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Kingsmark, an ultra-premium Kosher Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley, costs $380 a bottle.<\/p>\n
Jess Lander\/The Chronicle<\/p>\n
The first wine I ever tasted, as a child, was not really wine. It was Manischewitz: sweet, syrupy, made from Concord grapes and served to me in tiny amounts at Passover each year.<\/p>\n
I hated it, almost as much as I hated gefilte fish.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I haven\u2019t had Manischewitz in years, thankfully, because the Kosher wine market has exploded since the early 2000s. There are now many high-quality options from producers like Berkeley\u2019s Covenant<\/a> or Napa\u2019s Mayacamas<\/a>, which makes a $215 Kosher Cabernet Sauvignon, and Kosher wines reportedly continue to see growth despite the wine industry downturn<\/a>. Still, the stigma against Kosher wines \u2014 that they\u2019re cheap, sugary and overall terrible \u2014 has been hard to shake<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n That could finally start to change, for Kosher wine has reached a pinnacle: Napa Valley cult status.\u00a0<\/p>\n The idea of paying $380 for a bottle of wine for Passover, or roughly $56 per cup for the four required during the seder, will make bubbies across America verklempt. (A bottle of Manischewitz costs about $8.) Yet Kingsmark, an ultra-premium, Kosher Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon made by the region\u2019s most famous winemaking duo, Philippe Melka<\/a> and Mayaan Koschitzky, is a revelation for Kosher wine and definitive proof that the \u201cK\u201d certification has no bearing on quality.\u00a0<\/p>\n San Francisco Chronicle Logo<\/p>\n Make us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Kingsmark founder Whitney Skibell created the wine in honor of her late uncle, Napa wine and food magnate Leslie Rudd<\/a>, who started Covenant in 2003 with winemaker Jeff Morgan. \u201cMy uncle would always say, \u2018Why isn’t there a Kosher wine that would stand among the finest wines of the world? Why couldn\u2019t a Kosher wine be just as good as Screaming Eagle or Bond or Colgin?\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cIt should be just as good.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n