Psagot Winery announced the completion of its new home and the hiring of Sam Soroka, its new chief winemaker. The 2020 vintage begins at its new location with an expected production in excess of 600,000 bottles…
Royal Wine’s Herzog Wine Cellars will soon release its first-ever Stags Leap Cabernet Sauvignon,…
Herzog Wine Cellars, located in Oxnard, CA, releases Variations Be-leaf, a kosher, mevushal, CCOF-certified organic wine made from prime Cabernet Sauvignon grapes grown in Paso Robles AVA. Organic wines are not easy to come by, as they have to be produced and bottled without any added sulfites. According to Herzog Variations winemaker Alicia Wilbur, “This is a wine we had wanted to make for many years. It was a challenge to locate and identify an organically farmed vineyard that yields grapes of our standards of quality.” The demand for organic wines has been steadily growing in recent years, and the kosher wine market lacks quality options. “We are pleased to offer now an excellent and affordable organic, dry Cabernet Sauvignon from California,” says Gabriel Geller, Royal Wine’s PR Director and Manager of Wine Education. “The Herzog Variations Be-leaf answers the wishes of many consumers in the kosher wine drinking community,” added Geller. “There are many people who appreciate fine wine, some of them, however, are sensitive to sulfites. Now they have an option that is both made from organic grapes and without any added sulfites.”
On-premise businesses, including restaurants, hotels, and caterers COVID-19, are among the most affected by the lockdowns and restrictions enacted by the authorities. Some kosher restaurants in New York have adjusted with varying degrees of success in offering delivery and outdoor seating. “The situation as a whole is not ideal, of course. But I have found that our rosé wine sales are the highest they’ve ever been,” says Jose Meirelles, owner of Le Marais Steakhouse in Manhattan. “I think the outdoor seating brought it out in the guests in a way indoor seating couldn’t before,” added Meireilles. Some restaurateurs had the courage to open new restaurants or innovate with their operations during the pandemic. Unfortunately, several kosher restaurants, such as Abigail’s on Broadway and Wolf & Lamb Brooklyn, closed down permanently.
With the impact of Covid-19 on travel and gatherings, Josh Greenstein had to adjust and find different ways to promote his wines. Erik Segelbaum, a renowned wine consultant and Food & Wine Magazine’s Sommelier of 2019 award winner teamed up this past month with the IWPA, offering many of the country’s leading somms the opportunity to get to know Israeli wine better. The IWPA put together professional masterclasses via the Zoom videoconference app with the participation of the winemakers and proprietors of many of the wineries it represents.
With the stay-at-home orders that have significantly reduced foot and road traffic over the past 4 months, Royal Wine has progressively shifted some of its outdoor budget towards digital advertising. “Targeted ads for brands such as Jeunesse and Bartenura have been featured all over the internet and on social media with millions of impressions and extremely high consumer interaction,” says Royal’s Marketing Director David Levy. Mr. Levy added that “some channels that previously were either not available or beyond the budget have become the best solutions for brand exposure.” This program will continue throughout the second semester of 2020.
The popularity of Rosé wines over the past decade has often been deemed a trend. The constant growth, however, both in offerings and quality, has proved that rosé wines are here to stay. Royal Wine Corp. is now the exclusive US importer for Château Roubine, one of only 18 Cru Classé properties in Provence. The kosher wines produced by Château Roubine, including the Cuvée B from its sister property Château Sainte-Béatrice, are only 3 out of more than 30 rosé wines from all over the world distributed by Royal Wine. Other items comprise wines from California such as the Herzog Lineage Rosé, Israeli Bordeaux-style Rosé du Domaine du Castel, Les Lauriers de Rothschild Rosé from Compagnie Vinicole Edmond de Rothschild, as well as Goose Bay Pinot Noir Rosé, made by the renown Spencer Hill winery in New Zealand.
After several years of price increases, this year’s en primeur campaign for the 2019 Bordeaux wines shows a significant price drop, despite yet another exceptional vintage for the region. “While the decrease in prices seems to be largely due to the turmoil affecting the world’s economy following the COVID-19 outbreak, the Bordeaux wine prices had previously likely reached an unbreakable ceiling,” said Gabriel Geller, Royal Wine’s Director of Public Relations and Manager of Wine Education. “We have a number of exciting kosher cuvées gracefully aging in the barrels, including outstanding wines from top properties in Margaux, Pauillac, and Saint Julien. By the time these wines will be released, we certainly hope that the economy will have largely recovered,” added Geller.
Just in time for summer, Royal Wine Corp. released one of its most popular products, Bartenura Moscato in a new format – cans!
Now available in 4-packs of 250ml cans with an SRP of $15, Bartenura Moscato, with its signature blue bottle, has seen impressive growth in the U.S. market in the past few years, especially among younger, hipper consumers. “Bartenura was one of the first Moscato out of the gate and is still leading the pack with over half a million cases sold annually in recent years,” said Gabriel Geller, Director of PR and Manager of Wine Education for Royal Wine. “Consumers of the iconic blue bottle know that they’re getting outstanding value on a versatile and easily drinkable wine that everybody enjoys, and they now have access to an additional format that is convenient, light and it does not require a corkscrew,” Geller added.
White wines have grown popular in recent years among kosher wine consumers. For decades, the market has been dominated by red wines, but whites are on the rise. The Herzog family’s ancestor, Baron Philip Herzog received his title from Emperor Frans-Josef in the 19th century. The Emperor was so impressed with Herzog’s wines that he made him the official purveyor of wine to the Imperial Court. More than 150 years later, things are coming full circle as the quality and diversity of kosher white wines has improved significantly. Besides its award-winning, Baron Herzog Chenin Blanc, Herzog Russian River Chardonnay and Lineage Sauvignon Blanc, Royal Wine distributes now the Ramon Cardova Albariño from Spain’s Rías Baixas, Château Gazin Rocquencourt Blanc Pessac-Léognan, Koenig Riesling from Alsace, Goose Bay Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, Netofa Tel Qasser Roussanne from Israel , Bartenura Pinot Grigio from Italy, and Elvi Herenza White from Spain’s Allela, to name only a few. High end white wines from Burgundy and Bordeaux are expected over the coming years, as well.