Food

Oenophile-Tested, Rabbi-Approved Wines for Your Seder

Image by iStockphoto

By Susan Armitage March 22, 2013

Image by iStockphoto

We’ve been hearing it for years: kosher wine has come a long way. Sweet wines, dubbed by some as the 11th plague, are no longer the only option for Passover.

Here’s a roundup of oenophile-tested, rabbi-approved picks for this year’s Seder table:

The granddaddy of wine publications has picks for all budgets, from a $13 Baron Herzog Zinfandel to a $150 Covenant Cabernet Sauvignon. Look for more options using their online Wine Searcher. [Wine Spectator]

Kosher wines from South Africa and the Pacific Northwest, including a mevushal (pasteurized) selection that can be poured by non-Jews. [The Daily Meal]

It’s all about reds, according to these New York wine professionals. [The Wall Street Journal]

Wine critic Eric Asimov reviews a dozen options (two mevushal) starting at $16. [The New York Times]

A look at five mevushal varieties from Napa Valley’s Hagafen Cellars. [Palate Press]

Maple Leaf Jews are covered with 20 picks under $20. [Canada.com]

A focus on Israeli wines under the Yarden’s umbrella. [The San Francisco Examiner]

Four non-mevushal picks from Israel, Bordeaux and California. [The Wine Cellar Insider]

Recommended bottles from $9 and up. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO