Kosher Food and Drink

Ed. Note: This post was written by our dear friend, Dr. Sam Soffer, WSET III

This past Sunday, I was privileged to visit Gluck Winery, one of the few fully-kosher wineries in Europe. The winery is located about 40 minutes outside of Budapest in the “Etyek” appellation. Gluck is under the Machsike Hadass supervision of Antwerpen.

My wife and I were in Budapest with friends from Israel over President’s Day weekend. The winery was purchased a few years ago by Richard Gluck, a Floridian, whose family roots are based in Hungary. I reconnected with Richie this past Pesach in Phoenix, where we sampled a few of his wines at a Pesach program my wife runs. The winery grows its own Pinot Noir and sources other varietals such as Chardonnay from other locales in Hungary.

On our visit, I tasted bottles from the inaugural 2022 and 2023 vintages. The 2022 Pinot Noir, a warmer climate vintage, was full-bodied and candied. The 2023 was more austere and varietally accurate and was quite nice once it opened, with bright red fruit and floral notes. Lovely wine!

The 2022 Chardonnay was likewise fruit-forward and well-rounded while the 2023 was more elegant and refined. I preferred the 2023, but those who like a big California Chardonnay may well prefer the 2022. There was also a 2024 Pinot Gris that recently won an award in a Hungarian tasting competition.

There’s also a 2024 Furmint made in a dry style – an interesting wine – although I have little experience with the grape as a dry wine. Finally, we barrel-tasted a 2025 Aszu whose Furmint grapes are sourced in the Tokaji region, with classic “noble rot” (Botrytis) sweetness. The wine showed notes of apple and pear, but it was hard to assess the unfiltered barrel sample. The wine can not be labeled a true Tokaji because to bear such a designation it must be completely made in the Tokaji region. Instead, it will be labeled Aszu when released, likely in 2027.

Special thanks to Aviram Korn, a burgeoning winemaker, who could not have been more gracious, and to Richie for arranging our visit.

The winery is still not open to the public, but will begin accepting visitors in May, 2026, and is a great and easy place to visit if you’re in beautiful Budapest. Some of the wines above are already available in the Miami area and will soon be coming to New York and other markets. These are the winery’s first vintages and the quality is apparent as is the skill of the winemaking team.

It’s great that kosher consumers will have access to these authentic Hungarian wines in the coming years.