Affectionately titled, “the vine” in Hebrew Hagafen Cellars was aptly named because it was the first Kosher winery in Northern California (we admittedly, don’t have a large Jewish population).

Eight thousand cases are produced, almost all of it from two estate vineyards off the Silverado Trail.

As per the wine itself, there’s nothing inherently different about making a Kosher wine with a few notable exceptions. First and foremost, anyone handling winemaking tasks from the time the grapes are crushed, until bottling, has to be Kosher.  There’s been a few wineries, namely Covenant that has moved from Napa to Berkeley since finding more labor was easier with a larger population.

Secondly, all finings must be kosher as well.  As an example, some wine is simply filtered to remove lees and extra yeast.  Others put some carbon into the wine, the carbon sticks to everything, then makes falls to the bottom of the barrel basically-easy.  Finings are often animal based though and kosher options are few and far between, even in 2015.

Personally speaking, I find that many of the Hagafen Cellars offerings would be a nice fit in my wine gift offerings, since they tell a story, about people with the ability to make great wine, slightly differently.