Asians Fall for Manischewitz — Creating New Buzz for Much-Maligned Wine

Manischewitz wine Image by iStock

By Josefin Dolsten May 2, 2016

Manischewitz wine, which is often mocked among Jews for its overly sweet taste, has found a new set of customers — Asian Americans.

The kosher beverage, which apparently resembles a fermented grape drink from northern China, is becoming a household staple in Asian households across the country, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Huy Trieu, who manages an Asian supermarket near Los Angeles, remarked that Manischewitz is popular among Chinese and Vietnamese customers. “I don’t see any Caucasians buying it,” he said.

Manischewitz joins Bartenura Blue, a kosher moscato wine that has also found success among non-Jewish clientele.

Bartenura has embraced its new customer base — African Americans — placing billboards in predominantly black neighborhoods and launching advertising campaigns featuring black actors, such as the one below.

Manischewitz has also gained traction in recent years among Christians, with some churches choosing to use the kosher wine to represent Jesus’ blood in the Holy Communion service.

Jews who have a soft spot for the wine, but prefer beverages less reminiscent of cough syrup, can follow one of the many innovative recipes by chef Amy Kritzer, of the blog “What Jew Wanna Eat,” which feature Manischewitz as an ingredient.

The wine can be used to flavor chocolate truffles, to poach eggs, or in a variety of other delicious recipes.

Josefin Dolsten is a New York-based writer who has reported for the Forward, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Times of Israel and other Jewish publications. She currently works as an account director at Fenton Communications, supporting organizations that work to advance racial justice, LGBTQ+ equality, reproductive rights and more. Dolsten earned her B.A. in government from Cornell University and her M.A. in comparative religion and Jewish studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

This year, we have stood together in strength and sorrow. Our Forward team has worked around the clock to help you find clarity amid the chaos.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO