Why is Kosher wine so sweet?!
Answers: Manischewitz, for instance, is soooo sweet. I don't know that much about kosher laws, but I can't imagine anything (beyond not being blessed by a rabbi) that would make a good cabernet or whatever un-kosher. But I guess there's a reason for it. Is the sweetness somehow tied to the kosher wine making process?
The wine sold for religious purposes tends to very sweet for two main reasons. First, it is consumed by people who are not wine drinkers and who would find a normal dry wine unpalatable, and second, because the sugar in such sweet wine makes it last longer once opened.
Kosher wine does not have to be sweet, it just has to be certified as Kosher and there are strict rules that govern which wines can be Kosher.
There are two main paths, one is being made by practising Jews and according to Jewish laws such as the vineyard lying fallow every seventh year, second is a wine that has been pastuerised. Most people agree that the second method removes something from the wine, but Kosher wines made by the first are indistinguishable from anyother wine.
Here is a very brief article by my friend Daniel Rogov, Israel's leading wine writer,on what makes a wine Kosher -- http://www.stratsplace.com/rogov/israel/...
They arent all so sweet.
I went to a Kosher winery in Napa and they had wonderful wines
Not all kosher wines are sweet, but the traditional kosher wines are because they add additional sugars (traditionally in the form of honey). The classic recipes of kosher wine call for this, but as long as a wine is handled in a kosher way and blessed by a rabbi, just about any kind of wine can be kosher.
Except for, like, bacon wine or something.
Like BB said not all are sweet, the sacremental wines made for both the Catholic church and Kosher ones are sweet, the main issues i when making kosher wine is the way the grapes are grown, the handling after being picked, the winerys have to be sterized and the production like all kosher food is supervised in all manners by either a rabbi or ofical with the right to make decisons under the Kasharuth laws.
There are good California Kosher wines, some from Israel, Australia and a few european German and French, mostly reds a few whies and some roses.
try a Merlot instead.