| By :
Mark Etinger
Wine plays an important role in the Jewish culture. Nowhere is that more obvious than in the typical holiday service, almost all of which involve "Jewish wine." In fact, a major aspect of one of the more prestigious holidays, Pesach, is the four glasses of wine. Shabbat services consist of a glass of wine, and many bar and bat mitzvahs today end with the honored young Jewish person saying a blessing over the wine. It is no wonder, then, that such an emphasis has been put on ensuring a wine is kosher. The idea seems silly, at first. After all, a majority of the Jewish dietary laws ("kosher") involve animals that can or cannot be eaten, and specific ways of preparing a meat to ensure its kosher status. The more well-known dietary laws, such as no-milk-and-meat, don't appear to apply to liquids. But the truth is that kosher wine dietary laws are indeed quite complex. The most basic review of it can be interpreted as "to be considered a kosher wine, it must be created under the supervision of rabbis." But the truth is, kosher wines are created under much stricter guidelines. Some examples of the seemingly overly strict kosher wine guidelines include: -Grapes from new vines are prohibited from being used for creating kosher wines until after the fourth year of its existence. -The grape fields must be left uncultivated (fallow) every seventh year, often interpreted as a tribute to the Sabbath, a celebration of God resting on the seventh day following Creation. -It is forbidden to grow other fruits or vegetables in-between the grape vines intended for kosher wine making. -And only Jewish males that observe the Sabbath are allowed to work dring production of the kosher wines. After distinguishing kosher wines, there is still the trouble of differentiating between mevushal and non-mevushal wines. The difference in a mevushal and non-mevushal wine is that a mevushal wine is still kosher even in the event that a non-Jewish person handles or pours the wine. This distinction is ensured by a "flash-pasteurization," i.e. a boiling. Traditional winemakers shudder at the thought of their products being boiled, which typically does damage to the quality of a wine by destroying precious bacteria necessary for the smooth process of aging. Because of this, it is often necessary to drink mevushal wines at a young age (a young age for the wine, not the person drinking it, of course). It's also important to remember that not all kosher wines come from the State of Israel. After all, the State of Israel is just over 60 years old, and the Jewish people have been commanded to drink kosher wine for much longer than that. Most major winemakers, in Italy, France, California… pretty much anywhere wine is manufactured, an individual can find a delicious kosher wine.
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