sometimes too much space is actually not a good thing. The Hollywood Palladium, showed its age and issues, this year and left L.A. a bit behind the Eightball. Now, again, this is subjective, some people hate cars. They hated how big the Petersen was, and how spread-out the food and wine were. I loved the Petersen, loved the cars, and while the food and wine were spread out and difficult to find, the roominess and vast space to sit and enjoy art and wine at the same time, was truly impressive. Further, NYC needs a place to sit down, I think the VIP in both places were great for room to sit and relax but the general admission in LA was far better in its use of the space in the middle of the area, allowing for many couches and places to sit and relax.

The App is dead, long live the app!

Thankfully, this has been put to pasture and that is where it belongs. There were too many hoops to jump through from the logistics to the actual content and info. Nice idea, poor implementation. Until it is 100% rock solid – leave it off the menu as it adds more headaches than value to the customer.

Mother Nature took kindly to KFWE in NYC and LA (well mostly)

A quick footnote here, before we dive into the highly contested and dispassionate discussion around which KFWE is the best KFWE, we need to thank the good mother! Mother nature really threw us a pair of bones this year! Yes, I know that flying from NYC to LA was a bit torturous for some, and yes, I missed my upgrade by one, but come on, it was that or we get 0-degree weather and KFWE NYC would have looked more like a Flatbush Shtiebel during the summer, AKA empty!

The weather in L.A. was just divine! Clear skies, 70+ degrees, the only issue I had was that this was all inside. The Petersen of old would have hosted the trade and VIP on the massive rooftop deck, sunshine, and clear skies, I know there were issues with it, but I think that is where the KFWE L.A. needs to return. NYC’s weather was a warm 40 degrees and for February in NYC I will take that all day! It made going between Pier 60 (General Admission) and the VIP much more comfortable.

Venue (Pier 60 versus Hollywood Palladium)

The NYC KFWE was once again housed in Pier 60, while the VIP room was once again in the Current, Pier 60’s newest event space located next door near Pier 59 at Chelsea Piers. The walk over there was fine as the weather was quite acceptable for February.

The main two issues I had with KFWE NYC were a lacking of seating and a lack of a trade tasting. I find that at public tastings like KFWE, I can never get any real notes down. Further, the lack of a trade does not let us folks get a feel for what is being poured, overall. Still, trade is not what NYC is about and I get that.

KFWE LA had ample seating in both General Admission (GA) and VIP, and they had a trade tasting that allowed me to taste the Herzog wines, and a few others, in a professional manner.

Now, let us get to space, NYC GA had ample space because they had pourers that were well-trained, quick, and precise. They moved the tasters as well, via verbal queues, such that the folks behind those at the table were served quickly. Overall, it was the best showing at a KFWE in a long time. The professionalism showed by these pourers was top-notch.