A kosher winery in the Bay Area has achieved a milestone many in the wine world once thought out of reach. The 2023 Covenant Solomon Lot 70 by Covenant Wines in Berkeley has received a perfect 100-point rating from Decanter critic Jonathan Cristaldi, becoming the first kosher wine to earn the honor from a major wine publication.
“This is a remarkable Kosher wine,” Cristaldi wrote in Decanter. “The wine is seamless with pristine flavours, firm ripe tannins and layers of complexity. Just spectacular.”
Cristaldi praised its “inviting freshness,” noting flavors of black cherry, spiced plum, forest floor, loamy earth, sagebrush and subtle mint, all supported by vibrant acidity and a mineral-driven finish.
For Covenant founder and winemaker Jeff Morgan, the recognition represents more than a single wine’s success. He says it signals how far kosher wine has come over recent decades.
“The real story here is about the rise of quality in kosher dining, kosher food and kosher wine,” Morgan said in an interview.
The recognition comes just four weeks after Mutra in Miami, led by chef Raz Shabtai, became the first kosher restaurant in the world to earn a Michelin star rating.
Covenant is finding not only critical success but also continued commercial growth. In March Morgan reported a 5% increase in sales. The strong performance comes amid a significant downturn in the overall wine industry due to a drop in demand, especially among young consumers.
Kosher wine has a longstanding association with mass-produced, heavily sweetened wines like Manischewitz and a reputation for being “drab, often oxidised table wines,” as Decanter wrote in 2020. But some kosher wines have received high praise in recent years.
Vintages from kosher wineries in California and Israel, including Herzog Wine Cellars in Oxnard, Hagafen Cellars in Napa, Golan Heights Winery in Katzrin, Israel, and Domaine du Castel in the Judean Hills, have regularly been awarded scores of 90 and above. Covenant also regularly produces wines rated in the nineties, including one that is offered at Michelin star restaurant The French Laundry in Yountville.
However, perfect scores remain rare even in the broader wine world.
“I don’t know of any other 100-point kosher wines,” Joseph Herzog, managing director of Herzog Wine Cellars, said. “This is a big deal.”
The 100-point wine scale is the industry standard used by critics for evaluating wine quality. It was popularized by wine critic Robert Parker, who created his system of numerical ratings in the 1970s. Each review grades wine starting at a baseline of 50 points, adding points for color, aroma, flavor profile and overall impression to reach a total score.
While he says he is pleased with the award, Morgan believes the significance of Covenant’s 100-point score extends beyond the numerical rating.
“The kosher certification found on many foods and wines is not always seen as a sign of excellence when it comes to taste,” he said in an interview. “It’s taking the world a while to get over the misunderstanding that ‘kosher’ is simply a cultural and historical designation for food and wine, and it does not necessarily have anything to do with the way something tastes.”
Herzog commends Morgan’s achievement and credits his experience outside of the kosher industry and his philosophy that kosher wine should be just as high in quality as non-kosher wines.
“Jeff definitely has been the one breaking the glass ceilings in terms of kosher wine, changing the perception of what kosher wine was from being the sweet, syrupy wine to quality California wine,” Herzog said.
Morgan, who previously reviewed wines for Wine Spectator before launching Covenant in 2003, says the rating reflects a growing recognition that kosher wines can compete at the highest levels of global winemaking.
“Every serious winemaker hopes to make the best wine they can,” Morgan said. “What I think 100 points represents is that the reviewer has confidence that this is the best possible expression of wine quality that can come from this winery, this vineyard and this vintage.”