Holy Wine from The Holy Land 
 12.07.2009 
 

As everyone knows, wine has played a central role in the development of Western civilization. Thucydides wrote that man only became civilized when he planted vineyards. What is less known, is how sacramental wine, though today scorned for its quality by wine lovers, played a crucial part in the development of wine history.

It was the importance of wine in religious ritual, that helped to preserve winemaking after the collapse of the Roman Empire. Wine production was only reestablished at what became the crossroads of Christianity: Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Syria/ Lebanon & Palestine/Ancient Israel, because of the need for sacramental wine. The old Eastern Mediterranean wine trade routes became active once more in the trading of wine for the purposes of religion.

Furthermore, it was the producers of Sacramental wine that maintained the wine industry during the Dark Ages in Europe. Christian monks became the main viticulturists during this time.

By the Middle Ages, Monasteries & Abbeys were the largest wine producers and remained so throughout the period. They built up large areas of vineyards in Europe. Many of today’s finest vineyards were established by the Church, amongst them, Clos Vougeot and Schloss Johannisberg. The area of influence was most apparent in Burgundy, but the Church had influence throughout Catholic Europe. As distribution methods improved, matters of quality, the choice of grape variety and the vineyard site became more of an issue. The wine industry gradually began to take the shape known today.

Jews were also engaged in viticulture up to the 16th century. The most famous vintner was the great sage Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac, better known as Rashi, who made wine in the champagne region. The most famous monk also frequented the same region. His name was Dom Perignon, according to legend, the founder of sparkling Champagne. These two names live on today. ‘Rashi’ is a label of attractively priced kosher wines and ‘Dom Perignon’ is the prestige label of the largest Champagne producer, Moet et Chandon.

After the 16th century, Jews became more involved in the trading and distribution of wine and the distilling of liquor, than wine production. This was certainly true in the Poland and Russia of the 18th and 19th century and the tradition was maintained in America in the 20th century.

The establishment of winemaking in wine producing countries, such as Argentina, Chile and California, began from the need to produce and supply Sacramental wine. It is also true that the main motive for producing wine in 19th century Israel, was the primary need to provide wine for the religious Jew to be able to observe their religion in the Promised Land.

So Sacramental wine had a large part in winemaking history, but what is it? Sacramental wine is a wine intended for use in religious ritual, which has to be made from grapes. This was to become known by Anglicans as Communion Wine, in the Catholic tradition as Altar Wine and by Jews as Kiddush Wine.

Sacramental wine in a Christian context stems from the particular Jewish Passover ‘Seder Night’, that became known as The Last Supper. It would have been entirely appropriate for Jesus, as a believing Jew, to celebrate Passover. It was then that Jesus encouraged his followers to drink bread and wine to symbolize his body and blood. The representation of red wine as blood has Greek origins, long before Christianity. The tradition of the Eucharist and Communion evolved from the 4th Century CE /AD onwards.

The use of wine as a blessing comes from Judaism, even before the advanced wine culture of the Greeks and Romans. There is no Jewish Festival without a special blessing to “The Fruit of The Vine” over a glass of wine. Jews will sanctify each Sabbath with wine and at the Passover meal, Jews are expected to drink four glasses of wine.

Christians insist that Sacramental wine must be real wine and not unfermented grape juice. However certain denominations like Pentecostals and Baptists, do accept the use of grape juice instead. For Jews, though wine is preferable, it is permissible to make Kiddush with natural, pure grape juice.

The Eastern Orthodox Church insist that the wine is red, to symbolize the blood of Christ. In the west, white wine is preferred, the reason being that it does not stain altar clothes. For Jews, a red wine is preferred, but obviously for different reasons. Fortification with grape spirit is permitted as long as it does not come close to a third of the final product and the strength should not exceed 18%. It is possible to dilute this with water but adulterated or flavored wine is forbidden.

Communion & Kiddush wines are usually sweet, being more popular with children and for people that don’t like dry wine, but there are no laws against using a dry white wine for Communion and Kiddush. It is their own tradition that guides each community.
Finally it is an economic necessity that Sacramental wines are inexpensive. Therefore though expensive, high quality wines may be used, in the religious context in the Church and Synagogue, price is usually more of an issue than quality. This is one of the reasons that Sacramental wines have justifiably gained a bad name amongst wine lovers and connoisseurs.

Sacramental wine is most prized, when it is produced in the Holy Land. This was the birthplace of wine in the Judeo-Christian tradition. There are two Monasteries, Cremisan and Latroun, which have been making wine there for over 120 years. Both Latroun and Cremisan are primarily making wine to fund the Monasteries’ livelihood. They sell wine to tourists, to Churches or send it for export to Christian communities.

Cremisan Monastery was founded in 1885 and is situated at Beit Jalla, on the border between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, approximately 5 km. from Bethlehem and 12 km. from Jerusalem. It is a Salesian community, whose Priests hail from Italy. The winery is known as Cremisan Vineyards. The winemaker is Father Sig. Ermenegildo Lamon, who has made their wine since 1967.

Their most famous brand is Messa – a white Altar wine, which is exported to the Christian world, and in particularly used by Arab Christian communities. It is made from Dabuky and Jandaky grapes. Another wine they produce is Cana of Galilee, a dry red, made from Carignan, Alicante and Argaman grapes. This is named after the village in the Galilee, which can still be visited, where Jesus changed water into wine. They also have a good rustic red wine called King David’s Tower, with a picture of the Citadel in Jerusalem’s Old City on the label. This is a blend of a local grape, Balady Asmar and Alicante.

Domaine de Latroun is a winery situated at the Latroun Monastery, which overlooks the main Tel Aviv Jerusalem Highway. It is a Trappist Monastery, which was founded in 1890. The monks tend to be from France, Belgium and Lebanon. The winemaker is the Abbot Paul Sauma, who sometimes has winemaking students from Lebanon to assist him. They produce a full range of wines from their own vineyards, chiefly from French varietals. They are proud of wines such as Pinot Noir and Gewurztraminer, which they export to neighboring countries such as Jordan. Their sweet Marsala wine, Muscat and reds made from Alicante are popular sacramental wines.

Most of the Sacramental wines produced in Israel are kosher. The word ‘kosher’ means pure and kosher wines tend to be suitable for vegetarians and vegans. There is nothing in kosher wine production, to make them unsuitable as Communion wines.

Also, not all Jewish or Israeli wineries produce wine exclusively for Jews. For instance, Efrat, a drinks distributor in the Old City of Jerusalem, founded in 1870, initially specialized in producing sweet wines for the Christian residents of the Holy Land, who were eager for Altar & Communion wine from Palestine. They have grown into a large winery, now known as Teperberg.

Sometimes it works the other way. Mony is a winery situated at the Dir Rafat Monastery, in the Judean Foothills. It is owned by Shakib Artul, and the winery is named in memory of his son, Mony, who died from an illness. The Artuls are an Israeli Arab family, the winery is situated in a Monastery and they produce Kosher table wines and olive oil, which are mainly sold to the Israeli market.

However, most Israeli Sacramental wine is red, sweet and primarily used by Jews. Yashan Nashan, which roughly translates as ‘old and aged’ is produced at Rishon Le Zion Wine Cellars. It is arguably the largest selling sacramental wine in Israel. In Talmudic times this was the name given to an older wine from the previous years. It was often diluted to reduce its strength.

King David is a Sacramental wine with a good reputation in America. The King David Concorde is more used for Kiddush, whilst King David Sacramental is also popular as an Altar wine. In America, Manischevitz dominates the kiddush wine market followed by Kedem & Mogen David. However King David remains popular because of its Israeli heritage.

Palwin, a brand first launched in 1898, is the largest brand of Israeli produced Kiddush or Sacramental wine available in Britain. The word ‘Palwin’ is a shortened version of ‘Palestine Wine.’ The wines are known by a series of numbers. This was historically because they could be easily identified by immigrants who did not speak English. Palwin No. 10 is the biggest seller, whilst Palwin No. 4 is higher alcohol. No sugar is added to these sweet red wines. They are instead sweetened by added grape juice.

The Shor family founded their winery in 1848 in the Old City of Jerusalem. It was not the first or only winery. Then there were many domestic wineries producing Kiddush or Sacramental wine, but the Shor Winery is the first recorded one that still exists. However since then, the winery moved out of Jerusalem to Mishor Adomim and split into three separate family wineries: Hacormim, Zion and Arza. Their most famous Kiddush wine is Conditon, produced by Hacormim. ‘Conditon’ is Aramaic for spiced wine.

One of the most popular styles of wine for Kiddush are those made like a Moscato d’Asti from Italy. They are light, low alcohol (between 5 – 6 %), semi sweet, and slightly sparkling. Everyone who usually does not like wine, makes an exception for these particular wines. They are enjoyed by everyone and are ideal for all the family. The Golan Moscato and Young Selected Moscato are both white wines made from Muscat grapes. For those preferring a red wine, there is Young Selected Carignano, made from Carignan and a touch of Muscat.

The highest quality Israeli Kiddush wine is Kadmon produced by Carmel Winery. It is made from Carignan, Petite Sirah and even a little Cabernet Sauvignon. All the grapes are grown on the coastal plain of Israel – in the Mount Carmel, Shefela and central Judean Plain regions. It is fortified – the alcohol is added on its grape skins during fermentation. The wine is then barrel aged in small used oak barrels for 5-6 years. The word ‘Kadmon’ means Primal Man. In Europe this style of wine is referred to as a Red Liqueur Wine.

As far as grape juice is concerned, the Rolls Royce of Israeli grape juices is Carmel Tirosh. Tirosh is the Biblical word for grape must. This is produced 100% from wine grapes with no addition of sugar or water. It comes in both red and white versions. The red is produced mainly from Carignan and Argaman grapes and the white from Colombard and Muscat. This is a big brand in Israel, and to many religious Jews, grape juice has the same status as wine.

Today, quite apart from Cremisan and Latroun, there are still Monasteries producing wine in many wine producing countries. In Israel, wineries like Carmel, Castel, Yarden & Yatir are gaining credit for producing world class wines, that also happen to be Kosher. There are also kosher wines with more famous names such as Laurent Perrier, Valandraud, Smith Haut Lafite, Leoville Poyferre and Pontet Canet. No end of choice for Communion or Kiddush!

Any of these may be used as a Sacramental wine. However the Priest or Rabbi, Christian or Jew, is still more likely to use a simple, more traditional style of Sacramental wine, when the wine is to be sipped in the context of religious ritual. However, it should not be forgotten, that the wine world, as we know it today, was built on the back of the humble Sacramental wine.