Kedem Winery is a

kosher (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...

food and beverage manufacturing and distribution company, incorporated in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

since 1958. Royal Wine Corporation was incorporated in June 1948 and run by the Herzog family since 1958. Kedem currently sells over a million cases of

kosher wine Kosher wine () is wine that is produced in accordance with ''halakha'', and more specifically '' kashrut'', such that Jews will be permitted to pronounce blessings over and drink it. This is an important issue, since wine is used in several Jew ...

and

grape juice Grape juice is obtained from crushing and blending grapes into a liquid. In the wine industry, grape juice that contains 7–23 percent of pulp, skins, stems and seeds is often referred to as ''must''. The sugars in grape juice allow it to be u ...

annually, in sixteen countries worldwide. Formerly headquartered in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, it is now based in

Bayonne, New Jersey Bayonne ( ) is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is situated on a peninsula located between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill Van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east. As of ...

. Vineyards for wine and grape juice are based in

Marlboro, New York Marlboro is a hamlet (and census-designated place) in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 3,669 at the 2010 census. Marlboro is in the southeastern part of the town of Marlborough, located in the southeastern corner of the c ...

. It is especially known for its grape juice and NY state wines, as well as Kedem Tea Biscuits.

History

The Herzog family first operated a

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. The winery was the exclusive wine supplier to Emperor

Franz Joseph I of Austria Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the Grand title of the Emperor of Austria, other states of the Habsburg m ...

, who granted Philip Herzog (1843-1918) the title of

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

. Though the wines for the emperor were not necessarily kosher wines, all of the other wines were produced under the full scrutiny of kosher law. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the Herzog winery was seized by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

. The Herzogs, who stayed in hiding, immigrated to the United States after the

1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état In late February 1948, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, with Soviet backing, assumed undisputed control over the government of Czechoslovakia. It marked the onset of four decades of the party's rule in the country., sk, Február 1948) or ...

. Living in

, Eugene Herzog—Philip's grandson—began working for the Royal Wine Corporation and part of his salary was paid in company shares. By 1958, he was a majority stockholder and purchased the company and started doing business under the name Kedem. The current CEO of Royal Wine Corporation is Mordechai Herzog. Kedem wines are part of the Royal Wine Corporation, the largest importer of

Israeli wine Israeli wine is produced by hundreds of wineries, ranging in size from small boutique enterprises to large companies producing over ten million bottles per year. Wine has been produced in the Land of Israel since biblical times. Wine was exporte ...

s and spirits in the US., which is in turn owned by KayCo, the largest Kosher food distributor.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Kedem Winery Official Website
Wineries in New Jersey Companies based in Hudson County, New Jersey Bayonne, New Jersey Drink companies of the United States Kosher wine