Kosher wine making a splash in London

Posted by winesleuth in All | 1 comment

If someone had offered me kosher wine not too long ago I would have politely passed. To me, kosher wine meant sickly sweet and more akin to grape juice then wine.

However, after the recent Kosher Food and Wine Experience I attended here in Central London, I have a definitely changed my tune. Kosher wine is technically ‘grape wine produced according to Judaism’s religious law, specifically, Jewish dietary laws (kashrut).’ I think for many years quality was not thought to be a necessary component of the finished product but that is quickly changing in the kosher wine scene.

Many of the winemakers are from the New World or the wineries have connections with traditional wineries in wine regions around the world. That influence can be found in the increasing quality of the wine. Just because it’s a kosher wine, doesn’t mean that quality has to be sacrificed. In order to be kosher, the winemaker has to be a sabbath observing Jew and the production has to be overseen under strict rabbinical supervision.

There were wineries from all over the world at the tasting. I thought that all kosher wine came from Israel but silly me, there are Jewish people all over the world so it stands to reason that there would be kosher wine from many different wine growing regions. Italy, France, Argentina, Spain, the US, New Zealand and even Poland were all represented at the tasting.

I was very surprised at the quality of the wines.  As Joseph Herzog of California winery, Herzog Wine Cellars said, just because it’s kosher doesn’t mean it’s not a quality wine. As well as Herzog some of the other standouts included; Israeli wineries, Flam, Montefiore, Tulip and Lueria, Italian producer Bartenura and Argentine producer Flecha de los Andes.

Definitely an eye opening tasting and if I need to pick up a kosher wine for Jewish friends in the future, I know that I can feel confident giving them a kosher wine they’ll enjoy.