Kosher Wine Heroes: Louis Marmon

A self-described "second-tier" wine writer, Louis Marmon is much more than your basic appreciator of kosher wines. He is a practicing Pediatric Surgeon for Children's Hospital, and is licensed in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. He is also a certified and practicing Mohel, as he completed the Brit Kodesh course that is offered by the Rabbinical Assembly at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City. And in his spare time he trains for Triathlons, most recently completing the New York City Triathlon.

Being a surgeon, Marmon holds the connection between medicine and wine dear. His personal website, Grapelines.com, quotes the Talmud on his homepage, stating "at the head of all medicine am I, wine; only when there is no wine are drugs require." And while it's likely the parents who hire him for his Mohel services would prefer he not treat their newborns with Bartenura Moscato, as a licensed physician Marmon is able to provide local anesthesia on his patients, an advantage most Mohels cannot provide.

Marmon's attitude towards both non-kosher and kosher wine is personified in the tag line of his article "Diary of a Second-Tier Wine Writer." The surgeon writes "sure, life at the top has its perks, but life near the top isn't so bad either." He is comfortable with his place and roll in the world of wine-writing, a refreshing opinion from a culture typically associated with stuck-up Elitists and French Isolationists.

Marmon offers a unique and stimulating view on drinking wine, as well as writing about it. In the previously mentioned article, he discusses the pressures of writing on a deadline and considers them equal to his wife's insistence he provide wine at dinner.

When the Doctor writes about his wine tastings ("conducted in our kitchen") he offers an unpretentious view, describing everything from the spit buckets (which he cleans) to spills (which he also cleans) to the responsibility of getting empty bottles into the recycling container (him as well).

His goals, at least as a wine writer, are incredibly modest. Marmon makes this clear when discussing his readers, whom he states "are more interested in good, reasonably priced wines," while his only mission is to provide enough analysis that they will "expand their wine drinking horizons."

Near the end of the article, where Marmon is discussing kosher wines he and his family would consume with Shabbat dinner, the writer offers, perhaps by accident, an in-depth look into his personality.

He writes, "Wine is a complement to the evening, not the focal point of it." Just like the wine is merely a complimentary aspect to the meal, so is wine-writing in the life of Louis Marmon. On top of being a wine-writer, he is a practicing Surgeon, a Mohel, a Triathlon participant and a husband. The criticism and assessment of wine is not his focal point in life, nor does he suggest it should be for his audience.

In a culture where every bit of advice is forcibly, and often deviously, pushing some sort of agenda, Louis Marmon's light, humble take on the wines he chooses to write about offers a humble and refreshing change.