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Kosher
Nathanson of the Orthodox Union in Los Angeles is the
supervising rabbi for kosher wine production on the West Coast
and the overseeing rabbi for AlexEli. He is in charge of nine
locations in the western United States.
Rabbi Avrohom Perlstein in Salem is the local rabbi who
works directly with the AlexEli vineyard. While Perlstein has
overseen kosher food production in the past, he was surprised
to learn about the level of involvement required to produce
kosher wine. All work must be done by workers who are shomer
Shabbat (Sabbath observant) from the grape crush until bottling.
“There’s no stomping, but you get your hands dirty,” he
said while bottling the first batch of kosher pinot noir in early
October 2011 at the winery in Molalla.
He says he quickly learned to dress in appropriate work attire
at the vineyard. Instead of supervising the winemaking process,
the rabbi says, “You show up to the winery and realize you need
to do all the work.”
Phil explains that during production of the kosher wine,
he was limited to directing the work since he is not shomer
Shabbat.
With the satisfaction of a nouveau winemaker, Perlstein says
learning the process has been a rewarding experience. “When I
open a bottle now, it brings me back to making wine.”
Aside from rabbinic supervision and Shabbat observant
labor, to be labeled a certified kosher wine, the barrels and storage
tanks must be kashered, and everything that goes into the
vintage must be kosher.
Because of the special labor involved in producing a kosher
wine, it can be price prohibitive to some smaller vineyards. Phil
says his kosher pinot noir will sell for about $32 a bottle. He
also makes a popular $15-a-bottle, non-kosher blend called
“Bubelah’s Blend.”
Sheryl Jones of Evan’s Vineyard visits with the goats that graze the
acreage not yet planted with grapes.
Evan’s Vineyard, the Pacific
Northwest’s first fully kosher
winery, comes of age
by Deborah Moon
SPhilip and Sheryl Jones have been producing wine in
New Zealand for more than 20 years. Originally from San
Francisco and Minnesota, respectively, they wanted to spend
time in the Pacific Northwest and decided to buy 95 acres in
the Columbia Gorge in 2006. They planted grapes on 25 acres
of what is now Evan’s Vineyard (named for their youngest
son) on Underwood Mountain in Washington, just across the
Columbia from Hood River.
Though their Spencer Hill Estate in New Zealand includes
the kosher Goose Bay label, the non-Jewish couple didn’t
intend to bring kosher winemaking to the Northwest.
“Goose Bay kosher is just an extension of non-kosher
wines we make in New Zealand. I am always looking for new
ventures and kosher was a good one,” says Phil. “We were not
He says many people have a romanticized view of producing
going to make the Northwest wines kosher...but the downturn
wine. The reality is that it is an immense amount of work for
in the economy changed our mind. Why compete with the
small vineyards and entails a lot of time being “cold, wet and
non-kosher wineries”
sticky.” Despite the hard work, he says, “The passion is there
In New Zealand, the couple partnered with the Herzog
because the people who choose to do this put everything into
family’s Royal Wines Corp. for their kosher label. So when
it.”
they decided to make the Northwest wines kosher, they again
Raised in the Pacific Northwest, Abra Cohen recently moved to Israel and is turned to Royal Wines, the largest domestic kosher winemaker
based in the port city of Haifa. Writing for publications both in the states and and distributor.
abroad, she is in ulpan when she’s not trying to find the city’s best hummus. “Making kosher wine is not different than making nonkosher,
other than we need to have observant Jews do the
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OREGON JEWISH LIFE | JULY 2012 29