Adhering to Kashrut is essential to all orthodox Jews and secular Jews too, will only buy kosher wines for Passover or Kiddush on Friday nights. However the regulations for wine differ from those of food. Whereas the Kashrut of food depends on the source from which it came, the Kashrut of wine depends on who handles it.

For wine to be certified as kosher, the following regulations need to be followed at the winery.

 1. Only religious Jews may handle the product and touch the winemaking equipment from the time the grapes arrive at the winery. The definition of a religious Jew for this purpose is one who is Shomer Shabbat – who observes the Sabbath. Therefore a Jewish winemaker who is not orthodox is not allowed to draw samples from the barrels. It can be frustrating for a hands-on winemaker, but though it is a nuisance, it does not affect quality.

2. Only kosher items or substances may be used in the process. Yeasts, fining & cleaning materials have to be certified as kosher and must not be derived from animal by-products. An example of fining agents not permitted includes gelatin (animal derivative), casein (diary derivative) and isinglass (because it comes from a non kosher fish.)

Kosher certification therefore does guarantee a significant degree of control as to what may be added to wine. Kosher wine is perfectly suitable for vegetarians – and if egg white is not used for fining, for vegans too!

Kosher wines produced in France & California, only have to observe these two criteria. In Israel – Eretz Ha’ Kodesh (The Holy Land), kosher wine producers also have to observe the following agricultural laws which date back to the agrarian society in Biblical times:

A. Orlah. For the first three years, fruit from the vine may not be used for winemaking. The flower buds are removed to prevent fruit formation. In the fourth year the vine can bear fruity and a winemaker is permitted to use the grapes.

Interestingly most wine growers will anyway choose not to use fruit for the first few years for quality reasons.

B. Schmittah – Sabbatical Year. There is a law recorded in the Bible which states that every seventh year, the fields should be left fallow and allowed to rest. However because of economic realities, a special dispensation is given to relieve farmers of this requirement and the land is symbolically sold to a non Jew for the duration of the seventh year. The idea of resting the land or introducing a nitrogen cycle is a common practice in today’s agriculture.

C. Kilai Ha’Kerem – Cross breeding. Growing other fruits between the vines is prohibited.  This was something done in domestic vineyards in Spain & Italy in the past – but anyone interested in quality has abandoned this practice.

D. Terumot & Ma’aserot. This is a symbolic ceremony when over one percent of the production is poured away in remembrance of the ten per cent tithe once paid to the Temple in Jerusalem.

Notice there are no regulations affecting the quality of the wine and standard winemaking procedures are followed in the fermentation, maturation, blending and bottling.

To Orthodox religious Jews, much depends on the strictness of rabbinical supervision and the reputation of the presiding Rabbi will in itself encourage a certain following.  Furthermore, the different Jewish communities in the Diaspora will also have their own standards of observance.  However, there are only three basic categories of kosher wine which are as follows:

Kosher Permissible for Jews who observe the Jewish Dietary Laws.  There will normally be a small symbol on the back label to denote the wines’ production under rabbinical supervision.

Kosher for Passover: Wine that has not come into contact with bread, grain or products made with leavened dough.  Most kosher wines are also “Kosher for Passover”.

Kosher le Mehadrin: Wine for which the rules of Kashrut have been stringently approved. 

In addition there is:

Yayin Mevushal: The requirement relates to wine handling and service, but is only relevant to observant orthodox Jews or kosher catering companies.  Mevushal wines must be pasteurized to one hundred and eight-five degrees Fahrenheit or eighty degrees Centigrade. This allows a non-observant waiter to serve the wine to a strictly religious person.  In the days of the Holy Temple, boiling a wine made it unfit to be brought to the altar. Therefore Yayin Mevushal (cooked wine) is not included in the prohibition against being handled by non-Jews and may be poured by anyone without losing its standard as kosher. However the wine does not have to be literally boiled and flash pasteurization is used to limit any negative effect on quality. It should be noted though, that the practice of flash pasteurization is not unknown in the non-Jewish wine world. Louis Latour flash pasteurizes their wines. Peter Stern of Herzog Cellars believes the process can even be beneficial releasing flavor compounds if done correctly.

Customs vary amongst kosher wineries. For instance, the inexpensive and medium priced wines of Carmel Winery and Herzog Cellars are Yayin Mevushal, whilst some of their premier labels are 100 % kosher but not mevushal. All the wines from the Golan Heights Winery and Domaine de Castel are not mevushal.

Quality Kosher Wines 

 To the Jewish world, kosher wines are a necessity, and there is no technical reason why a kosher table wine should automatically be considered inferior to a non-kosher one.

Once a kosher wine was always sweet. Those two giants of the kosher wine-world, Carmel Winery and New York’s Royal Wine, were prime influences in persuading the kosher consumer to appreciate dry table wine both for religious purposes and for pleasure. Carmel is the largest kosher wine producer in the world and Royal is the most international kosher wine producer & distributor, making kosher wine in all the main winemaking countries. At the same time smaller, progressive wineries like the Golan Heights Winery in Israel and Hagefen and Herzog Cellars from California, have proved that it is possible to make truly world-class kosher wines. Herzog wines have over five times scored well over 90 points in the Wine Spectator and Yarden wines have won Trophies at Vinexpo no less than five times. These are the performance of world class wineries – never mind the fact that their wines happen to be kosher.

In Israel, not all wineries are kosher. There is often an economic reason why a winery becomes kosher. Often boutique wineries do not need to be in order to sell all of their production. However wineries nearing production of 100,000 bottles seem to suddenly to be interested in becoming kosher. The best examples of this are Castel – ranked by Hugh Johnson as Israel’s finest winery, and Tzora who have both effortlessly become kosher with no detrimental effect on quality.

The word kosher means pure. The word should not imply a lack of quality. The wine industry’s mission is to make the best wines possible that happen to be kosher.

Kiddush Wines 

It is the ‘Kiddush’ or sacramental wine has given kosher wines a bad reputation.  Often tasting like sugared water, the importance to the consumer has always tended to be price and religious certification rather than quality. These wines are usually made from a mixture of must and wine, a mistelle, and often from Labrusca varieties.

The American market is dominated by Manischevitz and Kedem, whose names are synonymous with Kiddush wine. Carmel dominates the Israeli & European Kiddush market.

Historically, the most famous brand name is ‘Palwin’ – their numbered wines still being sold in Britain by Carmel. These date back to the time when it was easier for new immigrants to ask for a number than a wine by name. The name came from ‘Palestine Wine Co.’ which was the U.K. company founded by Carmel in 1897.

The Carmel King David range of Kiddush and sacramental wines are the most commonly exported, being found in most Jewish communities around the world.  Efrat’s ‘Massoret’, Eliaz ‘Caesarea’ & Hacormim’s Conditon are other names that may be found overseas.  All wines of this type will only be found in outlets specializing in the religious Jewish market.     

Brandy & Grape Juice

The vine is so important in Jewish law that all grape products require a special kosher certificate. This sets brandies & grape juice apart from other alcoholic beverages or soft drinks.

Carmel & Tishbi brandies have won the very top prizes possible in the I.W.S.C. in London (‘Trophy for Best Brandy Worldwide.’) Carmel’s orange brandy liqueur, has won a gold medal at the I.W.S.C. too. These products are kosher because of the base product, but the Kashrut clearly has no effect on quality because they succeeded in international competition.

Carmel’s Tirosh Grape Juice in both Muscat & Rose styles is one of the biggest beverage brands in Israel – many religious people will make the Kiddush blessing over grape juice as though it was a wine. Efrat, Arza, Ha’Cormim & Zion wineries also produce grape juice for the orthodox & ultra-orthodox market. Grape juice is not wine but it still has to be kosher.

Carmel produces wine vinegar and imports balsamic vinegar authentically aged in Modena from its own base product. Even this needs the kosher certification because they are produced from grapes.

SUMMARY

Someone who is Jewish is perfectly entitled to drink a Kiddush wine. It will be sweet, nostalgic and all the family will be familiar with it. A Christian looking for an altar wine from the Holy Land may also prefer a sacramental wine.

However there is nothing written that a wine cannot be a drinkable table wine. Israeli wine represents for the religious Jew the biggest and best quality range of kosher wines in the world. For the rest of the world, Israeli wines represent high quality, from an exotic region in the Eastern Mediterranean, and it is of secondary importance if the wine is kosher or not. The objective for wineries producing kosher wines remains‘to make the best possible wines…. that just happen also to be kosher!’