KOSHER WINE
Kosher Wine
When I said to Nick that I was planning to review a kosher wine, the reaction was predictable. “Not that sweet, syrupy stuff!” he said.
This is a typical view of kosher wine, and although it was once justified, modern kosher wines are as good as any other.
The oldest kosher winery in America, Schapiro’s, had the motto ‘Wine so thick, you can cut it with a knife’. Hardly a selling line – but in those days the only grape available was so acidic that huge amounts of sugar had to be added just to make the wine drinkable.
Kosher is a Yiddish term derived from the Hebrew for fit or proper. All wine produced to conform must be made in equipment which is rigorously cleaned and used solely for kosher wine; yeast and fining agents must be certified kosher, and the grapes and the wine must be handled by Sabbath-observing Jews throughout.
During the Passover meal, the Seder, each guest is served four glasses of wine, representing respectively sanctification, deliverance, redemption and release. At Purim, another religious festival, unlimited wine is drunk and enjoyed. Clearly all wine must be kosher, although some kosher wines are also mevushal, signifying that they have been flash-heated, and these can be handled and served by non-Jews while still retaining their kosher status.
Although a wide variety of kosher wines are now made in the USA, such as Russian River Chardonnay and Monterey Chenin Blanc (Baron Herzog is the leading brand) the rest of the world outside Israel is slowly catching on. There is a Merlot from Chile and a Chianti from Italy, but that’s about it. So it was particularly interesting to try Spain’s first kosher wine, Peraj-Ha’abib, from Celler de CapÇanes in Tarragona.
Made under the supervision of the Chief Rabbi of Barcelona, the grapes are 40% cabernet sauvignon, 30% garnacha, 15% cariñena and 15% tempranillo. The current vintage is 1998, which has been aged for 13 months in oak barrels. This is really a very good wine indeed, and regardless of whether it is kosher or not, deserves to be recognised as such. I would certainly be happy to drink it regularly, although it is difficult to judge what sort of ageing capacity it has.
