Wine pairings for Tu B’Shvat

Here are some great suggestions to complement the Seven Species.

Though Tu B’Shvat celebrates the flowers, fruits and trees, it falls during one of the coldest, most depressing times of the year. No flowers in sight. Luckily, one agricultural product that can be enjoyed any time of year is wine.

The Tu B’Shvat seder is a tradition drawing from the holiday’s Kabbalistic origins. While unlike the Passover seder where there is a set, specific menu, many people turn to the Seven Species: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates. In practice, “grapes” often means wine, though table grapes are also welcome.

This array of dried fruits and nuts calls for wine pairings that will balance out their sweetness and can stand up to the fullness of their flavor. If you think of wine as a spectrum, you don’t want cabernet sauvignon or Syrah necessarily, but you also don’t want a Pinot Grigio or Vinho Verde, either.

Pairing wine with food requires thinking of the characteristics of the food and the characteristics of the wine, and how they best interact with each other. The goal is to make both the food and the wine taste better. There’s no reason, also, that kosher wine should be looked down on. All of the wines I’ve selected are available to order through kosherwine.com, which showcases the diversity in kosher wine.

For a red to pair with the Seven Species, Chianti is a good option. It has a bright acidity that will stand up to the figs and dates, but isn’t so juicy that it will be overpowered by the pomegranates. It’s a balanced, elegant wine that’s bold and hard not to like. I’ve never met anyone who had strong negative feelings about Chianti, as opposed to more polarizing wines like Lambrusco or buttery chardonnay. For a kosher Chianti, try Cantina Giuliano Chianti 2023 ($22.99, Mevushal). This is the first wine that Italian kosher winery Cantina Giulano produced, so it’s the most refined of their selections.

For other red options, try a rich garnacha like Capcanes La Flor Del Flor De Primavera Granacha Old Vines ($67.99, Mevushal) or the ancient Israeli grape varietal zuriman, Dalton Asufa Grounded Zuriman 2024 ($32.99, non-Mevushal). Using an ancient grape from the soil of Israel feels fitting with the holiday.

A fruit and nut plate also can pair really well with sparkling wine. A lightly sparkling wine like Koenig Crémant d’Alsace ($25.99, Mevushal) has the crispness to balance out the fattiness of the nuts or the richness of the dates. It is important to keep in mind, though, that Crémant d’Alsace is one of the less effervescent sparkling wines. If you’re expecting prosecco, Crémant is not that, it’s just got a subtle bite to it from the bubbles.

But if you do want prosecco, there’s a lot of kosher options to choose from, including the obvious choice of Bartenura. The Contessa Annalisa Collection Prosecco ($15.99, Mevushal), however, is a crisp, inexpensive prosecco that’s great cold.

A still white isn’t out of the question for Tu B’Shvat, but it has to have a bit more going on in it. A wine like sauvignon blanc will water down if paired with rich, sweet fruits, nuts and vegetables. Gewürtzraminer is a good varietal for Tu B’Shvat, and it also happens to be suited for the Golan Heights climate, so there are plenty of options from the soil of Eretz Yisrael. Yarden Heights Gewürtzraminer is a great choice from a quality winery.

Semillón, a white grape known for its “honeyed fig” tasting note, could also work and also grows well in the Golan Heights. Its price point tends to be a bit higher, but two bottles available are Shiran Semillón 2023 ($42.99, not Mevushal) and Yaacov Oryah Valley of the Hunters 2017 ($79.99, not Mevushal).

If you want to go a tad out of the box, try Morad Pomegranate Wine ($28.99, Mevushal). The pomegranate is part of the Tu B’Shvat seder, so this choice will doubly include the pomegranate. This wine is fairly sweet — closer to Manischewitz — but sometimes that’s what you want. If the sweetness feels like too much, you could try making a spritzer or drinking it in a small cordial glass.

Most people think of wine as a social lubricant or a part of a ritual, but one of the things I found most profound about learning about wine is using it to connect to the earth. By drinking wine, you drink the fruits of soil from faraway places. Wine has been a part of Jewish history for thousands of years. It makes a meaningful parallel to our traditions through the fact that grapes thrive and create some of the best wines in harsh conditions. So, this Tu B’Shvat — which begins this year on Sunday evening, Feb. 1 — celebrate both abundance and survival through wine. PJC

Emma Riva is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.