Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Food

A Pre-Purim Peek at the Kosher Food & Wine Experience

Image by Liza Schoenfein

The 10th annual , held at Chelsea Piers last week, featured an exciting lineup of kosher wine, spirits and tasty treats — many of which came from first-time vendors at the event.

With the new KWFE 2016 phone app ready to go (no more paper pamphlets to scribble my notes in!), I began wandering the large, sunlit hall in search of a bite to eat. The table of desserts immediately caught my eye, particularly the small ice cream pops made by Premier Ice Cream Confections. I savored the treat — a frozen strawberry center surrounded by vanilla and dark chocolate — and was off to begin my wine tasting.

Image by Liza Schoenfein

Dessert offerings from Premier Ice Cream Confections.

Knowing that it would be impossible to stop at every table, I generally kept my eyes open for interesting labels I didn’t recognize from last year’s event.

I began by tasting two champagnes by Drappier, which were excellent (and paired very well with my ice cream pop). The label’s “Carte Blanche” brut was particularly fine.

Image by Liza Schoenfein

One wine producer in particular stood out to me — perhaps because of the booth’s friendly father-son duo, Schlomie and Eitan Ross, who were pouring and schmoozing with enthusiasm. Psagot Winery, which is based in Israel near Jerusalem, had 13 different wines to share. The Edom, a combination of cabernet sauvignon and merlot, is one of the more complex wines I tasted, and the Psagot chardonnay is refreshing and delicious.

Image by Liza Schoenfein

Shlomie Ross (left) and his son Eitan Ross at the Psagot Winery booth.

Out of curiosity, I checked out some of the spirit brands, including Bicerin, which makes a rich and thick chocolate liquor.

Overall, it was a successful year at KWFE — I now have my own little list of kosher wine options for Purim and Passover!

Jean Hanks is food intern at the Forward.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.