In 2020, the sale of alcoholic beverages at bars and restaurants, normally a crucial part of producers’ revenue, cratered because of the coronavirus—and kosher wine was no exception. Yet kosher wineries have for the most part survived. Joshua London explains how:
Of course, wine—like most agricultural products—is largely a multiyear, long-term endeavor, allowing for a certain resiliency to temporary shocks. As Rabbi Nachum Rabinowitz, senior rabbinic coordinator and wine expert for the Orthodox Union, put it: “The wine industry requires long-term planning, and projection—and some would say, given the uncertainties natural to agriculture, and the often fickle nature of consumer tastes, it’s more like guesswork or betting—but regardless it requires some longer-term thinking. So, while everything was disrupted in 2020, kosher wine production and sales did not stop.”
Losing out [during the spring of 2020] were smaller or newer brands, the sorts of wines that usually require a bit of effort, storytelling, and substantive engagement with the customer, often aided by in-store tastings. Premium brands stagnated completely. Then “by mid-summer,” [the owner of a New Jersey kosher wine shop] noted, “folks finally began shifting back to something closer to what we were used to” in their consumer buying practices, including a return to sales of premium-priced wines.
In Israel, meanwhile, there has been a major shift in the way wine is consumed:
[According to] Adam S. Montefiore, an Israeli wine-industry consultant and prolific wine writer, . . . “Israelis have learned to drink at home, to have wine as part of their home routine—understanding that it’s OK to drink wine at home and share it with their family. That’s a big change. Probably the single most positive trend, and one that is likely to stay.”
Read more on NJ Jewish Link: https://jewishlink.news/food/42630-how-kosher-wine-survived-2020