Lists of Best Kosher Reds and Whites

INAUGURAL EDITION MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781
Joshua London
ON HOW
KOSHER WINE
SURVIVED 2020
Gamliel Kronemer
ON THE
CALIFORNIA
WILDFIRES
Elizabeth Kratz
ON SPECIAL WINES
FOR THE SEDER
Kenny Friedman FEATURING
ON THE PARADE LONDON’S RANKING
OF THE ROSÉS OF SWEET KOSHER WINES
Yossie Horwitz KRONEMER’S RANKING
ON CHAMPAGNE OF SPARKLING KOSHER WINES
TOP 25
LISTS OF BEST KOSHER
REDS AND WHITES
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INAUGURAL EDITION
CO-PUBLISHERS
HOW KOSHER WINE CALIFORNIA WINES Moshe Kinderlehrer
SURVIVED 2020....................... 6 IN 2020...................................14 Mark (Mendy) Schwartz
By Joshua London By Gamliel Kronemer
COVID hit the wine industry hard, How the fires affected the kosher wine
EDITOR
but there were some bright spots industry in the Golden State
Elizabeth Kratz
MANAGING EDITOR
Michal Rosenberg
COPY EDITOR
Cathy Fisher
ISRAELI WINE IN COVID WELCOME TO THE JEWISH
TIMES..................................... 20 LINK’S INAUGURAL WINE ADVERTISING
By Gamliel Kronemer GUIDE..................................... 22 Moshe Kinderlehrer
The effect of the pandemic on wine By Elizabeth Kratz
production in Israel A behind the scenes look at the FOUNDING TASTING
making of the Wine Guide PANEL JUDGES
Yossie Horwitz
Jeff Katz
GREAT BRUTS............. 34
Greg Raykher
By Gamliel Kronemer
Daphna Roth
Sparkling wines for your festive
Yeruchum Rosenberg
times
WINERIES
OF THE YEAR........................... 26 CONTRIBUTORS
By Michal Rosenberg Joshua E. London
Standout wineries whose products Gamliel Kronemer
DESSERT WINES........ 38
we love By Joshua London Dr. Kenny Friedman
Sweet wines to end your meal
LOGISTICS
TOP 25 Eva Katz
WINE LISTS...................42
Top 25 wines in four categories The Jewish Link Media Group
JEWISHLINK
Linking Northern and Central NJ, Bronx, Manhattan, Westchester and CT
SPECIAL WINES
FOR YOUR PESACH AN ODE TO CHAMPAGNE.... 46 AJPA
TABLE................................48 By Yossie Horwitz
By Elizabeth Kratz Understanding and appreciating
Plan for a special Pesach with kosher Champagne
these unique wines
MEVUSHAL
ROSÉ TRENDS............... 50 WINES, BOILED
DOWN..............53 P.O. Box 3131
By Dr. Kenneth Friedman
See what’s ahead for summer By Joshua London Teaneck, NJ 07666
with these rosé trends The case for good (201) 366-9101
mevushal wines editor@jewishlink.news
4 JLINK WINE GUIDE • MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781

Publisher’s Note
Dear Readers,
It gives me great pride to present to you our
inaugural Jewish Link Wine Guide, of which
we are proudly distributing over 40,000 copies
to homes across New Jersey, New York and
Connecticut.
We are quite excited to bring this new
publication to life and truly believe that
anyone—from beginners to seasoned kosher
wine buyers and consumers—will find something
to read and learn about in these pages. I know I
did, although I admit to being a tad biased!
We are also proud to release our first-ever Jewish Link Wine Guide
winners of the top kosher wineries and rankings of wines in a number of key
categories. Congratulations and mazal tov are in order to all of the wineries
and their wines. These are special achievements, especially with the fierce
competition and the many excellent wines in every category.
I got my first taste of the kosher wine market 11 years ago when I was
still in the fundraising world and working as the director of development for
Leket Israel. In that position, I conceived of and launched the Leket Israel
Wine Club together with our friend and founding Wine Guide judge and
contributor Yossie Horwitz, as well as Gary Wartels of Skyview Wines.The
club had a nice run for a few years but I soon moved on to work for YU and
later on, to start The Jewish Link, but I learned more about kosher wine back
then than I thought I would ever want to know, but it was really just the
basics. It was also clear to me just how strong and dynamic the kosher wine
business was, and in many ways, despite COVID-19, still is.
Although I admit I am not a committed oenophile, I have definitely
learned to appreciate what goes into the making and selling of quality
kosher wine. After attending a few tastings for the rankings, I am now
also familiar with the challenges of tasting dozens upon dozens of wines
in an effort to rank and score them while dealing with pandemic-related
quarantines, etc. (Don’t worry, I wasn’t a judge.)
These past three months were certainly an interesting time to work at
The Jewish Link offices, as we were flooded with hundreds of wine bottles
that needed to be reviewed, categorized properly and then placed into brown
bags so our intrepid judges would not be influenced by the brand or bottle
label. This was in addition to the many tasks associated with arranging
the individual tastings, navigating our way through social distancing and
quarantines, and of course, the actual writing of the articles, editing them,
laying out a brand new publication and so on and so forth.
The result of this effort is in your hands now. We look forward to our
Wine Guide rapidly growing into a leading annual publication for the
kosher wine industry in the years ahead.
Last but not least, I owe a special thanks to all of our advertisers, our
editors Elizabeth Kratz and Michal Rosenberg, and our judges and
contributors, who each helped make the inaugural Jewish Link Wine Guide
a reality and who continue to support our growth and success. We couldn’t
have done it without you!
Yours,
Moshe Kinderlehrer
Co-Publisher
The Jewish Link of NJ/Expanded Edition/The Jewish Link Media Group
MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781 • JLINK WINE GUIDE 5

COVER STORY
How Kosher Wine

Survived 2020 By Joshua E. London

COVER STORY
T
here is no sugarcoating it. hit the Pacific Northwest’s wine
Last year was rough—the country especially hard. (See Gamliel
pandemic, the lockdowns, Kronemer’s article on page 13 for
the resulting recession, and in some more on this.) Fortunately for all of
places civil unrest, rising crime and us, kosher wine survived.
violence, and even a U.S.-EU trade In a sense, of course, kosher wine
war with tariffs that targeted parts was always going to survive. As
of the drinks trade. There were Rabbi Menachem Genack, CEO
also the devastating wildfires that of the Orthodox Union kosher
division, aptly put it: “The food
industry, as a rule, is protected from
deep recessions because people have
to eat.”
That doesn’t mean, however, that “Overall, the kosher
there aren’t folks adversely affected
wine market has indeed
when the economy abruptly tumbles.
“The food service industry, like survived 2020. Of course,
restaurants and caterers, has been sales through ‘on-premise’
very badly hurt,” Rabbi Genack
noted. “Some companies will
accounts—restaurants,
undoubtedly not survive.” caterers, Pesach programs
Of course, wine—like most and other catered social
agricultural products—is largely
a multiyear, long-term endeavor, events—completely
allowing for a certain resiliency crashed.”
to temporary shocks. As Rabbi — GABRIEL GELLER
Nachum Rabinowitz, senior
rabbinic coordinator and wine
expert for the Orthodox Union, Pesach programs and other catered
put it: “The wine industry social events—completely crashed.”
requires long-term planning, and “On-premise” is the industry
projection—and some would say, term for alcohol sales intended for
given the uncertainties natural to consumption at or near the point
agriculture, and the often fickle of purchase, on the premises—such
nature of consumer tastes, it’s more as bars, restaurants and catered
like guesswork or betting—but events. This is contrasted with the
regardless it requires some longer- off-premise trade, where alcohol is
term thinking. So, while everything sold strictly for consumption off the
was disrupted in 2020, kosher wine premises of the establishment—such
production and sales did not stop.” as liquor and wine stores; and drug,
“Overall, the kosher wine market grocery or convenience stores where
has indeed survived 2020,” agreed alcohol is permitted for sale in such
Gabriel Geller of Royal Wine Corp., establishments.
the Herzog family-owned and During the various lockdowns, the
-operated company that remains the on-premise sector was essentially
country’s leading producer, importer handicapped and shut down outright
and distributor of kosher wines and in most state and local jurisdictions,
David and Mordy Herzog hold
a socially distanced meeting spirits, headquartered in Bayonne. either by fiat, fear or by safety
at Herzog's Estate Lake County “Of course, sales through ‘on-premise’ guideless that made the traditional
Jacobson vineyard harvest. accounts—restaurants, caterers, customer experience more difficult

COVER STORY
In France, workers pick grapes during

the Chateau Malartic-Lagraviere harvest. (Credit: Royal Wines)
and costly to maintain. Meanwhile, just in kosher wine. As analyst Rob

in the off-premise sector, wine
How effectively McMillan, executive vice president of
and liquor stores were classified as and quickly the Silicon Valley Bank’s wine division,
“essential businesses” in many— wineries and wine which publishes an influential
though not all—jurisdictions, and annual wine-industry report, put
so could remain open in lockdown. stores pivoted to new it: “Wine is recession-proof and
Likewise, some jurisdictions seemed customer expectations maybe somewhat pandemic-resistant
on the verge of swinging back as well. People do want their
and forth on just how “essential”
is a significant factor wine.” Noting that as on-premise
wine and liquor stores are, as local in how well they wine consumption largely ended,
governments and politicians tried survived 2020. McMillan added, “wine was added
to keep pace with perceived public back to the family dinner table,
sentiment. and consumers adapted to online
Adjusting quickly to market forces, like crazy. Especially those brick- shopping and at-home delivery.”
explained Geller, much of the wine and-mortar retailers who have online So, while wine sales indeed
that would have gone to the on- sales, or those doing exclusively continued throughout the pandemic,
premise sector was simply redirected online sales.” much of it took place through
to off-premise retail accounts, and, This basic pattern played out across these different channels. Indeed,
indeed, “overall, retail sales went up the global wine landscape—not “wine retailers across the country

CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED
“The best kosher wine
at $15. This California
Cab delivers!”
Moshe Wendel,
Executive Chef
“A customer favorite.
This wine is a perfect
complement to our
menu.”
Golan Chetrit, Owner,
Noi Due restaurants
“I’m happy to put

this wine on the
regular California
shelf.”
Mark Thrift,
Mollie Stone’s, CA
“As soon as it came

to the UK, Twin Suns
was an instant hit!”
Arele Schapiro,
London, UK
“I couldn’t believe it
was kosher. This has
become a main brand
in our portfolio.”
Mike Nicols
RNDC, Michigan
www.theriverwine.com
COVER STORY
have pivoted from in-store sales,” in consumer behavior, “things never

noted Washington Post wine critic really slowed down too greatly; we’ve
Dave McIntyre, “to an improvised had more people buying, and more
market plan of curbside pickup, local regular customers.” Since social
delivery, and online sales.” engagements are fewer and smaller,
This was certainly the experience, however, “our overall volume for the
for example, of Mendy Mark of year is much lower than in a typical
FillerUp Wines in Teaneck: “Right year, even though we remain busy,
after Purim everything got shut and our customer base is expanded,”
down; and really the whole world, said Mark.
everything, changed.” These same basic global wine
Although the Teaneck shop was trends—buying wines from
permitted to remain open, the Adam Montefiori supermarkets, e-commerce retail,
local lockdown meant that people and the winery direct-to-consumer
stopped venturing into the store. channels—also played out very
Instead, the phone began ringing
Kosher wine survived clearly in Israel, the only country in
incessantly with folks panic-buying 2020, but most of which kosher wine dominates the
for Passover. As he recalled, “People what made last year wine market.
were worried we might get closed “On the ‘good news’ front,” noted
before Pesach, so the orders started difficult remains Adam S. Montefiore, an Israeli wine
coming in almost immediately.” firmly in place as industry consultant and prolific
They began selling two to three wine writer, “those wineries [in
of this writing.
cases per order, and the phones rang Israel] that have big brands, and
off the hook. How well kosher already had good distribution in
Thinking quickly, Mark called wine will do this year supermarkets, managed to sell
the owner and advised some quick well. Likewise, the really famous
changes. Within days FillerUp
remains to be seen. smaller wineries—like Flam and
Wines managed to get a workable Castel—have their own customer
web presence up and running to door were well established or big base anyway for direct-to-consumer
facilitate online ordering, then brands “like Barkan, Dalton, Yarden sales, and so were able to increase
quickly hired additional manpower and Herzog—names they knew, sales through that channel. Online
for local deliveries and instituted brands that were reliable, and also wine sales have similarly greatly
contactless curbside pickup. under $40.” increased—lots of people who never
“It was tremendous,” recalled Losing out were smaller or newer used to order wine online started
Mark, “We did great business brands, the sorts of wines that usually doing so.”
between Purim and Pesach.” While require a bit of effort, storytelling Alas, he said, “those [Israeli
normally “about 90% of our trade and substantive engagement with wineries] that did not already have
would be in-store purchases, and the customer, often aided by in-store supermarket distribution; did not
about 10% deliveries,” in 2020 they tastings. Premium brands stagnated already have a large direct-to-
saw almost the exact opposite: “about completely. Then “by mid-summer,” consumer customer base; and did
60% delivery, 30% (curbside) pickup, Mark noted, “folks finally began not have an e-commerce platform
and 10% in-store.” shifting back to something closer have been more seriously challenged.
Even though the business was to what we were used to” in their Some are struggling a lot.”
busy, Mark noted that customers consumer buying practices, including Montefiore was quick to point
were price-conscious, and mostly a return to sales of premium-priced out, however, that it’s hard to get a
favored familiarity over novelty. wines. good, solid picture of this, as folks in
“Nobody was buying the brands Over the course of 2020, FillerUp the Israeli wine industry mask their
they’d never heard of,” he explained, Wines experienced a relative hardship “with a certain degree of
“or new items that just came in.” disappearance of their traditional public bravado.” He said this was an
Instead, what was flying out the slow periods. Because of the shift industry-wide phenomenon in Israel.

COVER STORY
“You talk to people who are

obviously suffering—wineries, shops,
really everyone except restaurants,
and they’ll tell you, ‘Oh, we’re fine!’
Nobody will admit to any economic
pain, even if they’ve been [negatively]
affected. So it’s hard to find out the
truth.”
As with most of the rest of the
world, in Israel, too, “the on-premise
sector suffered an absolute crash,” said
Montefiore, “and this is obviously a
tragedy for everyone in the hospitality
industry, not just wine.”
Likewise, “the tourism industry
has also crashed,” he noted, “as there
has been no tourism.” He explained
that “some wineries in Israel,
especially some of the smaller ones, In pre-COVID times, kosherwine.com’s Dovid Riven, left,
do a fair amount of their business with Netofa Winery’s Pierre Miodownik.
through direct-to-consumer sales to
tourists, both tourists from abroad Kosherwine.com, the largest kosher quickly,” said Riven. As Passover
and Israelis touring and visiting wine e-commerce retailer in the U.S., programs were being cancelled
wineries—but this has completely observed, “last year was a very busy and there remained tremendous
crashed, too.” year for us, but we were much better uncertainty about venturing out
How effectively and quickly the positioned than most to respond to to stores “a lot of folks—including
wineries and wine stores pivoted the changes and challenges that came those who’d never ordered from us
to new customer expectations is a in 2020.” before—found us and began ordering
significant factor in how well they As Riven explained, traditional wine for Passover. So basically,
survived 2020. “There have also been wine stores that rely on foot our busiest season, the run-up to
quite a few internet startups that traffic, neighborhood convenience, Passover, was robust both because
are selling wines by the case, and community density, handselling, that’s always our most robust period,
showcasing boutique wineries, to try in-store tastings and the like, were but then also because of the sudden
and fill that void,” Montefiore added. forced to adapt, and to worry about growth of new customers—and also
Amidst all this disruption, maintaining safety protocols for from apparently very thirsty existing
however, there is some good news, customer engagement. As a strictly customers.”
said Montefiore: “Israelis have online retailer, however, “we were Riven’s Kosherwine.com team
learned to drink at home, to have spared those sorts of shocks and spent a lot of time planning and
wine as part of their home routine— stresses.” working through the logistics
understanding that it’s OK to drink “We primarily sell to individual to ensure that their guaranteed
wine at home and share it with their consumers,” Riven noted, “buying “delivery before Passover” timeline
family. That’s a big change. Probably wine for home use—consumption, would hold. Fortunately, he said,
the single most positive trend, and gift giving, collecting, whatever—and “we were able to make it all work
one that is likely to stay.” so were particularly well poised to and keep it all essentially on track.”
The most consistent trend, whether adapt to increased demand for home The company’s reliability, with
in Israel, Europe or the United consumption. We got really busy, proactive customer engagement
States, has been the comparative and basically stayed busy throughout and clear communications, helped
advantage in 2020 of those retailers 2020.” ensure smooth operations—allowing
especially focused on e-commerce. “When the lockdowns started them to advance on several fronts
As Dovid Riven, president of in March, things began to heat up that had been in the works. “We’ve

COVER STORY
experienced a lot of steady growth,” density of kosher consumers, sales

Riven said, “and, basically, things The most consistent suffered a lot,” Geller said. “The
haven’t stopped; 2020 was essentially trend, whether in brand took a big hit.” Barkan is
busy all year long—and now we’re also a very popular brand for the
looking and moving forward.” Israel, Europe or the on-premise sector, “so, again, a
While these overall patterns held United States, has significant hit to sales.”
firm across the kosher wine market, While some sectors of kosher
been the comparative
the actual demand for kosher wine wine stayed busy, even very busy,
was not uniform. “In the New York- advantage in 2020 of some sectors fared poorly. The on-
New Jersey area, and in Florida, sales those retailers especially premise sector suffered dramatically,
for local retailers of kosher wines as did those part of the off-premise
are basically fine,” noted Geller of
focused on e-commerce. sector that faced problems adapting.
Herzog’s Royal Wine Corp., “but at Further, as Geller explained,
the national level, and especially in States. But, Barkan sales suffered an there is not exactly a one-to-one
California, local sales of kosher wines awful lot in 2020.” correspondence between these
slowed down significantly. Geller said that Barkan is one sectors, and sales in one area do not
“Take, for example, Barkan,” of the brands picked up by nearly necessarily offset losses in another
Geller explained, “which is, beside all the big wine retail chains across area. “Unfortunately, it is what it is.”
Baron Herzog and Bartenura, the the country, such as Total Wine & Kosher wine survived 2020, but
No. 1 wine brand in our portfolio. More (with 210 outlets). “But for most of what made last year difficult
Given Royal’s dominant market stores that only carry a few kosher remains firmly in place as of this
share, this also makes Barkan the brands, and also for those stores writing. How well kosher wine will
No. 1 Israeli brand in the United outside of the areas with a higher do this year remains to be seen.

COVER STORY
THE HEAT IS ON:

California Wines in 2020
A row of heat-destroyed chardonnay at the Four Gates Winery, “From a

distance it looks like I have a vineyard full of grapes, except that there are
no leaves and the clusters are not of grapes. They are clusters of dried up
things,” said Winemaker/Proprietor Benyamin Cantz.
(Credit: Joshua Rynderman)
By Gamliel Kronemer
2
020 was quite a year in Weir of Hagafen Cellars, California’s In fact, California had a record-
California: record heat oldest kosher winery. “We had a triple setting year of nearly 10,000
and fires, COVID-19 and whammy, with low rainfall and a very incidents of wildfires that burned
stay-at-home orders. For those strong desiccating heatwave in the in excess of 4 million acres of land
in California’s $40-billion wine beginning of August that dehydrated (almost 4% of the entire state).
industry, it was a year like no other. grapes abnormally. Then we had the While some vineyards burned up
The Jewish Link reached out to first wildfire—and so much smoke entirely, a significant percentage
a number of California’s kosher that we didn’t see the sun for two or of those that didn’t burn were
winemakers and winery proprietors three days. Then we had the second affected by what winemakers refer
to learn about the challenges they fire, which led to more smoke and to as “smoke taint”—particles of ash
faced and to find out how they fared. the non-harvest or provisional coating the grapes and imparting an
“It was like we all had these signs harvest of grapes.” And all of that acrid, smoky flavor. “The problem
on our backs that read, ‘Kick me is before considering the impact of with smoke taint is that you don’t get
and kick me again’,” explained Ernie COVID-19 on the industry. a nice smoky flavor like in a smoky

COVER STORY
scotch,” explained Benyamin Cantz,

winemaker/proprietor of Four Gates
Winery. “What you get is ‘ashtray.’
“Smoke taint is not like an on-off
switch; it’s a complete sliding scale.
Some [wines] will be completely
unusable, while some are only
moderately damaged. [Also] there
are two different forms of smoke
taint: a free-chemical version and a
bound-chemical version. With the
free version, if it is sufficient, you can
[immediately] sense it yourself, while
the bound can become unbound
over time. So you can bottle a wine A cluster of heat-destroyed merlot grapes at the Four Gates Winery
thinking it is perfectly good, but a in the Santa Cruz Mountains. (Credit: Joshua Rynderman)
year later it becomes unbound in the
bottle and you have a ruined wine.” they are not going to make or harvest the skins, white wines are generally
In California’s premier northern any red wines,” explained Weir. less affected. However, “smoke taint
growing regions of Napa and Since white wines are generally can work its way inside the skin,”
Sonoma, smoke taint abounded. fermented without the grape skins, said Gabe Weiss, winemaker and
“Many wineries in Napa decided that and smoke taint mostly resides in co-owner of Shirah winery. “They
called off the pick of our riesling due
to smoke.”
While grapes can be chemically
tested for smoke taint, “there is only
one lab in California, ETS, that has
equipment to test for smoke taint and
they were completely overwhelmed,
and they were two months behind,”
recalled Cantz. Some wineries, such
as Covenant, had to send samples to
Australia to be tested. “I think that
they test much more accurately for
smoke taint in Australia than they
do here,” said Jeff Morgan, Covenant
Wines’ proprietor. But for many
wineries the choice was: Make wine
without laboratory data, or don’t
make wine at all.
At Shirah winery, a boutique
winery that buys small allotments of
grapes from all over the state, they
based their winemaking decisions
on how close vineyards had been to
the fires. “We’ve been making some
wines from Northern California,
that we simply could not make this
Socially distant work in the cellars at the
Covenant Winery, Berkeley, CA (Credit: Covenant Wines) year,” said Weiss. As careful as they
were in their selections, “we did have

COVER STORY
smoke taint in the cellar. We had a

few lots from growing regions where
we assumed that the smoke layer
was not heavy enough to have any
significant smoke taint.” As it turned
out, these young wines “now taste
like peated Islay whisky,” said Wiess.
At Hagafen, they opted for what
is known as provisional harvesting,
meaning that they made the wine
not knowing whether or not the
grapes were affected; if they prove
to be affected, the winery can
potentially get a refund from the
vineyard owners or report a loss. “We
made cabernet sauvignon; we made
cabernet franc; we made syrah; we
made pinot noir,” said Weir, “but I
think the jury is still out. We think Fires ravage California vineyards.
cabernet sauvignon is going to be
fine; we think syrah is going to be In fact, California had [with the toasted oak] in a way that
fine; and we have doubts about some masks it. But that’s an alternative I
of the others, but we will only bottle a record-setting year of would prefer to avoid. Or you can
high quality wines. We have too nearly 10,000 incidents simply blend [the taint] away.
much of a reputation to protect.” of wildfires that burned “Smoke isn’t a bad taste,” Weiss
Fortunately, at Covenant, they continued, “and if it’s a subtle part of
had harvested their Napa-grown in excess of 4 million a blend it can be wonderful. Another
cabernet sauvignon before the acres of land (almost 4% option, and this is more marketing, is
region’s devastating Glass Fire began, to sell the wine as a ‘smoked wine’—
but “some of our Sonoma wines have
of the entire state). instead of looking at it as a flaw,
higher levels of bound glycosides,” some people might think it’s cool.”
said Morgan. “They taste great, and “There are technological methods The fires were just one of the major
you can’t tell anything is wrong, but to remove smoke components” from problems that confronted California
the verdict is out on whether they wine, said Morgan. “I’m considering wineries this season. “Everyone is
will come unbound in the bottle using one of them. There are two focused on the smoke,” said Weiss,
later or not.” Additionally, there technologies: One is filtration with “but the heat potentially was just as
was another roughly 20% of their special smoke-taint filters out of bad, if not worse. We lost a lot to
vineyards that they didn’t even try to Australia, and the other is something the heat. It just toasted the vineyards
harvest because they were too close called the spinning cone. It spins [and the grapes shriveled] to nothing.
to the fires. the wine in a vacuum and creates There was nothing to harvest.”
At Herzog Wine Cellars, a kind of distillation without heat Perhaps nobody was more affected
California’s largest kosher winery, that allows you to remove certain by that heat than Four Gates Winery,
“the value wines from Lodi and components and then return the ones a small mountainside winery in
Clarksburg [areas] which were that you want. We’re experimenting the Santa Cruz mountains whose
not affected by the fires will be to see if we like it.” vineyard is “dry-farmed” (unirrigated).
unaffected” in terms of production, Whereas Weiss, in addition to “The weekend weather event that
explained Proprietor Jonathan filtration, spoke of some more low- led to the lightning that caused the
Herzog, but “in the reserve program, tech options. “Adding oak is another [CZU Lightning Complex] fire,
probably 90% of the wines will not thing people do. Oak is toasted, and was here in Santa Cruz 107 degrees
be produced.” the smokiness [of the taint] can meld on Friday, 104 on Shabbat, and 108

COVER STORY
on Sunday,” recalled Cantz. “What

I have now is not even raisins. The
grapes weren’t mature enough to even
produce raisins. The pinot noir and
the cabernet franc were completely
toasted.”
Cantz was able to salvage a little
of his harvest, however. “With the
chardonnay, we were able to save 10,
15, maybe 20%, and the only reason
we were able to save that much is
because we trimmed every cluster. Winemaker/Proprietor Ernie Weir at one of the outdoor tasting “booths”
There was not a single cluster we at Hagafen Cellars. “We were open for about four months starting in the
could just drop into the bucket. We middle of June for outdoor and limited tastings,” said Weir.
were also able to save about 10% of
the merlot by doing the same thing.” our block. Now we have this partial by the state of California, and thus
While Four Gates may have been barrel of wine, which should have all of the wineries continued to
the most devastated by the heat, been four barrels.” Additionally, operate during stay-at-home orders,
almost every winemaker I spoke to “the chemistry of some of our wines COVID-19 did have an impact on
lamented the impact of the heat on changed a little bit because of the all the wineries, but none more so
their season. “The heat affected us a extreme heat,” he said. “You have a than the Herzog Wine Cellars. “In
lot,” said Weiss. “It changed yields. lot of acid, a lot of malic acid, but terms of production,” said Herzog,
We bought a lot of things where you have a terrible pH. We had a lot “we’ve had breakouts; we’ve had
we were expecting to get one-and- of strange chemistry this year.” employees [with COVID-19], and
a-half tons, and we ended up with While wine, as a part of we’ve been shut down, [both] the
minuscule amounts of wine from agriculture, is considered essential production and the bottling line.
Outdoor dining for the Tierra Sur restaurant at Herzog Wine Cellars.
“The restaurant has been opened and closed, based on the guidelines,” said
Proprietor Jonathan Herzog. (Credit: Herzog Wine Cellars)

We’ve had ons and offs throughout before Passover. All of the wine
the whole building. And now we face that we had sold to our distributors
an early Pesach. It’s been a struggle was already delivered—stores had
to produce and keep on producing it on shelves. Then boom, right
during these COVID times.” before Passover retail shut down.
While no other winery mentioned That impacted our cashflow pretty
having employees with COVID-19 significantly.”
or having to shut down—“We’ve Yet for many wineries, the losses of
been very lucky,” said Morgan—all traditional distribution were at least
have been affected by COVID-19. in part made up through direct-to-
For Joshua Rynderman of Kos customer sales. “We found that our
Yeshuos Winery, COVID-19 all but wine club customers, aside from a
precluded him from even making few who were negatively impacted by
it to the vineyards. “I produce the pandemic, kind of doubled down,
kosher wine in both hemispheres, and our online sales and direct sales
to consumers actually increased,” said
Weiss.
What was truly At Hagafen Cellars, “we had a lot
impressive, after this of curbside pickup,” said Weir. “We
were able to call, access or email
horrific year, was many people and had a wonderful
the resilience of the response online. In a sense, we
winemakers and winery almost flipped our business over:
What had previously been in-person PROUD TO BE NAMED
owners, all of whom were is now online, and what had been
actively planning how online is now in-person.”
At Four Gates Winery, where they
to improve and prepare sell all 3,000 bottles of wine that TOP 5 WINERIES
for the challenges of the they produce each year in an online
2021 season. sale each January, they sold out in a
record seven minutes. “I wasn’t sure
what impact COVID would have
California as well as in South [on the sale] until it happened,”
Africa,” he said. “South Africa said Cantz.
went into hard lockdown sometime What was truly impressive, after
in March, and that included this horrific year, was the resilience of
stopping all international travel. the winemakers and winery owners,
At the end of July, I was able to all of whom were actively planning
get on a repatriation flight back to how to improve and prepare for the
California.” challenges of the 2021 season. There
COVID-19 also had a significant was also a real sense of community
impact on wineries that distribute among the kosher-wine producers.
their wine via traditional retail “The only thing that makes us do
channels. “We faced a pretty big what we’re doing, and continue to
challenge,” said Shimon Weiss, do what we’re doing,” says Herzog,
co-owner and business manager “is knowing that we’re not the only
of Shirah Winery, “because 50% one. It’s not that there’s a target
of our business is still through on our back, but not on others. It’s
[wholesale] distribution, and the something that all of us are going
distribution channels dried up right through together.”

ISRAELI WINE
in the Time of COVID
By Gamliel Kronemer
B
ack in the fall, when the Jeff Morgan, the proprietor of driving 100 miles per hour to a halt.
editor of The Jewish Link Covenant Wines, which has wineries Weddings and Shabbat sheva brachot,
Wine Guide and I were in both California and Israel, said aufrufs and bar mitzvahs, and all these
discussing topics for this magazine, it that the Israeli winery has been far events where people would gather
was the harvest season and Israel had more affected by COVID than the together; they bought a lot of wine.
just gone into a hard lockdown. An one in California “because in Israel And when you stay at home, and
article on the impact of COVID-19 the buying habits are very different weddings are with very few people,
on the Israeli wine industry seemed than in America.” He added: “I and there are no simchas, people
to be a very timely story. I had would say that 80% of our sales in drink much less wine.”
assumed that I would interview Israel have been restaurant sales In Israel, as in America, wineries
Israeli winemakers, winery owners on-premise,” which were stopped are considered essential businesses,
and consultants. I also assumed it in their tracks by the nationwide and thus have remained open
would come out as one of those lockdown. throughout the pandemic. However,
stories that would showcase Israelis’ For Covenant Israel, this loss of the consequences of a positive
unique sort of resilience in adversity. domestic sales has had a significant COVID test for a winery employee
But that is not the story I am able to effect on the company overall. “We in Israel can be far more stringent.
share. have a wine club in Israel, and we “In Israel if you are exposed to
I reached out to about a dozen somebody who is sick they close
people in Israel’s wine industry, some down your business,” said Lourie,
of whom are longtime friends, many “and you have to be in isolation for
I’ve known since I started writing two weeks. Thank God nobody at the
about kosher wine in the mid-2000s. [Shiloh] winery got sick.”
I am used to receiving a warm Such a shutdown, particularly if
response from such requests and it should happen during the harvest
enjoy interviews that will often run Israel's Netofa vineyard season, could be a disaster for any
longer than the time scheduled (if I winery. Ari Erle, the winemaker for
ask for 15 minutes, I usually know sell a little bit of wine directly, but it Covenant Israel, did test positive
I’ll be on the phone for more than is nothing compared to the States. for COVID-19, but it was after the
half an hour), but not this time—not Thank God that our direct sales critical harvest and winemaking
on this subject. and our retail sales through our season. “He spent two weeks locked
One person was willing to give distributor have been down [only] a in his bedroom,” said Morgan.
me a brief off-the-record interview; little bit” in the U.S., said Morgan. “Thankfully, nothing much was going
two were actually willing to be In Israel, however, they have had to on at the winery.”
interviewed on the record; and the reduce production. “We just don’t As with many business sectors,
rest declined to speak on this topic have the capital to operate normally. the downturn that COVID-19 has
at all. With the ongoing pandemic Everybody has taken pay cuts, both caused for the Israeli wine industry
and multiple lockdowns in Israel, in America and in Israel,” he added. will probably outlast the duration of
the Israeli wine industry is hurting. According to Amichai Lourie, the the pandemic. Given the rapid pace
And the message to me was clear: winemaker for Shiloh Winery, it is of inoculations in Israel, the start
With so many unknowns, and such a not just the loss of restaurant sales. of domestic recovery is likely only
rapidly evolving situation, for many “We sell wine to Pesach programs and months away. However, it remains
in the industry, discussing the impact Sukkot programs, and that completely unclear when Israel’s wine-export
of COVID-19 was simply out of shut down. So all the wine we usually market will be able to begin the long
bounds. sell to those programs went from ride on the road to recovery.

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RANKINGS
Welcome to The Jewish Link

Inaugural Wine Guide
By Elizabeth Kratz
W
hen I was in my 20s, I friends. I was proud to have both Daphna Roth and Yeruchum
lived in the Georgetown Josh and Gamliel serve as witnesses Rosenberg, who were willing to lend
neighborhood of at my wedding, and it’s been my us their discerning palates whenever
Washington, D.C. Neighbors on Q pleasure over the years to count and however we arranged it. Yossie,
Street happened to be two young men Anna and Jessica, the guys’ better who previously was a founding judge
named Joshua London and Gamliel halves, as close friends as well. for The Jewish Week’s Wine Guide
Kronemer. Josh had gone to grad Josh is currently living in England; magazines, was an immeasurable
school with my brother in Chicago, Gamliel lives in Silver Spring, resource in both designing the
and I met Gamliel either at shul or Maryland; and I live in New Jersey. protocol for our blind tastings, and
a Shabbat meal. Josh was already However, when Gamliel suggested that modeling impartial judging policies.
writing a wine and spirits column we “get the band back together,” with Michal Rosenberg, our managing
for the weekend print section of The me editing an inaugural edition of The editor, was pivotal in organizing the
Washington Examiner, and Gamliel Jewish Link Wine Guide and them tastings and tabulating the results;
began writing about wine a few years writing many of the feature articles, and we could not have done it
later, adding spirits to his repertoire in without Eva Katz ( Jeff ’s better half ),
special issues around Rosh Hashanah who assisted us greatly with logistics.
and Pesach. Both began writing regular Running blind wine By the numbers, here’s how we
columns for Jewish newspapers later tastings during a ended up: Two extremely cold
on. I was working as a reporter, but outdoor tastings, two quarantines,
didn’t start writing about food and pandemic, in the dead two socially-distanced indoor
wine until many years after we all met. of a very cold East Coast tastings, one (mild) case of COVID,
With “Josh and G,” I first tasted one canceled wine tasting due to a
good-to-great kosher wines and
winter, was no easy feat. blizzard, 267 wines, 63 whites, 204
attended my first blind wine tasting. reds, hundreds of WhatsApps and
Gamliel, I learned only recently, was I jumped at a chance to work with emails…well, you get the idea.
the culprit in sneaking in a bottle of these old friends, both consummate With that in mind, we are proud
Manschewitz concord grape into that professionals. In my opinion, they are to present four Top 25 lists for your
tasting, siphoning the syrupy-sweet among the kosher wine industry’s most Passover shopping pleasure. To befit
(not that there’s anything wrong with enthusiastic and impartial advocates. the season’s affinity for reds during
that!) liquid into a “regular” 750 ml I am very fortunate to have Moshe the seder, and to be cost-conscious, we
wine bottle. Kinderleher as a publisher, who divided the lists into “Under $25 Reds,”
It was with these two that I learned literally jumped at the opportunity to “$25-$50 Reds,” “High-End Reds” and
how to talk about wine and distinguish launch the magazine. “White Wines.” These are augmented
wine’s unique qualities. These were While the incisive features are by Josh London’s Top 10 list of sweet
people to whom I could ask all my certainly a point of pride for The wines, Gamliel Kronemer’s Top 10 of
dumb questions, and there were many! Jewish Link Wine Guide, it was sparkling wines, Michal Rosenberg’s
My questions may have improved actually the tastings of wines for our write up of The Jewish Link Wine
over the years, but I would not be rankings that were most complex. Guide’s top five wineries of the year,
the oenophile I am today without Running blind wine tastings during a my “special wines for the seder,” article,
having access to their great caches of pandemic, in the dead of a very cold Yossie Horwitz's ode to Champagne
knowledge and willingness to chat, at East Coast winter, was no easy feat. and Dr. Kenneth Friedman’s feature
virtually any time, about kosher wine. It helped that we had five committed preview on 2020 rosé wines.
Along the way, we built many judges based in New Jersey: Yossie With our very best wishes,
shared memories and became great Horwitz, Jeff Katz, Greg Raykher, Chag Kasher V ’Samayach!

RANKINGS
INAUGURAL EDITION
FOUNDING JUDGES
Growing up in a tee- Yeruchum Rosenberg is a wine enthusiast who
totaling household in spends his days in the world of technology and
Jerusalem, Yossie Horwitz finance. He has been involved in the kosher wine
didn’t have much early scene for over 20 years. He loves family, friends,
exposure to wine. That food and wine—preferably together. He enjoys
all changed one Passover cooking and frequenting Rosh Chodesh clubs.
night when he tasted his He lives in Teaneck with his wife, Michal, and
first quality dry red wine. their four kids.
A lifelong passion was stoked
and by the time he was 30 and living in NYC,
he was penning a weekly email blast to family Daphna Roth has been tasting and enjoying
and friends sharing his varied recommendations. wine for over 30 years. She first introduced her
Today, “Yossie’s Corkboard” goes out to more than husband, Greg, to wine with a gift of the Wine
11,000 subscribers around the world and covers For Dummies book. They have been exploring
the ever-expanding world of kosher wine. Tasting exciting kosher wines together ever since. Little did
more than 4,000 different kosher wines each year she know that their wine journey would include
keeps this deal-making attorney-by day quite busy. being a judge for The Jewish Link. Daphna works
Sign up at yossiescorkboard.com and follow on as an adult neuropsychologist, specializing in
instagram at yossies_corkboard. evaluations, in private practice in Teaneck.
Greg Raykher has been interested in tasting, Jeff Katz has been
collecting and learning about wine for over 20 collecting, tasting and
years. He met some of his closest friends through the sharing alcohol with
old Daniel Rogov chat group. Greg loves following friends for 20 years. With
the Israeli wine industry, and still remembers how an original interest in
excited he was when Castel went kosher in 2002, mixology and spirits, Jeff ’s
Bazelet Hagolan in 2004, Flam and Tulip in appreciation for wine
2010, and Pelter opened Matar in 2012. When evolved 10 years ago when
not learning about wine, Greg works in finance, his wife handed him a glass
with a focus on zero-carbon renewable energy projects. He lives in Teaneck of Russian River Chardonnay. Since then, Jeff has
with his children, and shares his love of wine exploration with his wife become a member of multiple kosher wine clubs
Daphna, a fellow judge on The Jewish Link panel. and has made good friends with many oenophiles.
OUR JUDGES IN ACTION

For more photos of the Wine Guide in process, visit our Instagram @Jewishlinkwinemag
Jeff and Eva Katz Greg Raykher and Daphna Roth Yossie Horwitz

RANKINGS
CONTRIBUTORS
Joshua E. London has been Michal Rosenberg is associate editor
drinking, writing, consulting at The Jewish Link and managing
and speaking professionally about editor of The Jewish Link Wine
kosher wines and spirits for more Guide. Her husband Yeruchum first
than 20 years. He is originally introduced her to wine 20 years ago
from Northern California, and and she’s joined him on his wine
his love affair with wine began in journey ever since.
the late-1980s with a relatively
short-lived kosher wine venture
in Davis. For over a dozen years London wrote a
popular weekly column on kosher wines and spirits that
appeared in several Jewish publications, and his writing
Dr. Kenneth Friedman is a Baltimore-
has appeared in a wide variety of both Jewish and non-
based kosher wine aficionado/
Jewish print and online media.
connoisseur. He produces and consults
on unique food and wine tastings,
utilizing his years of experience to
create memorable, exciting events.
Gamliel Kronemer has been He maintains a column on kosher
writing for more than 15 years wine, food and spirits, and leads
about kosher wine, spirits, educational wine tastings on Instagram
cocktails and food in a number @kosherwinetastings.
of Jewish newspapers and
magazines, including The Jewish
Link. In 2005, when Gamliel
started writing regularly on the Elizabeth Kratz is associate publisher
subject, he recalled that “back and editor of The Jewish Link, and
then, most newspapers wrote about kosher wine at founding editor of The Jewish Link
most twice a year, with headlines like ‘Kosher Wine: Wine Guide. She also leads The Jewish
It’s Not Your Mama’s Manischewitz Anymore.’ Link’s Teaneck-based kosher wine-
Watching the kosher wine world blossom has been tasting group, from which most of our
utterly amazing, and I feel fortunate to have had a magazine’s judges were poached.
front row seat.” Gamliel lives with his wife, Jessica, in
Silver Spring, Maryland.
Michal and Yeruchum Rosenberg Greg and Daphna, finally indoors

To celebrate our
3oth anniversary,
we pulled out
all the stops.
BARONS EDMOND-BENJAMIN
DE ROTHSCHILD
30 T H
A N N I V E R S A R Y E D I T I O N
RANKINGS
Wineries of the Year By Michal Rosenberg
T
he Jewish Link Wine Guide judges had the satisfying, high-quality products the kosher-wine
privilege of tasting and rating many excellent consumer can reliably return to again and again. I was
wines over the last few months. When the happy to relay the news of their success and asked each
scores were tallied, a few wineries rose to the top, winemaker to share their unique vision for their winery
continually appearing in our wine lists across multiple and tell us which part of the winemaking process they
categories and price points. They were Dalton, Gvaot, enjoy most. We also had our judges and editor, Elizabeth
Covenant, Shiloh and Elvi. These wineries have received Kratz, share their perspectives, weighing in on what
the distinction of “Winery of the Year” for producing makes these wineries stand out.
DALTON
WINERY
Alex Haruni,
winemaker
“We are a modern and
forward-thinking winery,
bringing the wine-drinking
public a range of consistent
and excellent wines to
suit all pockets. We are
constantly striving to move forward and better
ourselves, as I believe that if we are not moving
forward, we will start falling backwards.”
Dalton Winery (Credit: David Silverman) “I love our blending sessions with the
winemakers. Three to four times a year we sit
for a couple of days and make the blends for
the coming year. It’s a time when I can sit
without interruption, put all the day-to-day
issues of the winery aside, and focus on taking
stock of what the harvest has brought us and
how to best use it. It’s a time for artistry and
creativity.”
“Dalton continues to provide a wide range
of good-to-great wines at extremely accessible
price ranges,” said Kratz. “Dalton’s ‘entry level’
estate line is better than many wineries’ highest-
end flagship products. I also loved their 2019
Guy Eshel, winemaker, Alex Haruni and his father, Mat Haruni. rosé; it was wonderfully aromatic and beautiful.
(Credit: David Silverman)
Truly not to be missed.”

RANKINGS
Shivi Drori Gva'ot Winery
GVA'OT WINERY
Shivi Drori, winemaker “I really like the first stage of Dr. Shivi Drori, is a professor at
“Our winery is based on growing alcoholic fermentation, when the Ariel University. He conducted
the best grapes possible, in one hidden potential of the grapes is extensive research into ancient
of the best terroirs in Israel. starting to show itself, and the grape varieties, resulting in the first
This involves a unique irrigation sugar and primary aromas gradually bottlings of bituni and jandali grapes
program which I developed, aiming make way for alcohol and more in Israel. Gva'ot Gofna Pinot Noir
to minimize irrigation (to some complex aromas. This is also the is a standout, as is the top of the line
vineyards, no irrigation) as a part where the right eye and hand Masada, but really, anything from
way to enhance complexity and can make the difference, and Gva'ot is worth trying.”
concentration of the wines. produce a great wine.” Kratz’s verdict: “I’m a huge fan
“Our precise winemaking process Daphna Roth and Greg Raykher, of Gva'ot wines. Pop open any
is aimed to reveal the potential of judging duo, had this to say about bottle of Gva'ot and you will have
these great grapes and build finesse Gva'ot: “[Gva'ot is] a winery that a transcendent experience. Superior
and elegance on one hand, and wine- never disappoints and is always on blending, fruit-forward flavor and
aging potential on the other.” the cutting edge. Gva'ot’s winemaker, sustained finishes.”

RANKINGS
Shiloh Winery
SHILOH WINERY
with a particular QPR sweet spot
at the Secret Reserve line. Amichai
Lourie, the winemaker, is a great
guy, and seems to be one of the
hardest-working wine salespeople in
Israel (at least based on the number
of pre-Corona steak dinners he was
hosting and pouring at all over the
world). We hosted Amichai at our
Amichai Lourie, winemaker house for a tasting, and he could
“I think my main goal is to connect not have been more gracious and
people to the land of Israel through generous with his wine and his
Shiloh wines. That’s why when people time. Really, all wines in the Shiloh
compliment Shiloh wines or when portfolio are highly recommended,
I’m asked how it is that our wines are although we have a sweet spot for
receiving gold medals and high scores, their merlots, which grow really well
I give the credit to Eretz Israel.” in the Shomron.”
Most enjoyable aspect of Kratz had only good things to
winemaking? “This question is easy to say about Shiloh as well. “Amichai land of Israel. In every bottle he
answer: My favorite part is working in Lourie is the most intentional kosher releases, he communicates immense
the vineyards, and to be more specific, winemaker in the industry. Everyone potential, hope and a celebration of
planting a new vineyard.” knows him, and everyone respects Israel’s unique Mediterranean terroir.
Raykher summed up Shiloh as “a him. His wines are a celebration of That is what you buy when you
really solid wine at every price point, the winemaking region and of the purchase a bottle of Shiloh.”

IT’S A
CONSENSUS:
90
points
RANKINGS
Covenant Winemakers Jonathan Hajdu and Jeff Morgan Covenant California
COVENANT
Jeff Morgan, founder lot winemaking, creating wines that
“As ‘founding winemaker,’ I have enhance people’s everyday meals and
developed the winemaking techniques special moments.
and protocols that we follow in both “My favorite part of the
California and Israel. They include winemaking season is tasting the
native yeast fermentations and wines about a month after harvest. Jeff and Jodie Morgan at Covenant
minimal—if any—filtration or fining. Very often this is the moment when Winery, Berkeley
I also lead the blending process for the character of a wine is revealed;
all our wines. The goal is to maintain it’s a moment of discovery.” is a living legend. He and Jonathan
stylistic integrity and continuity for “Covenant has rightly earned its Hajdu, a true industry star, are
the brand based on my palate and ‘cult status’ in kosher winemaking,” ambassadors of kosher wine, and
preferences.” said Kratz. “It gives me great they are bringing the entire industry
personal pride that Covenant’s along with them. I am proud to have
Jonathan Hajdu, winemaker Sonoma wines are on the menu at Covenant wines in my cellar as well,
“Covenant’s vision, for me, has high-end non-kosher eateries like as I know they are good investments
always been quality-focused, small- The French Laundry. Jeff Morgan that will only improve with time.”
Judge Jeff Katz shared what he
loves about Covenant. “Highlights
from Covenant include the bright,
crisp and deep Chardonnay Lavan,
the blackberry and subtly spiced
Covenant Cabernet Sauvignon
and the co-fermented merlot and
zinfandel heavy Tribe Proprietary
Red. Each varietal evokes a different
and uniquely pleasurable experience,
which may be due to the unique
fermenting, pressing and aging
processes each wine goes through.
Covenant has a wine for everyone, at
Covenant Israel Winemakers Jeff Morgan and Ari Erle every price point.”

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Elvi Clos Mesorah grapes Elvi Winery
ELVI WINERY
Ana Aléta, winemaker and a half from Barcelona). Just the
“Immersed in the Mediterranean, nicest people, making history as well
the expression of the terroir is our as great wine.
main goal, leaning on the years of Judge Yeruchum Rosenberg had
experiences, that year after year we this to say about Elvi: “The Cohen
can take from the field. Without a family puts such effort and care into
doubt one of our main objectives every aspect of their winemaking—
is preserving the ecosystem while Owners Ana Aléta and Moises Cohen from the soil to what grows around
trying to take the best of what nature it. Moises really understands the
has given us to make the best wine released to the market. The moment science behind the process. They
possible, with the unique expression of when all the work from the last produce a wide range of wines, and
the land we are in. Small productions, months or years comes down to the the disparity in price has no effect on
handmade care of the vines, separated bottle. The memories come back; the quality of the wine.”
vinification, not accelerating any the nuances of the vintage takes you Kratz shared the tasters’ enthusiasm:
process, all in its precise moment. At to what the wine will be like in the “I greatly enjoyed meeting and
Elvi Wines we make wines so that following months and years; new tasting wine with David Cohen Aléta
anyone can enjoy and try and find the challenges. It’s a constant dialogue [Anna’s son] last year, shortly before
correct wine for each occasion.” between the present and the past, the COVID lockdown,” she said.
Her favorite part of the between knowledge and intuition.” “The Herenza wines are excellent,
winemaking process? “Definitively Judges Roth and Raykher's take on so floral and complex, and even the
it would be the moment of opening Elvi: “This is the first Jewish-owned entry-level wines (the Vina Encina
a bottle to decide if it’s ready to be winery in Spain since 1492. Amazing line) are great table wines and
people, a great family. Dr. Moises extremely well-priced.”
Cohen is in charge of the vineyards Judge Jeff Katz agreed with his
and distribution and his wife Anna is colleagues: “Whether enjoying the
the winemaker. Their son David works Clos Mesorah, the Herenza Crianza,
with his father and their daughter the Vina Encina Tempranillo or any
helps out and is expected to become of the 13 wines produced by Elvi
a winemaker, too. The Herenza line Wines, I am transported to one of
covers different price points within six provinces in which Elvi’s grapes
Rioja, from an entry level to Crianza in Spain are grown. Each varietal is
to Reserva. The Clos Mesora is a top- both fruit forward and highlights
of-the-line estate wine produced high the terroir from which its grapes
in the mountains in Monsant (a really were sourced. It is worth taking your
special place to visit, about an hour senses on a trip to Spain.”

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RANKINGS
THE GREAT BRUTS

The 10 best dry kosher sparklers,
plus five budget wines affordable for any occasion
By Gamliel Kronemer
D
uring the past few years one of the major black grapes, pinot noir and pinot meunier; and one
news stories—and one that will have long white grape, chardonnay. After fermenting separately,
repercussions—has been Brexit, the United wines from the different varietals—and often from
Kingdom’s exit from the European Union, which was different vintages—are blended together and bottled
completed at the end of last year. Brexit has brought to with additional yeast. Thereafter they are aged in their
light a number of lingering conflicts between Britain bottles for at least 15 months before the lees (sediment
and its neighbors, and while many of these conflicts will formed during fermentation and aging) are removed, a
likely be ameliorated in the years to come, one of the little additional wine and sugar (known as the dosage) are
oldest of conflicts is likely to linger: the disagreement added, and a final cork is put in each bottle.
between the French and British over how to best enjoy This Champagne formula has been copied frequently,
that great sparkling wine from the north of France, and as a result, good, or even great, Champagne-
Champagne. like wines are now available from all over the world.
The French like their Champagne young and fresh, Fortunately, this is also true in the kosher wine world.
whereas the British prefer to drink it old. The French Several good or great kosher sparkling wines are now
believe that Champagne is a truly versatile wine that can available, including an increasing number from some of
be a great accompaniment to virtually any dish, whereas France’s world-famous Champagne houses.
the Brits generally think that Champagne is best when So when The Jewish Link asked me to come up with a
served without any food. Finally, the French like to type of wine to review for their inaugural Wine Guide,
drink Champagne morning, noon and night, as often I asked if I could do a review of kosher bruts. Brut is the
as they can afford it, whereas the British prefer to save term that the French use to describe dry sparkling wine.
Champagne for special occasions, or as English novelist (While sweet sparkling wines can be very enjoyable,
Evelyn Waugh once advocated, Champagne “is a wine for comparing them to their dry cousins is like comparing
(frequent) occasional use.” apples to oranges.) Over a period of a few days, in a series
The one point both the British and French do agree of blind tastings, I evaluated several, all of which were
on is that Champagne is a truly splendid wine. They quaffable. Several were good, and a few achieved true
are right. Champagne is made from a blend of two excellence.
THE TOP 10:

1. Laurent-Perrier, La Cuvée Brut, Champagne, NV [Kosher Edition]: Consistently one
of the best kosher Champagnes on the market (I first reviewed it in 2005 and have tasted
it several times since), this rich, straw-colored, chardonnay-driven champagne is crisp, dry
and ever-so-enjoyable. Look for a nose of apples, quince, Meyer lemons and wildflowers,
with a light whiff of cinnamon, all playing against a yeasty, creamy background. The flavor
has elements of lemons, apples, quince, Seville oranges and cream, with wet gravel showing
towards the back of the palate. Well structured with bracing acidity that cuts through the rich
creaminess, this is a truly delightful wine. Score: A. $75.

RANKINGS
2. Drappier, Brut Nature, Champagne, NV 3. Laurent-Perrier, Cuvée Rosé,

[Kosher Edition]: Made from 100% pinot noir, this Champagne, NV [Kosher Edition]:
dry, dark-straw-colored, medium-to-full bodied While there are now a growing number
blanc de noirs has a thick, almost beer-like mousse of kosher rosé Champagnes on the
of large active bubbles. Bone dry, this wine was market, Laurent-Perrier’s was the first
made without the typical dosage of sugar added available in the U.S.—I remember first
after the disgorgement. The complex nose has a tasting it in, I believe, 1999—and it has
strong limestone element, with whiffs of apricots, consistently been the best rosé in my
apples, Chinese winter melon, bitter orange, tastings. Made from 100% pinot noir,
honeydew, heather and yeasty bread. The rich which is macerated with the skins for two to three
flavor moves from Seville oranges at the front of the palate, days, this full-bodied, dark peach to rose-colored
to apples and melon mid-palate, to a mineral and cream- wine has flavors and aromas of peaches, kumquats,
like finish. While a truly delightful Champagne, the lack of strawberries, raspberries, violets and honeysuckle, all
dosage reduces the wine’s cellaring potential. Best consumed played out against a rich layer of cream. This was the
within six to nine months of purchase. Score: A. $50. creamiest wine in the tastings. Score: A. $140.
4. Barons de Rothschild, Rosé, 5. Drappier, Rosé de Saignée, Brut,

Champagne, NV [Kosher Edition]: In Champagne NV [Kosher Edition]: While
2007 the two branches of the Rothschild most Champagne houses make their rosés by
family, famous for their Bordeauxs, blending a red wine with a white (e.g., Barons
launched their own Champagne house, and de Rothschild), a handful of houses (e.g.,
have been producing kosher wines almost Laurent-Perrier and Drappier) make their
since their initial release. Their rosé, a blend rosés by macerating the grape skins with the
of 85% chardonnay and 15% pinot noir, has wine. This is known as the saignée (bleeding)
a bouquet of grapefruit, apples and yeasty technique. Made from 100% pinot noir,
beignets, with whiffs of mango and vanilla. macerated with the skins for two days, this
Look for flavors of strawberries, quince and Meyer wine has a dark-peach color and an abundance of tiny,
lemons at the front of the palate, moving to cantaloupe active bubbles. The nose is an intriguing combination of
mid-palate, and that yeasty beignet flavor running strawberry jam and forest floor, with notes of citrus and
throughout. If the Laurent-Perrier rosé is all about cream. Look for flavors of strawberries, peaches, lemons
richness and cream, this Rothschild rosé in comparison and yeast, with an earthy and minerally background, and
is all about crispness and restraint. Score: A. $115. a creamy finish. Score: A/A-. $60.
6. Hagafen Cellars, Brut Rosé, Napa 7. Drappier, Carte d’Or, Brut, Champagne
Valley, 2017: This is the only non- NV [Kosher Edition]: The classic expression of
Champagne to rank among the Champagnes the house of Drappier—the 91-year-old owner
in the tasting. A blend of 80% pinot noir and of the house says that he has drunk it every day
20% chardonnay, this medium-bodied, dark- since 1952—is a blend of 80% pinot noir, 15%
peach colored wine has floral, earthy flavors chardonnay and 5% pinot meunier. Dark straw
and aromas with elements of raspberries, in color, with a medium body, this wine has a
sweet citrus, smoke and yeast. Well bouquet of orange blossom, honey, tangerines and
structured, with a light mineral undertone, apples. Look for flavors of peaches and citrus,
this vintage should be able to be cellared for with notes of heather honey, Chinese winter
at least five years. Score: A/A-. $48. melons, yeasty bread and wet limestone. Score A-. $50.

RANKINGS
8. Barons de Rothschild, Brut, Sometimes there are occasions that call for
Champagne, NV [Kosher Edition]: A sparkling wine, even if the pocketbook does not.
blend of 60% chardonnay and 40% pinot So with that thought in mind, here are five good
noir, this medium-bodied, straw-colored sparkling wines for $20 or less:
wine has an active mousse of tiny bubbles.
The woodsy nose has elements of bramble, 1. Koenig, Crémant d’Alsace Brut, Alsace, NV: This
pears, quince and roasted nuts. Look for light straw-colored sparkler has a light to medium body
flavors of pears, apples and quince, with and a rich mousse of large bubbles. Look for flavors and
a nice level of acid, and a just-light hint aromas of apples, peaches, honeydew and citrus, with a
of cream on the finish. More restrained lightly creamy background. Score: B+. $20.
in style than the other Champagnes I tasted, this
wine is lacking the mineral quality that I have always 2. Freixenet, Excelencia, Brut, Cava, NV [Kosher
considered the mark of a great Champagne. Score Edition]: This dark straw-colored Spanish sparkler
A-/B+. $115. has a rich mousse of large bubbles and a bouquet of
peaches, apricots and lychees with a pleasant hint of
oiled leather. Look for flavors of peaches, apricots and
cantaloupe, with a yeasty overtone and notes of lemon
9. Hagafen Cellars, Cuvée Brut, Napa and cream on the finish. Score: B+. $18.
Valley, 2017: This blend of 60% pinot noir
and 40% chardonnay has a light peach color 3. Gilgal, Brut, Golan Heights, NV: Made from
equal parts chardonnay and pinot noir, this light
that most would classify as a rosé. “We did
straw-colored, light- to medium-bodied wine has
not do such a good job of controlling color
a bouquet of apples, oranges and baking bread. The
this vintage,” admitted winemaker Ernie
flavor is dominated by apples and buttery croissants,
Weir, but however you want to classify it,
with a hint of Seville orange zest towards the back of
this is a very enjoyable wine. Look for flavors
the palate. Score: B+. $19.
and aromas of strawberries, orange blossoms,
cantaloupe and citrus zest all playing 4. Contessa Annalisa, Prosecco, NV: This very
together nicely on a background of yeasty bread. easy-to-drink Italian sparkler has a light to medium
Drink within the next four years. Score: A-/B+. $55. body, a light straw color and an abundance of bubbles
both large and small. Look for flavors and aromas of
lemons, apples and honey, with just a whiff of lime
zest. Score: B. $15.
10. Covenant, Blanc de Blancs,
California, 2020: Technically speaking, 5. De La Rosa 613, Yayin Regal, Dry Sparkling
this bright straw-colored wine is a Muscat, Austria, NV: While I really tried to restrict
carbonated wine, not a sparkling wine. my tastings to dry wines, this enjoyable Austrian
(The wine was born when Covenant’s wine—I’d class it as a semi-dry—snuck into my
former cellar master decided to see tastings. Bright straw-colored and light-bodied,
what would happen when he put some this wine has flavors and aromas just redolent of
of the winery’s Tribe Chardonnay into juicy lychees and honeysuckle, and is endowed with
a SodaStream.) Look for flavors and enough acid to give the wine structure. Score: B. $20.
aromas of apples, lemon, mango, key limes
and honey. Very enjoyable, with a bracing acidity, Oh, and as for that age-old disagreement between the
but completely lacking the creamy yeastiness of a French and the British: Well, as the French would say,
Champagne-method sparkling wine. Score B+. $38. “Vive la différence!”
PLEASE NOTE:
Wines are scored on an ‘A’-‘F’ scale where ‘A’ is excellent, ‘B’ is good, ‘C’ is flawed, ‘D’ is very flawed,
and ‘F’ is undrinkable. Prices listed reflect the prices in the New York/New Jersey region.

Israeli Tradition.French Class.
Made of Sde Calev Vineyard's choice grapes, Ya'ar Levanon epitomises the restoration of an
ancient winemaking heritage, blended with the finest French winemaking tradition.
Ramat Hevron, the historic wine-growing region dotted with wine presses dating back to
the Temple days, once again produces wines fit for a King. Savor them! ‫כשר לפסח למהדרין‬
IMPOTRETED BY
RANKINGS
‘STICKY’ SWEETS
FOR THE SWEET
A top 10 list of kosher dessert wines
By Joshua E. London
O
ne of life’s indispensable with sulfur dioxide or by chilling
staples—along with a before all the natural, or added, sugar
wide variety of red and has been consumed.
white table wines and, of course, Even before focusing on the juice
sparkling wines—are quality sweet or wine, there are also methods that
wines. While typically referred to can be directed upon the grapes
as “dessert” wines (or as “stickies” themselves, either while still on the
by wine aficionados, and often vine or before the juice has been
served with, or even as, the dessert pressed from the berries. Grapes can,
course), sweet wines need not be for example, simply be harvested
the final wine of a meal or social later; that is, left longer on the vine
engagement. Indeed, pairing such than would be necessary to produce
wines with sweet foods, or reserving dry wine. This additional growing
them for the end of the meal, is period allows the grape’s berries to
more of a fashionable guideline than ripen further and grow naturally
a firm rule. richer, promoting higher levels of
Also note that while kiddush or sugar, allowing for higher natural
sacramental wines are still a popular, residual sugar post-fermentation.
if highly particularistic, type of sweet and the relative levels of acidity, Grapes can also be deliberately
wine, it is a rather simple, limited tannins and carbon dioxide in the left well past normal ripening on
style. In fact, the quality sweet wine wine. Alcohol, glycerol and high the vine to desiccate and shrivel
category in the kosher market is levels of pectins can also present as a into super-sweet raisins, which
vibrant, offering consumers many noticeably sweet taste. can then be vinified into sweet
fabulous choices. There are all sorts of methods wine. An alternative version of
A quality-focused sweet wine is, for producing sweet wine. At the this dried-grape approach entails
simply put, a table wine that has simplest, and typically inexpensive purposefully drying the grapes after
been purposefully produced with end of the quality scale, wine they’ve been harvested but before
noticeable amounts of unfermented producers can simply add sugar or they’ve been vinified. Alternatively,
(or residual, in wine-speak) sugar so concentrated grape juice to wine in suitably cold climates the grapes
that some level of sweetness can be that has been stripped of any ability can be left so long on the vine
tasted on the palate. to evolve or re-ferment. Another that they naturally freeze, thereby
The term “sweet” is inexact, but approach, common with port-style concentrating the juice without the
generally a wine tastes sweet due wines, is to add distilled alcohol raisining (drying grapes naturally in
to the levels of residual sugar it to sweet fermenting grape juice to the air) experience—as in ice wine,
contains. The actual impact or halt fermentation in its tracks; the or Eiswein. Such freezing can also be
perception of this residual sugar on added alcohol effectively fortifies the done artificially, if desired.
one’s palate is largely understood wine against further fermentation. Far riskier, however, is the
to be significantly influenced by Yet another method is to stop practice—a very traditional approach
such factors as serving temperature fermentation by stunning the yeast in some wine regions—of waiting

RANKINGS
in hopes of the development and good fun (mevushal: $12); and is even
proliferation of Botrytis cinerea. now available in a can. (A 4-pack is
This is a common necrotrophic $15.) For a change of pace, consider
fungal plant pathogen that, under the entertaining and tasty Contessa
the right conditions, can lead to a Annalisa, Moscato Gold (mevushal:
beneficial type of rot. It is known $12). This Italian Moscato is sweet,
widely as “noble rot,” as opposed effervescent and refreshing, with
to the far more commonly induced clean floral, citrus and ripe-fruit
gray rot. This noble rot breaks the notes. I greatly enjoy Moscato, but
skin of the grapes, shrivels the or residual sugar, the greater the think of them more as the wine-
berries, concentrates the sugars, and need for counterbalancing acidity equivalent of soda, and often quaff
enhances and partially transforms the to prevent the wine from tasting them in a tumbler over ice.
flavors of the affected grapes. cloyingly sweet, like syrup. Acidity To come up with a serviceable
An inherently risky, labor- is, thus, one of the key factors in top 10 list, I’ve opted to aim for a
intensive—and thus expensive— making a sweet wine enjoyable to balance of variety, value and ease
approach, this harnessing of the consume. of availability without sacrificing
capricious Botrytis is central to the Happily, there are many wonderful quality.
production of such premium sweet kosher quality sweet wines readily Suffice it to say, there are many
wines as the best Sauternes from available, ranging from very sweet more top-quality kosher sweet wines
France, the top beerenauslesen and indeed to just sweet enough to be than just the following 10, and I
trockenbeerenauslesen of Germany deemed more sweet than dry. could easily fill the list with just the
and Austria, and the best Tokaji of I’ve chosen not to consider Sauternes and late-harvest wines
Hungary. Though uncommon, under kiddush-style wines. As much- available in the kosher market, or
laboratory-like control conditions, loved as these are for many with the ever growing variety of
the proliferation of Botrytis can also folks, they are not meant as table Port-style wines, but that would be a
be artificially induced for this effect; wines per se. While I would be disservice.
Israel’s Golan Heights Winery has remiss not to mention the various Think of the following list, instead,
very successfully used this method in moscato wines on the market, I’ve as my personal top 10 list—aimed
the past. consciously chosen not to include at easing exploration into the world
Whatever methods are employed them in this lineup. of quality kosher sweet wine. (The
in their production, the overall While the many moscatos out wines are listed in order of price,
success of a sweet wine hinges on the there are not exactly interchangeable, from low to high, and all prices
crucial dynamic of achieving a level these all tend to be of a piece. Suffice quoted are suggested retail pricing;
of balance between the perceived it to note that Bartenura Moscato, actual prices at time of purchase may
sweetness and the natural acidity. aka the “blue bottle,” remains the differ; all wines are widely available,
The higher the level of unfermented market leader and is always reliably unless noted otherwise.)
Without further ado, here are my top 10 kosher sweet wines for Passover 2021:
1. Binah, Celeste, Aromatic White Wine, Pennsylvania, 2. Herzog, Late Harvest,

2019 ($18-20; available directly from the winery at Chenin Blanc, Clarksburg,
binahwinery.com, or from kosherwine.com): A wonderfully California, 2018 (mevushal:
pleasing, distinctly perfumed, beautifully balanced, semi- $20): A vibrant, luscious,
sweet blend of the French-American hybrid grape varieties aromatic, fruity yet serious
Cayuga White (46%), Vidal Blanc (47%), and the distinctly sweet wine; offers delicious
aromatic Traminette (7%), all grown in Pennsylvania’s notes of pear, honey, peach,
Lehigh Valley. Vaguely Germanic in style, with fresh citrus apricot, mandarin oranges,
and stone fruit notes, peach, pear, lime, with floral and spice mango, custard and a smidgen of
accents. Distinctive and delicious. candied ginger.

RANKINGS
3. Covenant Wines, Late Harvest 4. Golan Heights Winery, Yarden, Heights

Botrytis Chardonnay, Sonoma Mountain, Wine, 2017 ($34 for 375ml): Made from
2016 ($30 for 375ml; the 2018 has been gewürztraminer grapes that have been
released, but the 2016 is more widely artificially frozen in the winery after harvest,
available in wine stores): This delicious, rather than naturally frozen on the vine; this
elegant, balanced nectar offers simply is nonetheless delicious, rich and aromatic
beautiful botrytized notes of stone fruits, with notes of lychee, apricot, peach, citrus
citrus, green apple, dried apricots, salted and spice, with great balancing acidity and a
caramel, honey and honeysuckle. Stunning. rewarding, complex finish. Very yummy.
5. Hagafen, Late Harvest, Sauvignon 6. Tzafona Cellars, Cold Climate,

Blanc, Napa Valley, 2009 (mevushal: $36 Cabernet Sauvignon Icewine, Niagara
for 375ml): Still vivacious and utterly Peninsula VQA (Canada), 2016 ($40 for
delightful with notes of honey, orange 375ml): Pleasingly luscious, with aromas
marmalade, caramelized almonds, mango, of ripe berries and cherries, and flavors of
dried apricots, candied ginger and citrus, mildly stewed sweet strawberries, jammy
with a long and rich finish. Beautiful, cherries, and blackcurrant. Rich, sweet
balanced, and delicious! and yummy.
7. Golan Heights Winery, Yarden, T2, 8. Dalton Winery, Anna, Dessert

2016 ($40): This Eastern Mediterranean Wine, Traditional Solera Method
take on the more traditional Portuguese (non-vintage, mevushal: $45):
Port-style wine is still my favorite of the A gradual or fractional blend of
various Israeli attempts at Port-like wine. multiple vintages of barrel-aged
A sweet fortified blend of Tinta Cão (54%) fortified, late-harvested Muscat of
and Touriga Nacional (46%), offering notes Alexandria wines, this is delicious,
of cherry, cranberry, black cherry, blueberry, floral, and immensely appealing with
caramel, subtle chocolate and a little spice; delicate, sweet notes of honeycomb, stone fruits, dried
shows a little heat on the finish, but still apricots, slightly sour cherries, honeysuckle and citrus
delicious and very satisfying. zest, all with a long, rich, and full finish. Absorbing.
9. Yaacov Oryah, The Old 10. Château de Rayne-Vigneau, 1st Grand Cru Classé,
Musketeer, Muscat of Alexandria Sauternes, 2014 (kosher edition; $150; there are several
and Chardonnay, 2008, 8 Years other kosher Sauternes on the market, all of them utterly
($119.99 for 500ml; available delicious and deserving of “top” status—especially the
exclusively from liquidkosher. Château Guiraud; I opted for one that is reasonably widely
com): Delicious as ever! A lively available and also especially delicious right now): This
and aromatic nose and a full, rich, is outstanding. A most harmonious blend of Sémillon
sweet and thick palate. Showcasing (80%) and Sauvignon Blanc (20%); creamy, yet relatively
floral, honeysuckle, crème brûlée light on the palate, and beautifully fresh, with pure notes
and toasted hazelnut aromas, with additional of honeysuckle, lemon, pineapple, pear, roasted almonds, and an
complex flavors of tropical fruits, warm spices array of spices, candied fruits, and with plenty of Botrytis character.
and candied citrus. Lush and intensely sweet, Dangerously delicious now, but will dramatically reward further
but not cloying. Very, very yummy. cellaring, under suitable conditions, over the next 15 years or so.

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TOP 25 REDS
$50 and Over
INAUGURAL EDITION
1 Château Cantenac Château Cantenac 2018

Brown Brown 1 2 3 4 5
2 Château Fontenil Château Fontenil 2018
3 Psagot Peak 2017
4 Covenant Israel Cabernet 2018
Sauvignon
5 Château Fayat Château Fayat 2015
6 Château Clark Château Clark 2018
7 Château Château 2016
6 7 8 9 10
Hauteville Hauteville
8 Golan Heights Yarden Syrah 2016
Winery Bar’On Vineyard
9 Tabor Winery Malkiya 2016
(single vineyard)
10 Shirah Bro Deux 2017
11 Gva'ot Gofna Reserve 2017
Cabernet
Sauvignon 11 12 13 14 15
12 Psagot Cabernet 2014
Sauvignon Single
Vineyard
13 Shiloh Mosaic 2017
14 Golan Heights Yarden Merlot 2014
Winery Odem
15 Tabor Winery Limited Edition 2016
1/11,000
16 Flam Cabernet 2018
Sauvignon Reserve 16 17 18 19 20
17 Delta Omega Fusion 2018
18 Covenant Israel Syrah 2016
19 Jezreel Valley Argaman 2016
20 Tabernacle Betzalel Cabernet 2017
Sauvignon
21 Barkan Superieur 2017
Cabernet
Sauvignon
21 22 23 24 25
22 Tabernacle Ketoret 2017
Blend
23 Razi'el Razi’el 2018
Syrah-Carignan
24 Mony Via 2017
25 Gush Etzion Blessed Valley 2017

TOP 25 REDS
$25-$50
INAUGURAL EDITION
1 Gush Etzion Lone Oak Cabernet 2017

Sauvignon 1 2 3 4 5
2 Galil Mountain Yarden Cabernet 2017
Winery Sauvignon
3 Dalton Reserve Cabernet 2017
Sauvignon
4 Gva'ot Merlot 2017
5 Engel Cabernet Sauvignon 2017
6 Château Bruni Château Bruni 2016
7 La Forêt Blanche D’vir Cabernet 2017 6 7 8 9 10
Sauvignon
8 Tura Mountain Heights 2017
Cabernet Sauvignon
9 Twin Suns Twin Suns Special 2018
Edition Napa Cab
10 Shiloh Secret Reserve 2017
Cabernet Sauvignon
11 Château Les Roches 2016
Royaumont de Yon-Figeac 11 12 13 14 15
12 Shiloh Secret Reserve Petit 2017
Verdot
13 Drimia Cabernet 2017
14 Adir Kerem Ben Cabernet Sauvignon 2017
Zimra
15 Elvi Herenza Rioja 2017
Crianza
16 Gush Etzion Lone Oak 2017
Cabernet Franc 16 17 18 19 20
17 Or Haganuz Marom Blend 2018
18 Herzog Wine Special Reserve 2017
Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon
Lake County
19 Tabernacle Reserve Levite Blend 2017
20 Dalton Reserve Shiraz 2017
21 Covenant Israel Blue C Adom 2017
22 Château Haut-Médoc 2016
Lamothe-Cissac 21 22 23 24 25
23 Tabernacle Reserve Cabernet 2017
Sauvignon
24 Shiloh Shor Cabernet 2018
Sauvignon
25 Covenant Syrah 2018
Landsman

TOP 25 REDS
Under $25
INAUGURAL EDITION
1 Dalton Alma Crimson 2017

BDX Blend 1 2 3 4 5
2 La Forêt Blanche Talpiot 2017
3 Vignobles David Côtes du Rhône 2016
Le Mourre de Isle
4 Dalton Afsufa Levantina 2018
5 Carmel Appellation 2017
Cabernet Sauvignon
6 Barkan Gold Edition 2017
Cabernet 6 7 8 9 10
Sauvignon
7 Carmel Appellation Merlot 2017
8 Carmel Selected Mediteranean 2018
Style Blend
9 Hayotzer Genesis Shiraz 2017
10 Tishbi Vineyards Petit Verdot 2018
11 Abarbanel Special Reserve 2017
Rouge
11 12 13 14 15
12 Tabor Winery Adama Cabernet 2016
Sauvignon
13 Château Bellerives Château Bellerives 2018
Dubois Dubois
14 Ephod Regesh Cabernet 2017
Sauvignon
15 Delta Eta Blend 2019
16 Ella Valley Ella 2018
17 Borgo Reale Chianti Riserva 2016
18 Segal Whole Cluster 2018 16 17 18 19 20
Syrah
19 Barkan Classic Petite 2018
Syrah
20 Ella Valley EverRed 2017
21 Carmel Private Collection 2019
Winemakers Blend
Cabernet/Merlot
22 Dalton Alma Scarlet GSM 2017
Blend 21 22 23 24 25
23 Château Le Petit Château Le Petit 2018
Chaban Chaban
24 Or Haganuz Amuka Cabernet 2019
Sauvignon
25 Château Josephine Cabernet 2018
Sauvignon

TOP 25
INAUGURAL EDITION
WHITES
1 Covenant Chardonnay 2018
Lavan 1 2 3 4 5
2 Engel Chardonnay 2018
3 Domaine Pouilly Fumé 2018
Jean-Pierre
Bailly
4 Carmel Kayoumi 2017
Riesling
5 Shiloh Sauvignon 2019
Blanc
6 7 8 9 10
6 Covenant Blue C Viognier 2019
Israel
7 Binah Stella 2019
8 Avi Feldstein White Blend 2017
9 Pacifica Riesling 2018
10 Teperberg Vision Dry 2019
White
11 Abarbanel Unoaked 2019
Chardonnay 11 12 13 14 15
12 Matar Semillon 2019
Sauvignon Blanc
13 Tishbi Chardonnay 2019
Estate
14 Koenig Pinot Blanc 2018
15 Tzafona Riesling 2017
16 Cantina Vermentino 2019
Giuliano
17 Dalton Reserve Sauvignon 2018 16 17 18 19 20
Blanc
18 Or Haganuz Amuka 2019
Blanc
19 Ramon Albariño 2018
Cardova
20 Yarden Chardonnay 2018
21 Gush Etzion Gewurztraminer 2019
22 Lueria Roussanne 2019
23 Herzog Wine Special Reserve 2018 21 22 23 24 25
Cellars Chardonnay
Russian River
24 Segal Wild Fermentation 2019
Chardonnay
25 Bat Shlomo Sauvignon 2019
Blanc

FEATURE
LET’S POP
OPEN SOME
BUBBLY
Understanding and appreciating
kosher Champagne and
sparkling wines
By Yossie Horwitz
I
write this in the throes of winter, and I find nothing of civilization and the oil of government”), F. Scott
cheers me up more than a crisp glass of bubbly. Fitzgerald (“Too much of anything is bad, but too much
With all that is going on in the world around us, I Champagne is just right”) and Napoleon Bonaparte
doubt anyone is going to find good cheer and celebratory (“I drink Champagne when I win, to celebrate and I
vibes unwelcome, so the topic of sparkling wine (with drink Champagne when I lose, to console myself ”; a
Champagne at its core) seems particularly appropriate. quote plagiarized and bastardized by Churchill himself
Crisply refreshing and owning a near-perfect pairing into “In victory we deserve it, in defeat we need it”).
ability with a vast quantity of foods, this genre of wine How could these passionate advocates not have not
has been pigeonholed as a celebratory beverage and succeeded in convincing the wine-guzzling masses to
continues to fall short of gaining any real traction among incorporate it into their regular repertoire? If they don’t,
the mainstream kosher-drinking crowd. I hope my own view convinces at least some of you to
Centuries of celebrity quotes trumpeti Champagne reach for sparkling wine the next time you are looking
as a wine to be consumed early and often including for a refreshing and versatile wine.
from Winston Churchill (“Champagne is the wine While the British actually “invented” sparkling wine in
the 17th century, they failed to make it their own, partly
as a result of their inability to grow quality grapes during
their inferior dark and dreary English summers. It wasn’t
until 30 odd-years later that Champagne was born, after
a French monk named Dom Pérignon fiddled with the
process and helped create the luxurious wine by refining
a number of the processes. (While an avid winemaker
and oenophile, he wasn’t actually the “inventor” of
Champagne, per se.)
Despite prevalent usage around the globe as a
descriptor for any wine with bubbles, legally Champagne
may only refer to sparkling wine grown in the chalky
soil of France’s cool-climate Champagne Appellation
D’origine Contrôlée (AOC), which yields grapes with
considerable acidity contributing to Champagne’s food
compatibility. In order to be labeled as Champagne,
A Brut Rosé is served at the February 2020 Herzog-Rothschild the wine must also be produced in accordance with a
30th Anniversary dinner. (Tzvi Cohen/Royal Wines)
stringent set of rules comprising the traditional méthode

champenoise (the traditional method of making
Champagne described below). Located approximately A weeklyA weeklyonnewsletter
newsletter on kosher
kosher wine, wineries wine,
and other wine tidbits
wineries and other wine tidbits
90 miles east of Paris, the region covers approximately
84,000 acres of prime wine-growing soil spread among
Never buy a bad bottle of wine again.
319 villages (referred to as Crus). Approximately 90%
of this land is owned and farmed by nearly 15,000 Never buyuseaa bad
Could you
sale options?
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hand navigating the wine again.
many Pesach
independent growers with the remainder owned by the A weekly newsletter on kosher wine, wineries and other wine tidbits
Could
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of being navigatingbythe
disappointed themany
bottle
approximately 110 Champagne “Houses” and collectively Pesach
with the sale
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learn more
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about again.
the exciting
disappointed by the bottle
While the tradition of independent growers selling their and
withever-growing world of kosher wine?
the nicest label?
Could you use a hand navigating the many Pesach
crop to the houses continues for the most part, recent With Do you
a free
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subscription
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Yossie’s the exciting
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gainever-growing
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Are you tired of being disappointed by the bottle
world’s top kosher
wine experts. Yossie is a founding judge of The Jewish Week’s
and retaining all or part of their crop to produce, bottle with the nicest label?
annual Kosher Wine Guide, author of the Pesach Wine Buying
and market Champagne under their own names with Guide,Docreator
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you will receive Yossie’s
subscription Yossie’s
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in-depth information abouttodifferent
Yossie’s Corkboard
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and wineries and
grower Champagne and are prized for their quality Corkboard
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kosher gain access
world’s
wine. top kosher
wine experts. Yossie is a founding judge of The Jewish Week’s
and uniqueness among oenophiles around the world. to insights from the world’s foremost
Unfortunately there are no kosher grower Champagne
Get answers to questions like:
annual Kosher Wine Guide, author of the Pesach Wine Buying
kosher
Guide, wine
creator expert.
of the Each
worldwide Roshweek youCub
Chodesh willinitiative
wines available today (and given the methodology of receive recommendations from Yossie, a wine.
and has
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wines experience
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value world
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producing kosher French wine, I doubt there is any such founding
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wineries and
grower Champagne in our near future either). news What
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world ofwines
Kosher Wine Guide, author of the Pesach kosheravailable?
wine.
While there are a number of methodologies for Wine
Get Buying to
answers Guide,
Forcreator
questions of the
like:
a limited time, worldwide
all new subscribers
creating sparkling wines, méthode champenoise is will also be entered in a sweepstakes to
Rosh Chodesh initiative and writerwines
with
Which wines provide thewin sixvalue
best exclusive
for money?from
generally deemed the best, with many famed wine- unmatched professional experience
Yossie’s in the
personal cellar. *
Which wines will age well?

growing regions around the world producing wines in world of KosherJoin Wine.
the thousands who are already getting
What are the best mevushal wines
smarter available?
about wine every week!
this method including Spain (Cava), Italy (spumante
or prosecco (depending on the region it is from), and SUBSCRIBE
For a limited AT subscribers
time, all new
South Africa (Cap Classique). That said, there are Get answers towillquestions like:
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also be entered in a sweepstakes to
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Which wines provide the best value for money?
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they
spread across the entire range of geography, price and Join the thousands who are already getting
Which wines will age smarter
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methodologies. What are the best mevushal wines available?
The kosher wine market is still playing catch up with SUBSCRIBE AT
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some nice versions. Hagafen is a long(er)-time player in Join the thousands who are already getting
* No purchase necessary. New subscribers from 1/1/18 through 3/31/18 are eligible, provided they
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wine of their own. That said, some of the best kosher
sparkling wine available comes from Israel. The Golan
Heights Winery has been the market leader in this
SUBSCRIBE AT
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under the Yarden leader often ranking as one of my top
five kosher sparklers every year, accompanied by the
You can also follow Yossie’s Wine
none-too-shabby Brut Rosé and the insanely well-priced
and Culinary adventures at:
Gamla (Gilgal in the U.S.) Brut comprising the best
slate of kosher sparkling wines around. Other high-end yossies_corkboard
players are entering the market, with Matar releasing facebook.com/yossiescorkboard
a new sparkling wine (which I haven’t tasted yet) and
Castel having three different versions in the works (all @yossieuncorked
tasted last year, but it will be a while before they are
ready for market).

FEATURE
SPECIAL WINES
for Your Pesach Table
By Elizabeth Kratz
K
osher wine’s biggest nights of the year are fast buy my Pesach wines with my summer selections in
approaching. Yes, Pesach seders are the nights to mind: Don’t forget that prices are always best in April and
open really good, really big, really easy-drinking, many limited editions or new releases are mostly gone by
or really special kosher wines. While many might choose Shavuot. Here, I share some of the nicest bottles at every
simpler wines that go down easy; for me, selecting a price point I’ve tried during our tasting process, that I
different wine for each kos is always a joy. Plus, I always personally will be sourcing for my Pesach table and beyond.
Sentieri Ebraici Greco di Tabor Tannat Single Vineyard 2016 (vegan)

Tufo DOCG by Claudio I am a fan of Tabor wines, generally. They don’t compromise quality
Quarta 2018 or flavor with their vision for creating ecologically sustainable and
This is the only kosher Greco di vegan wines. The Malkiya Cabernet Sauvignon is one of my favorites.
Tufo currently on the market, The Tabor Single Vineyard Tannat ($36), however, is a horse of a
and at $29, it’s a good price for different color. Their tannat vineyard site, planted in 2009, is the first
a unique and extremely pleasing tannat ever planted in Israel. The vineyard has a rich basalt soil, and
wine. One caveat: This wine the vines are planted on a southern slope where they receive sunlight
should not be served right out most of the day. These conditions are particularly well-suited for
of the fridge. It must be brought closer to a bold, rich and fruity wine. The 2016 Tabor is full-bodied, with a beautiful
room temperature, to at least 50 degrees, balance of red fruits like strawberries, and oak, plus extremely pleasing notes
for the flavors to fully shine. The wine is of thyme and mint throughout. Serve this wine with a rich Pesach meal.
full-bodied, complex and rich, with strong
notes of nectarine and lemon, with a
distinctive mineral character at the finish. Shiloh Mosaic 2017
This straw-colored white wine is so lovely, Shioh’s flagship wine is a magnificent Israeli blend that is truly
fresh and vital. Enjoy this wine for the worth the higher-end price of $150. Buy it as a gift or just open it
Pesach meal first course of salads or fish. on seder night. This blend of 45% merlot, 21% cabernet franc, 20%
petit verdot and 14% cabernet sauvignon, was aged for 18 months in
French oak. It is a tour de force that celebrates all that is great about
Israeli wine. The rich notes of black fruit are immediate, with deep
Ramon Cardova dark chocolate or coffee on the nose. It is a multilayered wine that
Garnacha 2015 provides a full experience from nose to its rich, sustained finish. Dig
In the space of a year, I went into this complex, chewy wine with the Pesach meal.
from being “not that excited”
about Ramon Cardova’s
Spanish wines, to panic- Dalton Galilo 2017
buying the Old Vines Reserva This is the second time I’ve tried the 2017 Dalton Galilo, and I
2016, with everyone else I generally think this is a wine that will impress others. At $65, it
know, at Rosh Hashanah. Not can be a special Pesach gift for someone who loves wine. Galilo is
only do I love the newly released 2015 Dalton’s flagship wine, and this year it is a blend of 50% cabernet
Garnacha, but I also raved about their sauvignon from the Elkosh vineyard, 40% shiraz also from Elkosh,
2018 Albarino, a wonderful, snappy and and 10% grenache noir from the Even Menachem vineyard. These
fun white wine. The 2015 Garnacha is a varieties were fermented separately in individual barrels, and then
vibrant, rich, fruit-forward, berried wine blended together before resting for 20 months in oak barrels. On the
that has an astonishing brightness and nose, it veritably bursts with black fruit, cherry jam and cocoa. At the mid-
easy drinkability. At $20, the price simply palate, one feels the warming effects of the oak on the grapes, with an essence
can’t be beat for the quality. Enjoy as a of vanilla, followed by a sustained, silky finish. Open this wine a few hours
first or second kos. ahead of time, and enjoy it with the Pesach meal.

C O N S I S T E N T L Y AW E S O M E
IMPORTED BY
FEATURE
The Parade
of the Rosés
By Dr. Kenneth Friedman
I
t seems everywhere you look director of public relations and wide ceiling yet,” said Geller. The rosé
these days, the presence of pink education for Royal Wine Corp. category will not just be composed
wine is continually growing. “The constant growth, both in sales of entry-level easy-drinkers, but will
Even during a global pandemic that and offerings, has shown that it is include several higher-priced French
has continued into 2021, sales of rosé not a passing trend but a category offerings from Château Roubine,
have risen and the kosher market that is here to stay.” which produced three Cotes du
will see a greater quantity of rosé in Geller explained that this trend Provence rosés last year, but will offer
Spring 2021. is good for the market, considering three or four more rosés this year.
And for good reason: Rosé is that “the context in which rosé wines A particularly well-received
generally affordable, easy to drink, are often consumed, typically on rosé last year was that of Cantina
and universally considered fruity and a weeknight, [as part of ] a simple Giuliano, one of only three all-
fun. Virtually every winemaker who dinner or as a refreshing and relaxing kosher wineries in Europe, located in
makes kosher wine now produces drink on Shabbat makes it the type the heart of Tuscany and imported
a rosé, hailing from all parts of the of wine that helps to promote wine to the United States by Allied
world. as a culture in our community, away Importers, Inc. Produced from 100%
How do you like your rosé? Pale, from the sole obligations of kiddush Sangiovese, the rosé was a huge hit,
restrained and Provençal? Fruit- and other religious ceremonies.” selling out quickly.
forward and with more heft? Sweet? The kosher wine world will see “The right people, thank God,
Bursting with bubbles? Rest assured, well over 100 rosé offerings in 2021. found my rosé good very early in the
there’s a rosé being produced with “I don’t think we have reached a season,” owner and winemaker Eli
you in mind. Gauthier told me, “and everybody
Even with the 25% U.S. tariff on just kind of followed up on those
French wines taking effect in 2019, opinions.”
French wine imports continue to rise Gauthier produced 4,000 bottles
to the United States. Its driver? Rosé. of rosé last year, and plans to increase
While millennials have not bought to 5,000 bottles this year. “Being a
wine apace with older generations, small winery, there’s a bit of mazal
they most certainly are responsible to things,” said Gauthier. “I don’t
for the great boom in kosher rosé control everything perfectly every
sales. day, and wines have a way to just take
Just a decade ago, many a direction of their own sometimes.”
consumers—non-kosher and kosher As the growing rosé trend
alike—were unfamiliar with rosé, intersects with the equally
but with booming growth in all prevalent trend towards all things
areas of kosher food and wine, it kosher, wineries everywhere seek a
is only natural to expect a parallel toehold into this world. Importer
phenomenon to occur with the rise and distributor The River Wine,
of rosé. managed by Ami and Larissa
“The most noticeable trend of the Nahari, produces the Contessa
past five years has been the ascent Annalisa Collection, which sources
of rosé wines,” said Gabriel Geller, wines from Italian winemakers.

FEATURE
I asked winemaker Cristian surprise wine aficionados: “I can tell the majority of the rosé releases
Tombacco, producer of the 2020 you a secret. We used the leftover for 2021, it should be noted that
Contessa Annalisa rosé, what he rosé to sell in the non-kosher market, winners for me last year included
aims for when producing rosé for and we received rave reviews. I am the aforementioned Cantina
the American kosher market. even a big consumer of the kosher Guiliano from Italy; Israeli
“We understand the American rosé,” he said with a smile. offerings Carmel Appellation and
palate is a bit different than the The warming season will not Netofa LaTour; France’s Château
Italian,” said Tombacco. “The fruit only bring us a pink tidal wave, but Greysac and Château Roubine
needs to be more defined, with not will carry with it new and exciting La Vie en Rose; and California’s
as much acidity or tannin, with features such as J. Folk’s rosé in a can Shirah, Twin Suns and Herzog
a smooth and enjoyable flavor. (previewed below!) and all manners Lineage.
Specifically to this 2020 rosé, I of pink bubbles including (yes!) rosé However, we were able to taste a
think most people would enjoy Prosécco. few of the early entries to the market.
it, and not just kosher drinkers.” Considering my deadline on So let’s preview one each from Italy,
What Tombacco said next shouldn’t this piece fell just just prior to Israel and South Africa.
2020 Contessa Annalisa 2020 Flam Rosé 2020 J. Folk Rosé

Veneto IGT Rosé (in a can!)
Well, this is a very enjoyable early
When I spoke to the winemaker, entry into the 2020 “War of the Certainly a cool and welcome
Cristian Tombacco, I was intrigued Rosés.” The 2020 Flam is 71% syrah; addition to the kosher
to learn this rosé was made from 20% cab franc; 9% cab; and is a huge wine world is this portable,
pinot grigio. In the glass, melon to step back to excellent rosé for Flam. adorable can of rosé, hailing
coral pink color and clear. On the In the glass, pale pink and clear. On from South Africa. Bright
nose, fresh red fruits, strawberry and the nose, gobs of minerality, bright pink and clear in the glass,
raspberry, lemon, grapefruit. On the red fruit and wafts of salinity and with ripe raspberries and
palate, bright red ripe strawberry, ocean breeze. The palate shows pink citrus notes on the nose. The
stone fruits, with plenty of acid to grapefruit, tart red fruit, loads of palate shows ripe red fruits
keep it interesting. Long finish. salinity and minerality. There is a long, with enough acid to make it
Quite refreshing and enjoyable. tart acidic finish. A winner for me. enjoyable.

FEATURE
THE INNOVATOR:
Delta Winery’s Yehuda Kamisa
By Shimon Oppenheim
F
or a relatively young boutique
winery, Delta seems to be
making all the right moves.
One of the keys to its quick success
is its veteran winemaker, Yehuda
Kamisa. Breaking onto Israel’s wine
scene in 2019 with two 2017-vintage
red wines, three 2018-vintage whites,
a rosé and a dessert wine, Delta
Winery has expanded its latest
offerings to six reds and five whites
in addition to two rosés and a dessert
wine. Named for the fourth letter in
the Greek alphabet and hinting at the
winery’s vision, Delta signifies change Galilee grapes give my wines their
in scientific notation. Each of the unique flavors,” Kamisa said.
winery’s products takes its name from Producing 60,000 bottles in its
another Greek letter. Boldly packaged first vintage and well on the way to
in distinctive bottles with standout its 120,000 bottle goal, the boutique
labels and unique boxes, these wines winery has been interested in the
truly leave their biggest impression export market, especially the United
once tasted. The aromatic and crisp States, from day one. In order to
whites and fruit-forward and well- provide for the top quality needed to
Winemaker Yehuda Kamisa
balanced reds show the hand of a in the Delta vineyards.
launch in the high-end craft winery
mature, well-practiced winemaker. market, a large financial commitment
Kamisa, resident of the religious His restless genius continues to was made toward implementing the
communal village Or Haganuz, innovate, introducing first-class most advanced vineyard management
near Meron, is just 20 minutes white and rosé wines, including a techniques, acquiring the latest
south of Dalton, whose eponymous blushed sauvignon blanc and a rosé winemaking equipment and utilizing
winery Kamisa helped found and fume, produced by aging the rosé for the finest French wine barrels. “Our
continued to manage for over 10 six months in French barrels. goal is to make super premium wines,
years. At Delta, Kamisa is applying Situated in the Upper Galilee’s wines with great aging potential,”
lessons learned from his experience Dalton Industrial Park, most of Kamisa shared. “I am not interested
on Mount Meron: insistence on Delta’s white and red grapes grow in producing inferior wines for the
high quality, bold packaging and in the winery’s vineyard in Moshav mass market. We are keeping the
unique offerings. Some examples are Dalton. But Kamisa is also a big winery’s production relatively small
Free, a no-added sulfite wine, and believer in integrating grapes from so that we can ensure our quality.”
a dessert wine with the tongue-in- the Golan Heights and elsewhere
cheek name, Pi. He even managed in the Upper Galilee, which he Sponsored Content
to produce Kal, a dry cabernet sees as one viticultural region. Shimon Oppenheim represents Red
sauvignon with only 10% alcohol, a “Golan Heights grapes give my Garden Imports. Delta is part of his
difficult task in Israel’s hot climate. wines their body, whereas the portfolio.

The Herzog Winery’s bottling process
MEVUSHAL WINES,
Boiled Down
By Joshua E. London
T
he Hebrew term yayin “When correctly done,” said Ernie associated with kosher wine.” It
mevushal, literally cooked Weir, owner and winemaker of the basically helps protect and maintain
wine, is the Jewish legal term kosher Hagafen Cellars in Napa, the status of wine that is already
for kosher wine and grape juice—and California, “when done at the right kosher, or fit for Jewish religious life.
these are essentially interchangeable stage of the wine’s development, For unlike most other areas of the
products in this context—that using the right techniques, the kosher dietary code, the primary issue
undergo a special thermal processing mevushal process does not alter the with wine is not the ingredients, but
to a required temperature, specified wine at all.” the labor involved in its production,
by kosher food supervision agencies Weir produced his first mevushal and the handling of the wine once
guided by halacha, or Jewish law. wine in 1985, and all Hagafen’s wines the bottle is opened. Kosher wine
In the past, however, the word have been made mevushal since is essentially just wine made by
“mevushal” has had an association 1993. “When you know what you’re Sabbath-observant Jews, but keeping
with substandard quality wine. doing, and you’re doing it right,” it kosher requires strict controls—if
“Mevushal wine has gotten a bad added Weir, “the process doesn’t have the wine is also mevushal, however,
rap,” said Dovid Riven, president of any negative effect on the wine.” many of these handling restrictions
Kosherwine.com, the largest kosher This “heating of wine,” explained can be greatly relaxed.
wine e-commerce retailer in the Rabbi Nachum Rabinowitz, senior “In Jewish tradition wine is
United States, “but there are some rabbinic coordinator and wine expert considered a holy beverage,” said Jeff
truly outstanding mevushal wines for the Orthodox Union, “is done Morgan, the vintner and co-owner
today.” to relax the handling restrictions of the kosher Covenant Winery, in

FEATURE
As a winemaker who caters to

Jews around the globe, said Lourie,
“it is important to keep in mind that
outside of Israel, many people have
a real need for mevushal wine. They
should know that Shiloh Winery
aims to provide the best mevushal
wines we can.”
“Mevushal winemaking is
ultimately no more than an economic
consideration,” added Morgan.
Covenant has been producing four
mevushal wines under their Mensch
and Tribe labels since 2014.
“Because of halachic requirements,
proscriptions and interpretations,”
said Morgan, “we kosher
winemakers—particularly in
America—are obliged to consider
making mevushal wine in order
to have our wines served in public
Herzog winemaker Joe Hurliman inspecting grapes at harvest. settings, like at kosher restaurants
and kosher catered events.”
California and Israel, “but making it minimizes any potential negative “In my experience,” added Lourie,
mevushal alters the wine’s spiritual impact on the wine. “mevushal is like almost any other
essence” and “makes the wine less “Good wine comes from good challenge that one chooses to
susceptible to ritual proscription” so grapes,” said Amichai Lourie of the undertake—if you are willing to
“anyone—whether kosher or not— Israeli Shiloh Winery, pointedly commit to doing it well, to learn how
can open a bottle of mevushal wine refraining from emphasizing any to do it the best way you can, the
without affecting its kosher status.” negative phrasing, “a winemaker can results can be amazing!”
Further, as Morgan noted, “while mess it up, certainly, but starting “There were, and still are, a lot of
mevushal does literally mean cooked with high quality grapes gets you naysayers to the mevushal process,”
or boiled, in reality, mevushal wines more than halfway there—you can noted Weir, whose Hagafen wines
are not quite heated to a boiling make good wines, you can make bad have been routinely praised for their
temperature.” Indeed, contemporary wines; similarly you can make good quality and sell well outside of the
kosher winemakers—being serious mevushal wines, or bad mevushal kosher market, “but I think pretty
and technically proficient—have wines.” much that our track record and
developed and adapted processes to Some of Shiloh’s most critically longevity has proven to people that
render wines mevushal that greatly and commercially successful this is a process that, when done
minimize, if not eliminate, potential wines are also made mevushal. correctly, does not harm the wine.”
adverse effects. “The process,” said Lourie, “is less “Folks should stop beating up
One of the most widely significant than the ingredients.” on mevushal wine,” said Riven,
used processes for thermally Noting that his mevushal wines “for mediocre wine is mediocre,
processing wines is known as flash often show better in tastings and good wine is good, and great wine
pasteurization, in which the wine often get better ratings from critics is great—the technical processes
is passed through a heat exchanger than his non-mevushal wines, Lourie of how quality and standards are
that allows for rapid heating and feels it “it is important to provide maintained is just not so compelling
cooling, so that the liquid is both those who need mevushal wines with a conversation these days. The fact is,
brought to the required temp and quality options—rather than garbage there are consistently great mevushal
then cooled “in a flash.” This speed or uninspired plonk.” wines being made every year.”

THE ABARBANEL
Family-Owned, Single-Vineyard, Small-Batch Boutique French Kosher Wines.
A 29 Year Medal-Winning Tradition
276 Medals Won Since 1992!
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Or Order Online from Kosherwine.com
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INAUGURAL EDITION MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781

Vineyards drenched in Mediterranean sun, cliffs overlooking the unique

4 JLINK WINE GUIDE • MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781

MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781 • JLINK WINE GUIDE 5

How Kosher Wine

6 JLINK WINE GUIDE • MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781

MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781 • JLINK WINE GUIDE 7

In France, workers pick grapes during

and costly to maintain. Meanwhile, just in kosher wine. As analyst Rob

8 JLINK WINE GUIDE • MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781

“I’m happy to put

“As soon as it came

have pivoted from in-store sales,” in consumer behavior, “things never

10 JLINK WINE GUIDE • MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781

“You talk to people who are

12 JLINK WINE GUIDE • MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781

experienced a lot of steady growth,” density of kosher consumers, sales

MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781 • JLINK WINE GUIDE 13

THE HEAT IS ON:

A row of heat-destroyed chardonnay at the Four Gates Winery, “From a

14 JLINK WINE GUIDE • MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781

scotch,” explained Benyamin Cantz,

MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781 • JLINK WINE GUIDE 15

smoke taint in the cellar. We had a

16 JLINK WINE GUIDE • MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781

on Sunday,” recalled Cantz. “What

18 JLINK WINE GUIDE • MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781

MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781 • JLINK WINE GUIDE 19

20 JLINK WINE GUIDE • MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781

Curated Low Alcohol

Premium Wines Sweet Seder Sips

Our Fancy for Pesach From iconic classics like

ANY $150+ ORDER Expires: 4/15/2021

Welcome to The Jewish Link

22 JLINK WINE GUIDE • MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781

OUR JUDGES IN ACTION

MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781 • JLINK WINE GUIDE 23

Michal and Yeruchum Rosenberg Greg and Daphna, finally indoors

24 JLINK WINE GUIDE • MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781

Wineries of the Year By Michal Rosenberg

26 JLINK WINE GUIDE • MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781

Shivi Drori Gva'ot Winery

MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781 • JLINK WINE GUIDE 27

28 JLINK WINE GUIDE • MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781

Covenant Winemakers Jonathan Hajdu and Jeff Morgan Covenant California

30 JLINK WINE GUIDE • MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781

Elvi Clos Mesorah grapes Elvi Winery

32 JLINK WINE GUIDE • MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781

THE GREAT BRUTS

THE TOP 10:

34 JLINK WINE GUIDE • MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781

2. Drappier, Brut Nature, Champagne, NV 3. Laurent-Perrier, Cuvée Rosé,

4. Barons de Rothschild, Rosé, 5. Drappier, Rosé de Saignée, Brut,

MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781 • JLINK WINE GUIDE 35

36 JLINK WINE GUIDE • MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781

38 JLINK WINE GUIDE • MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781

1. Binah, Celeste, Aromatic White Wine, Pennsylvania, 2. Herzog, Late Harvest,

MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781 • JLINK WINE GUIDE 39

3. Covenant Wines, Late Harvest 4. Golan Heights Winery, Yarden, Heights

5. Hagafen, Late Harvest, Sauvignon 6. Tzafona Cellars, Cold Climate,

7. Golan Heights Winery, Yarden, T2, 8. Dalton Winery, Anna, Dessert

40 JLINK WINE GUIDE • MARCH 2021 / NISAN 5781

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