Sukkos and Simchas Torah 5787: What to Buy Before the Shop Shuts

The second half of Tishrei is the part people underestimate. Rosh Hashanah gets the planning; Sukkos and Simchas Torah get whatever is left in the house. This year that does not work, because both of them land against Shabbos the same way Rosh Hashanah did, and both of them shut the shop for three days straight.

Here is the whole second half, and what to have on the table for it.

The two closures, in dates

• Erev Sukkos is Friday 25 September. Candle lighting in Crown Heights is 6:29pm, so we close at about 5:55pm. Sukkos day one is Shabbos 26 September, day two is Sunday 27 September, ending 7:25pm. We reopen Monday 28 September at 10am.
• Chol Hamoed is Monday 28 September through Thursday 1 October. Regular hours the whole way, including Thursday until 10pm.
• Erev Shemini Atzeres is Friday 2 October. Candle lighting 6:18pm, so we close at about 5:45pm. Shemini Atzeres is Shabbos 3 October, Simchas Torah is Sunday 4 October, ending 7:13pm. We reopen Monday 5 October at 10am.

Two three-day stretches, ten festive meals between them, and a week of guests in the middle. Every closure and every deadline for the whole month is written out on one page: Tishrei 5787 hours and last-chance dates.

Sukkos wine is outdoor wine

This is the one Yom Tov of the year eaten outside, at night, in Brooklyn, in late September. That changes what works. A big tannic red that was perfect against brisket in a warm dining room reads as heavy and cold in a sukkah at nine at night, and a white that has been sitting in the sukkah for an hour is already at the temperature you wanted it at.

The bottles that do well out there are the ones that hold up at whatever temperature they end up at.

• Yarden Sauvignon Blanc and Tabor Adama Sauvignon Blanc, both Israeli, both a straightforward yes at a table where half the people are not thinking about the wine.
• Baron Herzog Sauvignon Blanc, the everyday one, easy to buy six of.
• Gamla Chardonnay if the table wants something rounder than a Sauvignon Blanc.
• Ramon Cardova Rioja, a red that does not need a warm room to make sense.

The full white wine shelf and the Israeli shelf are the two to browse for this.

The thing nobody thinks about until they are outside: glass

A sukkah floor is not a dining room floor. If there are children at the table, or the sukkah is on a deck, or the wind picks up on the second night, cans solve a problem that a nice bottle creates. Bartenura Moscato in cans is the same blue-bottle Moscato in a four pack, and the rest of the cans shelf covers wine and mixed drinks the same way.

Chol Hamoed is a week of people dropping in

Four days of Chol Hamoed, everybody visiting everybody, and the question is never which bottle, it is whether there is one. This is the week the case earns itself. Twelve wines in the cart takes ten percent off automatically, the bottles do not have to match, and it means the sukkah is stocked for the week instead of for tonight.

If you would rather not pick twelve, the mixed cases are already built: a dry case and a sweet case, both twelve bottles.

Keep something sweet in the mix for the people who only drink at the toast: Bartenura Moscato, Bartenura Malvasia di Casorzo, or Rashi Light Red Concord. The whole Moscato shelf is here.

Simchas Torah is the whiskey day

Nothing else in the year moves whiskey the way this one does. Hakafos, a kiddush that runs long, and a bottle that gets passed around a shul rather than poured at a table. It is also the day people bring something to somebody else's house, which makes it the gift day too.

What we would put on a shul table:

• Glenmorangie Original 10 Year or The Singleton 12 Year, the two that please a wide room without anyone having to know anything.
• Glengoyne 10 Year, a step up that still empties.
• Bourbon Rabbi Kentucky Straight Bourbon, which needs no introduction in this neighbourhood.
• Widow Jane 10 Year for the bourbon table.

And for handing to a host:

• Oban 14 Year or Tomintoul 14 Year.
• M&H Elements Sherry Cask, an Israeli single malt, which lands differently as a gift than another Speyside.
• Angel's Envy, or Blanton's Single Barrel when it is a serious thank you.

The whole single malt and bourbon shelves are worth a scroll, and the wider whiskey and scotch range sits behind them.

If a caterer or a hired waiter is pouring

Sukkos is a common week for a sheva brachos, a bar mitzvah kiddush or a sponsored meal in a shul sukkah. If anyone who is not shomer Shabbos will be handling the bottles, the wine has to be mevushal. There is a plain explanation of what that means and when it applies if you are not sure.

How much

The number we give at the counter is one bottle for every three to four adults, per meal. Sukkos and Simchas Torah are five festive meals each, on top of a week of Chol Hamoed guests. A table of eight across both stretches is comfortably two cases, and the second day of each is where people run out, not the first.

When to buy it, and how it gets to you

Thursday 24 September and Thursday 1 October we are open until 10pm, and those are the two calm evenings in the whole stretch. Friday morning before a three-day Yom Tov is the busiest few hours we have all year.

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 usually ready within the hour. On Erev Yom Tov, order in the morning rather than the afternoon. Outside New York City, our sister shop Kosher Wine Direct ships nationwide.

The Tishrei sale runs through the month: spirits marked down by the bottle, wines by the case.

Chag sameach.

Candle lighting times are for zip 11225 at eighteen minutes. Confirm against your own shul's calendar.