One of the big pleasures of booze tourism is in the tasting room.
On top of the “educational” aspect of such tours, the chance to drink the product in situ with knowledgeable, enthusiastic and helpful staff is always a fun and worthwhile use of our time. At a great many wineries, one gets the opportunity to sip and swirl the wines with the winemaker directly, or at least with members of the production crew, rather than simply with trained hospitality staff (though if they’re trained well enough, this is no waste of time).
The kosher wine world is no different, though there are far fewer visitation experiences available. In Israel, for example, of the roughly 300 to 350 wineries operating today, only about 90 are kosher certified, out of which only about 60 actually export their wines. Not all of these have tasting rooms yet, but many do, and some of these are really great experiences. There are a few more kosher tasting opportunities in Europe, one in South Africa, one in Australia, and, well, you get the picture. Many of the kosher wines around the globe are produced as limited runs at otherwise non-kosher wineries, or they are produced using rented facilities, so there isn’t really any “winery” to visit and taste the wines.
Domestically, the number of kosher wineries and tasting room experiences can be counted on one hand, but each has its own reputed charms (neither of us has yet had the opportunity to visit Covenant Winery in Berkeley).
One domestic kosher winery visit we heartily recommend is Hagafen Cellars in Napa. Try the Hagafen Estate Syrah 2012 ($32), which expresses both dark fruit and earthy aromas that lead on the palate to flavors of dark cherry, strawberry, mocha and spice with hints of pepper and cedar. A terrific cooler-weather wine.
Spirits-wise, our thoughts turn to the Tuthilltown Spirits Distillery in Gardiner, New York. Opened in 2005, Tuthilltown Spirits not only helped launch New York’s craft-whiskey craze, but it is also the state’s first whiskey distillery since Prohibition.
The distillery founders, Ralph Erenzo and Brian Lee, began operations in one of the granaries of the historic Tuthilltown Gristmill, a 220-year-old registered landmark that is still in use to produce flour for matzah for several Hassidic communities in Brooklyn. The distillery has earned national recognition: voted best U.S. artisan distiller in 2010 by the American Distilling Institute and craft whiskey distillery of the year in 2011 by Whiskey magazine. Sporting a homey feel, the operation includes a visitors’ center, a large tasting room, and a sizable gift shop selling whiskeys, spirits, apparel and assorted cool tchotchkes. n
Joshua E. London and Lou Marmon write a weekly syndicated wine and spirits column. For more reviews see www.grapelines.com.