Harvest is a few days or short weeks of harried activity, rather than a romantic idyll that hopefully results in a winemaker’s endgame of great wine. It is the beginning of anxious days and nights, of listening to weather stations and watching the sky for hints of damaging rain. The bite in the air and a tinge of color on the grape leaves in August are harbingers of harvest. After months of nurturing grapes, the coming of crush quickens the pulse of winemakers. A vintner judges when sugars, tannins, and acids are correctly balanced because grapes don’t ring a bell to announce they are ready. Baggies are filled with grape samples for baseline readings. Picking bins and trailers are standing by. Everything is ready and everyone is on alert for the frantic moment when grapes arrive at the crush pad. Paid workers and volunteers need to arrive a day too early rather than a day too late.

Grapes are picked berry by berry, or in bunches by machine or by hand. Sticky fingers load grapes into containers that are rushed to the winery. Bees swarm around the grapes on the way to the press. Constant tasting of fruit leaves mouths puckered. Once the grapes are sorted, de-stemmed, cleaned of leaves and debris and finally pressed, the juice begins the process of fermentation. A heady fragrance permeates the air.

There are many steps to be taken before wine is ready for bottling. Length of time wine ferments in stainless steel tanks or ages in oak barrels that come from different forests and toasted to a winemaker’s specifications radically affects aromas and flavor. A winemaker may decide to craft a single varietal, to hold back the best grapes to make a reserve wine. Blending is considered the most artistic step of the process when simpatico grapes enrich the final product. Addition of one grape might add color, while others can contribute spice, weight, tannins, fruitiness, aromas, and finesse. Undistinguished grapes become generic table wines, vin de pays, vin ordinaire, or vino di tavola, or are sold off as bulk wine to other producers.

A perfect vintage guarantees success. Happiness comes from a great harvest when nature permits grapes reach their potential. Winemakers agree harvest is the most significant event of the year. An entire year’s results and income rests on crucial decisions about the optimum moment to wrest grapes from their vines. Anxiety builds in years with unruly weather conditions or wayward vines, which, like difficult children, require constant attention. Work throughout the year readies the winery for harvest. Stainless steel tanks and the entire winery must be spotlessly clean and barrels ordered.

“Harvest is a few days or short weeks of harried activity, rather than a romantic idyll that hopefully results in a winemaker’s endgame of great wine. It is the beginning of anxious days and nights, of listening to weather stations and watching the sky for hints of damaging rain. The bite in the air and a tinge of color on the grape leaves in August are harbingers of harvest. After months of nurturing grapes, the coming of crush quickens the pulse of winemakers. A vintner judges when sugars, tannins, and acids are correctly balanced because grapes don’t ring a bell to announce they are ready. Baggies are filled with grape samples for baseline readings. Picking bins and trailers are standing by. Everything is ready and everyone is on alert for the frantic moment when grapes arrive at the crush pad. Paid workers and volunteers need to arrive a day too early rather than a day too late.

Grapes are picked berry by berry, or in bunches by machine or by hand. Sticky fingers load grapes into containers that are rushed to the winery. Bees swarm around the grapes on the way to the press. Constant tasting of fruit leaves mouths puckered. Once the grapes are sorted, de-stemmed, cleaned of leaves and debris and finally pressed, the juice begins the process of fermentation. A heady fragrance permeates the air.

There are many steps to be taken before wine is ready for bottling. Length of time wine ferments in stainless steel tanks or ages in oak barrels that come from different forests and toasted to a winemaker’s specifications radically affects aromas and flavor. A winemaker may decide to craft a single varietal, to hold back the best grapes to make a reserve wine. Blending is considered the most artistic step of the process when simpatico grapes enrich the final product. Addition of one grape might add color, while others can contribute spice, weight, tannins, fruitiness, aromas, and finesse. Undistinguished grapes become generic table wines, vin de pays, vin ordinaire, or vino di tavola, or are sold off as bulk wine to other producers.

Solar panels are springing up over ponds, fields and on roofs in many wine regions. By  ”flipping the switch” this technique  successfully keeps energy costs down, a benefit to both producers and consumers.  The expensive panels pay off with rebates and depreciation in about six years. One mid-size Napa Valley winery, able to generate electricity during months of glorious weather, has reduced its annual electrical bill from over ten thousand dollars to just under two dollars. A meter measures indicates how much the winery’s power source contributes to the power company’s grid. The winery becomes an adjunct energy provider to its neighbors.

Cost is important, but pales with the crucial ecological effect of solar power’s gift to the earth. Wineries have joined concerned businesses committed to reducing the environmental impact of conventional power sources. Solar power produces no carbon emissions, substantially reducing greenhouse gases. It is the logical continuation of a philosophy of sustainable and organic grape farming. It’s a win-win situation for the world.

Eastern European immigrants drank wine made from different grape varietals in the old country, but they were forced to adapt their winemaking skills to the native Concord grape found on America’s Eastern shore . This tart grape needed copious quantities of sugar in order to make palatable wine. It explains why up until recently, wine used for Sabbath blessings and the mandatory four glasses of wine at a Passover seder had a syrupy quality that tasted like thinned-out grape jelly. A lingering admiration for this cloying wine still lingers, perhaps because of a romantic notion that this was the wine Moses might have drunk in the Land of Milk and Honey.

For centuries, wine was boiled to ensure its purity, inadvertently destroying many vaunted qualities. Today, the modern technique of flash pasteurization developed at U. C. Davis, America’s notable enology school about twenty years ago heat the wine to a temperature of 160 to 195 degrees for a few seconds, a major step that maintains the wine’s flavors and integrity. The extra step, called Mevushal, satisfies the needs of the Ultra-Orthodox and permits wine served in restaurants to be poured by other servers than observant Jews. The holiday celebrating the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt has even more stringent requirements for wine and food in order to be Kosher for Passover.

Blind tastings prove that many quality kosher wines are indistinguishable from their non-kosher counterparts. It has been an uphill battle to convince a doubting public, but a gradual acceptance has skyrocketed sales to both Jews and the general public, especially when they win awards, are touted by word of mouth, and compete with favorable prices when compared to non-kosher counterparts.

New kosher labels from well-respected growing regions produced under strict rabbinic supervision favorably compete with their non-kosher counterparts. This change was brought about by world-wide cooperation between vintners, new technology patterned after California and French counterparts, greater respect for vineyard management, and new varietals. Kosher wines compete favorably with their non-kosher wines counterparts. In fact, winemaker Ernie Weir, who crafts Hagafen wines in Napa Valley, notes the kosher label doesn’t deter consumers of all persuasions from enjoying his high quality wines..

The usual pairings of white wine with fish and red wine with meat go out the window. Red wine tends to be more popular than white during the seder, but a practical hostess often serves white rather than red wine because it’s hard to remove wine stains from a pristine damask tablecloth. Gefilte fish requires special consideration. The melon and pear flavors of crisp Israeli Carmel Valley Riesling/Chenin Blanc blend pairs well with gefilte fish, as does the award-winning Baron Herzog Chenin Blanc. Try a spicy, floral Verbau Gewurtztraminer (one of my favorite wines great with gefulte fish and desserts), or Chateau Sarget de Gruaud la Rose. Try Israel’s Galil Mountain’s full range of reds and whites. Their  Barbera from will knock your socks off with its deliciousness. Galil Mountain is  owned by Golan Heights which also makes very good wine. Yarden, Carmel, Margalit, Dalton, and Amphora from Israel are increasingly dedicated to quality and long-range planning. Baron Herzog Wine Cellars seems to be producing everywhere from Europe to California. I’m very fond of Napa Valley’s  kosher Hagafen Wines, especially its White Riesling.

For Reds, head for the Israeli Barkan Reserve Merlot, a full-bodied Herzog Special Reserve California Cabernet, Sauvignon. Backsberg Pinotage from South Africa, or the Teal Lake Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from Australia, all tasting of some combination of dark berry, spice, and oak notes. They fit the bill as excellent companions to chicken, pot roast, lamb or duck.

There’s more quality, choice, and a range of prices from moderate to expensive.Be adventuresome and expand from same old, same old wines. Complement the seder dinner with well-crafted wines and new labels made from Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Muscato, Merlot, Shiraz, Barbera, Zinfandel, and Cabernet Sauvignon.

With so many choices available, the best idea is to follow the dictum  “Drink whatever you like with food, so long as it’s wine.”

Sparkling wine is difficult to make and complicated to understand. Here are some ground rules to make your choice easier. Champagne and many sparkling wines fall into two general groups: Blanc de Noirs, a classic blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier, produces a pale golden wine, sometimes tinged a lovely pink. Blanc de Blancs is always 100% Chardonnay.

Styles of sparkling wine depend on the amount of sugar in the wine. Brut lowest amount of sugar, making  it the most food friendly and a great aperitif. It’s probably the number one choice for New Year’s Eve. Extra Dry is a misnomer, because it’s sweeter than Brut. Sweeter Demi-sec is perfect with Asian food, chocolate, crème caramel, and other desserts.

It’s not necessary to take out a mortgage to find a great bubbly. Many countries make variations of Champagne, sometimes using different grapes. Only wine made in the small area in Northeast France can legally call itself Champagne. Even one made in America must be called  sparkling wine. Spain’s Cava, Italian Prosecco and Asti Spumante are worth a try. For reasonably priced bottles, try Mumm Napa Valley, Domaine Chandon, Freixenet, or St. Hilaire, from the Languedoc region of France is a personal favorite.

Ring in the New Year with a wish for love, health, happiness, and peace. Cheers!

Can there still be hundreds of wines we haven’t yet heard about? It seems there is a constant supply of “new” wines entering the marketplace. Not exactly new. Only new to us.  France alone grows 600 of the 5,000 already recognized varietals around the world, including some of the world’s most notable wines.

Many French wines are consumed by the home market, including the wines of southwestern France that compromise twenty-five percent of the country’s total production. Locals with a great imagination draw an imaginary line, resembling a rugby ball, around a mosaic of small areas, each with its own specialty of sweet, dry, and sparkling wines. Ninety percent of the total production are red. “Unfortunately, they are often pigeon-holed as hard and tannic, but some are soft as a Beaujolais,” says importer Charles Neal, a k a  armagnacman.

Few outside Southwestern France will recognize the unfamiliar, locally popular, indigenous grapes of Southwestern France: Négrette, Duras, Braucol, Mauzac,and Tannat. “These wines are artisanal, soulful, and honest, perfect matches with duck and stews.  They’re great with shellfish, particularly oysters. They have distinct personalities, and best of all, perfect for Americans exploring new wines with quality and value,” says Neal.

Three historic links tie the region together. The first is the rustic region’s geography, lying between Bordeaux to the west and Languedoc to the east, and bound by the Massif Central to the north and the Pyrenees Mountains to the south. The maritime influence of the Atlantic Ocean and nearby rivers, as well as rain and humidity from North Africa, play a significant role in the development of local wines. The second link is the centuries’ old pilgrimage route to Santiago de Campostella in Spain. Pilgrims from the Middle Ages on traveling across all corners from Europe made these wines famous long before those of Bordeaux rose to prominence. The third link is the production of artisanal wines made from indigenous grapes that are the backbone the particular flavor profiles of these distinctive regional wines.

Winemakers are proud of their history while looking towards the future. Some vintners are exploring the inclusion of international grapes, and  adapting different practices for trellising, rootstock, experimenting with unique grapes, and row spacing. Desiring more global visibility, many small wineries took pragmatic steps and bonded together in cooperatives to be represented under one banner.

These wines represent good value. It pays to seek them out, so pay attention to Domaine Duffour Cotes de Gascogne White 2009, made with mostly Colombard with a little Ugni Blanc and Gros Manseng. This wine is aromatic and crisp, with zippy grapefruit flavors and a delicious herbal touch. ( $10) Domaine Berthoumieu Madiran 2006 is inky red is full-bodied, rich and intense on the palate, with notes of dark fruit and vanilla-scented oak made from predominately Tannat, the king of Southwestern grapes.  Great with grilled meats, thick steaks and stews.  ($24) Domaine Ilarria Irouleguy 2006 from the Basque country bordering France and Spain is a blend of Cabernet France, Tannat and Cabernet Sauvignon, It is deeply colored with good acidity and pairs well with food. ($19) Chateau le Roc Fronton 2008. This red wine comes from just north of Toulouse, and is made mostly with the local grape, Negrette with some Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon.  Its aroma is somewhat surprising, reminiscent of violets and crushed red berries.  An outstanding value, this wine is a good partner for grilled sausages or lamb chops.  ($11) Domaine des Tres Cantous Prunelard is an inky red with bright acidity with pomegranate and red berry flavors, an interesting partner for pork or roast chicken. ($22)