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Motty Herzog
the herzog winery in oxnard
california is world renowned
as one of the finest and most
prestigious producers of
kosher wine worldwide.
kesher caught up with motti
herzog, the vice president and
proprietor of the winery, to hear
from him the stories behind the
award winning winery.
Can you give us a brief history
of the story behind the
Herzog Family wine-making?
Our family has been making wine for
generations. In the the early 19th century,
Rabbi Menachem Herzog created the family’s
first winery in the town of Vrbové in Slovakia.
Over the years, the success of the winery grew,
and its prestige spread far and wide across the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. Emperor Frans-Jo-
sef was so impressed with the Herzog wines,
that he named Philip Herzog a baron and
asked the Herzog family to produce wine for
the royal court.
After the war, the family had to build up
from start, and established the Kedem Win-
ery. They made wines using what was available
in New York: the American Concord Grape –
a grape that if not sweetened produces very
bitter wine. The Herzog family used grape
juice to sweeten the wine, giving rise not only
to the American kosher wine industry, but
also the invention of kosher grape juice in
the United States. Kedem grape juice still is
the top-selling kosher product in the United
States!
So when did the family begin
looking into opening the winery
in California?
It had always been a longtime dream for
the family, to produce premium Kosher
wines in California. In the 1980s during
the peak of the California wine revolu-
tion, we finally realized our dream and
started the ‘Baron Herzog’ wine label.
Baron Herzog became “the wandering
winery”, beginning in Napa Valley then
moving to south of San Francisco be-
fore finally building our state-of-the-art
winery in Ventura County, California.
Today, hundreds of thousands of cases
are bottled annually in our winery, and
shipped out all over the world.
How many grape varieties
does the winery use?
I would say about 30. But each variety has
in itself much variation and diversity, depend-
ing on the region the grapes are sourced and
harvested from.
What is your most popular
wine variety?
Our best selling wine is the Cabernet
Sauvignon. It is the most popular wine variety
in the world.
How do you kasher the winery
for Pesach?
Our winery is Kosher L’Pesach all year
round! Much effort is put into maintaining
that nothing chametzdik ever comes into
contact with the wine. Even our wine barrels
which are manufactured in Italy, are made
specially Kosher L’Pesach for us, under the
supervision of our Mashgichim. Since most
barrels use a glue that is made of flour and wa-
ter (Chametz!), we need to produce a unique
barrel using a synthetic glue instead.
On a personal note, what is
your preferred wines for the
Leil Haseder?
Great question! So I like to use a different
wine for each kos. For the first kos, I start with
a Lineage Rosè; it’s a great wine on an empty
stomach, cool, light, and refreshing. For the
next kos I’ll go with a Pinot Noir, also a wine
on the lighter side. Once we’ve eaten the meal,
it’s time for a Cabernet Sauvignon. For the
third kos I use Alexander Valley Cabernet Sau-
vignon, and for the fourth I go with a Chalk
Hill Cabernet Sauvignon.
Amazing!
Thank you so much for sharing
with us and a kosher’n freilach’n
Pesach!