Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Jewish law produces proper kosher wines for Rosh Hashana
Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, is one of the high holy days of the Jewish calendar. From sunset on Friday until nightfall on Sunday, Jewish families will gather for a traditional holiday meal to include apples dipped in honey and a round loaf of challah bread sweetened with raisins, in the belief that sweet foods will bring a sweet new year.
As with all Jewish holidays, wine is an integral part of the sacred celebration. For Jews who observe the holidays, this means kosher wine.
What makes a wine kosher? Not long ago, based on ignorance and a long-ago taste of Mogen David's finest, I would have guessed a kosher wine was concord grape juice concentrate with too much sugar, which had been blessed by a rabbi. I now know differently.
According to "The Oxford Companion to Wine" (2nd edition, page 388), the kosher laws are:
No wine may be produced from a vine until its fourth year.
The vineyard, if within biblical lands, must be left fallow every seven years.
Only vines may be grown in vineyards; no other fruits or vegetables are allowed.
There must be a symbolic ceremony in which just over 1 percent of the production is poured away in remembrance of the tithe set aside for Levites and priests in the days of the Jerusalem Temple.
From arrival at the winery, the grapes and resulting wine may only be handled by strictly Sabbath-observing Jews and only 100 percent kosher materials may be used in the wine-making maturation and bottling processes. (This applies only to those who handle the grape must or the wine itself.)
For a wine to be mevushal, a higher level of kosher designation, it must be cooked. Mevushal wines can be handled by non-Jews and are thus essential for kosher caterers and restaurants and public places where the wine might be touched by non-Jews. To reach this stage of purity once meant that the wine was cooked until bubbles appeared on the surface. Before modern technology introduced flash pasteurization, this process diminished the quality of the wine. Today, some experts claim it is impossible to taste any difference in a wine that has received the mevushal rating through the new pasteurization process.
Although kosher wines are being produced in every wine region in the world, Israel has become the leader in fine kosher wines made from European grape varieties. In recent years, the country has seen an enormous growth in boutique wineries that are striving to produce world-class wines. Many of the young winemakers have studied their craft in California or in France. The finest vineyards are in the northern part of the country that extends to the Lebanese border and incorporates the Golan Heights. The wine appellation of this region is Galilee.
http://www.jacksonholestartrib.com/articles/2006/09/20/features/enjoy/54a3d219dd9fa2d2872571ee006a4261.txt
Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, is one of the high holy days of the Jewish calendar. From sunset on Friday until nightfall on Sunday, Jewish families will gather for a traditional holiday meal to include apples dipped in honey and a round loaf of challah bread sweetened with raisins, in the belief that sweet foods will bring a sweet new year.
As with all Jewish holidays, wine is an integral part of the sacred celebration. For Jews who observe the holidays, this means kosher wine.
What makes a wine kosher? Not long ago, based on ignorance and a long-ago taste of Mogen David's finest, I would have guessed a kosher wine was concord grape juice concentrate with too much sugar, which had been blessed by a rabbi. I now know differently.
According to "The Oxford Companion to Wine" (2nd edition, page 388), the kosher laws are:
No wine may be produced from a vine until its fourth year.
The vineyard, if within biblical lands, must be left fallow every seven years.
Only vines may be grown in vineyards; no other fruits or vegetables are allowed.
There must be a symbolic ceremony in which just over 1 percent of the production is poured away in remembrance of the tithe set aside for Levites and priests in the days of the Jerusalem Temple.
From arrival at the winery, the grapes and resulting wine may only be handled by strictly Sabbath-observing Jews and only 100 percent kosher materials may be used in the wine-making maturation and bottling processes. (This applies only to those who handle the grape must or the wine itself.)
For a wine to be mevushal, a higher level of kosher designation, it must be cooked. Mevushal wines can be handled by non-Jews and are thus essential for kosher caterers and restaurants and public places where the wine might be touched by non-Jews. To reach this stage of purity once meant that the wine was cooked until bubbles appeared on the surface. Before modern technology introduced flash pasteurization, this process diminished the quality of the wine. Today, some experts claim it is impossible to taste any difference in a wine that has received the mevushal rating through the new pasteurization process.
Although kosher wines are being produced in every wine region in the world, Israel has become the leader in fine kosher wines made from European grape varieties. In recent years, the country has seen an enormous growth in boutique wineries that are striving to produce world-class wines. Many of the young winemakers have studied their craft in California or in France. The finest vineyards are in the northern part of the country that extends to the Lebanese border and incorporates the Golan Heights. The wine appellation of this region is Galilee.
http://www.jacksonholestartrib.com/articles/2006/09/20/features/enjoy/54a3d219dd9fa2d2872571ee006a4261.txt
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