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03/29/2001 Archived Entry: "Wine Buy: Yarden Gewurztraminer from Israel"

Yarden Gewürztraminer 1999, about $12.99 for a 500 ml bottle, is from Galilee, in the Golan Heights of Israel. It is kosher and kosher for Passover, the eight-day commemoration of the Exodus from Egypt that begins next Saturday night. But, to use once again that overused Levy’s rye bread advertising slogan, “You don’t have to be Jewish” to appreciate this wine’s very high quality and enormous appeal.

Say kosher wine and most people, Jews included, think of cloyingly sweet, grape-jelly tasting wines from New York (even Brooklyn) that for generations were the sacramental wines of the American Passover seder and other ritual occasions. To tell you the truth, I sort of like those wines on Passover because they are nostalgic. The taste of those native grape varieties, such as Concord, brings back happy times with my grandparents, days when every last member of my extended family got together for the two seders. Both my family and kosher wines are much more far-flung these days. There are kosher wines from Italy, from France, from California, and from Israel that you could never distinguish from their non-kosher counterparts.

This Israeli Gewürztraminer is one of those. The grape variety, which is grown extensively in Alsace and to a lesser extent in California, is known for its eccentricity. It is said to taste “spicy,” and it is, therefore, often recommended as the one wine that goes well with Chinese food, Indian food, any food that one doesn’t usually think of as wine friendly. I would say this Yarden Gewürztraminer has more the flavor and aromas of tropical fruits than spice. Carol Berman, Food Talk sommelier, noted its kiwi and papaya tones.

It comes in a small bottle (500 ml is one third less than the usual 750 ml bottle) because Yarden is marketing the wine as an aperitif wine, something to drink before the seder begins. In keeping with its reputation as a wine to go with odd foods, I, however, think it would go beautifully with gefilte fish. Whether its sweet fish or peppery fish, the aggressive flavor of Gewürztraminer offers good balance. Note, however, that although the wine is very fragrant and highly flavored, it is not at all sweet.

During Passover week, away from the seder table, I would also love to drink it with my matzoh brie supper, or a lunch of matzoh meal pancakes. Or, say, the chicken or turkey salad you may be preparing with leftovers from the seder.

In case your local wine merchant does not have it, tell him it is imported by Royal Wine Corp., New York, NY.