"I can resist everything except temptation." Hedonism Wines quotes Oscar Wilde on their kosher Tasting notes. Who could resist the chance to taste Kosher wine?
Our group of tasters was a mixture, from the young, slim and eager to taste and talk, happy to get merry and risk getting drunk, to the mature, well-fed and silently suspicious who spat into the spittoon, determined to drive home sober. One taster demanded jovially, "Why no crackers and cheese! ("Maybe one day. But it must be matzoh," I muttered.)
Knowledge of wine varied, including someone in the business as consultant to suppliers, someone sitting WSET level 3 (Wine and spirit educational trust), and someone not yet at WSET level 1, and a couple of glamorous young Americans who drink only kosher wine, and somebody who admitted he knew nothing and asked all the questions nobody else even thought of asking.
Rogov's Guide to Israeli Wines
I presume kosher wine is made and drunk in Israel. I've seen it in London, the UK. Where else? The USA. And Canada.
I must admit that before I went to a kosher wine tasting at Hedonism's grand two storey shop - the size of small department store with a grand staircase, my knowledge of kosher wines was limited. I wanted to know if kosher wines taste different, how are they made, where can you buy them, and what do the labels tell you, and are they more expensive.
As we sat looking at the labels of the bottles I knew that the French word chateau meant castle or manor in French, and French winemakers' rules say that if you show a chateau on a label it must be the place where the wine comes from.
But what was the word starting with m - meshuval? In my mind it evokes the word meshuggah - mad - nothing to do with sugar. No, not Sh-V - it's M-V-SH mevushal. Why would a bottle proudly claim not mevushal? It is to do with heat treating (like pasteurising) which might sterilise but could spoil the flavour. Heat treatment can be reduced to a quick zap.
Yes, I've had kosher wines at bar mitzvah's and weddings and bought them to take to orthodox friends - those kosher for Pesach wines are handy if you are ever invited to a Seder night to celebrate Passover. But I must confess my knowledge of everyday or every Friday night or festival wine was limited to the Palwin's and Kedem wines sold in the delicatessens and kosher sections in Tesco Express. My knowledge of expensive such as French kosher wine was limited to the French Rothschild wines with labels showing Picasso and Salvador Dali and other great artists. I recently bought a poster of the wine labels from the Waddesdon (now National Trust) shop at the English ancestral home of the Rothschilds north of London.
So it was a delight to be at a free wine tasting in central London and have the mysteries of kosher wine explained by Frenchman Jonathan. He spoke English with a delightfully amusing French accent, a Gallic grin and exuberant gestures as he showed us bottles of French kosher wine and explained their labels.
Wines go back to biblical times and beyond. I can identify a bunch of grapes and I can spot the word Kosher written in Hebrew - C-Sh-R, written left to right. The C is backwards. The letter R is also backwards - it looks like a small case R in Greek and Russian and the sign for Toys R us and in Hebrew. Also I'm sure as in the root language Aramaic (spoken by the High Priest at the temple, by Jesus, a Roman of two thousand years ago and his translator) as well as its two derivatives/links Arabic and Hebrew.
Passover is another word I've learned to recognise, even though I keep re-learning and re-forgetting Hebrew (and Russian and Greek) every year. The word passover appears in Hebrew and is translated somewhere nearby on the label in English and if you are catering for a wedding or have time on your hands and like languages there's always Google Translate for French and Hebrew.
How do you start to produce a kosher wine? If you are in Israel it must be easy. But what about a country such as France? Can anybody do it? Do you need to own a vineyard?
The good news is no, you can take an existing mass market or prestige vineyard and ask them to start producing kosher wine. Even if you are a rich entrepreneur who already owns vineyards, such as a Rothschild or even a earthy or well-connected and determined individual who has in mind big sales of the wine you can go to an existing producer of good wines and ask if they are willing to produce kosher wines. Where will you sell the wines? To caterers of big events such as weddings, retailers across the world?
If your chosen winemaker agrees, you then seek out the authority which sets out the rules and gives you inspection and the authentication. For example, in France you might choose the Beth Din of Paris. Look on the bottle label and you will see not only the words kosher in English or another language and Hebrew but the name or sign of the authenticating body.
Why would anybody want to buy kosher wine? It is not a matter of supporting Israel or Jewish businesses (although for some people it could be.) If the drinker is orthodox (or vegan) they might want a wine which does not use animal products such as egg white at the end of the process.
The wines we tasted were shown in the pictures below.
If you go to Hedonism, near Berkeley Square (remember the song, A Nightingale sang in Berkeley Square) dress warmly. Hedonism is like the frozen food area of a supermarket, temperature controlled for the comfort of the wine, not the comfort of the customer. However, if you are sitting at a tasting downstairs by the Enoteca the large tasters' chairs have a blanket on each one.
Prices? What's good value? Tastings where Hedonism charges (last one was £25) for the tasting but gives you a voucher if you buy the wines you have just tasted. Decanters at £40 were good value compared to Elsewhere. Huge choice of wines. Chance to drink a glass you would not otherwise afford from the Enoteca wine dispenser machines. (From about £2-3 for a glass of the cheapest wine.)
What's pricier?
Up to £30 from the wine dispensing machine for a glass for a special occasion to taste a wine whose bottle would be very expensive or not even available at most restaurants and wine bars. You can find kosher wines by other makers and even the same people on line, sometimes at cheaper prices. But if you are already in London or want the Hedonism experience this is a grand way to do your tasting and shopping in elegant surroundings with knowledgeable staff.
Hedonism Wines 3-7 Davies Street, London WiK 3LD
events@hedonism.co.uk
tel: 020 7290 7870
Next post is on Berkeley Square, London.
