Religious Travelers - Kosher champagne on BA

Does BA offer kosher champagne in longhaul Club World?
BA I believe offers kosher champagne in F. If I'm sitting in J, do you think they would serve it to me in J?

Does BA offer kosher champagne in longhaul Club World?
BA I believe offers kosher champagne in F. If I'm sitting in J, do you think they would serve it to me in J?
LeHaim to that if its available..

BA doesn't provide any kosher wine, let alone Champagne (or other sparkling wine) - although I have in the past got a quarter bottle of wine in J/F class meals on AA (supplied by Hermolis ex-London).

Suggestion (if you're travelling ex-TLV, with no restrictions on liquids in hand baggage) - take a bottle with you. Or get it at TLV Duty Free. In theory, BA will only serve you wine that has been supplied by the airline but, in practice, I've never had a problem on board.

If you fly regularly via LHR and know the lounge catering people in T5 (or T3) you might be able to get them to order a bottle of wine for you for a future flight.

I have only had kosher wine on SQ (ex LHR), LX (ex ZRH - 2 bottles, red and white) and (of course) LY. I think BA still gives it ex-TLV, I can't remember. LH used to give it in C ex-TLV but stopped since they switched to Hamasbia. F on LH from TLV still gets as they use the old caterer.

BA doesn't provide any kosher wine, let alone Champagne (or other sparkling wine) - although I have in the past got a quarter bottle of wine in J/F class meals on AA (supplied by Hermolis ex-London).

Suggestion (if you're travelling ex-TLV, with no restrictions on liquids in hand baggage) - take a bottle with you. Or get it at TLV Duty Free. In theory, BA will only serve you wine that has been supplied by the airline but, in practice, I've never had a problem on board.

If you fly regularly via LHR and know the lounge catering people in T5 (or T3) you might be able to get them to order a bottle of wine for you for a future flight.

Becareful some Carriers require that their FAs serve you and that you dont pour it yourself, most Israeli wines are Not Meveushul so if you let the FA open and pour it well tell them to drink it

Lost a # of very good bottles that way in LA as I forgot to inform my hosts that the wine was Not Meveushul and the maid either opened it or brought it in to the dining room.

Duty Free @ TLV might be tax free but its 100% not Rip-Off free, it cost me less for the wine I buy in town paying the tax then what they want @ TLV at times well over $10 in savings per bottle.DF might be OK if you do the buy 3 get 1 free as long as all 4 bottles are witin a couple $s of each other, since the free bottle is the cheapest 1.

I have only had kosher wine on SQ (ex LHR), LX (ex ZRH - 2 bottles, red and white) and (of course) LY. I think BA still gives it ex-TLV, I can't remember. LH used to give it in C ex-TLV but stopped since they switched to Hamasbia. F on LH from TLV still gets as they use the old caterer.

CO in BF has the small bottles of Barkan both to & from TLV only. Ive been lucky where when I was flying in Y they went up front and got me a couple of bottles and didnt even take my coupons, but thats from an FA I knew from previous flights and they know Iwas a Plat


TWA used to have some very nice and expense wines up front and had no problem allowing me to open the bottle and pour what I wanted since they knew once they touched it I couldnt drink it

Apparently, BA serves Laurent Perrier in F on some routes. I believe they do make some kosher products.

Also, Lanson, who make the Club champagne also have a few kosher bottles if I'm not mistaken.

Becareful some Carriers require that their FAs serve you and that you dont pour it yourself, most Israeli wines are Not Meveushul so if you let the FA open and pour it well tell them to drink it


Good thing is that many (NOT ALL) Israeli wines labelled non-mevushal are actually mevushal according to many opinions. The meikilim argue that the cooking process the wines has to go through is no different than what is considered cooking on shabbat. Therefore, pasteurized wine in their opinion is mevushal. The machmirim argue that some evaporation needs to take place. In labelling everyone is machmir. In practice, I know of badatzim in Jerusalem that rely on the meikilim in regards to allowing non-shomer shabbat to pour the wine.

The meikilim include Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Rabbi Pesah Tzi Frank, Rabbi Moshe Finestein and more.

This is actually based on a dispute amongst the rishonim. The meikilim are merely following the ruling of the Shulchan Aruch and its simple understanding.

I am really dumbing this down. People should not always assume that what someone is doing is assur.

Good thing is that many (NOT ALL) Israeli wines labelled non-mevushal are actually mevushal according to many opinions.

Whilst I personally follow the lenient opinions, I must inform you that you are very mistaken here.

None of the Israeli non-mevushal wines are pasteurised. Not from Carmel, Golan Heights, or anyone else. The main reason that Carmel initially moved over to non-mevushal production (with the exception of export only bottles) was that Rav Rubin (who at the time had just started giving Carmel their hechsher) held that pasteurisation was not considered as being mevushal so it made no halachic difference anyway. That is probably why the export bottles have another hechsher on them (chug chasam sofer).

Good thing is that many (NOT ALL) Israeli wines labelled non-mevushal are actually mevushal according to many opinions. The meikilim argue that the cooking process the wines has to go through is no different than what is considered cooking on shabbat. Therefore, pasteurized wine in their opinion is mevushal. The machmirim argue that some evaporation needs to take place. In labelling everyone is machmir. In practice, I know of badatzim in Jerusalem that rely on the meikilim in regards to allowing non-shomer shabbat to pour the wine.

The meikilim include Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Rabbi Pesah Tzi Frank, Rabbi Moshe Finestein and more.

This is actually based on a dispute amongst the rishonim. The meikilim are merely following the ruling of the Shulchan Aruch and its simple understanding.

I am really dumbing this down. People should not always assume that what someone is doing is assur.
Why would the companies bother pasteurizing if they're going to sell it as non-mevushal anyway? I certainly would be very wary about using it after being handled.

Why would the companies bother pasteurizing if they're going to sell it as non-mevushal anyway? I certainly would be very wary about using it after being handled.

I've visited the Castel vineyard (in Ramat Raziel) a couple of times and last year they told me that they were going to make it Mevusahl. In my ignorance, I expressed my horror that they would do that, but the guy told me that a lot of top notch "normal" wines are now Pasteurised, which he says actually improves it.

Obviously I can't make any comment (halachically) about what effect (or not) that might have as a Pegam on the wine, but seems to me that Tzorich Iyun Godol (ie it requires in-depth analysis of the halachic implications).

I've visited the Castel vineyard (in Ramat Raziel) a couple of times and last year they told me that they were going to make it Mevusahl. In my ignorance, I expressed my horror that they would do that, but the guy told me that a lot of top notch "normal" wines are now Pasteurised, which he says actually improves it.

Obviously I can't make any comment (halachically) about what effect (or not) that might have as a Pegam on the wine, but seems to me that Tzorich Iyun Godol (ie it requires in-depth analysis of the halachic implications).
Pasteurization can perhaps improve the wine (although Castel is pretty good as it is :) ), but the public certainly perceives mevushal as being of lower quality.
The only thing I can think of is that marking it non-mevushal would appeal to those who are particular about using non-mevushal for kiddush etc. But then, that would be deceiving.
B'kitzzur, it doesn't make sense to me.

I would not be able to tell you which brands are pasteurised in Israel. I was shown a list of wines that a badatz in Jerusalem considered mevushal even when advertised as non-mevushal.

There were many wines on that list. But then again every second bloke and his uncle in Israel is producing wine. So many for most could in fact be none. Just happened to be that one of these wines was being used in a smicha I was attending. ;)

I would not be able to tell you which brands are pasteurised in Israel. I was shown a list of wines that a badatz in Jerusalem considered mevushal even when advertised as non-mevushal.

There were many wines on that list. But then again every second bloke and his uncle in Israel is producing wine. So many for most could in fact be none. Just happened to be that one of these wines was being used in a smicha I was attending. ;)

Who got Smicha, and who was it from? ;)

Who got Smicha, and who was it from? ;)

R. Shiker from Yeshivat Yisamech Levav Enosh, allegedly ;)

Why would the companies bother pasteurizing if they're going to sell it as non-mevushal anyway? I certainly would be very wary about using it after being handled.

In practice, a few of the better French chateaux have been flash-pasteurizing their wines for some years now as it kills various bacteria and micro-organisms, thereby helping to prevent spoilage.
No standard flash-pasteurization will reach the temperature required by many authorities though, to be considered mevushal.

Duty Free @ TLV might be tax free but its 100% not Rip-Off free, it cost me less for the wine I buy in town paying the tax then what they want @ TLV at times well over $10 in savings per bottle.DF might be OK if you do the buy 3 get 1 free as long as all 4 bottles are witin a couple $s of each other, since the free bottle is the cheapest 1.

Security at TLV allows you to bring liquids through, so you could always buy wine in town and bring it in.

CO in BF has the small bottles of Barkan both to & from TLV only.

This is welcome news. I did not know that, but will be returning to TLV end of August in BF; will ask for Kosher wine.

Got Kosher Barkan on CO91 last night. Was a small 12 ounce screw-on bottle

Got Kosher Barkan on CO91 last night. Was a small 12 ounce screw-on bottle

That's ex-TLV. I wonder if they have ex-EWR as well.

What kind of wine was it at least? Barkan is at least a decent winery