Maneschewitz wine, the Boone’s Strawberry Wine of sacrament beverages. It is syrupy sweet, fortified, mustache-staining purple, concord grape. What more can be said than, it’s a twist-off top? I love the stuff, it’s the Passover beverage of my youth. I didn’t come from one of those up-tight American families where drinking before the age of 21 was frowned upon, but generally the youths in my family were not boozing it up. But there was an exception. At the Jewish holidays, a little glass of ice-cold Manischewitz wine (we were simply following the “refrigerate after opening” instructions) was set before me. All of the adults had the real stuff, but the kids were allowed a modicum of Manischewitz.

To this day, I still hold a place in my heart for this beverage. In fact now that I am in my 20′s, and am allowed to consume any alcoholic beverage of my choosing, during the Jewish holidays Manischewitz is still my drink of choice. It wouldn’t be Passover without it. For those of you who have never tried the nectar, I can’t say I would honestly recommend it. Sort of reminiscent of cough medicine, overly sweet, the wine actually burns one’s esophagus a bit on the way down. But the burn only causes me to think of the suffering of the Jewish people when they were enslaved in the land of Pharaoh. LET MY PEOPLE GO!

Just as reciting the four questions (because yes, I am still the youngest in my family), the drinking of the sacharine-sweet sacrament drink, is an activity in which I will masochistically partake. The first sip is always the best/worst, the concord grape most pungent. Then as my glass comes down to room temperature, and the wine lingers longer in my glass, the medicinal quality becomes redolent. With each taste I wince, and prepare myself for the next gulp. This is not a wine to sip and savor, to enjoy the bouquet, to swirl about your glass to see the legs, but rather to drink as heartily as you can, protecting your skin from the horrid purple stain, and waiting until the next Jewish holiday when it all begins again.

(Stay tuned for further posts this month as I celebrate Passover, and all things Jewish.)