Posts from — October 2009

As a Chef or a wine lover, the very first thing you begin to learn about kosher wines – is how to pair them against certain foods. As with regular Italian or French wines, each kosher wine is going to have its own distinct flavors, elements and tannins. The actual tannins in these kosher wines along with the type of grapes used as well as the barrels they are stored in all compliment the kosher wines into a whirlwind of their own flavors. Some of the best brands of Kosher wines are Manischewitz wine, Kedem wine and Alfasi – all of these come in an array of reds and whites as well as sweets and dry’s. Here, listed below, are a few of the fundamental attributes in each brand of wine mentioned above, along with what foods they are best paired with!

Manischewitz Wine – Malaga: This is actually a red US wine, with a fairly fruity and sweet flavor. Since this is made with Concord grapes, which are the sweetest grapes, you can expect this to go great with either salty foods like herring, corned beef, or Gefilte fish. This wine also goes well with sweet things too such as after dinner desserts. If you would serve a Manischewitz Wine with… something like pickled herring, the flavors just wouldn’t mix as graciously. But again, you can try different things and see which pairings you like the best!

Kedem Wine – Chablis: Most wine connoisseurs will tell you to ONLY serve dry white wines with fish and chicken, and red wines with beef. However, the rules have changed over the last few years. Now it’s a free for all for whatever YOU like and whatever YOU think tastes good. So if you want to go with the old rules you can – chicken and fish along with things like bisques and chowders would go great with this wine. However, if you want to go with the more dated rules you would simply eat this with whatever you darn well want. Eh, I never liked rules anyway! Chablis is naturally a very dry wine, somewhat like Cabernet in the reds.

Byblos Wine – Cabernet Sauvignon: As aforementioned, since this is a dry red wine, it’s going to go incredible with ANY kind of red meat – have it be pork, beef, lamb or duck the dryness of the wine versus the darkness of the meat simply goes so well together! Red wines are also really nice with a pungent, buttery, or strong cheese such as Jarlesberg, Stilton or even something as deep as goat cheese.

Alfasi Wines – Special Reserve Pinot Noir: This is actually one of my favorite types of wines as far as reds go. It’s not as dry as the Cabernet, but it’s also not sweet either. This would go good with meats that have a fair amount of fattiness like that of lamb or duck, but since it is such a versatile wine, it goes well with certain desserts (particularly ones with cheese as an ingredient), as well as other cheese products, chicken, certain kinds of fish like sockeye salmon, etc. Most people would say that this is the Wine Of All Wines – while I think there are better wines out there, I also think that this one in particular is pretty darn close to being a so-called master wine.

Of course all of these kosher wine pairings are also going to depend on when the grapes were matured, where the grapes were located at the time, and as mentioned above – what types of barrels and elements the winery infuses into the wine. Just like with infused vodkas or liquors, whatever you place into the barrel or whatever wood you have the barrel made out of – is ultimately going to carry through the flavor of the wine. The other really nice thing about the wines above, is that not only do you NOT have to be an expert on Kosher wines, but you can also save a dime as well because these are all quite inexpensive as far as table wines go. Try them out, try one, try them all – see which wines go with what foods according to YOUR palate (not someone else’s). Enjoy!

Recently there was a successful exhibition for Czech wines at the London International Wine & Spirits Fair. In the exhibition booth were the Czech wine producers Víno Marcin?ák, Tanzberg, Kolby and Mikros-vín showing off their best selections. The exhibition was visited by more then 15,000 wine specialists, importers, producers, agents, distributors, journalists and wine lovers. Exhibition visitors who tasted the Czech wines agreed on its quality and character. Those prognosticators in the know are saying Czech wines will be found more and more on shelves in the West in the future (See all the requests for quality wine at Agrelma).

The Czech Prince Bo?ivoj is credited with planting the first vineyards in the area, with vintners associating themselves in guilds during the 13th and 14th centuries. The warmer, south-facing slopes of Moravia are quite suitable for grape growing, and with global warming, becoming even more productive and of ever-higher quality.

Early on there was a fascination with white wines, but during the 15th century red wines became the accepted standard, with several varieties of note including Sauvingnon Blanc and Rouge. Of interest were the Baptist monks who travelled through Bohemia, establishing monasteries and vineyards as they expanded their sphere of influence.

Around the turn of the 20th Century interest in wine was replaced by cheap beer and brandy, and of course water was clean enough to drink by this time. Only in the last decade, since independence from the USSR has there has been a huge resurgence in the popularity of wine in Czech, and with high import duties on wine, vintners in Czech are making a comeback.

Now there are many varieties of grapes grown here, White Reisling, Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay, Neuburger, Sauvignon, Pinot Gris, and others covering some 17,000 hectares. In 1995 the Czech Republic established the Viticultural Law that now governs and standardizes the industry and it’s production purity. Specialty wines such as Ice and Straw wines are also proving very popular these days (See the last requests ed offers at Agrelma).

After visiting Prague and spending time chatting with a local wine shop operator I began to appreciate the unique flavors of Czech wines, and hope that the prices will level out with other wines from the EU when they join next year. The Czech wines are good, but because of the high import duties on wine, they charge top prices for their local products. Competition might make the product even better, and more affordable.

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