It’s not your mom’s sweet syrup anymore.
I’ve been a fan of wines for since I can remember. As a young person, I was only allowed little amounts of wine during special occasions such as Kiddush as well as Passover. In college , I wasn’t as, shall we say, as discerning with flavor as I am today, as a wine critic and the author of a guide to kosher wine.
Kosher wine is coming into its own. There is no longer a time when Kosher wine was called sweet, sweeter, and so sweet it causes me to ache just contemplating it. Therefore, without further delay let’s debunk some myths.
1. Wine isn’t “kosher” because it has been blessed by a rabbi.
This could be the most commonly-held misconception about kosher foods generally. I have a rabbi that is able to provide a service in his community, in conjunction with a local supermarket by labelling the shelves of all products that are certified kosher. This is done by putting an inscription on the label on the shelf of the product in order to make it easy and easy to recognize items that are kosher certified. A woman was observing the process and, shocked by the speed at that he attached the green dots to the same objects, said: “Rabbi, you’re saying these blessings extremely fast isn’t it?”
Kosher wine is a safe way to avoid the presence of a number of ingredients that are problematic, such as blood from ox.
Kosher refers to “prepared” which means “prepared”, i.e. made according to Jewish laws. In the case of wine, a variety of ingredients pose kashrut problems, such as casesin (a dairy product) as well as chemicals (from animals) as well as isinglass (from non-kosher fish) as well as blood of ox (exactly exactly what it sounds like). Additionally, kosher wines must be under rabbinical supervision beginning at the point that the grapes turn into juice until the wine is sealed inside the bottle.
2. The wine is an Mitzvah (under specific conditions).
Kosher wine is required to be used in a variety of Jewish rituals, including Bris Milah (circumcision) and the wedding Chuppa (canopy) as well as the Kiddush that starts Shabbat and also the meal of the holiday. Although most occasions require only one cup for the day of Purim wine is the drink preferred for the celebration dinner, bringing back wine’s important contribution to the “banquets” mentioned by the Megillah story. On Passover we must consume four cups during the Seder (a problem to many). According to one rabbi: “Who else but Jews could complain about the amount they drink?”
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3. Explore the many options.
Some wines are perfect to drink for dessert, some are perfect can be enjoyed in a relaxed evening of drinking or sipping, while others are compatible with seafood, meat or cheese. White wines are typically younger, fresher , and more fruity, with notes of pineapple, apple pear, and similar. Red wines are often full-bodied with hints of black tobacco, current, plum leather, wild berries and tobacco and can be aged for months or even years of maturation in oak barrels that have been charred and the ability to have a long finishing. They may be silky and smooth but also tart, and sharp or perhaps both simultaneously. Wines can be refreshing sparkling, light, and refreshing for day-to-day use and special events.
Two millennia ago two thousand years ago, a Talmudic Sage stated: “The best kind of wine is one that you like.” The rabbi may be the first wine critic to be recognized who given a rating of a 200-year-old wine “of the finest quality.”
4. Israel is home to some of finest wine that is kosher.
Drip irrigation helps grapes flourish in deserts across the world.
Chalk or limestone, sand or volcanic soils are excellent soil for the growth of the finest wine grapes. These types of soils are typically located in desert climates that were until recently not suited to the cultivation of reliable wineries. In the second part in the century of 20thcentury two significant developments allowed the most noble varieties of grapes to flourish in deserts across the globe:
Steel tanks made of stainless steel and refrigeration allows wine and grape juice to stay cool during the harvest of summer in areas with warmer temperatures, and during the process of fermentation (the process in which yeast microbes consume the sugar and convert it into carbon dioxide and alcohol).
Drip irrigation, a method that was refined in the 1960s at one Israeli kibbutz within the Negev can allow hungry people around the world to be fed by using less water (agriculture creates the greatest demands on our supplies of water) and also provides greater control over nutrient levels. It also gives regular results from year to year in areas that would otherwise be unable to sustain agriculture.
Israel is blessed with a variety of high-tech wineries that blend with technology and traditional. Israeli along with other Jewish-kosher wineries are now regarded as “world top” by top authorities, with a number of them regularly getting the highest accolades and awards.
5. Do not cook with “cooking wine.”
The fact that a bottle is labeled “cooking wine” does not mean that it is more suitable to cook with. In reality, it’s typically a poor wine that’s not safe to drink. My rule of thumb is that wine that isn’t good enough to drink isn’t adequate to cook with.
If you cook, add the wine at a time that allows it to completely evaporate, resulting in an astringent flavor (except for wines with fortification that may be added after the cooking). Reduce the wine in order to increase its flavor. If you cook the wine with no lid over a period of 10 minutes it will decrease to about half or less. White wine is best for lighter-colored dishes, while red wines are ideal for meats with darker colors or stews.
Wine is a rare commodity in the midst of rising prices. In 1940, a typical bottle of Kosher Kiddush wine cost around one dollar. In the present, that’s equivalent to around $12-15 for a typical bottle. Nowadays, you can get a wide selection of delicious sweet Kiddush wines for less than $5. And in the range of $12-15, you will get some extremely good to exceptional wines.
6. It is beneficial for the mind both body and the soul.
Each week there’s another story to tell about the benefits of wine for health. What is white wine? red wine? What about the tannins, anti-oxidant compounds the flavonoids or enzyme releasers, or some other thing?
“Kosher,” with its increased levels of quality control and supervision is now gaining an overall view as more clean and healthier, better quality, and more importantly, more secure. However, the main reason Jews stick to kosher is due to the importance of our spiritual well-being. (Hence the word, “soul food.”)
Wine is a wonderful drink that could be an analogy for many important concepts in life: balance authenticity, nuance. It can also represent the perfected and completed human existence: It starts with a simple and undeveloped product (grape juice symbolizes childhood) and character development during the process of the process of fermentation (struggle is a symbol of the battle against evil) Then, it mature into the product that we know as wine.
We could talk about this more in depth over a glass of vino. Like Tevya performed during Fiddler on the Roof: “Be content! Be healthy! Live long! Drink, l’chaim, to life!”