Wine for Passover

Passover, an eight-day springtime festival, commemorates the Exodus of the Jewish people from Egyptian bondage. Based on the injunction against eating or possessing leavened bread for eight days, Passover involves a unique set of kosher laws. Kosher consumers are most careful about what they eat on Passover. In fact, people who do not observe kosher year-round do so on Passover. According to some accounts, 40% of the kosher market revolves around the Passover holiday.

Passover’s restrictions guard against eating food products containing any edible fermented grain products known as chometz. Included in this category are wheat, barley, oats, spelt or rye which have been leavened due to contact with water. People of the Jewish faith are expected not to derive any pleasure or benefit whatsoever from chometz. Furthermore, they may not own chometz or have chometz in his possession.

Ensuring that foods are kosher for Passover is even more difficult than during the rest of the year because many of the ingredients that are routinely used and produced under kosher supervision are not kosher for Passover. Barley, wheat, rye, oats, and spelt are permitted only for the baking of matzoh and matzoh meal products. Flour of these grains is mixed with water and baked in less than eighteen minutes under rabbinic supervision. Furthermore, American Jews of Eastern or Western European descent avoid legumes such as soy, peanuts, and peas, as well as corn and rice.

Not only do foods require special preparation in order to be acceptable for use during Passover, but all equipment used for the production of kosher for Passover items must also be kosher for Passover. Even foods and household products which meet the strict, year-round dietary regulations, and are considered kosher, are nevertheless often unacceptable, or require special preparation for Passover use in the Jewish home in order to be kosher for Passover.

In order for a wine to be kosher, it must be created under a rabbi's immediate supervision, with only Sabbath-observant Jewish males touching the grapes from the crushing phase through the bottling. While all wines require some sort of mold (yeast) for fermentation, kosher for Passover wine must be made from a mold that has not been grown on bread (such as sugar or fruit) and must exclude several common preservatives, like potassium sorbate. Sometimes the label will say "mevushal" or "non mevushal." Mevushal means the wine has been flash-pasteurized to 175 degrees Fahrenheit (79.44 C) and may be opened and served by a non-observant person.