NEW YORK (JTA) — Shmurah matzah prices in the New York area are up slightly this Passover, but with kosher wine there’s seemingly no limit.
Regular Passover matzah was going for $3 to $4 a pound, but shmurah matzah, geared to the fervently Orthodox, retails for six or seven times that price.
Called "shmurah," or "watched," because the wheat is under strict supervision from the time of harvest, it is more expensive because of the added supervision and small-scale production.
This year, Kosher Today reports that Brooklyn bakeries producing shmurah matzah are increasing prices by only 50 cents to a dollar per pound in deference to consumers’ hard-hit wallets.
The least expensive, at $18.50 per pound, comes from D & T Shmura Bakery in Crown Heights. The priciest, a "heimieshe mayleh" variety made by the Satmar Shmura Hand-Matzoh Bakery in Williamsburg, goes for $23 per pound. Shmurah matzah is also available on-line from Gefen and Rokeach, at $19.99 per pound, and from matzahonline.com beginning at $19.50 per pound.
Meanwhile, Herzog Wine Cellar’s just-released Generation VIII 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon from the To Kalon vineyard retails for $200 a bottle, setting a new record for kosher wine.
Gary Wartels, owner of Skyview Wine and Spirits in Riverdale, N.Y., who has a couple bottles left at $179.95 each, told JTA that "even at that price, it’s been very popular."
