Our host for the April edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday, the blogosphere’s monthly virtual wine tasting event, is John of The Corkdork. He selected Fine Kosher Wine as this month’s theme in which he asked us to taste something reputed to be Fine Kosher Wine and then write about it. In the past, kosher wines have been stigmatized, but according to The Corkdork, there are a host of good ones out there, many you may be surprised to learn are kosher.

Kosher wine must be produced and handled only by Jews, from the moment the grapes enter the barrels until it is poured into the wineglass. Wine that is to be handled by non-Jews, such as distributors, waiters and salespeople, must go through a process to make it mevushal. In Hebrew the word mevushal means cooked or boiled. While not literally boiled, mevushal wines are flash pasteurized to a temperature that meets the requirements of an overseeing rabbinical authority. Anyone, Jewish or not, may open a mevushal wine and it will remain kosher. However, non-mevushal wines should be opened and poured by Jews only.

I was a bit skeptical of this theme at first but was game to try something new and different. Unfortunately, as you’ll see from my tasting notes below, the two wines we tasted were disappointing.

Let me say that our choices were limited. I can only imagine how difficult these wines are to find in rural areas when we had trouble locating them in Seattle. After a few calls to the larger wine shops in town that we learned do not carry any kosher wines, we found a small selection at a local Jewish shop called Tree of Life Judaica. They sell many Jewish items and books and offer a small kosher wine selection. According to the salesperson, the 2006 Galil Mountain Shiraz and the 2007 Teal Lake Shiraz that we purchased are two of the best wines they carry.

We chose these two so that we could blind taste two wines of the same varietal from two different parts of the world. Also, the Teal Lake is mevushal while the Galil Mountain in non-mevushal. We thought these two wines would provide us with an interesting comparison. Interesting? Yes. Good? No.

2006 Galil Mountain Shiraz (Galilee, Israel): Non-mevushal. Ruby red and very aromatic, perfumy. Red fruits prevalent up front. Then an earthiness appears on the mid-palate and sticks with you through the finish. Medium-bodied with medium tannins and a long finish. Gets better with food but is still not very good.
Quality: 2.5 stars (out of 5)
QPR: NR (not recommended)
Where to buy: Tree of Life Judaica (Seattle), $18.99

2007 Teal Lake Shiraz (South Eastern Australia): Mevushal. Purple with slight browning around the edges (unusual for such a young wine). Stinky with aromas of manure and burnt rubber. Tastes like burnt grape juice. Medium-bodied and low tannins. A very simple wine with a long, bitter finish.
Quality: 2 stars (out of 5)
QPR: NR (not recommended)
Where to buy: Tree of Life Judaica (Seattle), $13.99

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