Q&A from the Bais HaVaad Halacha Hotline

A Touch of Wine

September 11, 2025

Q I make wine at home. At what stage of production do I need to be concerned about a non-Jew touching it? Here’s a summary of the process: First, I squeeze the grapes into a pulp. Then I place the pulp into a fermenter for a few days for the initial fermentation. I then siphon out the liquid and age it for a few months.

A Even before fermentation begins, grape juice is wine for yayin nessech purposes and becomes forbidden if handled by a non-Jew. But so long as the liquid remains mixed with the pulp, it is not yet considered wine and is exempt from yayin nessech laws.

The Gemara (Avodah Zarah 55b) says that grapes were pressed in a gass (winepress). Once liquefied, the juice would flow through a narrow canal into a wine pit. Rav Huna says that once it begins to flow, it can become yayin nessech.

The Rishonim disagree about when the flow is considered to have begun. Some say it is when the liquid enters the canal (Rabeinu Tam, Tosfos ibid.). Others hold that even while still in the gass, once the liquid separates from the pulp (if the pulp was stacked in one area), it is already wine and subject to yayin nessech (Rashi and Rashbam ibid.). The halacha follows the latter view (Y.D. 123:17).

For the liquid to be deemed separated, the pulp must be completely gone from the area where the wine has pooled. If some residual pulp remains beneath the pooled liquid, the liquid isn’t yet wine (ibid.). If the wine pools in one area but that wasn’t the winemaker’s intent, it is not considered wine (Drishah ibid. 5).

In your case, the wine is not susceptible to yayin nessech during the initial fermentation, because it is still mixed with pulp. After you siphon out the liquid, it is.