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August 1st, 2009 admin No comments

Learn All About Kosher Wine Pairings

If you are an oenophile (wine lover), one of the first things you should learn about kosher wines is the best way to pair them with foods. Like other wines, each kosher wine has its own distinct flavors, elements and tannins. You will find that the tannins, the type of grapes used, even the barrels used to store the kosher wines will all contribute to the flavors in the final aged product. While this is certainly subjective, some of the best brands of kosher wines are Manischewitz , Kedem, Byblos and Alfasi. While there are more expensive and exotic kosher wines, these are inexpensive table wines. And fortunately, each of these brands offers a variety of reds and whites as well as sweet and dry wines. So, let's cover the attributes of each of these wine brands, along with the foods they are best paired with.

Manischewitz Malaga: This red wine, made in the US, has a sweet, fruity taste. Made with Concord grapes, this sweet wine goes great with salty foods such as herring, corned beef, or Gefilte fish. It can also pair well with sweets like desserts, but it probably wouldn't work so well with, say, pickled herring. However, don't be afraid to see which pairings you prefer.

Kedem Chablis: Chablis is a very dry wine, rather like Cabernet is among the reds. While conventional wine connoisseur wisdom says we should serve dry white wines with chicken and fish, and red wines with beef, contemporary rules have changed. It's now a case of 'anything goes': whatever you like is OK with whatever you think tastes good. That said, if you prefer to stick with the old rules, not only chicken and fish will work but bisques and chowders make for good kosher wine pairings, too.

Byblos Cabernet Sauvignon: Again, this is a dry red wine, which means it's easy to pair with any kind of red meat, be it beef, lamb, pork, or duck. Note that red wines go really well with pungent, creamy, high fat content, or strong cheeses such as Jarlsberg, Stilton or chevre.

Alfasi Special Reserve Pinot Noir: This wine is not as dry as the Cabernet, but it's not sweet either. This could pair well with somewhat fatty meats like lamb or duck. Yet, because of its versatility, it goes well with certain desserts like cheesecake, other cheese products, chicken, and some kinds of fish like salmon. Some consider this to be one of the better wines out there, a 'master wine', if you will. Try it to see what you think.

Now, all kosher wine pairings will depend on when the grapes matured, where the grapes were grown, and the types of barrels and elements the winery infuses into the wine. As with infused vodkas or liquors, what you place into the barrel or the wood from which the barrel was made, carry through to the flavor of the wine. With the wines above, you do not have to be a kosher wine expert, but you can also save some money as well because these are all inexpensive table wines. The final test is to simply try them for yourself to see which kosher wine pairings you prefer.
About the Author

Hectr is a food market research analyst dedicated to discovering and sharing information about the best values he finds in food and beverage including
kosher wine pairings
.