By: Marc

Marc — Thu, 03 May 2012 00:44:56 +0000

This column is so off base and outdated as to verge on being offensive. There are numerous kosher wines, mevushal and not, that have scored in the 80s and 90s by Wine Spectator, Robert Parker and others for the last 15+ years. The concord grape nonsense makes up a minuscule part of the kosher wine world, and even so is relegated to ritual purposes – it is not drunk as a table wine. The kosher wine world is no stranger to mediocre wines, but neither is the wine world in general. As with all things, standouts are the minority, where mediocre makes up much of the field. I happen to be a fan of the wineries whose wines got a mention in this column, but they are far from the only quality entrants. And Israel isn’t the only or necessarily the best producer of kosher wines. There are a number of US wineries producing fantastic kosher wine (mev and non-mev), as is the case in France, Spain, Argentina, Chile, Australia, and elsewhere. The NYT and WSJ continue the trot out this “kosher wine doesnt suck anymore” trope for their annual pre-Passover columns, but at least the content that follows does a reasonable review of the offerings out there. Also, “mevushal” does not mean “purified”. It translates to “cooked” or “boiled” and, for purposes of Jewish law renders the product “not wine” rather than “purified.”

Comments on: Why Is Kosher Wine So Bad?

By: Marc