At RCC’s I often lament the fact that we have excellent food and excellent wines, but it is logistically impossible to actually pair the two properly in advance. Sometimes it works out by chance, often times, the two pieces of the puzzle are enjoyed separately. Every once in a while, when planning a dinner at home, I can get some sort of synergy. In the non-kosher world, restaurants justify the cost of their wine-programs by having wines that are available to the diner for any dish the chef might prepare and having a sommelier on staff to help guide the diners – with the sommeliers knowing well the flavors of both the food and wines involved (at least in theory). In the kosher wine world, none of that exists. Even in the upscale restaurants of which there are more and more, at best they might have a wine list that is not embarrassing – but no thought will have been given in how it complements the menu. That’s a shame, and it’s something I hope will change in the future.

But, last month I got an email about a Covenant Israel Wine Club event that took place this past Tuesday night.  Covenant founders Jodi & Jeff Morgan joined their daughter Zoe and their new partner Geoff Rochwarger here in Israel to host a wonderful dinner at the Herbert Samuel Restaurant, located at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Herzliya. Now this was interesting. Here you have a restaurant that I consider to be in the top two in the country, providing a kosher fine dining experience, and you have a winery that understands food and the importance of pairing food and wine – the Morgans have written a number of cookbooks, the most interesting to readers here will be The Covenant Kitchen.

I was not disappointed – and my bar is pretty high. First – Chef Mor Cohen tailored a menu and constructed almost all dishes specifically for this dinner (only one of the plates we had was off of the restaurants standard menu). Thought was given on how each dish as a whole would complement the flavors of the wine and vice versa. The gold standard – and it worked beautifully. But even more impressive – while the proteins were all cooked nicely, the vegetables WERE SICK. I so rarely rave about vegetables. Once in a while I guess a specific preparation or component is worth noting. But Chef Cohen is a genius. He elevated vegetables to the point that they stole the show from top shelf proteins such as duck breast, prime rib, and lamb chops. Absolutely crazy.

As far as the wines go, Covenant put out some absolutely great wines – both current and out of their library. Here is a recap of the courses and the wines paired with them.