The best kosher wines for Passover

From dusk on April 10 to dusk on April 18, the feast of unleavened bread, Passover, commemorates the Israelites’ liberation from Egyptian slavery. While grain yeasts are forbidden throughout the festival, grape yeasts are lawful, making kosher wines, crafted crush-to-bottle by observant Jews, a staple. In fact, at the opening banquet, the Passover Seder, it is a Rabbinic requirement for adults to imbibe four cups of wine, representing sanctification, deliverance, redemption and hope.

In a quest for quality cuvées to fill Passover cups, I went to the Kosher Food and Wine Experience in an art deco ballroom in Green Park. Here, habitués, winemakers and journalists sampled one of London’s most lavish buffets.

Crafted by Jeff Morgan, bandleader at Monte Carlo’s Grand Casino turned wine journalist and winemaker, Covenant Lavan Napa Valley Chardonnay 2013 (£45.99) is tropically lush yet poised. Of the grape, Morgan says: ‘It’s no accident the word Chardonnay is based in Hebrew etymology. It’s believed that Templar Knights returned to France during the Crusades with cuttings grown near Jerusalem. These were referred to as Char Ha Adonoy (Gate of God). The French, never being able to pronounce H, meant it came out as Char-donnay.’

I also encountered expat German Jurgen Wagner, who fell in love at first sip with Spanish winery Capçanes two decades ago on tasting the complex Peraj Ha’abib 1995. Drawn to the vineyard source, Wagner ended up joining Capçanes as export manager, ‘living in a tiny place hidden in the Catalan Priorat mountains among humble farmers.’ Capçanes Ha’abib 2012 dovetails old vine Grenache, Cabernet and Carignan in a rich posy of coffee, chocolate and liquorice flavours (£34.99). Wagner praises winemaker Anna Rovira who ‘brings a highly appreciated feminine element to our team, favouring finesse while adding a refreshing craziness to our wines. A privilege of youth!’