What to Buy for Rosh Hashanah 5787: A Crown Heights Wine Guide
Rosh Hashanah 5787 starts Friday evening, 11 September 2026, and runs straight into Shabbos. Day one is Shabbos 12 September, day two is Sunday 13 September. Three days, five festive meals, and no shop open in the middle of it.
That is the whole planning problem this year. Everything below is written for it.
How much to actually buy
The number we give at the counter is one bottle for every three to four adults, per meal. Five meals, a table of eight, and you are at nine or ten bottles before anyone opens a second one. Most people buy for the first night, run thin by the second day lunch, and there is nowhere to go.
Buying a case at a time is how most of our regulars handle Yom Tov, and it means the second day is somebody else's problem. Our mixed cases are already put together if you would rather not pick twelve bottles yourself, including a sweet wine case and a dry wine case.
Mevushal, and when it matters
Mevushal wine has been heat treated, which means it stays kosher even when it is poured or handled by someone who is not shomer Shabbos. If you have a wide table, a caterer, or a helper serving, mevushal takes the question off the table entirely. If it is family only and you are pouring yourself, it does not come up.
It is worth knowing which of your bottles are which before the meal, not during it. Our mevushal selection runs from everyday reds to serious Israeli bottles, so choosing mevushal is not a step down anymore.
Sweet, for the simanim and the first night
The apple and honey table wants something sweet next to it, and this is the one night of the year where sweet wine is not a guilty pleasure but the point.
- Bartenura Moscato, the blue bottle. It is on more Rosh Hashanah tables in this neighborhood than anything else, and there is a reason.
- Bartenura Asti if you want the sweetness with bubbles.
- Baron Herzog Jeunesse Black Muscat, sweet and red, good with honey cake.
- Bartenura Malvasia di Casorzo, a sweet sparkling red, the one guests ask about.
- Carmel Selected Moscato from Israel.
The full moscato shelf has more.
Sparkling, for kiddush
A dry sparkling bottle for the first kiddush reads as an occasion in a way a still wine does not. Bartenura Prosecco Brut or Herzog Selection Rosé Brut. Both are dry, so keep a sweet bottle nearby for the people who were expecting sweet.
Dry reds, for the meat
By the second meal everyone wants something with structure. Israeli reds do the job and they suit the day.
- Psagot Sinai, a blend that is easy to like across a whole table.
- Recanati Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, David's Vineyard.
- Yatir Petit Verdot, for the person at the table who reads labels.
- Herzog Lineage Cabernet Sauvignon, a Californian cabernet that holds up against brisket.
Browse the whole Israeli shelf or all our red wine.
Dessert, if you are going the distance
Late harvest wine after the meal is the small move that makes a Yom Tov table feel finished. Herzog Late Harvest Orange Muscat or Herzog Late Harvest Chenin Blanc. A half bottle goes around a table of ten.
Whiskey, for kiddush and for gifts
A bottle of single malt is the standard host gift here, and the standard kiddush club contribution. Our whiskey and scotch range covers both ends of that, and the single malts are the shelf to look at if it is a gift.
When to buy it
We close Friday 11 September at about 6:20pm, thirty minutes before candle lighting at 6:53pm, and we do not open again until Monday 14 September at 10am. Thursday 10 September we are open until 10pm, and that is the calm way to do this.
The rest of Tishrei stacks the same way twice more, before Sukkos and before Simchas Torah. We wrote every closure and every deadline down on one page: Tishrei 5787 hours and last-chance dates, and there is a separate guide to what to buy for Sukkos and Simchas Torah.
Getting it home
Delivery is five dollars flat anywhere in Crown Heights with no minimum, ten dollars anywhere else in Brooklyn, twenty dollars to Manhattan or Queens. Pickup at 511 Empire Blvd is free and normally ready within the hour. On Erev Yom Tov, put the order in during the morning. Outside New York City, our sister shop Kosher Wine Direct ships nationwide.
Most of what is named here is in the Tishrei sale running through the month: spirits marked down by the bottle, wines by the case.
Shana tova.