Kosher wines for the holidays, Sept. 21, 2022. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

For many Jews the High Holidays — a stretch of days from Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, through Yom Kippur, the day of atonement — are an especially meaningful time in the Jewish calendar where festive meals and drink, particularly wine, are embraced.

“Wine is an extremely important part of the holidays and of every single ritual,” said Marianne Novak, an orthodox rabbi and faculty member at the Akiba-Schechter Jewish Day School in Hyde Park.

For many American Jews, holidays wouldn’t taste the same without a bottle of Manischewitz or Kedem, the sweet, grapy sacramental kosher wines they grew up with. “But in our home, we also like wine to taste special,” Novak said. “Just like the food we make, the special plates we use or the ritual objects that we have, choosing a wonderful wine is elevating. It takes on something beyond just ritual and gives it a little bit of holiness.”

For Jews who adhere to kashrut, or Jewish dietary laws, the landscape of fine kosher wines from around the world — whether New Zealand sauvignon blanc, Napa cabernet, Champagne or Israeli grenache — have never been more exciting, said Gabriel Geller, spokesperson for Royal Wine Corp.

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Though iconic in American Jewish life, “sacramental wines like Kedem and Manischewitz are increasingly small players among kosher wines,” Geller said. Royal Wine Corp. owns and operates Kedem but is also the largest producer, exporter and importer of fine kosher wines and spirits in the world.

For less-observant Jews as well as non-Jewish friends and family who take part in Jewish holidays, the complexities of Jewish wine traditions can be bewildering.

Fundamentally, kosher wines are produced identically to nonkosher wines. For a wine to be deemed kosher, or fit for consumption by observant Jews, however, the entire winemaking process, from the crushing of grapes through bottling, must be handled by Sabbath-observant Jews. Any additives must be kosher and all tools and equipment used exclusively for kosher winemaking.

For wines to retain their kosher status after bottling, they must be opened and handled only by Sabbath-observant Jews to ensure they’re not associated with idolatry. A wine that is mevushal, or heated, is considered unfit for the worship of idols, offering a workaround for observant Jews who may drink wine in the presence of non-Jews or nonobservant Jews, perhaps at a dinner party with mixed company, or restaurants and catered events with nonobservant staff.

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At home with family, “I wouldn’t necessarily seek out a mevushal wine,” Novak said. “If I’m having company of different faiths and different practices, however, choosing a mevushal wine just makes it easier so we can all enjoy being together.”

A commonly held misconception is that all kosher wines are heated, or worse yet, boiled, and thus inferior to nonkosher wines. But only a subset of kosher wines are mevushal, Geller said, and thanks to modern technology, the heating of modern mevushal wines is remarkably finessed. With technologies like flash pasteurization or flash detente, modern winemakers can instantaneously heat and then cool wine or grapes with little negative effect on flavor or freshness.

“Most consumers aren’t likely to notice the difference between the mevushal and nonmevushal versions of an identical wine,” Gellar said.

For many progressive or secular Jews, drinking kosher wines is a special observance reserved for holidays like Rosh Hashana that help them connect with their faith or family. For others, kosher wines are eschewed altogether.

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“Whether wine, or more specifically, a kosher wine is meaningful or important for a reform Jew to seek out is a very individual decision,” said Allison Tick Brill, an adjunct rabbi at Sukkat Shalom, a progressive congregation in Wilmette.

“If elevating the wine is a way to deepen your observance, then it can be very meaningful,” she said. “If typically you drink nonkosher wine, maybe Rosh Hashana is a nice opportunity to delve into kosher wine, or to select an Israeli wine.”

But for many progressive Jews, there’s a sense that kosher wine laws don’t reflect their progressive values, Tick Brill said.

For them, an “eco-kashrut approach that takes their own ethical values to create a system of intentional eating and drinking” might be more meaningful, she said. “Maybe that means choosing a wine that’s sustainably grown or wines where workers have been paid fairly.”

Kosher or not, “there are so many ways to make the wine you choose for the holidays special,” Tick Brill said. “In my family, it’s my dad who will pull a special bottle of wine from his collection for the holidays. Its sacredness comes from the care he puts into considering which bottle to select, and the thought he puts in to make our meal delicious and festive.”

Psagot Sinai 2020 Judean Hills White: A fresh-fruited yet luscious blend of chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, gewürztraminer and viognier with a subtly stony finish likely to please any dry white wine lover. Kosher. Mevushal. $25 at kosherwine.com

Covenant 2021 Lake County Sauvignon Blanc: A juicy California sauvignon blanc that’s plump with grapefruit and gooseberry flavors. Kosher. Not mevushal. $30 at kosherwine.com

Recanati 2019 Judean Hills Reserve Marawi: Produced in a partnership between Recanati, the Israeli winery, and a Palestinian vineyard, this is an aromatic, tangerine-kissed white made from marawi, a unique indigenous grape. Kosher. Not mevushal. $35 at kosherwine.com

Segal 2018 Judean Hills Whole Cluster Fermentation Syrah: Syrah fermented in whole clusters is classic to the northern Rhône of France, but this Israeli expression offers a vitality and perfume that’s quite swoon-worthy. It’s produced by Ido Lewinsohn, Israel’s second master of wine. Kosher. Not mevushal. $46 at kosherwine.com

Terra di Seta 2016 Chianti Classico Riserva: A perfumed, red-cherried sangiovese marked with spicy, earthen complexities gained from 18 months’ maturation in French oak. Terra di Seta, according to Geller, is Europe’s first exclusively kosher winery and owned by a Jewish family that traces its roots to ancient Rome. Kosher. Not mevushal. $38 at kosherwine.com

Chateau Lascombes 2018 Margaux: Pure in black fruit and shaded with streaks of violet and graphite, this is a grand, truly occasion-worthy wine from a second-growth Bordeaux estate. Kosher. Not mevushal. $165 at kosherwine.com

Petit Guiraud 2017 Sauternes: During Rosh Hashana, “we dip apple in honey and enjoy sweet desserts in hopes for a sweet year ahead,” Geller said. The honeyed, ginger-spiced flavors of mango and peach in this dessert wine from Chateau Guiraud, one of Bordeaux’s Premier Cru Classé producers, is a luxurious nod to tradition. Kosher. Not mevushal. $80 at kosherwine.com; $14 half-bottle at Binny’s. Locations vary, binnys.com

Laurent-Perrier Cuvee Rosé Brut Kosher Champagne: There are multiple good options for kosher Champagne these days, but this pinot-based sparkler sourced exclusively from Grand-Cru vineyards offers richness and complexity combined with a breathtaking tension that’s splurge-worthy. Kosher. Not mevushal. $150 at Binny’s. Locations vary, binnys.com

For nonobservant or secular Jews, shopping for wines for the new year and approaching Yom Kippur might incorporate eco-kashrut reflections:

Matthiasson 2021 California Rosé: Steve Matthiasson is a Napa-based organic winegrower who continuously leads discourse on the challenges of climate change, sustainability, fair labor practices and more within the wine industry. He also makes fantastically good white, red and rosé wines throughout California, including this thirst-quenching, blood-orange kiss of rosé made from Grenache, syrah, Mourvèdre and Counoise grapes. Not kosher. $31 at wine.com

Tablas Creek Vineyard 2020 Paso Robles Patelin de Tablas: While a longtime leader in organic and biodynamic wine growing, Tablas Creek recently became the first winery in the United States to be Regenerative Organic Certified. A California spin on the classic Rhone-red blend, the Patelin de Tablas is a subtly smoky, floral red with crisp cherry and raspberry flavors. Not kosher. $23 at binnys.com

Anna Lee Iijima is a freelance writer.

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