Now one specially for those of you seeking a kosher wine for Passover this weekend. If you have an unlimited budget, you might like to seek out the kosher cuvée of the original St-Émilion garage wine Ch Valandraud. Check out international stockists here.
But those looking for more of a bargain should consider this debut vintage of a kosher rioja from the Vivanco family’s Bodegas Criadores de Rioja. Rafael Vivanco met some rabbis at a conference and realised that there was a potential market for a rioja made according to kosher regulations (outlined here in your online Oxford Companion). The seven pages of instructions include the fact that every stage of the winemaking process must be overseen by a rabbi, who is flown in to Rioja from Barcelona for this particular wine. To satisfy kosher requirements, the wine has been flash pasteurised, ie zapped up to 85 deg C/185 deg F for a minute and then cooled down to kill all the bacteria in it.
You might think this rather old-fashioned and brutal treatment would leave the wine completely exhausted and devoid of flavour but you’d be wrong. It’s as fresh as a daisy and has lots of sweet, round, strawberry fruit (a world away from standard sweet red kosher wine), the like of which only Tempranillo grown and aged in Rioja seems able to deliver. It has great balance and lift and reminded me of the sorts of pale, juicy riojas that were so popular back in the 1980s before Rioja producers started to make their wines in a more concentrated fashion. I found it very much better value than the super-concentrated Vivanco non-kosher riojas I tasted at the same time.
I would happily drink this, kosker or no, with or without food any time over the next couple of years. It is currently sold at £8.99 by Whole Food Market in London W8 and is available from importers Bibendum Wine at £95.40 a dozen. It’s also available in Spain and the US. The importer in the US is the Well Oiled Wine Company (1 Loudoun Street, SW Leesburg, VA 20175; tel 703-7711477; http://www.welloiledwineco.com).
You could try to locate other stockists by clicking on the link below although I have tried to no avail so far, I have to admit.
You could try to locate other stockists by clicking on the link below although I have tried to no avail so far, I have to admit.
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