A friend of mine recently asked me to write or cobble together a quick and concise piece on what makes a wine Kosher? Having written about kosher wine and food on my blog, one would think that it should be pretty easy. Truth be told, I have wanted to write this article for some time and have always stopped myself for one reason or the other. However, all those reasons receded into a pitch-black corner of my mind when a colleague of mine at work asked me the very same question that hundreds before him have asked, and the topic for today’s subject matter; namely, what makes a wine Kosher? In hindsight this article is being written purely for self-preservation. You see, if I have to hear another person ask me that question, I may well hang myself – so here is my best attempt to quench the thirst of all who crave to understand the insanity of the kosher wine world.
A quick heads up, I am an Orthodox Sabbath observant Jew, who is also an oenophile and a wannabe foodie, who consumes solely kosher wine and has never tasted from the forbidden fruit (or its juice). Now that we have dispensed with the formalities and introductions, let’s get down to business. The answer is capable of being dispensed in a single sentence. Kosher wine is wine that has been produced, handled, and supervised from the beginning by Orthodox Sabbath Observant Jews and contains only kosher ingredients – PERIOD! For a wine to be certified as kosher by anyone of the kosher supervisory agencies, the individual who handles the wine has to be Jewish and observant. The level of observance that is required by the kosher certifying agencies includes; keeping kosher, observance of the Sabbath, etc.
So yes, the famous Château Lafite Rothschild or the famous Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC) could be manufactured in a kosher manner, but it is just not in the cards for a multitude of reasons, many of which we will get to in the post. Finally, if anyone screams out – what about mevushal – I will personally drop kick him or her! Seriously guys, wine does not need to be boiled to make it Kosher – again PERIOD! Please stay tuned for more on the fascinating topic of mevushal.
There you go, sweet and simple, please drive home safely, and thanks for attending the lecture. What is that you say? You need another 500+ words more to make this a worthy post, OOPS! My bad please come and hang on to your seats, because this is about to become very long AND bumpy! Funny thing though, is that the rule from above will never change, it will just grow to encompass more and more facts than you can ever imagine, but heck you asked for it 🙂
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