Mony Winery: A Guide to the Range
Mony is a name people search on its own, and it is almost always spelled right, which tells you something: whoever is typing it has held the bottle. What they usually do not know is how the range is laid out, or that the whole thing runs from a kiddush bottle to a flagship under one family's name.
Eight bottles, four tiers, one estate in the Judean foothills. Here is what each tier is and which one belongs on your table.
Where it comes from
Mony is a family winery on monastery grounds in the Judean foothills near Bet Shemesh, in the stretch of country the labels call the Samson region. It is an unusual arrangement and it produces an unusual winery: small, family-run, and making kosher wine under Badatz Beit Yosef and OK on the reserve bottles, Belz, OK and Wagschal on the Supreme line.
The foothills matter to the taste. They sit lower than the Judean Hills proper but still catch cool air at night, and the Mony reds come out savory and composed rather than jammy, with alcohol that mostly stays at 13% to 14% where plenty of Israeli reds push past 15%. Our Israeli wine regions guide explains how that band of country sits against the Galilee and the Golan.
The range at a glance
| Bottle | Tier | Style | Alcohol | Mevushal | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wave Semi Sweet Red | Wave | Semi-sweet Cabernet | 13% | Yes | See today's price |
| Shiraz Reserve | Reserve | Dry red, oak-aged | 13.5% | No | See today's price |
| Reserve Malbec | Reserve | Dry red, 14 months French oak | 14% | No | See today's price |
| Petite Sirah Reserve | Reserve | Dry red, 12 months oak | 14% | No | See today's price |
| Supreme Delilah | Supreme | Bordeaux blend | 14% | No | See today's price |
| Supreme Samson | Supreme | Cabernet, Shiraz, Petite Sirah | 14% | No | See today's price |
| Supreme Tale of Power | Supreme | 100% Cabernet, 18 months oak | 15% | No | See today's price |
| Via | Flagship | Bordeaux blend | - | No | See today's price |
Two patterns are worth reading off that table before you pick. One: only the cheapest bottle is mevushal, so if a caterer is pouring, your choice here is made for you. Two: the Reserve tier is three different grapes at exactly the same price, which means you are choosing by taste alone, not by quality.
Wave, the kiddush bottle
Mony Vineyard Wave is a semi-sweet Cabernet Sauvignon from late-harvest grapes, fermented short so the sweetness stays and the tannins get rounded off. Red cherry, raspberry, plum and a soft spice lift, juicy rather than syrupy, 13%.
The thing that separates it from most sweet reds at the price is that there is real Cabernet structure underneath the sugar, so it does not collapse into grape juice. It is mevushal, which makes it the one bottle in the range a caterer can pour. Serve it chilled. Fish, chicken, brisket, kugel, or straight down the table for kiddush.
Reserve, three grapes
This is the heart of the range and the tier most people should be buying from. All three are dry, oak-aged, non-mevushal, and priced identically, so pick on flavor.
Shiraz Reserve is the Old World one. Wild berry and dark currant over a leathery, smoky core with the peppery lift Shiraz gives when it grows warm. Full-bodied, but the oak stays restrained and the alcohol sits at 13.5%, so it reads as structured rather than jammy. If you drink northern Rhone Syrah and have wondered what Israel does with the grape, this is the answer. The naming confusion is covered in Syrah vs Shiraz.
Reserve Malbec is the one almost nobody knows exists. Kosher Malbec is thin on the ground outside Argentina, and this is fourteen months in French oak: ripe black plum and dark berry over smoked wood spice, full-bodied, with a cooler structural lift than the Argentine versions have. If Malbec is your house red, start here. What is Malbec covers the grape.
Petite Sirah Reserve is the darkest of the three, near-opaque purple, twelve months in oak. Red fruit and dark plum over smoky spice, concentrated and full-bodied, fine tannin, a long velvety finish with a savory edge. Israel does this grape better than almost anywhere, which we got into in what is Petite Sirah.
Supreme, the upper tier
Three bottles, same price, genuinely different wines. All three want an hour in a decanter.
Supreme Delilah is the Bordeaux-style blend: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Cassis, black cherry and a whisper of cedar, full-bodied with polished tannin and a long finish of graphite and spice. The most elegant of the three. Rare ribeye, roast lamb, brisket, aged hard cheese. If the Bordeaux reference is doing the work for you, what is Bordeaux wine explains the blend.
Supreme Samson leans Rhone instead: 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Shiraz, 10% Petite Sirah. Black plum, cracked pepper and dark chocolate, juicy dark fruit, firm tannin, a long warming peppery finish. Shiraz swagger up front, Cabernet structure at the back. Lamb chops, grilled ribeye, brisket, and it holds up to shakshuka better than you would expect.
Supreme Tale of Power is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon with eighteen months in French oak, the biggest wine in the tier at 15%. Cassis, black cherry and vanilla oak, concentrated, firm, a lift of cocoa, a long warming finish. This is the cellar bottle of the three, and the one for a dry-aged steak.
Via, the flagship
Mony Via is a Bordeaux-style blend in precise proportions: 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 10% Malbec, 5% Petit Verdot. Red-purple in the glass, dark forest fruit on the nose with smoky coffee and tobacco lifting underneath, full-bodied and layered, and a long elegant finish.
What makes it worth the step up from the Supremes is the savory backbone. The coffee and tobacco notes read Old World in a way that Israeli reds at this price often do not, and that is the whole point of the bottle. Grilled steak, roast chicken, Shabbos brisket. Give it the hour.
Which Mony should you buy
- Kiddush, or a caterer is pouring: Wave chilled. It is the only mevushal bottle in the range.
- Best value in the range: any of the three Reserves. Petite Sirah if you want dark and dense, Shiraz if you want savory and peppery, Malbec if you want plummy and soft.
- A serious Shabbos meat course: Supreme Samson, decanted an hour.
- A gift or a milestone: Via.
You will find the whole Israeli shelf, Mony included, under kosher Israeli wine, and if you want to see where Mony sits against the rest of the country, read the best Israeli red wines. Free shipping on orders $150+ in the lower 48.
