Enjoying the Wines of Eretz Yisrael (The Land of Israel)

Introduction: 

I will Be’ezrat Hashem, be writing an article very soon, of a quite unique “COVID-19” private tour of the wonderful Tura Boutique winery in the Shomron. Before this, I thought I’d upload to my blog, an article which I included in last week’s parsha sheet I wrote, about appreciating and enjoying the Wines of Eretz Yisrael. 

Enjoying the Wines of Eretz Yisrael 

Rav Berel Wein tells the story of the Netziv: 

“Jews have always placed a special premium and importance on wine produced in the Land of Israel. 

The great Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin, (the head of the famed yeshiva of Volozhin in nineteenth century Lithuania, better known as the Netziv), was one of the founders of the “Lovers of Zion” organization of that time. When Baron Rothschild’s Carmel Winery produced its first bottles of wine, one of those bottles was sent as a gift to the great Rabbi in Volozhin. 

Rabbi Baruch Epstein, (the nephew of Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin, best known as the author of Torah Temimah), relates that he was witness to the actual moment that the bottle of wine finally arrived at its destination in Volozhin. He records for us that as a sign of love, respect and pure emotional joy at having in his hands, an actual bottle of wine, produced by Jewish vintners living in the Land of Israel, (the first holy wine to be produced in Eretz Yisrael for 2,000 years), Rabbi Berlin first went into his bedroom and put on his Shabbos garments, in order to greet the bottle. 

The Netziv explained that this bottle of wine was the harbinger of the return of the Jewish people to their homeland. So, as we drink our Israeli wine and toast to our life and health, we should also recall the innate history and holiness associated with wine in Jewish life, especially wine made from grapes grown and produced in the Land of Israel. " 

Quality Israeli Wine for Kiddush – When “Dry” actually tastes Sweet 

Many people who scan the shelves looking for wine and see on the label, the term “Dry”, pass it by, presumably, due to a bad experience, say at a party, of drinking nasty cheap dry wine which is frankly, like drinking liquid cardboard. These “wines”, manufactured in large industrial factories, using sub-standard grapes and mass-production techniques, give the real wine industry here in Israel, a bad name. 

Good “Dry” red wine from one of Israel’s many high-quality wineries, should taste like luscious red and black berries with a touch of sweet spices, and “Dry” white wines should taste like fruity honey-dew melon, with say, apples and pineapple flavours. That is, they are naturally fruity and packed with natural tasting sweetness. They will display a good body and mouth feel which comes from having gone through a specially crafted fermentation and maturation process. 

“Dry” wines are a quarter of the calories of so-called Kiddush wines and highly recommended for diabetics, as they don’t shoot your glucose levels up. Moreover, these good quality wine do not have to cost an arm and a leg and start at as little as NIS 30.

A small sample of the many recommended kosher wines, starting at 30 Shekels and going up to 150 Shekels

As well as the red berry fruity or white fruits sweetness from the fermented grapes, a good quality toasted oak cask will not only impregnate spicy wood flavours into the wine, it should also impart buttery vanilla/maple syrup like sweetness from natural vanillin in the oak during the maturation period. Experiencing a good quality wine is like drinking the liquid equivalent of a luscious fruit salad with ice-cream. 

Drinking Sweet "Kiddush" Wine on Shabbos is as essential as Shabbos Candles and Challah! Right?

WRONG!

It is our Religious Zionist duty to drink quality Dry Wine! 

Let me explain…. 

With the exception of certain specialised dessert wines where they use ripe late season grapes to obtain naturally intense fruity sweetness, the sweetness in wines marked as “Sweet” or “Kiddush” is due to the manufacture adding plain sugar in order to mask the inferior ingredients and poor wine making process. 

So Called "Kiddush" Wines!!!

Besides the serious health issues of drinking this stuff, there is an historical and tragic misconception that the wine we choose to say Kiddush over, has to resemble sugary alcoholic syrup. This is simply untrue! 

Sugar and Honey

In fact, the Shulchan Aruch informs us that it is preferable to use only good quality unsweetened wine for the mitzvos, as like mevushal (boiled) wine, wines sweetened with sugar or honey were considered unsuitable for use in the Beis HaMikdash service. [See OC272:8, MB272(21), MB472:(40) “He should choose unsweetened wine over other types”. Also, see Menachos 86b-87a – “Sweet wine is unfit for pouring over the Mizbeiyach”]. 

In my humble opinion, it is our Religious-Zionist duty to only use unsweetened “Dry” wine for Kiddush (as well as the mitzvah of the Arbah Kosos on Leil HaSeder). 

http://www.israeladventure.com/ 

http://www.israeladventure.com/

Before the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash and subsequent exile of the Jewish people, the Land of Israel was famous throughout the world for its wine. As well as the many Mishniyos which describe our national wine industry, historical accounts from the Roman period praise the superior wines from Eretz Yisrael. As well as this, there are of course the remains of hundreds of ancient wineries found throughout the Land, evidence to this once great practice. The knowledge of making good kosher wine was sadly lost however when we were sent into Exile. 

https://static.timesofisrael.com/

In almost every foreign country, the non-Jews issued a decree that Jews were forbidden from owning land or even being partners with a gentile in having a share in a field.

https://www.theholocaustexplained.org/anti-semitism/medieval-antisemitism/medieval-laws/

Consequently, the Jewish community was forced to buy grapes from the local food markets in order to make kosher wine. These grapes were of course of the eating variety and not meant for wine making. To try and compensate for the poor-quality grapes (which produced bitter wine), the kosher wine maker was forced to add a lot of sugar in order to make the wine palatable. 

Eating Grapes

This is how we came to associate kosher wines with sweet alcoholic syrup which many Jews paradoxically and (in my opinion), insultingly call “Kiddush Wine”, even though (as I have already explained), its halachic acceptability for Kiddush was always problematic, being based upon a minority opinion. Compromises were made because, quite simply, throughout the years of exile, there was no other choice! 

Now that we are back in our land (Baruch Hashem), after 2,000 years of exile, Israel has now relearned how to make good quality wine by adopting skills from the French and Californians and even resurrected a few ancient practices of our own from examinations of archaeological digs. 

Today’s kosher wines are actually ranked amongst the best in the world with Israeli wines frequently winning medals in International competitions. There are currently around 120 Kosher wineries all over Israel with new ones popping up every year. 

Therefore, (in my humble opinion), if you insist on continuing to use this revolting sweet syrupy wine for the holy mitzvah of Kiddush, then you are actually perpetuating and prolonging this ancient and evil, anti-Semitic decree.

If you would like further information and suggestions for “beginners” wines to try, then please contact me. I would be delighted to assist you in your journey into the wonderful and holy world of Israeli wines.