What’s in Your 4 Cups? Celebrate Passover with Some New and Notable Kosher Wines

For wine enthusiasts, Passover’s ritual 4 glasses offer a perfect opportunity to explore new vintages and releases. While kosher-adherent celebrants once had a limited number of options to choose for their Seder tables (and earlier generations have very few options outside of the dreaded Manischewitz), the past decade has seen an explosion in kosher-for-Passover options. Today, you can find appropriate wines from almost any region in the world— including areas that don’t traditionally have much penetration in the American wine market as a whole. This Passover, for instance, adventurous kosher-keeping velophiles can celebrate with the 2016 Badagoni, a red from the Republic of Georgia made from the native seperavi grape. And every year, the options expand further.

“There’s growing demand in the market,” says Gabriel Geller, the director of public relations and advertising for Royal Wine Corp. “We have the generation of the millennials, who are a lot more educated than the previous generations when it comes to wine, mostly because they grew up in an era when quality kosher wines were already available.” These younger consumers are looking for kosher versions of the wines that non-kosher oenophiles enjoy, and that demand is leading to a number of exciting developments in the industry. I spoke to kosher wine importers and distributors about recent trends and some of the exciting wines on the market and the new and notable wines coming to market this year.

Here Come the Rosés

One of the biggest trends in kosher wine in the past few years is a huge increase in the number of rosés. “The kosher market for rosés is being flooded like it has in the non-kosher market,” says Shai Ghermezian, VP of sales for Allied Importers, which offers wines from dozens of wineries around the world.

Many of these wines are made in Israel, like the Darom By Yatir Rosé from the Negev—a mix of grenache, zinfandel, and red muscat with floral, fruity notes. Others are made by producers across the globe: In California, you’ll find new releases like Covenant Wines’ Red C label Rose, a dry, pale pink blend of grenache, pinot noir, and syrah. And in France, you’ll find kosher versions of all the most popular styles, such as Or de la Castinelle’s light, faintly fruity Côtes de Provence rosé. This year, the Twin Suns bran is also releasing a Reserve Rose from Oregon’s Willamette Valley—one of the very first kosher wines from that region. The pinot-based wine has a stunning peony pink color and a light, fruit-forward flavor with notes of ripe strawberries and roses, a hint of candied pineapple, and a long finish.

New Styles From Israel

While Bordeaux varietals have long dominated the Israeli winemaking scene (thanks to early investments from the Rothschilds, who opened the famed Carmel Winery in the 1880s), Israeli winemakers are now embracing a number of different grapes and techniques. “A lot of winemaker are trying new varietals,” says Joshua Greenstein, EVP of sales and marketing for the Israel Wine Producers Association. “With the popularity of Israeli wines growing, winemakers are getting the ability to grow more stuff and have a lot more fun in the wineries and in the fields.”

This year, for instance, Gilead is introducing their earthy, fruity mourvdère to the U.S. market for the first time. Dalton also released a blend of zinfandel, shiraz, and petit sirah, called Coast to Coast—part of the brand’s new Asufa series that Shai Ghermezian of Allied Importers describes as “food friendly and easy to drink.” Mediterranean varieties are also becoming more and more popular, with producers introducing Mediterranean blends, like Carmel Wines’ rich mix of carignan, syrah, petit verdot, mourvèdre, petit syrah, and malbec; and Shorr Winery’s Sha’ar Hagai red blend, a mix of syrah, petit syrah, and marsalen from the norther Negev and Gedera regions.

This trend also includes the introduction of a greater variety of white wines in the past few years, like Nana Winery’s chenin blanc, made from grapes grown in the unique topographical crater area in middle of the Negev, and Psagot’s Sinai White—a blend of chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, and gewürztraminer. Other good options include Vitkin’s Collector’s Edition Grenache Blanc, a complex, floral wine with notes of nectarine; and Netofa’s Tel Qasser, an aromatic, oaky roussane with hints of honeysuckle, and orange.

Israeli Grape Varieties

Segal Native Marawi

Some ambitious winemakers are also experimenting Israeli-specific with varieties. One of the most popular new grapes is argaman, an Israeli red varietal that is a cross between souzão and carignan. It is usually used in blends, but some producers, like Jezreel Valley Winery and 1848 Winery, are also starting to use it on its own to produce medium-bodied, fruit-forward wines which are aromatic with notes of black fruits and spices. This year, Gvaot has also released a light red made from bittuni, a grape that has been grown in the region for thousands of years but has only made its way back into wineries in the past decade or so. Others, like Feldstein Winery and Cremisan, are also working with dabouki (or “dabuki”), a white varietal indigenous to Israel. The grape produces a wine that some reviewers compare to chardonnay and can have apricot, apple, and pear flavors or more mineral and citrusy notes. Another ancient grape being resurrected, marawi, may date back to the time of Jesus but was all-but-forgotten until a few years ago when a group of Arab and Jewish Israelis came together to resuscitate the grape (which had been growing wild in the Judaean Hills and was also sometimes grown as a table grape in Arab communities). Ido Lewinsohn, the winemaker at Segal Winery (and Master of Wine), notes that marawi is a winemaker’s grape that he can play with and treat in a number of different ways.     

Other producers are introducing winemaking styles that previously haven’t been used in Israel. Lewinsohn, of Segal winery, for instance, uses wild fermentation for one of their cabernets and for a chardonnay and has also started making whole-cluster pinot noir and syrah. A couple Israeli winemakers are also producing the country’s first pet-nats: Jezreel Winery makes both a rosé and a white pet-nat, and Dalton makes a white from early harvested semillon and a bit of muscat of Alexandria that is nicely effervescent with refreshing apple and citrus notes and a faint touch of honey.

New Wines From The Old World

There has also been significant growth in kosher wine production in Europe in the past few years. These wines are primarily being made by established wineries that are now adding kosher wines to their production at the request of kosher negotiants. “France has been on fire for the past ten years,” says Gabriel Geller of Royal Wine Corp. “That includes some of the top wineries in Bordeaux, but there are wineries in Burgundy making kosher wines, there are wineries in Alsace, in the Loire Valley—it’s really getting to pretty much every major growing region there.”

Chateau Bellefont Belcier photo courtesy Royal Wines

Recent years have seen the first kosher runs from the famed Bordeaux estate Château Meyney Saint-Estèphe, and a pouilly-fumé (a rare find in the kosher world) from Domaine Bailly in the Loire valley. This year, Château Bellefont-Belcier, a Grand Cru Classé in Saint-Emilion, just released its first kosher run (from the 2020 vintage); Domaine J. de Villebois (in the the Loire Valley) recently released its first kosher sancerre; and Domaine Raymond Usseglio (in the Rhône Valley) is releasing its first two kosher productions this spring.Spain has also seen steady growth, and a number of new wines have been introduced in the past couple of years. Ramon Bilbao, for instance, has recently started making a kosher albariño, and has begun releasing bottlings of kosher rioja reservas from some of their best vineyards.

But according to Geller, Italy is really the most exciting place for European kosher wines. A number of wineries have started making kosher wines for the first time, and some are introducing styles or varietals that were not previously available to kosher-observant buyers. Cantina Giuliano, for instance, makes a bright vermentino with peach, pineapple, and tart lemony notes (as well as other kosher wines, including a very classic chianti). The boutique producer Terra di’Seta—one of only three entirely kosher wineries in Europe—has also released a Chianti Classico DOCG Riserva made from certified organic grapes that has been given the classification Gran Selezione (the highest distinction in the region).

A new brand, Aura di Valerie, is pushing the market by focusing solely on Italian wines that haven’t previously been available to kosher drinkers. In 2021, they released the world’s first kosher amarone, Amarone Della Valpolicella, which Ami Nahari, CEO and founder of the The River Wine (an importer, distributor, and producer of kosher wines) referred to as “an atomic bomb in the kosher world.” (That same year, they also released first kosher super Tuscan, a deep purple wine called Zaffiro, and bottled the first kosher aglianico, Aglianico del Beneventano IGT.) This year, the company’s sister brand, Dacci! (pronounced “dashi”), also released the first kosher barbera, a fruity, light-bodied wine from grapes grown in Piedmont’s Asti region.

Playful Twists

Elvi Sangria Sintonia Red photo courtesy Royal Wines

As the market for kosher wines has opened up, it has also made room for some more inventive (and party-friendly) wine products. This year, for instance, Twin Suns is releasing an old vine zinfandel aged in a whiskey barrel—a first for this for this category. (The barrels come from the first-ever kosher-for-Passover whiskey, which is produced by the same parent company.) Other playful new kosher options include Buzz Fruit-Flavored Moscato from Israel’s big Carmel winery in flavors like peach, mango, and pineapple. And this year also brings the first kosher-for-Passover sangria from Spain, a red blend from Elvi Wines with added fruit flavor; a fun note for a first glass of the night. (Note: older vintages of Elvi’s sangria were not KFP, so consumers should check the label to ensure they’re getting the right one). In Israel, Morad Winery is making fruit wines, including a passion fruit wine, a pomegranate, and a lychee. Lastly, Dalton recently began importing the first Israeli vermouth available in the US, so drinkers can also opt to make an old-school aperitif to start their celebrations.