As I’ve mentioned before, this list started when people asked me to compile a cumulative list. This year, there have been fewer such events. I went to three of them (including Miami 2025), and the number of great wines is growing along with the overall number of Kosher Wines.

First, here are a few caveats: This is MY list! This is not a list that will make many happy. These wines are the wines that make me happy. No wines here would be considered overripe, over-sweet, or all over the place. The wines here are listed in the order of cost. That said, the top-line wines – what I call Top-Flight wines- are not defined by cost at all. On that list, you can find 2022/2023 Elvi Wines EL26. At the same time, the list includes some of the best high-end kosher wines I have ever tasted. Ultimately, price does not define your place on the Top-Flight Wines list, nor does QPR (Quality-to-Price Ratio); only pure quality gets you on this list. The list of Top-Flight wines is wines I would buy without hesitation, no matter the cost (if I can afford it, of course).

Passover is a time of year when Jews buy the most wine, along with Rosh Hashanah, and the US New Year. That is why all the kosher wine events usually take place a month or two before Passover. It allows the wineries and distributors to showcase all their wines, each appealing to different market segments. So, no, there are no sweet or semi-sweet baseline wines here. Many very good bottles of wine priced at 25 or lower can be bought at Skyview Wines, Gotham Wines, Suhag Wine, Liquid Kosher, onlinekosherwine.com, kosherwine.com, and now Elk is live with his website, ElkWine.com.

Of course, those and others exist. Support your local merchants! I have no real options, so I use the ones to the right of this blog, when viewed on the web (as always, I NEVER make money from them and I never know or care what people buy, the list is who I purchase wines from, and so I feel comfortable recommending them to others).

Also, the amount of money you spend does not define the value or quality of the wine. Take, for example, the 20-dollar 2023 Elvi Herenza Rioja, 2023 O’Dwyers Creek Sauvignon Blanc, and others. These are lovely wines; the fantastic price is only an added benefit. However, many low-priced wines are not on this list, as they lack the required quality, IMHO.

Seeing the list and checking it twice (could not help myself), I am sure there will be a question: what defines a wine as a Top-Flight wine, and why are there wines that are not on it? The Top-Flight wines are wines that impressed me when I tasted them. That does not mean that the 2023 Chateau Moulin Riche, as lovely as it may or may not be, can compare to any wine on the Top-Flight Wine list. It does mean that when I tasted any of these Top-Flight wines, I was wowed and said, “This is a wine everyone should get, no matter the price.” In the end, the Top-Flight Wines is my way to whittle down the list of wines I enjoyed from thousands of kosher wines available here in America. In hindsight, I am sure I will have missed some wines.