Now is the time to select some good wines for your Passover seder. I'm going to recommend some light, sweet wines for people who prefer those; a set of dry red wines; and I also have some non-traditional choices for the adventurous.
First, a few notes about Passover traditions. Red wine is preferred for the seder, although white wine is acceptable. Current Orthodox practice calls for a wine glass that holds at least 3.3 ounces, and that at least half of the glass should be drunk for each of the four "cups."
The first cup is drunk at the beginning of the seder, and the next cup just before the meal. Almost no food is consumed after until after the second cup. In Orthodox households the time between these two cups can be an hour or longer as the family reads the Haggadah and discusses the holiday. This means that two glasses of wine will be consumed on an empty stomach.
Strategies for Choosing Wines
Know Your Participants
The finest wine in the world is wasted if the people at the seder won't drink it. Many people in the United States were raised on syrupy, sugary wines; give them a bottle of Chateau Giscours and you might as well pour the wine down the sink instead.
There are some good sweet wines (check the listings of wine by dryness to find some). Beaujolais Villages wines are sufficiently fruity for many people who prefer sweet wines, but this does not mean you should torture your guests with dry wines when they would prefer sweet ones.
Check the list for some of the decent sweet wines and avoid the temptation to just purchase anything at all that's sweet — I think it's always good policy to purchase sweet wines that you can tolerate drinking. Tirosh, which is no longer available to the best of my knowledge, made excellent light sweet wines, so don't despair; you may find something light and tolerable, or even good, and if you do please write me and let me know.
Open Early!
Don't forget to open your wine early enough to let it breath! A simple task, but one that's easy to overlook during the bustle of preparing for the seder.
How Dry the Wine?
How dry should the wine be for the first two cups, which you drink before you've had any food? I've debated this with my friends, and opinion is split. I recommend that the wine for the first two cups be medium dry; others believe that the dryer the wine the better. I do not recommend sweet wine for the first cups as I believe they would be too cloying; a sweet wine for either of the two cups after the meal would be entirely appropriate.
As for the alcohol content, there's actually not much of a difference between the wines. Most run from 12.5% to 14%, and as such there's little to choose among them. I made a short list of lighter, sweeter wines that are both low in alcohol (some as low as 3.5%) and light on sugar.
Recommendations
Light, Sweet Red Wines
Here's a quick list of light, sweet red wines. Not all of them have been reviewed, but I will indicate the ones I like.
Ohra Kal. "Kal" means "light," and this is a light, sweet wine from around the hills of Jerusalem. This wine is my top recommendation for a light, sweet wine, with only 3.5% alcohol and a taste of actual wine.
Golan Heights Grape Juice. Instead of purchasing something horrifying and purple, you might enjoy this grape juice from one of Israel's best wineries.
Bartenura Malvasia. A light red wine.
Zakon Muscatini. Muscats are generally sweet wines, but usually they're high in alcohol. This one is about half the alcohol of the others.
Conditon is very high in alcohol and very heavy, and far too sweet for me — but my wife and guests enjoy it a great deal, and who am I to argue?
Dry Red Wines
An important question is not just what wines to drink, but what order to drink them in.
I have a simple rule: the first cup of wine should be a simple, lighter-bodied wine. A full-bodied wine, especially one that's very high in alcohol, is not very easy to drink on an empty stomach.
Of course, having said that, I've also been known to violate that rule to have a very special bottle of wine for the first cup — Chateau Giscours, for example, which is full-bodied and very complex wine indeed.
First Cup
I've been updating this list as I explore the availability of various wines.
Tishbi Cabernet Petit Syrah. With any luck the current vintage (2003) is as good as the 2002 — which I thought was excellent. A light red wine, and a very inexpensive one to boot, this wine is a bargin. It's my (current) top choice for the first cups.
Etienne Bailly Beaujolais-Villages 1999. Beaujolais Villages is the wine I use for all occasions, especially when I need wine for someone who doesn't like dry wines. I've recently started using the Etienne Bailly; this replaces the Abarbanel Beaujolais Villages, my previous favorite.
Valero Malbec 2002 is a nice, soft wine for someone who'd prefer a cup of something that's not so challenging.
Berlinka, if I can find a bottle, would make a nice change of pace for the seder.
To answer a question from one of my readers: These wines range in price from about $12 (Beaujolais Villages) to about $17 (Segal's Cabernet Sauvignon) per bottle. The Ohra Kal is only $5 or so per bottle, and I'm about to dash out and pick up a case.
Non-Traditional Choices
If we expand beyond red wines, we can look at a few non-traditional choices for a festive seder.
Bartenura Prosecco is an inexpensive sparkling wine that works surprisingly well.
Laurent-Perrier Champagne is certainly not inexpensive, but is very much the best kosher champagne I've tasted. I must ask my local rabbi if I'm allowed to put a strawberry into the fourth cup!
Weinstock White Zinfandel is recognized as an excellent wine by non-kosher experts — for example, by the Wall Street Journal. It's semi-dry and light red (orange?) in color, so it can be argued that it's really a traditional choice after all. Don't foist it off on your guests as a "sweet" wine, however; if your guests prefer sweet wines, get them something else or try the Zinfandel out on them sometime in advance.
And let me take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy and Kosher Passover!
Now is the time to select some good wines for your Passover seder. I'm going to recommend some light, sweet wines for people who prefer those; a set of dry red wines; and I also have some non-traditional choices for the adventurous.
First, a few notes about Passover traditions. Red wine is preferred for the seder, although white wine is acceptable. Current Orthodox practice calls for a wine glass that holds at least 3.3 ounces, and that at least half of the glass should be drunk for each of the four "cups."
The first cup is drunk at the beginning of the seder, and the next cup just before the meal. Almost no food is consumed after until after the second cup. In Orthodox households the time between these two cups can be an hour or longer as the family reads the Haggadah and discusses the holiday. This means that two glasses of wine will be consumed on an empty stomach.
Strategies for Choosing Wines
Know Your Participants
The finest wine in the world is wasted if the people at the seder won't drink it. Many people in the United States were raised on syrupy, sugary wines; give them a bottle of Chateau Giscours and you might as well pour the wine down the sink instead.
There are some good sweet wines (check the listings of wine by dryness to find some). Beaujolais Villages wines are sufficiently fruity for many people who prefer sweet wines, but this does not mean you should torture your guests with dry wines when they would prefer sweet ones.
Check the list for some of the decent sweet wines and avoid the temptation to just purchase anything at all that's sweet — I think it's always good policy to purchase sweet wines that you can tolerate drinking. Tirosh, which is no longer available to the best of my knowledge, made excellent light sweet wines, so don't despair; you may find something light and tolerable, or even good, and if you do please write me and let me know.
Open Early!
Don't forget to open your wine early enough to let it breath! A simple task, but one that's easy to overlook during the bustle of preparing for the seder.
How Dry the Wine?
How dry should the wine be for the first two cups, which you drink before you've had any food? I've debated this with my friends, and opinion is split. I recommend that the wine for the first two cups be medium dry; others believe that the dryer the wine the better. I do not recommend sweet wine for the first cups as I believe they would be too cloying; a sweet wine for either of the two cups after the meal would be entirely appropriate.
As for the alcohol content, there's actually not much of a difference between the wines. Most run from 12.5% to 14%, and as such there's little to choose among them. I made a short list of lighter, sweeter wines that are both low in alcohol (some as low as 3.5%) and light on sugar.
Recommendations
Light, Sweet Red Wines
Here's a quick list of light, sweet red wines. Not all of them have been reviewed, but I will indicate the ones I like.
Dry Red Wines
An important question is not just what wines to drink, but what order to drink them in.
I have a simple rule: the first cup of wine should be a simple, lighter-bodied wine. A full-bodied wine, especially one that's very high in alcohol, is not very easy to drink on an empty stomach.
Of course, having said that, I've also been known to violate that rule to have a very special bottle of wine for the first cup — Chateau Giscours, for example, which is full-bodied and very complex wine indeed.
First Cup
I've been updating this list as I explore the availability of various wines.
Next Cups
To answer a question from one of my readers: These wines range in price from about $12 (Beaujolais Villages) to about $17 (Segal's Cabernet Sauvignon) per bottle. The Ohra Kal is only $5 or so per bottle, and I'm about to dash out and pick up a case.
Non-Traditional Choices
If we expand beyond red wines, we can look at a few non-traditional choices for a festive seder.
And let me take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy and Kosher Passover!