South Africa's Essa Wine Co gets some top scores and a nice profile of Josh Rynderman, winemaker.
"In a Business Day feature on 5 February 2025, leading wine critic Michael Fridjhon gave five kosher wines from ESSA Wine Co. the highest scores in a blind taste test. Headlined “Kosher wines hold their own among SA peers”, the article detailed how ESSA wines stood out against their non-kosher contemporaries....
As they operate on a small scale, ESSA makes high-end, non-mevushal wines. American-born, Western Cape based winemaker, Joshua Rynderman, the owner and winemaker at ESSA, says his winemaking journey began in an unexpected way. Seated next to renowned kosher winemaker, Benyamin Cantz of Four Gates Winery in California’s Santa Cruz Mountains at a Sukkot celebration in 2014, Rynderman found himself offering to assist in his winery. A psychology student at the time, Rynderman was intrigued by his wine discussion with Cantz, but otherwise knew absolutely nothing about wine."
Check it out in the South Africa Jewish Report.
https://www.sajr.co.za/sa-kosher-wine-grows-up-gets-noticed/?
And see the actual review here from the wine critic Fridjhon, a lead SA authority.
"Given the abuse to which most kosher wine is subjected, I never imagined I might ever seriously be tasting premium high-quality Cape wines that also happened to be compliant with the requirements of the Beth Din."....
"Two of the five wines I sampled bagged the highest scores in that week’s tasting. The Blanc Fumé (94 points) is exceptional. Fragrant and nuanced, with mown hay aromas, whiffs of lime blossom and hints of tropical fruit, it’s fairly priced at R500. The highest-scoring red (93 points) was the cabernet franc. It’s savoury and textured, with instantly accessible tannins — unusual for the variety — and succulent perfumed red fruit notes."
