Holy Land – Holy Wine?
Ξ February 19th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ A Day at a Time, Wine History |
Wine has a long history of involvement with religion – from the brooding Greek wine god Dionysus to his tamed Roman version, Bacchus, through the red wine used in the Eucharist as a symbol for the blood of Christ, to the complete rejection by Islam of any fermentation of grape & grain (abstinence is also part of the Mormon “Word of Wisdom”). The Jewish faith has a long documented association with wine – the Bible states it was Noah who planted the first vineyard after the great flood, and it plays a key role in the Sabbath (Shabbat) meal with the Kiddush blessing recited over a cup of wine.
On my recent trip to Israel the religious links to wine were very apparent, from the bottles opened and served by ourselves in a Kosher restaurant (as the waitress did not observe the Shabbat), the warning signs on the cellar door at the Mony Winery in the Judean Hills to the wines produced by the several Christian monasteries in the Jerusalem area.
The laws of Kashrut are the main association with Israeli wines, what makes a wine Kosher.
The main rules, as they affect the production, look simple;
- Grapes cannot be used until the vines are 4 years old – the law of orlah.
- Every 7th year the vineyard must be left fallow – the law of shmita
- Tools and equipment must be certified Kosher and cleaned accordingly.
- Only Jews who observe the Shabbat are allowed to be in contact with the wine – which is why many wineries employ only haredim (Orthodox Jews) and have special Kashrut supervisors to liaise with any non-observant Jews.
- All yeast, additives and fining agents must be certified as Kosher.
All of these are not contradictory to the production of fine wine, and in the Israeli domestic market such wines are equal in quality to a typical non-Kosher bottle. Unfortunately there’s another key point which has the biggest impact on the export market. Jewish law (Halachah) states that if the bottle is handled (in practical terms opened or served) by anyone, Jewish or otherwise, who does not observe the Shabbat then the wine becomes yayin nesech (idolatrous wine). In ancient times the worry was that pagans could take good Jewish wine and debase it by using it in their profane rituals. The workaround? Simple – make the wine Mevushal and boil it. Ouch! The idea is that boiled wine would not be wanted by the pagans, and you could see why!
Today a wine is made Mevushal by flash pasteurisation at approx 87 degrees Celsius (190F) for about half a minute, but while the effects on the wine are not as drastic as in years past there are still compromises. Daniel Rogov, in his Guide to Israeli wines states such wines are “often incapable of developing” and impart “a cooked sensation to the nose and palate”. He finishes with “none of the better wines of Israel fall into this (Mevushal) category” and his guide references many Kosher, but no Mevushal wines. It is unfortunate for us that Mevushal wines are destined for the overseas Kosher markets, to observant Jews in Europe and the U.S. and, by default, the rest of us. Only the smaller boutique wineries who are not reliant to making Kosher wines for domestic supermarket sales can offer us the chance of tasting the best of what Israel has to offer without having to visit in person.
The Christian aspect to wine from “The Holy Land” is apparent through the several Monastery wineries dotted around the landscape. I visited the Mony Winery at Dir Rafat Monastery, but the winery itself is now run by an Arab-Israeli family producing Kosher wines so I’ll post a separate visit report on them.
Of the monastic wineries still run by their respective brotherhoods there is the Latroun Trappist Monastery which produces wine in “the French Style”. However possibly the most intriguing is Cremisan , founded near Bethlehem in 1885 by the Italian Salesian order. The winery that has been run by the monks since that time has the dubious honour of being the only one in the Palestinian Territories, and at times Cremisan has become part of the unfortunate political tensions in the area. 
As such visiting and trying the wines on-site is difficult, but they also offer tastings and sell the wines at the Monastery of Bet Gemal, just south of the town of Bet Shemesh, which was where I ended up on my mini-wine tour of the Judean hills.
The wine shop was manned by an ancient man happy to show the bottles and offer a tasting of what he had open. When I said “Vecchio Rosso” with a slight Italian accent he beamed at me and started off in Italian, and nothing I did could persuade him that I could only understand a few basic words of what he was saying! 
Of the red wines I tasted they were, as he told me, in the “Italian style” – although I would say the “Sacramental style” as they had a tendency for sweetness and simplicity. The white Messa had “Altar Wine” on the label and was equally sweet, while a “Port Extra Doux” was light, at 14% abv. but pleasant. I ended up coming away with a bottle of the Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 “Vin Nouveau” for £3.50 ($7).
As a keen student of history and current affairs I’ve always enjoyed my business trips to Israel, and this time round I’ve had a welcome expansion to my wine knowledge and experience. It should come as no surprise that this region, known for its political issues, is also a melting pot of wine traditions and production – historical, cultural and religious.
Greybeard.
