1,000+ Artisanal Food, Beverage from around the World are coming to Las Vegas Jan 21-23! Specialty Food Association’s 48th Winter Fancy Food Show
The Specialty Food Association’s 48th Winter Fancy Food Show will showcase thousands of artisanal products from more than 1,200 domestic and global specialty food and beverage makers and manufacturers.
Taking place across three days (January 21-23) at the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Show also features a variety of networking and educational events.
“The 2024 Winter Fancy Food Show marks the beginning of the food industry’s annual cycle
a pivotal gathering where innovation meets opportunity,”
SFA President Bill Lynch
“This show is not just an event; it’s the epicenter of culinary creativity and business acumen where makers launch and buyers discover the latest products and trends that will shape the new year.”
Show attendees will experience:
- Artisanal food and beverage products from 1,200+ exhibitors.
- Product pavilions dedicated to the hottest categories including Plant Based, Deli, Bakery/Confectionery/Snacks & Sweets, Beverage.
- International Pavilions from Canada, China, Italy, France, Greece, Morocco, Spain, and partner country, Japan.
- State and Regional Pavilions including Mississippi, New York, WUSATA.
- Diversity Pavilion, with a nine-company cohort from (included): Barlow’s, Frescos Naturales, Funky Mello, Grumpy Ginger, Krack’d Snacks, Myles Comfort Foods, Sobo, Todo Verde, TUYYO.
- Pop Up Pavilions including the Confectionery, Snack, and Bakery Pavilion Pop Up: Fancy a Bite?, and the Beverage Pavilion Pop Up: Flights of Fancy.
- NEW NOW NEXT Pavilion featuring Incubators and Startups.
- Insight into the hottest trends in specialty food courtesy of the SFA Trendspotter Panel: Patsy Ramirez-Arroyo, food and sustainability consultant, PG Consulting Group, LLC; Jenn de la Vega, chef, stylist, cookbook author, trends expert, Randwiches; Jonathan Deutsch, Professor and Director, Drexel Food Lab; Jeanette Donnarumma, producer, cook, recipe developer/tester, food lover, content creator, party-planner; Thomas Joseph, EVP, Culinary, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and Sur la Table; Gary FX LaMorte, chef, consultant, and founder, Honest Hospitality; Sarah Lohman, culinary historian, author, and public speaker; Chef Clara Park, claraparkcooks.com, chef, teacher, consultant, and writer; Wendy Robinson, Senior Buyer, Market Hall Foods; Kantha Shelke, Ph.D., CFS, IFT Fellow, Corvus Blue LLC; Cathy Strange, Ambassador of Food Culture, Whole Foods; V. Sheree Williams, Publisher, Cuisine Noir, and Founder, Global Food and Drink Initiative.
- SFA Junior Trendspotter Panel – UNLV William F. Harrah College of Hospitality under the guidance of Joseph Lema, Ph.D. Professor/Ph.D. Coordinator, Seyhmus Baloglu, Ph.D. Professor/Associate Dean of Research.
- The Winter Fancy Food Show is open only to qualified members of the specialty food trade, industry affiliates, and media. For more information, please click here.
The Specialty Food Association (SFA) was founded in 1952 and is the not-for-profit trade association of the $194 billion specialty food industry.
Representing more than 3,000 businesses worldwide, SFA champions industry participation and success for a diverse community of makers, buyers, importers, distributors, and service providers by developing resources, information, education, and events that celebrate innovation and inclusivity.
- SFA owns and operates the Fancy Food Shows—which are the largest specialty food industry events in North America—as well as the sofi™ Awards—which have honored excellence in specialty food and beverage annually since 1972.
- The SFA also produces the e-newsletter SFA News Daily, the Trendspotter Panel annual predictions and Fancy Food Show reports, the State of the Specialty Food Industry Report, Today’s Specialty Food Consumer research, and the Spill & Dish podcast. Find out more online and connect with SFA on Facebook, X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok.
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Thanksgiving in Las Vegas: the perfect stuffing bread DOES exist – and it’s… [Recipe Here]
This Thanksgiving, the perfect stuffing bread DOES exist – and it’s brioche. As in St Pierre Brioche Thanksgiving Stuffing
No Thanksgiving spread is complete without a hearty stuffing. While add-ins are a matter of preference, choosing the right bread is crucial. One underrated choice is eggy, rich brioche – and with St Pierre Bakery, you don’t need to go to France to get it.
Thanks to its butter and egg content, St Pierre’s Brioche Loaf provides the perfect balance of crisp toastiness while remaining soft and creamy inside, while its lightly sweet flavor adds a decadent quality that can still lean savory. Attached below is an approachable recipe for stuffing allowing for all the craveable crunch for the whole family with minimal effort required.
St Pierre Brioche Thanksgiving Stuffing
By @BrandiMilloy
Ingredients
1 loaf St. Pierre Brioche Bread
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 medium onion, diced
3/4 cup celery, diced
3/4 cup carrots, diced
1 cup mushrooms, diced
2 large eggs
1 tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped
3 sprigs fresh thyme, just the leaves
1 tbsp. fresh sage, chopped
1 small apple (granny smith works well), peeled and diced
Salt and pepper
Directions
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Preheat oven to 350 F. Cut brioche bread into 1” cubes and bake for about 10-15 minutes until toasted.
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Meanwhile, into a pot over medium high heat add butter until melted. Add onion, celery and carrots and cook until everything starts to soften, about 7 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes longer. Remove from heat and set aside.
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Into a bowl whisk together the eggs, herbs, apples, mushrooms, and salt and pepper. Add your cooked vegetables and mix to combine.
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Pour mixture on top of toasted bread and stir to combine. Bake stuffing for about 45 minutes. If your stuffing starts to get too brown, cover until finished baking. Enjoy!
As America’s favorite brioche brand, St Pierre’s products are widely available via grocery stores nationwide as well as Walmart.
Vegas Crowds Find New Flavor with Dancing Wines from Cynthia Russell, Lauren Russell
Vegas Crowds Searching for New Flavor Find it with Dancing Wines from Cynthia Russell, Lauren Russell in Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County.
The team at Dancing Wines is developing a collection of sensory brands that celebrate life through taste, touch and aroma – inspiring you to find your inner dance and show the world what truly moves you.
Dancing Wines’ red wine trio includes Old Vine, Duo and Estate — three limited-release wines made from hand-picked grapes that showcase the full breadth of the Dancing estate.
Today’s conversation with the dynamic Mother / Daughter team Cynthia and Lauren Russell from Dancing Wines ha been edited for length and clarity.
For the full, un-edited conversation, visit our YouTube channel here.
Joe Winger: What is the most important message you’d like to share today?
Lauren Russell: I think one of them is dancing is art and art is life.
Another is love needs no explanation. I think really the thread between those is we’re trying to create a product and an experience that brings people together and invites them to find their inner dance, which is something we say a lot.
So we want to encourage people to find their unique rhythms. And wine is also really lovely because it is a vehicle that brings people together to enjoy a moment and diverse people together.
I think my Mom [Cynthia] can speak to this as well, but one of the things we thought about when first exploring wine was just how daunting the whole atmosphere is around the consumption of it and the buying and using all the right adjectives.
Especially for my generation I feel like there’s a bit of a learning curve. So I think one thing we really want people to take away from the brand is just like, just enjoy it. Love needs no explanation and you can’t drink wine when your mouth is full of adjectives. We’ve created a great wine just for you to be able to enjoy and to describe however you want and enjoy whenever you want.
Cynthia: Yeah, I think the measures we created we have a beautiful heritage property that the soil and the climate create this great wine. And me being of an older generation where wine was very intimidating, even though I know a lot about it.
And drinking it for a very long time. I’ve lived in France. I’ve lived in California. It’s still when you order in a restaurant, you’re scared. Do I know enough? I’m going to be embarrassed. Is this the right pairing? And what the good news is that wine making in the world has become so sophisticated that if you are buying wine from a place that is special, including all.
Sonoma or France or Italy, the wines are good, they’re really good and all you have to do is be comfortable with yourself and enjoying it. And so that’s what we’re trying to do is take a product that has thousands of years of history as being a part of our culture and make you comfortable with just having fun, enjoying it and celebrating what wine can do to bring people together.
Joe Winger: You have a really unique story that you restored a vineyard up in Dry Creek. Can you talk about experience and what you learned from the restoration?
Cynthia: We lucked out. It was a Covid purchase. We spent a lot of time as a family together in very small confined spaces drinking a lot of wine.
We [thought we] might end up needing a place where we have more outdoor space and can be together. So we bought this property more as a farm and then discovered that it was a unique part of the world.
Zinfandel grapes have been growing in this small region for over 150 years.
It was called America’s grape back in the time I think [the] 1850s. Okay, we have these vineyards. They’re really old.
There was one owner at this property for 60 years, an older Italian gentleman. And a lot of the area is multi generation, fourth generation Italian families who came over and cultivated this grape.
We never intended to make wine and yet we were scared to let this history and heritage die.
So we took classes and tried to figure out, can we make wine?
It’d be such a shame to let this history go in this special place.
We made a great discovery, which was that you don’t have to be an expert on wine. You just have to have great soil and a great climate.
Then we launched from there.
Lauren: We’re always towing the line between the respective tradition and traditional winemaking and the land and all of the old vines and creating something new.
She [Mom, Cynthia] always brings a lens of respect for the older generation and ways of life and what wine has meant to her throughout her life.
I’m always pushing the other direction. We always land somewhere in the middle.
You’ll see that in the brands, it has really playful branding and packaging. But, our winemaking is a bit more traditional. We’re a sustainable vineyard but we have old vines and we respect what the land has to offer and what it’s been offering in that region for a long time.
It creates a better product and brand for us because we get to cater to both audiences.
Joe Winger: You have a collection of sensory brands. Can you talk about what that collection is, what inspired the idea, and what we should be looking for?
Lauren: All of the products have been and will be inspired by the backdrop of the vineyard.
When we talk about wine, we talk about this kind of multi sensory experience, whether that’s aroma or where you’re having it, who you’re enjoying it with.
We came into wine knowing that it was going to be not just about taste or smell, but about the holistic experience of what wine could do for someone.
Sort of the thread between all of our products are taste, touch and smell. Again, like finding your inner dance and allowing you to express your personality.
We’re launching a trio of fragrances, which are loosely inspired by the terroir and the vineyard.
Cynthia: We have a fresh perspective on Sonoma. Every time we arrive, we have this nose full of these incredible senses:, the smell of moss, crushed grapes, barrel, fire and oak.
Yeah. So we’re like, wow. Every time we arrive, we’re like, wow, this is really cool.
This is so distinct and unique and just elevates your experience of being there.
We are going to bring more experiences to the brand when we can, like having an artist in residence, creating visually beautiful contributions.
We have an art collection there that inspired us to bring art to the brand. It’s largely from a diverse group of artists from the West Coast who are very colorful and young and also push boundaries. So our idea with the senses is like we’re trying to This is a brand that you enter into our world and you get to experience people and life in a way that’s very unique and bold and
Joe Winger: What are both of your backgrounds outside of wine?
Lauren: I was raised in Connecticut and went to Dartmouth for undergrad, was a creative non-fiction writer, so always had that storytelling bent.
After school, I worked at a lot of businesses in marketing. Uber Eats, Refinery29, right before the pandemic, I worked for AB and Bev that was my first kind of foray into alcohol.
Then during COVID, I got my MBA at Columbia. We all got this massive reset of our priorities. I come from an entrepreneurial family. This opportunity arose
Cynthia: We’re a family who really believes in experiences. I have dabbled in many different areas. I went to Scripps college. I actually was a dance major until I was not. I became an international relations major. I lived in France for a while. Then moved to New York City and worked for JP Morgan trading stock, money market securities.
I didn’t find that was my passion, so I went to Harvard Business School and I got a master’s in business. Then I worked for American Express where I started a weekend travel program. It was a little startup within the travel segment of American Express. I got my “sea legs” of starting a business.
I quit that business because I had kids, then I started my own mail order company then I decided again, that maybe I needed a little more education.
I went back and got a doctorate at Columbia in organizational leadership.
I have a consulting firm on the side where I consult leaders and organizations about how to handle complex challenges in a complex world.
So my daughter [Lauren] gets through business school and we decide to marry all these wonderful experiences together and create something really new and unique.
Joe Winger: Let’s talk about your wines.
Lauren: We launched with our rosé which is really beautiful. It’s an intentional rosé. From our Primitivo grapes and we harvested them early and intentionally for rosé.
It has this really beautiful distinct, watermelon, almost Jolly Rancher aroma, and it’s really playful and full, but also dry. And it’s been a really big hit so that was a fun debut for us.
We just launched our trio of reds, and what makes them unique goes into the story about the restoration of the vineyard.
We’re still learning our land and learning from it.
We chose to harvest from different blocks and treat the wines in a similar fashion and bottle them separately to see what personalities they expressed.
One is the Old Vine Zinfandel, which is from our oldest head trained vines which is the deepest, moodiest, richest wine. It’s really lovely.
Then we have an estate wine, which is actually from Primitivo, a different word for Zinfandel. That one is a bit lighter.
Then we have a third, a duo which is a blend of both. And so it’s really helped us to understand. And they are quite different.
They’re obviously all Zinfandels in their expressions, but they’re all quite different.
People say Zinfandel is like a map of the land and I think that’s really true here. Which is super cool.
But we have two forthcoming sparkling wines because I think it really speaks to our ethos about being playful and to my generation.
Cynthia: It’s really fun for us because being on the East coast, Zinfandel is a really unknown varietal and we think it’s underrated. Californians know it’s been around for a long time. It has a lot of possibilities with food. And so what we’re trying to do is bring to light this really good wine and do it in a slightly different way.
We pick ours earlier, trying to have it be less jammy, juicy, heavy; lighter, less alcoholic than some of the more traditional Zinfandels that are on our street.
That’s really trying to address the changes consumer changes.
Our wines are chillable, super easy to eat with most any food, especially ethnic food, spicy food.
2022 was our first vintage. 2023 is already in barrels and we’ll be bottling that in probably in March. But it’s going to be a little different because the climate was different that year.
The rosé was just a fluke. Our winemaker wanted to try a Zinfandel rosé. Most people love it. It’s so distinct and unique.
Our 24 Rosé will come out in March. The reds will come out in the early summer. We’re going to bottle the sparkling in January, but that will be at least a year until you’ll see that. The pétillant naturel will probably be launching at about the same time as the rosé
Lauren: What’s fun about having both an early release sparkling and a [second, additional] later release [sparkling wine] one is going to be lighter, more effervescent, maybe geared towards the younger generation and the other will have that toastier champagne flavor.
Joe Winger: Do you have a favorite wine and food pairing?
Lauren: This one’s so hard. Rosé and oysters or any seafood is just awesome. Sparkling wine and a burger is one of my favorites.
In terms of red, when I think of Zinfandel, it’s Thanksgiving foods. It speaks to the hominess in our story. Bringing everyone around the table. Kind of experiential pairing.
Cynthia: Yeah, that resonates with me.
We have a lot of ethnic food, so it holds up really well to spice, to sweet and sour, salty and sweet. So it’s great with Indian food, Mexican food. Apples in your pork chops.
A burgundy is usually killed instantly by those kinds of flavors. It’s too fragile.
[Ours] is not fragile, but it still has so many nice aromas and flavors to enhance whatever you’re eating.
Lauren: It’s great with pizza. Pizza and a nice glass of Zinfandel
Joe Winger: What’s something magical about Sonoma that you learned through this journey?
Lauren: True of both Zinfandel and Sonoma it always has this underdog energy to Napa. One of the hidden gems, we wake up really early and drive to the Redwood forest to watch the sun rise through the trees.
We eat a burrito because we have terrible burritos in New York.
There’s an amazing food community, 3 Michelin star restaurant, chefs, farm to table.
Cynthia: The distinct part of Sonoma is how important nature is to everyone there. It’s not just about wine. It’s incredible nature.
We both traveled a lot, lived in a lot of places. I’ve never seen such natural beauty in such a small area.
Lauren: That’s what the idea of our products is too. We have to bring people here in some way, differently than just having them taste the wine.
So as many dimensions as we can bring people into that realm to experience [00:29:00] that it’s like definitely the dream.
Joe Winger: Whether it’s social media, website, or other ways, what are the best ways for our audience to find and follow Dancing Wine?
Lauren: We have our website, which is wearedancing.com. We also are on Instagram, which is at DancingSonoma.
American Film Market 2024 in Vegas: AGC’s Stuart Ford & Anton’s Sébastien Raybaud to Take Stage
American Film Market 2024 in Vegas: AGC’s Stuart Ford & Anton’s Sébastien Raybaud to Take Stage
- Matt Brodlie, Upgrade Productions
- Katie Irwin, WME Independent
- Matt Mueller, Screen International
- Peter Van Steemburg, XYZ Films
- Miranda Bailey, Cold Iron Pictures
- Karin Chien, dGenerate Films, Art & Action Productions
- Phil Goldfine, Producer
- Michele Kanan, Producer, Writer and Director
- Michael Musante, Cherokee Film
- Mary Aloe, Aloe Entertainment / Partners in Kind
- Josh Harris, Peachtree Media
- Jonathon Glucksman, Wondermind
- Robert Rippberger, SIE Society
- Jarnell Stokes, Stoked Bros. Media
- Olga Rodriguez-Aguirre, SAG-AFTRA
November 7
- Jill Goldsmith, Deadline
- Jon Gosier, Film Hedge
- George Hamilton, Protagonist Pictures
- Paula Paizes, Pressman Films
- Miguel Palos, AGC Studio
- Gregory Chambet, WTFILMS
- Emily Gotto, Shudder
- Tom Malloy, Glass House Distribution
- Bob Portal, AMP
- Priscilla Ross Smith, The Coven
- Ryan Broussard, Wrapbook
- Jeffery Greenstein, A Higher Standard
- Andi Isaacs, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Formerly Summit Entertainment
- Simon Williams, Palisades Park Pictures
- Kyle Bowser, NAACP Hollywood Bureau
- Monica Kelly, CSA, Treadwell / Kelly Casting
- Jennifer K.M. Treadwell, CSA, Treadwell / Kelly Casting
- Clay Epstein, Film Mode Entertainment
- Tiffany Boyle, Ramo Law PC
- Mimi Steinbauer, Radiant Films International
- Brian O’Shea, The Exchange
- Cassian Elwes, Elevated
- Lee Jessup, leejessup.com
- Lorelle Lynch, AGC Studios
- Chris McGurk, Cineverse
- Lauren McCarthy, Cineverse
- Thomas K Arnold, Media Play News
- Paul Bales, The Asylum
- Jeff Deverett, Producer
- Efuru Flowers, Flourishing Films
- Chris Gore, Film Threat
- Max Woertendyke, Noble Gas Media
IFTA is the global trade association for independent film and television production, finance, distribution, and sales companies. The organization represents the independent sector before governments and international bodies and provides significant entertainment industry services to independent companies around the world.
About the Author
Joe Wehinger (nicknamed Joe Winger) has written for over 20 years about the business of lifestyle and entertainment. Joe is an entertainment producer, media entrepreneur, public speaker, and C-level consultant who owns businesses in entertainment, lifestyle, tourism and publishing. He is an award-winning filmmaker, published author, member of the Directors Guild of America, International Food Travel Wine Authors Association, WSET Level 2 Wine student, WSET Level 2 Cocktail student, member of the LA Wine Writers. Email to: Joe@FlavRReport.comYou Might also like
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PirateFestLV 2024 March 23 – 24: Family Fun in Vegas at Craig Ranch Park to Benefit Paradise Ranch Foundation
PirateFestLV Announced for March 23 – 24 at Craig Ranch Park to Benefit Paradise Ranch Foundation
Pirates of the Caribbean Stars: Lee Arenberg, Kevin McNally, and Martin Klebba!
PirateFestLV 2024 anchors at March 23rd‐24th at scenic Craig Ranch Park. PirateFestLV is the largest Pirate and Fantasy Renaissance Festival in the West.
This family fun event includes premium Las Vegas live entertainment, exotic foods, unusual games of skill and intrigue, and three separate bars to serve well-known signature cocktails.
Proceeds from PirateFestLV benefit the Paradise Ranch Foundation a 501C(3).
PirateFestLV 2024 Tickets
Regular pricing for adults $20.00 each, children (ages 5 ‐ 11) Children 4 and under are free. Military, First Responders, and Teachers use the discount code “THANKYOU” for $5.00 off your total order (must show ID at the gate).
The amazing festival performances include Gladius the Show with beautiful, powerful Clydesdale horses and their aerobatic gladiators sworn to protect the Pirate Fest realms. The battle between light and darkness colliding at the Gladius Arena is an experience for the ages!
Amazing Day of Adventure at PirateFestLV 2024
At the Captain’s challenge the audience must choose a side as the pirate captains do battle with swords, musket fire, and swoon beautiful maidens. The audience will cheer the loudest for their favorite captain and see who will win the prestigious title of Pirate Lord.
As if that is not enough to get their blood going, customers can also watch the stomach-turning talents of Cydeshow Cy the Sword Swallower!
Kids and their families will enjoy following the free Treasure Map throughout the event to complete super fun tasks and activities such as, tie ship’s knots; walk the plank, swab the deck, hoist the sails, get a pirate name, even make an eye patch or a fairy wand! There are tons of photo opportunities for the whole family.
Complete the map, and at the final X receive a Letter of Marque, collect pirate booty and become an “Official Pirate of PirateFestLV.”
One of the biggest hits with the wee ones is the Kid’s Cove stage, see the Pirate Puppet Show, magic acts, and interactive storytelling. Las Vegas Family Puppet Theater Co.’s handmade puppets are works of art in their own right.
After the show, visit the magnificent Mermaid pod. You might even see the elusive and beautiful mermaids sunning on their mystical beach! Spend time with our Captains to learn about pirate history, ships, uniforms, and naval traditions.
At the food court, world-class Whiskey Tasting is returning this year where patrons can sample the finest Whiskeys and Rum while learning the finer points of high‐quality spirits.
New this year, customers can enjoy the upgraded Pirate experience with the VIP package including a private parking lot and exclusive seating area for the daytime Gladius shows.
Saturday night, guests will have access to the celebrity panel with the stars of Pirates of the Caribbean Lee Arenberg, Kevin McNally, and Martin Klebba! VIP ticket holders get priority seating to the celebrity panel.
Tickets available at: https://wl.seetickets.us/
event/Pirate-Fest-2024/579955? afflky=piratefest
For more information, visit www.piratefestlv.com.Paradise Ranch Foundation was founded in 2011 to provide mental health services to families in need.
They provide Horse Assisted Therapy (HAT) and Interactive Behavioral Therapy to all with a focus on children with autism and our veterans with Traumatic Brain injuries and PTSD. It is well known, and research has proven that interactions with animals reduce stress, lower heart rates, and positively affect mental health and emotional states.
When we include a horse in our therapeutic sessions, they become a participating member of the therapy process. The horse can “tune in” to emotional states and recognize when the way you feel should be reinforced or reduced and the horse reacts accordingly. HAT is beneficial for many health disorders from depression, anxiety,
OCD, suicidal thoughts or other behavioral problems. https://paradiseranchlv.com/paradise‐ranchfoundation.
SOURCE: VegasPublicity.com
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Vegas Loves Rum! Renowned premium rum brand Flor de Caña Rum honored with “Environmental Initiatives Award” at the 2024 SEAL Awards
Vegas Loves Rum! Renowned premium rum brand Flor de Caña Rum honored with “Environmental Initiatives Award” at the 2024 SEAL Awards
Flor de Caña, the renowned premium rum brand celebrated for its exceptional quality and unwavering commitment to sustainability, is proud to announce that it has been honored with the “Environmental Initiatives Award” from the prestigious SEAL Awards in the United States.
This recognition highlights Flor de Caña’s leadership in championing environmental stewardship and fostering a greener and more sustainable future.
The SEAL Awards is a global, multi-industry platform that showcases trailblazing companies that demonstrate measurable contributions to sustainability and spearhead innovative initiatives with positive environmental impacts.
Flor de Caña’s carbon neutral certification, the planting of one million trees since 2005, and its use of 100% renewable energy to distill its rum have been pivotal in earning this esteemed accolade.
Flor de Caña is a fifth-generation, family-owned brand and the world’s first carbon neutral and Fair Trade certified spirit.
It has garnered international acclaim for its award-winning portfolio of premium rums from Nicaragua, aged naturally in bourbon barrels without the addition of sugar or artificial ingredients.
Notably, Flor de Caña’s 12 year-old, 18 year-old, and 25 year-old rums stand out for their distinctive flavor profiles and exceptionally smooth finish, exemplifying the brand’s commitment to excellence.
About Flor de Caña
Flor de Caña is a premium rum brand and the world’s first Carbon Neutral and Fair Trade certified spirit.From an 1890 family-owned estate, it’s distilled with 100% renewable energy and naturally aged at the base of an active volcano without sugar or artificial ingredients.
The brand is recognized as a global leader in sustainability, receiving distinctions such as “World’s Most Sustainable Rum Brand” (USA), “Ethical Award” (UK) and “Sustainable Spirits Producer” (France). www.flordecana.com
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Perfect Passover Wines for 2024, Revealed by Kosher Wine Expert
Perfect Passover wines for 2024, Revealed by Kosher Wine Expert for Passover 2024
Passover starts Monday April 22 at sundown and ends April 30th. But today’s conversation is about the flavors of Seder dinner.
Royal Wine and Kosher.com’s Jay Buchsbaum visits to talk about flavor, tradition, tastes for every family member and what’s exciting in the wine world for 2024.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. For the full, unedited conversation, visit our FlavRReport YouTube channel.
Joe Winger: Jay, welcome back. I appreciate that you’re returning. Last time was great and we learned alot.
Jay Buchsbaum: Thank you for having me. Wow. This is great. So getting invited back for a second date, that’s really cool.
Joe Winger: Passover is just around the corner and we want to talk about different over wines to enjoy during the celebration and some great wine pairings.
I wanted to start off with what might be one of the popular new bottles – Carmel Black Cabernet Sauvignon.
Jay Buchsbaum: It’s very hot and the reason it’s very hot is because people want something that’s rich and flavorful, especially the American palate, what we call the New World style.
Opulence, fruit forward, but they don’t want to spend a fortune like you’d have to from some fancy vineyard in Napa or from Judean Hills. When it comes to Israel or the Golan Heights, and this is one of those wines where they’ve put together this at the beginning of opulence, lots of fruit forwardness, 14 months in oak and about $25.
So it’s really one of those really wonderful wines. What I noticed, and they say they forgot to do it, but I noticed that it does not have an appellation specific, except for Israel. The reason I believe the winemaker did that – I don’t know for sure – he talks about it on the back [of the bottle] that they brought the grapes from some of the finest vineyards. He chose small amounts [of grapes] from the best vineyards from different places and put them all together, carefully crafting it so that it’s big and rich and flavorful and still under $30 bucks.
Joe Winger: That sounds amazing. What are some good food pairings that you’d recommend with it?
Jay Buchsbaum: A roast would be great. On the first and second night of Passover, we don’t officially roast anything because we don’t want people to think that it was a sacrificial lamb that was done in Egypt because we don’t have it today yet.
Until the reestablishment of the temple on the Temple Mount at some future time.
So people cook a roast in the oven, it’s not barbecued. That’s what they’re talking about from a historical, spiritual sense – but a delicious roast, maybe chicken marsala, where you have mushrooms and caramelized onions, you have a really rich flavor to go with that.
A lot of the Sephardic foods are like that too. We talked about traditional foods. Traditional foods from where? Sometimes it’s Eastern Europe, sometimes it’s Middle Eastern, and sometimes it’s Sephardic.
Lots of seders have a mix of all [cuisines] because you have melded families.
Joe Winger: Royal Wine currently has a wide roster of wine suggestions for Passover Something for every adult at the table, from Grandpa to 25 year old Grand-daughter and her boyfriend.
Jay Buchsbaum: That’s a great point. I’m going to give you the last one first only because I thought this was so much fun when I thought about it and I actually might do it.
Let’s say the boyfriend is coming over. He wants to bring you something and he doesn’t know what to get you because, he’s not that observant..
So I thought, why don’t you end the meal with something Sparkling. The Momentous Rosé. That might be fun. You go out with a pop, so to speak. There’s Vera Wang’s Prosecco Rose that’s also wonderful. Both around $20.
But if you want to go really high end, why not go with the Rothschild Brut Rosé from Champagne, which is magnificent. It’s 100% Pinot Noir, and about $100 a bottle.
So you have great diversity and accessible and quite delicious sparkling wines.
Grandpa, or if you have a real fine wine guy. You have beautiful wines from the Rothschild vineyards, the Haute Medoc. which is in the upper $30s, and then you even have Grand Cru’s LesCombes, Grand Cru Margaux as an example, and some amazing wines from the Herzog Winery in California like the Alexander Valley Herzog Reserve, or the Napa Valley Herzog Reserve.
We have a beautiful Lake County Reserve Cabernet from California. Big, opulent, delicious, mouth filling.
I start my Seder usually with a rosé. The reason for that is because you’re starting your Seder, having eaten nothing pretty much since the morning. So you’re on an empty stomach and the tradition is to finish at least the first glass. So I try to start with a rosé. It’s a little lighter, a little lower in alcohol, a little lighter in texture and, and I like to start with an Israeli wine first.
Joe Winger: Iis there a hidden gem as far as just high quality with amazing value?
Jay Buchsbaum: There’s a really wonderful wine from New Zealand.
It’s a white wine, not a red wine. It’s made by the Rothschild family, but it’s made in New Zealand, called Rimapere Sauvignon Blanc. Less than $30 for sure. Fresh, sweet lemons, but with enough acidity and structure, almost like a palette cleanser.
Joe Winger: Anything that you’re looking forward to in the next few months that wine lovers should be getting excited for?
Jay Buchsbaum: We were missing rosés from Israel for a whole year because of the sabbatical year. We skipped that vintage of roses, and so they’re back for the first time in 24 months for this Passover.
I love some of the new Italian wines. One of them to take a look at is Cantina Giuliano. it’s a boutique winery. They make 3,000 – 4,000 cases maximum. It’s run by a young couple and I just had them over at my house for Sabbath Shabbat. His wines blew people away.
I think the most exciting thing is our new winemaker and what our new winemakers is doing with our grapes. His selection and his final product over at the Herzog Wine Cellars. And that could be
Our new winemaker, his name is David Galzignato. He’s with us about three years and he has a background that is with some of the finest and smallest, medium sized boutiques.
He was going to be moving to France, going to go for his MW [masters of wine] and they asked him if he’d come and consider working with us and he did. He has been making literally blow your brains out wonderful wines so our Napa Cabernet, our Alexander Valley Cabernet are just up and down the line, the wines, especially the reds are just rich and opulent.
He got Joseph Herzog to buy a visual sorter, they range in cost between a $100,000 – 1 million dollar machine.
What they do is when the grapes come in [during harvest] and there’s something called sorting tables.
Done by hand [vineyard workers literally sorting through the harvested grape bunches, looking for] damaged or a little beat up or whatever, and they only allow the perfect grapes to go through.
This visual sorter does this electronically by computer, so nothing is missed, zero. As a result, the grape quality is much higher
Famously said in The New Yorker Years ago, “There’s only three things that matter in good winemaking. Good grapes. Good grapes. Good grapes.”
So, the fruit that we get and the fruit that we end up making wine out of is literally the most important thing.
By using these kinds of methods, which are not inexpensive. But the quality is through the roof. We’re looking to make a 100 point wine one of these days and I think it might we might get close this year.
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