In humidity-controlled cellars, rows of wine-filled oak barrels sit, their beige wood dissected by thick, burgundy-coloured bands. Each container contains the 2015 vintage of Chateau Malartic Lagraviere, one of Bordeaux’s top wine producers.
Several are wrapped in plastic film, sealed with thick strips of tape scrawled with Ivrit. The same tape is apparent on some of the shiny steel vats in which the 2017 vintage is just starting to ferment. This protects the kosher wine production from being tampered with.
“To ensure wine is kosher, it must be made exclusively by Jewish hands. The winemakers may not touch it, so mashgichim (shomers) must do it all. The winemaker still makes all the decisions” explains Menahem Israelievitch, chief kosher wine maker for Royal Wines in France, Spain, Italy and Portugal.
Israelievitch is my guide for a mini wine tour of six chateaux producing kosher vintages. We visit just after the harvest, when the hand-picked grapes were still being pressed.
At Chateau Malartic Lagravier, we taste the 2015 vintage. The wine in our glasses is ruby red, the taste has plenty of berry fruits and some acidity. Israelievitch and chief winemaker, Phillipe Garcia tell me that in four to five years it will start to be good for drinking as the flavours develop and grow; and in a few more years, even better.
The trip is a treat for the eyes as well as the palate. Each chateau has the air of a stately home, many with fairytale turrets and towers. High sorting tents remain outside the huge doors into each winery, to protect the grapes during sorting.
Israelievitch is based in Paris, but regularly visits the Bordeaux wineries. He studied at yeshiva in southern Israel but was always keen on wine: “I’d return annually for two months at grape harvest time. When I was 16, a friend suggested I work with him as a mashgiach, which I did every year after that during my vacations.” He got a job with Royal after finishing yeshivah in 1999 and now leads a group of mashgichim from Paris and Lyons.
For the Bordeaux winemakers, allowing Israelievitch and his colleagues to make their wines is a leap of faith: “These bottles are marketed under their label. Each estate is judged by the wine it produces” says Israelievitch, but they can’t touch the wine while it is being made.
The family which owns Chateau Léoville Poyferré and Chateau Le Crock make four kosher vintages. “It was an opportunity to bring our wines to a special market and category of consumers we cannot reach if we don’t produce kosher wine” explained owner Didier Cuvelier.
Dominique Befve, CEO at Chateau Lascombes agrees: “The kosher market is a niche market. When Menahem approached us we looked for ways to ensure we could produce a quality kosher wine.”
Every chateau’s process differs slightly, but kosher methods always mirror non-kosher: “We use the same barrels, the same grapes and work in close co-operation with Menahem. I know what he needs for the kosher process and he knows and understands what we need to produce the quality of Chateau Giscours” explains Didier Foret, the chateau’s winemaker.
Tasting non-kosher wine is part of Israelievitch’s job even though he is, of course, strictly kosher. He has to assess blends and find new wines to produce in a kosher version. How does he do it? “Kosher rules allow us to taste the wines but not to swallow” he explains. “It’s the best way to taste wine anyway.” We spend the day spitting wine into spittoons — I’m feeling expert after two days.
Although you can buy decent kosher Bordeaux for just over £20, the top class wines are an expensive treat. Prices of hechshered bottles are often double that of their non-kosher equivalents. The kosher Chateau Giscours 2015 costs £99.99 while the non-kosher equivalent is around £60 - £70 per bottle.
“The chateaux add a premium for allowing us to make kosher wine in their wineries, then there’s the work involved by me and the mashgichim. It can take two years to make a wine, from the harvest through to it being bottled; and we may have to visit two or three times a week at some points of the process,” explains Israelievitch.
Although growing wine markets in the Far East mean kosher is relatively small fry, the chateaux remain loyal to Royal. At Chateau Léoville Poyferré, an Israeli flag fluttered alongside the French, US and EU flags at their entrance. Our hosts at Chateau Clark shipped in kosher sliced meats and fish for our lunch. With only one kosher restaurant in Bordeaux — a newly opened pizzeria to feed the 30 to 40 mashgiachim — our banquet must have travelled a few miles.
Chateau Clark has produced kosher wine for several years, so we sample wines from 2007 until the 2014 vintage. The older vintages have the meaty, spicy depth of flavour you’d expect from a good Bordeaux, an indication of where the 2015 wine is headed.
If you find a kosher wine you like, be aware that supply is limited. The blending process requires twice as much as they will finally bottle. “When we blend, we use up to 50 bottles, blending the kosher and the non-kosher wines in the same room to ensure kosher and non-kosher are identical” says Israelievitch.
When he and the chateau owner are happy with the blend, it returns to the barrels for another 12 – 15 months, so the 2015 vintage has only just reached the shelves. It’s receiving critical acclaim.
Kosher wine connoisseurs will store the 2015 vintage until it is ready to drink, although some buy it purely as an investment. “A kosher Bordeaux wine costing between £50 and £100 a bottle now will go up in price by about six to eight percent over time, but 2015 bottles will rise by double digit figures. A 2005 Chateau Léoville Poyferré is now worth about £300 — 100% more than it would have cost in 2007” confirms Benjamin Gestetner, manager of Kedem Europe.
There are more pocket-friendly kosher wines, but Bordeaux’s remain the crown jewels. When a very special vintage has just been released, it’s worth seeking out.
Taste Bordeaux wines at the Kedem Food and Wine Experience 2018 (KFWE18) on 31 January.
