Fruit of the Vine

Springtime Is Party Time

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 08 May 2012 18:26:00 +0000

Fruit of the Vine

Gamliel Kronemer

Special To The Jewish Week

Turn your next soiree into a wine-tasting party.

For me, spring weather calls for two of my favorite things — parties and wine. While I almost always serve wine at my parties, occasionally I like to make wine the focus of a party.

While once viewed as an esoteric activity for only hardcore wine aficionados, wine-tasting parties are becoming a very popular activity for wine lovers of all sorts, novices and experts alike. So for this month’s Fruit of the Vine we share some tips and advice for hosting your next (or first) such party.

The venue:

springtime wine parties wine tasting

Springtime Is Party Time

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 21:52:00 +0000

Fruit of the Vine

Gamliel Kronemer

Special To The Jewish Week

Turn your next soiree into a wine-tasting party.

For me, spring weather calls for two of my favorite things — parties and wine. While I almost always serve wine at my parties, occasionally I like to make wine the focus of a party, by hosting a wine-tasting party.

The venue:

American Independents

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 21:11:00 +0000

Fruit of the Vine

Gamliel Kronemer

Special To The Jewish Week

Kosher wines from some of the country’s smallest producers.

“What is your favorite sort of wine?” As a wine writer I’m asked this question frequently — and I’m always flustered when I try to find an answer. It’s so hard to choose one variety of grape or wine production style, out of such a broad world of choices; and different sorts of wines go with different meals, different activities and different moods. Yet, surprisingly, no one has ever asked me the corresponding question, “What is your favorite sort of winery?” For that, I have an easy, one word answer: “small.”

A Good Budget Red For Springtime

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:23:54 +0000

Fruit of the Vine

Gamliel Kronemer

Special To The Jewish Week

Reach down under for an Australian Shiraz.

When most Americans think of wines made from the classic black grape generally known as Syrah in the Old World and Shiraz in the New, they think of the robust red Shirazes from Australia. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Australian Shiraz was one of the most popular imported wines in America. While in the last six or seven years its popularity has been waning, according to USDA import statistics, America still imports more than nine million cases of red wine from Australia each year (down from a peak of nearly 13 million cases in 2005).

Ten For ‘11

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:56:00 +0000

Fruit of the Vine

Gamliel Kronemer

An American year in kosher wine.

From the arrival of distinctive Californian Syrahs to the opening of wineries in such unlikely places as Oregon and Virginia, 2011 was a good year for American kosher wine. If the year bore any surprises, as I looked back over my tasting notes, it was the realization that many of the best wines were domestic. Indeed, nine of the wines on my personal top10 list were made in the United States

Seeing Red — Zinfandel, That is

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:10:00 +0000

Fruit of the Vine

Gamliel Kronemer

Special To The Jewish Week

A legacy of the California gold rush, and a great autumn wine.

Every nation has certain foods and drinks that are so integral to its society that they become part of the very fabric of that nation’s history. In America, we have many such foods and drinks — hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, barbeque ribs, martinis, and Zinfandel wines.

Red Zinfandel

New Wines For The New Year

Janet Hoffman — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 00:58:00 +0000

Fruit of the Vine

Gamliel Kronemer

Special To The Jewish Week

The lead-up to Passover and Rosh HaShanah are the two times each year when kosher wine producers try to bring their new wines to the market. This fall, no doubt in part because of the continuing bad economy, and weak dollar, there are fewer new wines on the market than usual. However, many of the wines that are being released look intriguing.

California Grandeur

Janet Hoffman — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 00:54:00 +0000

Fruit of the Vine

Gamliel Kronemer

Special To The Jewish Week

For your holiday table, go west.

Thirty-five years ago, in the spring of 1976, a seminal event happened in Paris that changed the map of wine just as much as the American Revolution, 200 years before, had changed the map of the British Empire.

Steven Spurrier, a British wine merchant, then living in Paris, decided to use the American Bicentennial to generate some publicity for himself. So he invited some of France’s most distinguished wine experts to a blind tasting of the best French and American wines. The outcome was a foregone conclusion: France, of course, would win.

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 19:48:40 +0000

Fruit of the Vine

Gamliel Kronemer

Special To The Jewish Week

A warming choice for the season.

After a warmer than usual September, autumn has started in earnest —making this just the right time of year indulge in a warming glass of fortified wine.

Fortified wines are wines to which distilled alcohol, usually brandy, is added during the wine-making process. Not only is the wine’s alcohol content increased, but the process can have profound effects on the wine’s flavor and mouth feel. Indeed, fortified wines often seem to combine the flavors and heft of wine, with the warming sensations of distilled spirits.

fortified wine kosher wine wine