Dry or Sweet, Enjoy Kosher Wine for Purim

Time to open up a bottle or two of Kosher wine. Traditionally sweet, there are now highly rated dry Kosher wines and Purim is a holiday where drinking is not only allowed, but encouraged. Purim is a Jewish celebration in honor of the Feast of Esther who prayed and fasted for three days before speaking to the king to save her people from slaughter. We found out that this is actually an occasion to drink and that there’s a commandment that says adults should drink ‘until they can no longer tell the difference between blessing Mordechai (Esther’s cousin and ally) and cursing Haman (the genocide plotting enemy).’

Maybe going frat-house crazy on this holiday is over the top, but it seems like a good idea to count our blessings as winter melts away and spring appears no matter who you are or where you come from. Toasting with family and friends is always fun and we rarely need to be coaxed into enjoying a nice wine. Up until the 1960s, most Kosher wine would have been characterized by sweet, the largest producers coming from the American northeast where Concord grapes were the primary grape used. In more recent years, however, a new passion for producing dry Kosher wines has lead to highly ranked wines being produced not only in the US but in Israel, France, Germany, South Africa, Italy and Australia as well.

Regardless of style, wine isn’t all that forgiving if you’ve over indulged, as we’re sure many of our readers have already discovered. However, we do like the idea of raising a glass to acknowledge that the winter will soon be over and warmer days are near. Another way this is expressed at Purim is the tradition of giving gifts of ready to eat food such as dried fruit, nuts and hamantaschen. Hamantaschen are triangle shaped cookies filled with jam or poppy seeds. Be sure to have two servings of each item in your gift. That’s part of the tradition, too. When there’s enough for two, that means there’s enough to share. Why not include a bottle of both sweet and dry Kosher wine varieties in your Purim gift box? Share what you learned by enjoying your buttery and delicious Hamantaschen with a glass of Maneschewitz and count your blessings with family and friends.