When most people hear “kosher wine,” they picture sweet, syrupy Manishwitz being blessed by a rabbi or passed around a Shabbat table. But in fact, a rabbi’s blessing has nothing to do with wine kashrut, and kosher wine comes in all flavor profiles. So – what makes wine kosher?  

First, the wine has to contain only kosher ingredients – so no non-kosher additives or “clearing” agents like casein, gelatin, or uncertified egg whites. If grown in Israel, the grapes must follow Jewish agricultural laws. And in the case of all wine, the entire process – from crushing to bottling – must be handled only by Sabbath-observant Jews.  

However, there’s an exception: Wine which has been “cooked” (mevushal) is not subject to the laws of exposure and can be handled by anyone without affecting its kosher status. Today, this is generally accomplished by heating the crushed grapes to a high temperature for a very short time, similar to flash pasteurization. You can see if your kosher wine is “cooked” by looking for the word mevushal (מְבֻשָּׁל) next to the kosher symbol on the bottle. 

And why is wine handled by non-Jews considered unkosher? 

The Talmud teaches: “… Gentiles’ bread, oil, wine, and daughters were all prohibited due to the concern that Jews might participate in idol worship… They issued the decree prohibiting their wine due to the fact that this leads to familiarity, and Jews might come to marry their daughters. And they issued a decree prohibiting their daughters due to something else: idolatry.” (Avodah Zarah 36b:3-4) 

Discuss: 

• This Talmud passage connects wine to idol worship by suggesting that wine leads to social mixing, which leads to intermarriage, which leads to idolatry. Do you agree with this train of thought? Why or why not? 
• The rabbis here seem to be making a kind of “slippery slope” argument. Do you ever refrain from something just in case it leads to something else? Do you think slippery slope policies generally work for you? For others? 

In the 1500s, Jewish legal handbooks showed a development in this rule: 

In our time, when non-Jews are not idol worshipers, any of their contact [with non-boiled Jewish wine] is considered unintentional, and therefore if [a non-Jew] touches wine indirectly… it is permitted [for Jews] to drink it … But one should not publicize this fact to the unlearned. (Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh De’ah 124:24, Gloss of Rabbi Moses Isserles) 

Discuss: 

• This legal decision is from 1500s Poland. How were the religious surroundings different from the time of the Talmud (100s-500s)? How were they similar? 
• Why do you think Rabbi Isserles says this fact shouldn’t be publicized? 
• Why do you think some Jews still prefer mevushal (cooked) wine today? 
• Some Jews who otherwise observe kosher law choose not to drink kosher wine.
  • Why might this be? How do you feel about drinking kosher vs. non-kosher wine?