Kosher wine: no longer JFK (Just For Kiddush)

Overpriced and inferior quality – these are two descriptors that are often unfortunately applied to kosher wine. But these days, when a kosher consumer can walk into the likes of Gefen Liquor in Balaclava or Krinsky’s in Bondi and be surrounded by world-class kosher wines, where do these descriptors come from and why do they persist?

A changing market

If you were born before the 1980s, and perhaps even the 1990s, kosher wine was synonymous with the main Jewish rituals of kiddush and the Seder. At these family and communal events, most of us were exposed exclusively to the likes of sweet sacramental wine. Wine terms such as Bordeaux or even Cabernet Sauvignon were alien to us.

Indeed, kosher wine was not made for sipping or food pairing but simply for the ritual and then dispensed with. It is no wonder then that kosher wine had an unfair start as being branded as inferior quality.

It wasn’t until the 1980s that the kosher wine-making industry in Israel began to see a revival with an influx of wine-making talent coming from Australia, Canada and France. By the 1990s, Israeli wines such as those from the Golan Heights Winery had begun to be recognised on the world stage, winning awards at international wine competitions. Indeed the 1990s saw a boom in the opening of boutique wineries in Israel with 70 wineries opened by 2000 and blowing out to 140 wineries in Israel by 2005.

But alas, in the 1990s and early 2000s, if you were a kosher wine consumer in Australia, quality kosher wines were still few and far between and for the small amount that was available, it was considerably overpriced when compared to their non-kosher counterparts.

Fast forward to today and hundreds of kosher wines are now available in Australia, yet it seems we are just beginning to come to terms with their acceptability as wines that are not just for kiddush. The quality is internationally recognised. The prices have come down. Even the lines of quality between mevushal (pasteurised) and non-mevushal wines are fading away.

A homegrown delight

A case in point is the new Bellarine Sappir range out of Geelong, Victoria. Bellarine Estate is a family winery founded in 1996 in Geelong’s Bellarine Peninsula by Peter and Lizette Kenny. They produce award-winning cool-climate wines specialising in Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Shiraz. In 2018, in partnership with Trialia Foods, Bellarine Estate produced the Bellarine Sappir range for the kosher community, launching five varieties: two reds – Pinot Noir and Shiraz; two whites – Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc; and one rosé, a Pinot Noir Rosé.

Peter Kenny said, “When Trialia Foods first approached us to make a kosher wine, we were very excited as it opened up a whole new market to us. It was, however, very important to us that we didn’t compromise the quality of our product range. This joint venture wine brings the best of both worlds together – a premium highly-rated Australian wine that is kosher and not pasteurised, thus being true to the expressions of the vineyard and region.”

So how does the kosher Bellarine Estate Sappir stack up against it’s non-kosher Bellarine Estate counterpart?

The 2019 Bellarine Estate Sappir Shiraz was rated 94 points by Wine Orbit and retails for $38 at Gefen Liquor. It’s non-kosher twin, the 2019 Bellarine Estate Two Wives Shiraz was also rated 94 points by Wine Orbit and retails at Dan Murphy’s for $38.

So the next time you hear someone claim that kosher wine is overpriced and of inferior quality, you can confidently point to the Bellarine Estate Sappir as a prime example, and tell them that they’re still living in the 90s!

Bellarine Estate Sappir is available online Australia-wide through gefenliquor.com.au or in store at Gefen Liquor in Melbourne, Krinsky’s in Sydney’s East and Porters Liquor St Ives Village in Sydney’s North. Peter Kenny, founder of Bellarine Estate, will be a guest at Gefen Liquor’s online Bellarine Estate tasting on November 25. For bookings and more information, visit www.trybooking.com/BUTZV.

Hymie Eisman is a wine and spirits specialist and resident feinshmeker for Trialia Foods Australia.