Passover begins at sundown on Wednesday. Jewish families will observe the holiday with the traditional Seder on the first and second night. A big part of the tradition is the kosher for Passover, wine or grape juice.
News 12 New Jersey went behind the scenes at the Royal Wine Corporation in Bayonne where much of that traditional beverage is processed in New Jersey. Jay Buchsbaum, an executive Vice President at Royal Wine Corporation, explained the Passover tradition.
“It's a celebration of Freedom and great wine, great food. Who doesn't want that? No matter what or where you're coming from,” Buchsbaum said. “The rule is that everyone sitting at the seder table must have four cups of wine. Man, woman and child."
But what happens if it's a child or if it's somebody who doesn't drink? The answer is grape juice. And most likely the juice is Kedem that is produced in Bayonne. The wine was likely distributed from Bayonne as well. Everything is Kosher.
“The rule of thumb is that from the crushing of the grapes until the bottle is sealed the wine has to be handed by an observant Jewish person,” Buchsbaum explained.
The winemaking by the Herzog family goes back eight generations to its start in Czechoslovakia.
“During the Holocaust, their own workers hid them, which was really wonderful. I get the chills just talking about it,” Buchsbaum said.
In 1948, the family started the company back up in New York and eventually moved to New Jersey. Every year since, business has been growing and bringing families together with every sip of wine and grape juice.
Kedem produces 2 million cases and is the second largest grape juice in the U.S. behind Welch's. Royal Wine Corporation makes wines for celebrities like Vera Wang and Mariah Carey.