Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

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

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.

A message from our CEO & publisher 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.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.