Life

10 Delicious Kosher Wines For Mother’s Day — Picked By The Women Who Make Them

Agronomist Michal Akerman in the vineyards of Tabor Winery in Israel. Image by Courtesy Tabor Winery

By Laura E. Adkins May 10, 2018

If you love your mom, you’ll send her flowers on Mother’s Day. But if you really treasure her, you’ll send her a bottle of wine — or open one as you celebrate the woman who gave you life over a home-cooked brunch.

While the kosher wine industry is often portrayed as male-dominated, there are plenty of women who produce and sell delicious, top-quality products. I spoke to a female agronomist, co-owner of a winery, and saleswoman, at least two of whom also happen to be mothers, about what they’d recommend to celebrate the women in your life.

Michal Akerman, agronomist at Tabor Winery in Israel, recommended their Barbera Rose from the Tabor Adama series. “I find this wine reflects the modern mothers — gentle, elegant and pleasant, yet on the other hand powerful, with a, it’s not as commonly used for rosé wine as other grape varietals are. But in Tabor’s bottle, Barbera “gives structure and body, and the mouth feel is pleasant and gentle with long aftertaste…Excellent for hot days!” adds Akerman.

Vinter and Co-Owner of Covenant Wines, Jodie Morgan, also included a rosé among her top picks: Covenant’s versatile 2017 RED C Rose, which pairs well with everything. Her other preferred labels include Morgan’s summer house pour, the affordable 2016 Mensch Roussanne, “a classic white Rhone varietal that is loaded with flavor and is a serious crowd pleaser” (which has the added advantage of coming with a screw cap), along with Morgan’s favorite Chardonnay, the “rich but not too oaky” 2015 Lavan Chardonnay, which is grown in a beautiful vineyard on Sonoma Mountain.

Ruti Schvarcz, the Salesperson for Happy Hearts Wine, highly recommends the company’s new Rambam Rubino Rosé, which they released just two weeks before Purim and has been flying off the shelves. It’s a fine moscato, extra-sweet and bubbly with subtle fruit and floral flavors, and best served ice-cold.

For something even sweeter, Schvarcz recommends the creamy Lavie Dulce de leche, a liquor.

For the mother who prefers a dry red, Schvarcz recommends Israeli wines: the volcanic Odem Mountain Tigress Cabernet Sauvignon, the fruity and oaky Domaine Ventura Grand Vin Merlot or Judean Heights Petite Sirah and the spicy Aharonoff Syrah. And of course, for the wise mother whom biblical allusions will not be lost upon, there’s the soft and sultry Mony Delilah.

Laura E. Adkins is the Forward’s deputy opinion editor. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter, @Laura_E_Adkins

Laura E. Adkins is a senior director at Jewish Women International and the former opinion editor of the Forward. Email her or follow her on X.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO