Comments on: More Annual Kosher Wine Columns

By: Jocie

Jocie — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 06:14:44 +0000

You have to revise your opinion. Repeating this nuttery misses your point. Give us proofs. Not just with words, but with deeds.

By: fologxih

fologxih — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 16:25:16 +0000

http://volny.cz/trsav/free-lesbian-porn-video.html free lesbian porn video

By: Google

Google — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 12:50:53 +0000

Leggo ed imparo sul vostro luogo. grazie![URL]http://www.google.autorita.org[/URL]

By: David Scop

David Scop — Mon, 10 May 2004 18:49:57 +0000

Dear Mr. Welner,Finally, someone who appreciates a well aged, great vintage of Israeli wine. I recently started collecting the classic vintages of Israel, and have realized similar prices as well (1985 Yarden Cab: $250). For those who insist on paying $50 and up for a bottle of wine, I say this: get your money’s worth! Why buy the latest overpriced sampling from France (Leoville Poyferre for up to $150), when you can get 3x 2000′ Segal Unfilitered (not available in the US until the 2002 vintage), or a 3x 96′ Gamla Cab, or a 3x 97′ Yarden Cab ($40-50 in the collector market). Face it, France, and Isrel keep the best KOsher selections for themselves. Ever see a Yarden Katzrin Cabernet in the US? (1 store in Brooklyn has the 96′, and its not close to $50/bottle) How about the 93′Katzrin, or the 90′Katzrin?

The point is, there are quality Kosher wines at under $10, and there are world class (90+ points) wines at under $50, just look for them. Don’t be impressed with ANY country, just be impressed with the wine. Oh, when was the last abysmall vintage Israel had? (more than 10 years ago, see if France can make that claim)

By: Shimshon Welner

Shimshon Welner — Sun, 09 May 2004 00:30:27 +0000

Dear CraigFirst I want to thank you for the compliments.I disagree about the rest of your letter.The Kosher wine consumer 2004 knows about wine and you can’t screw him with stories.If you were right about the market as your comment ,then I had to produce sweet wines in the Golan Heights Winery.Not the wines I produced.I shall not grant compliments to my current wines as I think it is better to get from them from other people.Please open the NYT Kosher wine rating. of Passover 2004.Our Tempranillo was rated number 6 at cost of $ 9 and got the same rating 2** as Dalton for $ 24.On Passover 2003 our Cab for $9 was rated number one in the NYP and the 2nd was $ 60 bottle. Please read the Wine Spectator and find our ratings there.You will find that our 4 Spanish wines got a full busket of comliments.Our 3 stil wines were rated among the 200 best valued wine under $ 9.And one of then was rated as the best of the Spanish wine list the other 2 were rated as 4-5.The Cava/Brut was rated as number 2 of the Spanish Cavas.I have to tell you that the rating was not for Kosher wines.As all our ratings.All the rest of our wines are not far from there,and people are telling us how they love them.I know what bother many people:The price.I used to sell wines on high price.At that time all the industry was far behind.A bottle of our Yarden Cab 1985 sold recently for $300.I have a case in my cellar and I had to increase the insurance for this. In now days,as you know it’s much easier and cheaper to produce good wines for low cost.And we counted 170 Kosher wineries who produce Kosher wines.We did not find a reason to ask the Jewish consumer to pay a fortune and to be a snubb.Just because we make it Kosher.I can tell you many stories about it.I shall tell now 1 of them:We had a tasting with wealthy people in a prestige returant in Israel.Many of the guests talked about their privat planes and the new Mercedes or Jaguar cars. Every body loved the Tierra Salvaje wines.Especially the Malbec.On the end of the evening a lady wearing 10 diamont rings pulled my sleeve and told me:I loved all your wines but I shall not bring them home!!Why? Why they are inexpensive!!!I bring home wines above $50 only.We. Liora & I are proud of our wines.We are producing good wines on affordable prices.More and more people enjoy and they don’t feel they were robbed.Take it easy.Shimshon & Liora Welner

By: Craig Winchell

Craig Winchell — Mon, 26 Apr 2004 11:21:29 +0000

The kosher market is dominated by marketers, and these guys perceive a market for variety rather than true quality or distinctiveness. They have wines made for them all over the world so that they can have wines from those appellations, and sell them to an uneducated public. Some are good, some are bad, but most are commercially styled. It is, indeed, generally "commercial assembly line product". When they come out with something distinctive, it is usually by accident. Distinctiveness means a much smaller but more passionate following for the wine.When confronted with medium quality wines from Australia, Chile, Spain, Italy, the USA and France, how do people choose? Like the 20 or so brnads of laundry detergent on the shelves of most supermarkets, it’s a craps shoot. So each producer tries to maximize its shelf space by having as many brands, and as many wines as possible, in the hopes that the consumer’s eye will rest on his particular wine or packaging.The market would be far different if wine-loving producers were producing wines which were close to their hearts, wines born of passion. But there aren’t that many kosher wineries founded on the basis of passion. In California, GAN EDEN, Hagafen, Four Gates, and maybe Kiddush HaShem (custom produced, but there’s no question the guy loves his wine, though he’s a relative novice- a worker with Royal). In Israel, a few small boutiques. Nowhere else that I know of. Whether made by a kosher winery or as a kosher brand in a nonkosher winery or contracted to specification, they were made to exploit the market, and for no other reason. Some are better than others, of course, and there’s nothing wrong with evaluating what’s out there. But in evaluating, you’ll find that while quality is up from 15 years ago, styling has remained the same for the majority of brands.Shimshon Welner is a very nice guy, and without his marketing vision, Golan Heights Winery would not have been founded. But even there, with its successes, it’s a marketing vision, rather than a winemaking vision, by a marketer rather than a winemaker. At least Shimshon kept the quality to a generally high standard. Now, look what Shimshon is doing– trying to build a brand by contributing to the glut of ordinary-quality wine out there. Well, he wouldn’t do it if people were more discerning in their wine choices, and Royal wouldn’t have mediocre wines from everywhere in the world in their portfolio. The problem is not the marketers, but the undiscerning consumers who purchase their products.

By: Shimshon Welner

Shimshon Welner — Tue, 06 Apr 2004 15:38:56 +0000

I agree.The Kosher wine production is not lesser than the non kosher by all meanThe fact that kosher wines won tropies in Bordeaux is well known.I was the first to win and my successors are doing it again and again.Now days we are producing kosher wines in 5 countries Tierra Salvaje in the Spanish countries.Kolobarra Hills in Australia Vila Santero in Italy and they are difine as best buy in the Wine Spectator and other wine press.Shimshon Welner (I am the founder of the Golan Heights Winery-Yarden-Gamla)International Kosher Wine ProducersMoshav Aniam Golan Heights Israel

By: Josh Sunshine

Josh Sunshine — Thu, 01 Apr 2004 16:12:43 +0000

I don’t think the NY Times article was nearly as negative as you make it sound. The author writes: "My own feeling was that the 25 bottles we tasted were a microcosm of the larger world of wine. The vast majority of wine sold in this country, and in the world, is mediocre. It is a commercial assembly-line product, as was much of what we tasted. Only a small percentage of the world’s wine, kosher or not, is intended to meet exacting standards." It seems to me that the Times started with a different assumption then the Journal. The Times assumed from the outset that kosher wines would be just as good as any other and found in the end that they were just as bad. The Journal on the other hand seemed to be presently surprised that the Kosher wines were actually good. Either way, it seems to be unanimous that there are good kosher wines out there.

By: nonmevushalmarc

nonmevushalmarc — Thu, 01 Apr 2004 10:08:07 +0000

Through the wonders of law school, I can access Westlaw for free, which archives the WSJ. If you would like to read the full column from last week, please email me (mmelzer@law.upenn.edu) and I will email you the text. Beerhound is definitely right about the more optimistic tone of the WSJ piece as compared to the NYT piece. Based on the wines they list under "A Few Kosher Wines," many of which I’ve never seen or heard of, I’d guess that they put a little more work into finding a good variety of more objectively good wines. Although I’m always wary of glowing reviews of Rashi Moscato d’Asti :-D (a fine ’spritzer’ to be sure, and at least they don’t suggest that you drink it with dinner).