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Quality wines now available to kosher clientele |
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Written by Atara Beck
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Wednesday, 18 November 2009 |
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TORONTO – A most elegant wine-tasting evening last week at the Wagman Centre, hosted by Mazel Wines, agents of quality kosher wines and liqueurs, demonstrated the availability of the finest products to kosher clientele.
With each table beautifully decorated, complete with a water pitcher for cleaning out wine glasses and a bucket for spilling out any leftover beverage between samples – which in itself was an education in drinking etiquette for the less experienced guests – the crowd thoroughly enjoyed themselves with the award-winning Israeli, Austrian, Italian and American products on display. They tasted eight different wines – three red, three white and two dessert – and with each sample, a food item deemed a perfect match for the particular brand was provided.
For instance, Cantina Garbriele Chianti – an Italian dry red and this scribe’s favourite, with a moderate alcohol content of 12.5 per cent – was served with delicious bruschetta.
As recently as 20 years ago, kosher wine was “an exercise in observance of the faith,” said Dr. Irvin Wolkoff of the Wine Writers’ Circle of Canada. It used to be the case that yayin mevushal (cooked wine, for religious reasons) was inevitably inferior to the best products, but modern technology has changed all that.
“It’s basically zapped,” commented emcee Renee Simmons.
Rabbi Tzvi Heber of the Kashruth Council of Canada discussed the halachic (pertaining to Jewish law) aspects involved in the production of wine, explaining why a product made from grapes, which are naturally kosher, would require supervision.
“When you become a real ‘winer,’ you’ll start picking the wine before the food to go with it,” remarked Sheila Swerling-Puritt, also a member of the Wine Writers’ Circle. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 25 November 2009 )
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