KFWE has been around since 2007 in NYC, and it keeps evolving and growing. Originally, the Los Angeles version was called the International Food and Wine Festival (IFWF) it started in 2008. It is not the oldest kosher wine-tasting event, that would be the now-defunct  Gotham Kosher Wine Extravaganza. Sadly, they stopped hosting those tastings, such is life, their first one was in 2004, and it ran until 2014. In 2015, the first year that the IFWF became the West Coast KFWE, David Whittemore, and the gang from Herzog Winery pulled out all the stops and created what I still think was the best KFWE, with the first-ever VIP session, which was copied in almost every KFWE version, and hey “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. I was sad to see the L.A. KFWE move from the Petersen Automotive Museum, where it has been for three years, in 2016, 2017, and 2018. However, the 2019 and 2020, KFWE L.A. at the Palladium were freaking EPIC. Then we had COVID and no in-person events for 2021, though the innovative approach with those bottles, while flawed was a hit. Today, Herzog is sending a better version of those small bottles to their club members, which looks really cool! Followed by a KFWE – Jr in NJ, which I reviewed here. Then the full gamut of KFWE in 2023, is also reviewed here.

As I have pounded on and on in these virtual pages, we need more wine education, and the wine education leader, IMHO, is also the kosher wine 800-pound guerilla, Royal Wines. Recently I did a quick check in my mind of the top kosher wineries or kosher wine runs from around the world, and Royal probably imports about 85% of them. Sure, there are tons of wineries that they do not import, but they are also not wines that I particularly buy and covet. It is just a very interesting fact IMHO, somewhat scary but also very telling. Here is a wine distributor and importer that gets what sells and what does not, and has successfully found the better options out there and keeps adding more.

KFWE Miami 2023

The KFWE Miami, which happened a month ago, or so, on December 7th, 2023, was ok for me. I had tasted almost all the wines that were there, minus the Israeli wines. The food options were a huge miss, either overcooked or just tasteless. Most of the wines were current and the pouring was done very well. There were a few misses, especially on the Israeli side. There were almost no winery representatives, other than a scare few, and Herzog Winery was unrepresented, altogether. If you were to be educated, it lacked, and that was unfortunate. It was a preamble, in ways of what was about to be announced for 2024. It also was the first night of Hannukah, and a Thursday night, so getting back home for Shabbat would have been impossible for most, other than hardened insane folks like me. I took a direct flight on one of the longest cross-continental flights you could take on one of the shortest Fridays of the year! As I said, horrible scheduling as always, subpar to bad food options, OK enough wine selection, and IMO, very good wine pouring.

Just a slight side note here – Jay Buchsbaum, the Executive VP of Marketing and Director of Consumer Education at Royal Wine, asked me to choose three wines I liked from the KFWE Miami event. Now, I took it further and stated that I would do so minus my usual crutches, like French and Italian wines from the usual suspects, and stick to new to less-known wines. Even further, I forced myself to find an Israeli winery that I liked enough, that I would drink, outside of the tasting setting, and a winery not among Vitkin, Netofa, or Domaine du Castel wineries. This was no easy task!

Also, I tasted every single Israeli wine they had at the event. One side was totally Israeli wine and the other side was everything else, including French, Italian, USA, and everywhere else.

So, for all intent and purpose, I tasted every wine at the event and these are the three I chose:

1. 2017 Nadiv Elyone, a wine made by Pierre using Yatir’s grapes (outside of a couple of other wines from Netofa, Vitkin, and Castel – this was the sole Israeli I could stomach)
2. 2020 Castellare di Castellina Chianti Classico Riserva – yes there were some M&M wines in Miami
3. 2022 ESSA Altira

So, there you go Jay, it was great seeing you and hanging out for a bit!

Slight disclaimerTo be clear, there were all the French wines from 2020 and 2021 (a bit of each – the French selection was messed up a bit) I will post soon and there is nothing to scream about there. The 2021 vintage is a horrible mess in Bordeaux, IMO. I refused to use Terra di Seta or Elvi Wines as a crutch either, so their wines were out of the running. There was the INSANELY good 2021 Covenant Cabernet, Solomon, Lot 70, and the 2021 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley, but I had already tasted those two, and they are epic, but yeah, I already knew those. The wines on the entire Covenant table were hits as were the 2021 Herzog Cabernet Sauvignon wines, but I had them before. To be 100% transparent, I had the 2022 ESSA Altira as well, but it was such a joy tasting it again, rich, round, and tart, so it popped on the list.