[Avodah] Grape Juice

[Joseph Faith]

As a long time observer, I couldn't help but notice that the much
of the recent discussion on the issue of mevushal wine reflects a
misconception that has unfortunately made it into some of the recent
halachic literature. Non-kosher wine is actually very rarely pasteurized,
and as such, the question of whether pasteurising wine would not suffice
to render it mevushal due to it being 'shchiach' is moot. There are
indeed valid reasons to not consider pasteurized wine mevushal but this
is not one of them.

To quote R. Yisroel Langer's discussion of the issue in the Chicago
Community Kollel parsha sheet:

"HaGaon R' Yoseph Shalom Elyashiv shlita (Koveitz Teshuvos siman 75)
offers another reason to prevent our "mevushal" wines from contact with a
non-Jew. R' Elyashiv reasons that the heter of yayin mevushal is based on
the premise that it is unusual to cook wine. Today, when it is standard
practice to pasteurize wine, it cannot be considered an abnormal act and
the heter of yayin mevushal would not apply. Some question the information
presented to R' Elyashiv, claiming that non-kosher wine companies do
not pasteurize their wines (the alcohol content kills the bacteria)."

See also R. Chaim Jachter's article "Yayin Mevushal and Non-Observant
Seder Guests", in which he makes a similar point:

"Most importantly, Rav Eliashiv specifically writes that his ruling
applies only if the information provided to him was accurate. Rav Shmuel
David (Techumin 14:421) notes that Rav Eliashiv's ruling needs to be
revisited, since many wineries outside of Israel do not pasteurize
their wines."

Joseph Faith