Is Pasteurized Wine Considered Cooked Wine?

The Talmud tells about the great Amora Samuel, who sat with Ablat the gentile, who was one of the greatest astrologers. Ablat, being wise, was careful not to touch the wine so it wouldn't become forbidden to his conversation partner... But Samuel wasn't too impressed by this gesture, and even added that even if he had touched the wine, it wouldn't have mattered, since they had made sure to cook the wine beforehand. Any wine that has been cooked is not only not forbidden for consumption if touched by a gentile, but it's permitted to drink without question. Since then, until today, Jews haven't refrained from drinking cooked wine, despite the possibility that some gentile may have touched it. However, the rumor mill of our times creates some confusion, and it's no longer clear if it's permissible to drink cooked or pasteurized wine that was touched by a gentile, or unfortunately, even by a Jew who doesn't observe Shabbat publicly... Let's try to clarify this matter.

Let's preface by saying that this whole topic of gentile wine is very fascinating and scholarly... If we try to summarize it in a few words, there are two decrees that the Sages made to forbid the wine of gentiles, even if it's clearly known that the wine wasn't used for idolatry, but is simply wine that the gentile made for his own use. First, if we don't create a barrier between Jews and gentiles, and we permit their wine, they might come to drink with each other, hearts might grow closer, and perhaps even a match might be made between the son of one and the daughter of the other. Therefore, the Sages created a safeguard and forbade the wine of gentiles. But there's another reason, which is the concern that perhaps the gentile touched the wine and, without being noticed, managed to offer it to idolatry. Indeed, many laws are derived from the question of whether these are two different reasons, or if one reason depends on the other. But without elaborating further, let's get to the heart of the matter, to the ruling of Maran the Shulchan Aruch, who permitted our cooked wine that was touched by a gentile, and moreover, it's permissible for a Jew to drink from the same cup that a gentile drank from, since wine that has been cooked is not used for libation, and therefore there's no concern that the gentile offered the wine to idolatry.

But Maran the Shulchan Aruch also addressed the definition of what makes wine considered cooked, writing, "And from when is it called cooked? From when it has boiled over the fire." In simple terms, the definition is very clear: any wine that has reached the boiling stage is already considered cooked wine, permissible if touched by a gentile. And if this is indeed the case, any wine that has undergone pasteurization should be considered as boiled wine, since pasteurization begins after the crushed grapes in the pit have passed through the helix, whose job is to transfer the grapes with the juice into the fermentation containers, which are done in large stainless steel containers. The helix performs another function as well, separating the grape stems from the grapes. After fermentation, the wine is transferred to a crusher where the juice is separated from all the skins and peels. After separation, the wine is filtered and transferred to another container, and after the wine has spent time in the containers, the pasteurization stage begins, where the wine is transferred into double-walled pipes, with hot steam flowing between the walls that heats the wine, in a process similar to institutional steam pot systems. According to the standard, it's enough for the wine to reach a boiling point of seventy degrees to consider the wine pasteurized. Only at the end of the pasteurization process does the aging of the wine begin, depending on the type of wine. There are types of wine where the aging process is done inside stainless steel barrels, and there are those that are transferred to other barrels, such as oak barrels, and stored for a period of time, where again the length of aging depends on the type of wine. And from there to bottling. And since the wine received boiling during the pasteurization stage, there seems to be no reason not to consider it cooked wine.

But the problem begins with the tradition we have, going back to the Gaonic period and even the Jerusalem Talmud, that boiling is measured only if the wine decreases in volume due to the steam of boiling, like any liquid that evaporates a bit, at the stage where part of the liquid turns into vapors that evaporate and disappear. And according to this convention, we have a problem, because the boiling of pasteurized wine is done in a closed system, so that the vapors that rise to the top due to boiling return into it, or actually don't leave at all, so the wine doesn't really decrease in volume. Why should it be considered cooked wine as long as the amount of wine hasn't actually decreased due to pasteurization? Indeed, because of this fact, there are contemporary poskim who consider pasteurized wine as wine that is not cooked.

And as great as the magnitude of the problem is, so is the greatness of the genius of the simple solution, as our master, the chief of poskim ZT"L, proved in his books from the words of the poskim, that the very fact that the wine is fit to decrease due to boiling, even if in reality it didn't decrease because of a technical issue that the system of containers and pipes is closed and prevents it from escaping and evaporating outside, from a halachic perspective, it has already left the category of wine that is fit to be offered on the altar, and therefore all the laws that apply to non-cooked wine that can be forbidden as yayin nesech (wine libation) no longer apply to it. Moreover, there is a halachic concept that considers the vapors as "mere sweat" (like water that is not part of the fruit or wine), and therefore even if we assume that the vapors return and mix with the wine, it doesn't matter.

However, in the Badatz Beit Yosef, pasteurization receives a different protocol, as instructed by the head of the Badatz, Rabbi Moshe Yosef Shlita, to be concerned and stringent, also for those who hold that cooked wine is only considered if it is decreased and diminished, and therefore in all the wineries under the Badatz supervision there is a system that drains all the vapors, like an exhaust pipe and overflow, in addition to the wine exit openings, so that all the vapors are expelled outside, or into pipes leading to the sewage, and the wine is actually decreased. In addition, there is an instruction from the days of Maran ZT"L that pasteurization should be done at eighty degrees, more than what the standard requires, so that the boiling is certain, with the aim of considering the pasteurization as complete boiling.

True, there are poskim who require that cooking should change the taste of the wine, but even in this Maran ZT"L proved that even if its taste, smell, and appearance don't change, boiling alone is enough. And by the way, without this there is something to answer, since certain experts feel a change in taste for the worse in pasteurized wine, which is why pasteurization is forbidden in France and America.

In conclusion- There is a serious pasteurization issue, raised by the head of the Badatz Shlita. Unfortunately, it's not enforced by all kosher certifications. In many wineries, the grapes are heated while still crushed in the helix, to enhance the color of the wine, and only then fermented and turned into wine. There are kosher certifications that consider the heating of crushed grapes as pasteurization, which in reality is not so simple, since it's not certain that it reached a temperature where the hand would recoil from it (at least above 40 degrees), and especially, how can the wine be considered cooked before it's even made....