Beckett's Flat wines are produced in Australia's “Napa Valley” or “Bordeaux.” The Margaret River Region is located on Australia’s West Coast, and hour’s drive South of Perth. The Margaret River is considered to be Australia’s best wine region due to its superior soil and climate conditions. Producing kosher wines in Western Australia is not easy given that the key rabbinic supervision must travel across the continent from Melbourne and Sydney, thousands of miles, just to perform all the necessary functions and requirements.

Rabbi Mordechai Gutnick of Melbourne Kashrut at Beckett’s Flat Winery

Rav HaMachshir at Beckett’s Flat is Rav Mordechai Gutnick, Rabbinic Administrator of Melbourne Kashrut, or the “Mem-K,” Australia’s foremost and most authoritative kosher supervisory agency. Rav Gutnick has acted as a highly respected and qualified Kashrut authority in Australia for over 30 years. The Mem-K is highly regarded around the world, performing supervisory work on behalf of major Kashrut agencies in Israel, Europe and North America in addition to supervising the overwhelming majority of kosher foods, dairy products, meats, restaurants and catering facilities in Australia. Melbourne Kashrut cooperates with, is consulted by and maintains the trust of the entire spectrum of Australia’s Jewish community.

All Beckett’s Flat wines are Mevushal and just as with other wines from Abarbanel, from the time of the grape harvest right through the bottling, the only people coming into any physical contact with the wine are Rabbi Gutnick and his team of mashgichim and shomrim. All tanks and barrels are sealed by the Mem-K to ensure complete security for the wines as they age and mature. Additional supervision and certification on all Beckett’s Flat kosher wines comes from the KAWA, the Kosher Authority of Western Australia, located in Perth.

Eshkol Winery of South Africa

All the wines produced at South Africa's Eshkol Winery are under the strict Orthodox supervision and certification of the Cape Town Beth Din. Eshkol Wines are also supervised and certified by the Orthodox Union (O-U), America's foremost kosher certification agency.

The head of the Kashrut Department of this Beth Din is Rabbi Desmond Maizels who is also a dayan of the Beth Din. Rabbi Maizels studied at the Mercaz Harav Kook Yeshiva in Jerusalem for six years and received his smicha from the Harry Fischel Institute (Machon Harry Fischel) in Jerusalem, which is endorsed by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. Rabbi Maizels is also a shochet, mohel and sofer.

Rabbi Desmond Maizels

Abarbanel Wines from France

Rabbi Chai Amram

Abarbanel Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, White Shiraz, White Merlot, White Grenache and Syrah are Kosher for Passover and all year round. In addition these wines are Mevushal.

Supervision for these wines is by Rav Chai Amram, Chief Dayan of the Beth Din Tzedek (Badatz) of Marseille. Rav Amram is the foremost halachic authority in the South of France. Rav Amram is assisted by shomer torah v'mitzvot mashgichim (kosher supervisors) who report directly to him. All of the aforementioned wines are also certified as Kosher for Passover and year round by the Orthodox Union (O-U) in the U.S.

The kashrut process for these wines is as follows: From the time of the crushing of the grapes right through the actual bottling, the grapes, juice and wine is handled only by the Rabbis and mashgichim -- no non-Jews come into direct contact with either the wine itself or any of the machinery associated with the process. Non-Jews are not even permitted to push any of the buttons!

Prior to the actual grape crush, all the equipment (the crusher, the press, hoses, tanks, barrels, etc.) are flushed three times with scalding hot water above 190 degrees Fahrenheit. All metal pieces have a blow torch applied to them to burn-away any residues and all barrels and tanks are hand-scraped. It can be said that Abarbanel Wines are produced on "virgin equipment," as everything is kashered before each run and made spotless.

Before the juice from the grapes is made into wine, we pump it through a high-tech heat-flash pasteurization machine where the juice is heated at between 85 and 90 degrees Centigrade for a very brief period. This makes the wine "Mevushal," or "cooked," which according to Jewish law will enable non-Jews to open and handle bottles of wine in restaurants, catering halls, liquor stores and the like. We cool the juice down very rapidly to avert any potential damage to the wine. Kosher wines which are not Mevushal cannot be handled by non-Jews at any point.

While the wines are aging, all tanks and barrels are sealed with locks and tape from the Rabbis. If a seal is broken, the wine is no longer kosher and can't be used. When it comes time to bottle the wine, the same kashering and cleaning techniques are employed to the bottling equipment to make everything strictly kosher. Additionally, all ingredients used in making our wines is strictly kosher, this means the use of special kosher yeast to ferment the wine.

We clarify the wine using Bentonite (clay) as opposed to gelatin, egg whites or other non-kosher heavy liquids which bond and mix with the wine. There is nothing in kosher wine except the grapes themselves. Abarbanel Wines are also certified kosher by the Chief Rabbinate of Paris, the highest Orthodox religious authority in France. The symbols of the Chief Rabbinates of Marseille and Paris are recognized throughout the Jewish world as representing some of the strictest and most exacting adherence to the kosher laws.

Rav Mordecai Seckbach

Abarbanel Gewurztraminer and Abarbanel Brut Cremant d'Alsace, produced in the Alsace region of France are under the strict Orthodox Supervision of Rav Mordecai Seckbach and the Beth Din Tzedek (Badatz) of Strasbourg. These wines are also certified as Kosher for Passover by the O.U. Rav Seckbach is the Rav HaMachshir of our Alsacian wines and is also the overall kosher wine supervisor in France for the O.U. Rav Seckbach is considered the foremost authority on wine kashrut in France.

Abarbanel Beaujolais Villages, produced at the famed Chateau de la Salle is supervised by the Badatz of Lyon. The Badatz of Lyon supervises most of the kosher wines produced in the Burgundy and Loire regions. The Rav HaMachshir is Rav Yehiya Teboul, the Chief Dayan of the Badatz of Lyon. Abarbanel Beaujolais Villages is also under the supervision of the O-U.