Jules Polonetsky
Like many readers, I didn’t grow up with much exposure to wine beyond a sip of sweet wine for Kiddush on Shabbat and holidays. Once I began purchasing quality kosher wines, I began to appreciate that wine could actually be tasty, but without much knowledge, my appreciation was still quite limited. Only when I started to study and get more of an understanding of the complexity involved in producing good wine did I really begin to appreciate the subtleties and nuances that make wine so special. In this column, I will recap some of the very basics that started me on my wine education.
Let’s start with a counterintuitive truth: to make great wine, grapevines need to suffer.
Yes, you read that right. A healthy, pampered vine — growing in rich soil, with easy access to water and nutrients — won’t yield the best grapes for winemaking. Instead, the best wines come from vines that have to struggle a bit. When the soil is rocky or the water scarce, the vine sends its roots deeper and concentrates its energy into fewer grapes. The result? Smaller, more flavorful fruit, rich in sugars, acids and complex compounds that will define the wine’s structure and personality. Wine regions even have strict rules that don’t allow irrigation and require vines to be planted close together to compete for resources. Strict European rules dictate the maximum yield per hectare, or the wine can’t be sold using the prestigious title of the local appellation.
This concept of stress is one element of what’s known as terroir, a French word with no perfect English translation. Terroir describes the complete natural environment in which a grape is grown — the soil, slope, sunlight, rainfall, temperature shifts, wind exposure and more. Two vineyards just a few miles apart can produce dramatically different wines from the same grape variety, simply because of differences in elevation, drainage, or microclimate.
Israel provides a perfect example. In the Golan Heights, volcanic basalt soil and high elevation combine to create intense Cabernet Sauvignons and Syrahs with firm structure and freshness. In the Judean Hills, thin limestone soils and Mediterranean breezes result in wines with elegance, minerality and bright acidity. The Negev Desert, surprisingly, yields kosher wines from vineyards that have adapted to arid, sandy soil and dramatic day/night temperature swings.
California’s Napa Valley and Sonoma County show terroir’s power in a different way. Napa, with its warm days and cooler nights, creates plush, fruit-forward wines — Cabernet Sauvignon here often bursts with blackberry, cassis and vanilla from oak aging. Sonoma, with more fog and coastal influence, allows grapes to ripen slowly, leading to more restrained, balanced wines — perfect for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. It’s why a Cabernet Sauvignon from the Upper Galilee will taste distinctly different from one grown in Napa Valley, even if both are made from the same grape clone. Each parcel of land imparts its own unique fingerprint on the wine.
Once a wine is in your glass, how do you begin to assess it? Start by considering the three stages of flavor:
- Primary flavors come directly from the grape — think fruits (cherry, peach, lemon), herbs (mint, thyme), and floral notes (rose, honeysuckle). Sniff before drinking to get the scents, which can sometimes be different than what you taste. Simple wines will have just one or two notes, while more complex wines deliver a range of flavors and scents.
- Secondary flavors develop during the winemaking process. This includes aromas like toasty notes from oak, butter (from malolactic fermentation), or yeasty notes (common in sparkling wines). Primary flavors come from the field, while the winemaker influences the secondary flavors. A simple wine might spend less time macerating with its grape skin while a wine intended to be bold or be suited for aging will spend more time exposed to skin to enhance the tannins.
- Tertiary flavors emerge with age and oxidation — think leather, dried fruit, mushroom, or forest floor. A mature Bordeaux or Burgundy may show very few fruity notes and instead offer layers of complexity from this final stage. However, most wines are intended to be consumed young and will only decline with age, so drink up!
A simple wine can be very enjoyable and refreshing and the best-selling wines like the classic “blue bottle” Bartenura are actually very well made wines intended to be a light tasty beverage. Simple and inexpensive doesn’t mean bad wine!
As you taste a wine, ask yourself: Is it light or full-bodied? Does it taste more fruity, earthy, or spicy? Is the acidity refreshing? Is there a drying sensation on your gums (tannins)? Does the taste linger after you swallow? You don’t need to be a sommelier to engage with wine — you just need to be curious and know what to look for as you smell and taste.
Another important concept to understand is that some wines are named for their region, not their grape variety. In much of the world, particularly in France and Italy, the wine label tells you where the grapes were grown, and it’s up to the consumer to know what that implies.
- A Chianti is a red wine from Tuscany, Italy — usually made mostly from the Sangiovese grape.
- A Bordeaux is a blend from southwestern France, often Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.
- A Burgundy refers to wines from the Burgundy region in eastern France — red Burgundy is made from Pinot Noir; white Burgundy is made from Chardonnay.
In contrast, most wines from the U.S., Israel and many other countries are labeled by grape variety: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Sauvignon Blanc, and so on. This “New World” approach is more accessible to beginners but learning the “Old World” system opens doors to some of the world’s most iconic and collectible wines — including a growing number of kosher-certified options.
Understanding these basics can transform wine from an intimidating subject into a source of endless discovery. You don’t need to know every detail about French appellations or Israeli soil types to enjoy a glass — but a little knowledge adds depth and appreciation.
L’Chaim!
Jules Polonetsky is a Wine and Spirits Education Trust Level 3 Certified wine expert who writes for the Wine and Whiskey Globe when not occupied with his day job as CEO of a tech policy think tank. He is a former consumer affairs commissioner of the city of New York.
