28536 Fri Mar 26 14:30:36 -0800 2004 20 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 119346 Am invited to my first sedar next month and we've been asked to bring red wine - kosher for Passover - so what local wine shops have the best selection? Any particular wines we should look for? Fri Mar 26 14:30:36 -0800 2004 0 Celery 1 119352 Are you looking for sources in the city or??? Fri Mar 26 14:55:00 -0800 2004 119346 0 RWCFoodie (Karen) 2 119431 SF or East Bay works best for me - but if you know Peninsula or South Bay spots to check out - I'm always up for a trek to a wine store :) Thanks all for the suggestions so far too! Sounds like I'll have quite few choices. Sat Mar 27 17:13:46 -0800 2004 119352 0 Celery 1 119353 Here's something I found on Google: It's a web site on Kosher wine tastings. Might be a place to start. Link: http://www.kosherwinetastings.com/cgi-bin/wines/wines.cgi?Wine_Testing+search+retrieve++&&1-10&mevushal=Yes%%%%dm=Line+cs=No+em=Yes+ob=Yes+dfd=No Fri Mar 26 15:01:13 -0800 2004 119346 0 RWCFoodie (Karen) 1 119354 In San Francisco, I have bought good quality kosher for Passover wines at K&L on 4th Street and at Plumpjack Noe on 24th Street. Both have good selections. BevMo on Bayshore also carries kosher for Passover wines, mostly of the cheaper variety and for more $$ than either of the other two stores. Fri Mar 26 15:01:30 -0800 2004 119346 0 amalia 2 119373 Solano cellars in the east bay has a small, but high quality selection. I have gotten a terrific bold French red blend there for the past few years. Its good enough to drink at non-passover meals (few kosher for passover wines are). Unfortunately, I cannot seem to name right now. The guys at Solano are big fans, so they would probably know it. Or maybe I can find an extra bottle at home... Fri Mar 26 17:36:35 -0800 2004 119354 0 Dybbster 3 119383 You might be thinking of Bunan from Bandol - very good French red wine made primarily of Mourvedre. It's imported by Hiram Simon's Winewise (note to Celery - he's Bill Mayer's partner). Gan Eden in Sonoma County also makes nice wines. Fri Mar 26 19:39:07 -0800 2004 119373 0 Melanie Wong 1 119374 I have given Hagafen as gifts, the recipients have all responded positively. One was surprised there were other kosher wines besides Mogan David. I have given their Chardonnay, Cabernet and Syrah. Fri Mar 26 17:40:41 -0800 2004 119346 0 Alan408 1 119389 From the Examiner..March 24th (not yet on their website) "Wines for Passover" Excellent: Galil Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2001 Golan Heights Winery Cabernet Sauvignon 2002 and Chardonnay 2002 HaGafen Cellars Pinot Noir 2002 and Cabernet Sauvignon 2000 Herzog Syrah "Special Reserve" 2001 Laurent- Perrier Champagne Brut Rose Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Champagne Avoid: Alfasi, Bartenura, Malvasia, Carmel, Segals, Verbau Alsace I hope this helps...I would call around first. Fri Mar 26 21:24:16 -0800 2004 119346 0 ChowFun (derek) 2 119391 Didn't know that Feuillatte was kosher for passover! You've reminded me to mention that the NV Premier Cru from NF has been marked down in this market. It's a screaming buy at $20.99 at K&L Wine in SF and other discounters (JV in Napa). I had a bottle in a blind tasting recently and two of the three of us (including me!) swore it had to be from the New World because it was so ripe, forward and richly fruited. However, the third person held out that the autolytic character (bread dough, yeastiness, toast), minerality and fine acidity could only be Champagne, and he was right. This is a much better bubbly, made from Premier cru vineyards, than Veuve Cliquot "yellow label" (also in the blind tasting) which usually runs at least $30. Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/16786#47639 Fri Mar 26 21:34:30 -0800 2004 119389 0 Melanie Wong 3 119400 In the East Bay, you can to the Jewish book and stuff store--Afikomen--on Claremont Ave. at The Uplands in Berkeley (on the same block as Semifreddi and Star Market). They have a good selection. In Palo Alto, we think Bob and Bob would do the same thing, but don't know for sure. Sat Mar 27 00:02:09 -0800 2004 119391 0 Nathan Landau 4 119467 I second the recommendation of Afikomen. At my request, they've got Chateau d'Arveyres, a nice everyday Bordeaux. One of the waiters at Raphael told us it was his favorite red on their (all-Kosher) list, and we liked it enough that I special-ordered some. I don't care that it's Kosher, it's just a style I like that's hard to find in California. Sun Mar 28 14:09:51 -0800 2004 119400 0 Robert Lauriston 3 119429 Melanie, The Feuillatte Brut is not Kosher, but they do make a Kosher Cuvee at a slightly higher price. It wears a different label from the regular, and is pretty good, but rarely great. I didn't know that LPRose was kosher. Cheers! Sat Mar 27 16:23:04 -0800 2004 119391 0 deweyman 4 119709 Thanks for the info. Laurent Perrier Rose is one of my favorites, a reliable choice on wine lists. Deeper than many other pink bubblies, from all grand cru vineyards, I believe. Wed Mar 31 00:30:13 -0800 2004 119429 0 Melanie Wong 1 119421 Easy. Just go to a Trader Joe and buy a Baron Herzog Zinfandel for red (around $8) and/or a Baron Herzog Chenin Blanc for white (around $5). The BH Zin is very good; it is from Lodi (near Stockton) which is known for good Zinfandels. The BH Chenin Blanc, from the Clarksburg area (near Sacramento) is also very good and will be a revelation to most people. Baron Herzog also makes a line of Reserve wines, which are even better, but much more expensive. The Zin and the Chenin Blanc will be just fine for a Seder dinner. Sat Mar 27 14:14:00 -0800 2004 119346 0 svL 2 119528 Unfortunately the SOMA TJs doesn't have either of these Baron Herzog wines. There's shelf space for the Chenin Blanc, but not the Zin. K&L will be getting their wines in by this weekend, very little on offer on Saturday, just the Yarden Chard and basic red. BevMo has a few Baron Herzong wines, but also expects to get the bulk of the wines in this week. Plumpjack Noe has fewer than last year but does offer the Yarden Mt. Hermon Red, a meritage blend that was nice last year, and the Yarden Riesling, which we bought to try -- the manager said that the residual sugar on the finish is balanced by sufficient acidity to make it an enjoyable food wine. He will bring in more based on the number of requests he gets this week. Mon Mar 29 13:05:08 -0800 2004 119421 0 amalia 1 119569 Yesterday the newly rebuilt Jewish Community Center in San Francisco (at California and Presidio) had an open house, and, as one of the many programs/lectures/events, they had a wine tasting of kosher wines. I went there and really enjoyed most of the wines. They had 13 different whites and reds. For me, the best were '00 Galil Cab-Merlot (from Israel), Hagafen ('00 Merlot and '02 Pinot Noir), '01 Baron Herzog Special Reserve Syrah, and a '01 Yarden Mt Hermon Cabernet. The Galil and the Yarden were superb and serious wines. They are more Bordeaux rather than California in style (a bit austere, taste of cassis and cedar, long finish, as opposed to the oak and ripe fruit we usually get from California cabs) and I would put them up against any French wine, kosher or not. The wine tasting was organized by a wine shop in the Castro, Friendly Spirits (572 Castro, 415-864-2262). All the tasted wines are available for purchasing at the store. At $13 a bottle, the Yarden Cab is very good value. Mon Mar 29 19:39:11 -0800 2004 119346 0 svL 2 119571 It's been a few years since I've tried Yarden, but I remember it as quite a serious wine. I didn't know that it was so inexpensive! I've heard that the new JCC will have three restaurants. Anything you can share with us about those? Can you lobby for some decent pastrami?!? (G) Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/23703#90654 Mon Mar 29 19:54:25 -0800 2004 119569 0 Melanie Wong 3 119577 I was surprised as well because I remember drinking some Yardens five or so years ago and they were going for $20 to $30 back then. I just did a wine-searcher.com and I see that most of Yarden's line is in the teens now. They also have a '01 Mt Hermon Red for about $10 which I don't think is the same as the cab I had yesterday. Actually, the wine shop I mentioned, Friendly Spirits, told me that they currently don't have the Yarden cab but will be getting an allotment on Wednesday; I plan to get some. As to the restaurants, I looked around the whole place but didn't see anything set up yet. It could be that some rooms that were being used yesterday for display and lectures will be used as cafes/restaurants in the future. The only thing foodwise I saw was in the gift shop, where Irving was selling his superior challah bread. Irving, you may recall from a thread about a year ago, is the guy who quit his day job to dedicate himself to making the perfect challah. (Sorry, but I forgot his last name.) Initially he sold it door-to-door based on word-of-mouth. We found out about him on this board (unfortunately I can't find the reference) and bought some from him. It was excellent, probably the best of all the bakers that I've tried in the Bay Area. Some local stores, like Tel-Aviv market, carry his bread now, he told me yesterday. Mon Mar 29 20:47:45 -0800 2004 119571 0 svL 4 119579 I was at the JCC opening after searching for Passover wines the day before, I can't believe I overlooked the tasting! Thanks for sharing your notes, I'll head on over to Friendly Spirits this week. As for Irving's challah, it is indeed wonderful and will be available at Dayenu, the JCC gift shop, on Fridays. I hope I can make it over there on occasion. Mon Mar 29 21:11:39 -0800 2004 119577 0 amalia 1 119737 FYI, The Jug Shop at Pacific/Polk is doing a tasting of Kosher for Passover wines on Thursday 04/01, from 5-7 PM. Wed Mar 31 13:18:10 -0800 2004 119346 0 amalia