Elina Brager’s job as a sommelier and wine consultant is to taste, serve, and sell wine to clients who are building their wine collections. Brager listens closely to their preferences and presents wines she considers off the beaten path.
“I seek out great tasting wines that overdeliver for the price. They’re small boutiques, really well-made wines, frequently organic or sustainable, small production, and hard to find,” Brager said. “That is my brand. That is my promise.”
Brager is an immigrant from the former Soviet Union, a two-time graduate of Georgia Tech, a sommelier, and co-owner of CellarFiller, a business that helps clients build their wine collections.
Brager and her business partner, Galina Yildirim, are certified wine specialists. Ten years ago, Brager was running wine tastings and events for clients who were often looking for consultation on their cellars.
Because Brager tastes wine with her clients and listens carefully to their feedback, she can present unique, small-production wines. She and the client build the cellar together. It’s a niche, she said.
Even more niche is Atlanta’s demand for kosher wine. There are very few people who buy only kosher wine, she admitted, and kosher wine has a reputation for being low quality or sugary sweet like Manichewitz.
One of the kosher wine-making laws is that at some point in the process, the wine must be brought to 185 degrees to destroy insects and mold. Due to advancements in winemaking technology, kosher wine is no longer thought of as “boiled.” Wineries have been using the same flash detente method in Europe since the 1990s. It is especially used on red wines in Burgundy and Rhone.
“To this day, kosher wines are just not considered great wines because of how they’re made. Having wine at Passover is obligatory because you have to have four cups of wine, so a lot of times we will just buy it and suffer through,” she said.
Hosting a Passover seder often means there’s a lot of kosher wine and traditional food but that doesn’t mean people should suffer through the wine, she said.
“I have made it a point to find wines that are great and also are kosher,” she laughed. “Four cups of wine is not for the faint of heart.”
Here’s a list of Brager’s top picks for kosher wine:
- Start with a sparkling bottle of Gilgal; a kosher wine from Golan Heights. It pairs well with appetizers before the seder, salads, and gefilte fish. Another option: prosecco or rose.
- Galil is a dry, blanc de noir; a white wine made from a red grape. “It’s a very pretty wine” that pairs well with salads and fish.
- To pair with brisket or roasted chicken, plan on red wine. Brager suggests Covenant out of Napa Valley or the Mensch Zinfandel; a full-bodied red wine with complex flavors and aromas. Bereshit [pronounced bear-sheet] is the first word of the Bible meaning “in the beginning”. Try the medium-bodied pinot and cabernet blend.
- Bartenura Dolce Noir is a sweet red wine that pairs well with kosher for Passover Jordan almonds.
Since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023, Brager has not seen an interruption in Israel’s wine production or imports from Israel to the United States.
“From a food and wine perspective, I have not seen shortages,” she said.
Wineries are likely experiencing labor shortages because “anybody and everybody” who could be drafted has been called up by the Israel Defense Forces.
“As far as I know, people are just living their lives and moving forward – because that’s the only thing that keeps you sane in this situation,” she said. “So people are forging ahead. They’re doing work as best they can.”