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Fruits Of Labor

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Photos by Bill Hansen

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Ed Rosenthal in the recesses of his wine
cellar.
wine rack that have aged for many
years. One bottle is almost 30 years
old. He also teaches other "wine mak-
ers" in the Southfield area to do what
he's done since 1969.
Rosenthal's wine has won two first-
place ribbons for taste at the Michigan
State Fair over the years and a third-
place certificate from a competition in
Ottawa.
To make the wine, you need some
equipment, some ingredients, some
empties and plenty of patience. (See
box at right.)
Cost per bottle when all is said and
done: about 40 cents. By the way,
most wines have
11-13 percent
alcohol content.
Chez Rosenthal
is as high as 19
percent.
Verifying that
statistic, Ed
simply says,
"kaboom,
kaboom."
Rosenthal, the
director of
American

The prize
winners.

11/7
1997

Friends of Bikkur Cholim Hospital
and former boss of the Jewish
National Fund Detroit office, started
making the wine because he didn't
like to drink hard liquor. He wanted
to try something that he might like,
so a friend showed him how to do his
own thing.
He makes wines in different flavors,
such as raisin, peach, dandelion and
plum.
"I enjoy doing it," he said. "I've got

a hobby. You can appreciate the fruits
of your labors. I give away 100 bottles
on Purim. It's a great feeling to give
them and watch the reaction of the
people when they read my label."
Naturally, people want to see his
feet, which he facetiously claims are
purple.
"When people come to my house
for a seder, they know they get four
great cups of wine. They know where
it has come from." ❑

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IV

hen Ed and Marcia
Rosenthal invite friends
to Sabbath dinner or a
Passover seder, there's
always a good Cabernet Sauvignon or
Merlot available.
- But if you're ever fortunate enough
to be invited to their Southfield home, -
try the Chez Rosenthal table wine. It's
got a nice red color, pretty bouquet,
and all that other jazz that makes
wine, well, wine.
There's one huge difference with
this vintage. It wasn't purchased at
some fine wine store or made by a
family of Italian grape growers.
Instead, it comes from the Rosenthal
basement.
No, it's not moonshine. But seri-
ously, while most of us have sewing
rooms, rec rooms, laundry rooms,
family rooms and even guest rooms,
Ed Rosenthal has a wine room. At any
given time, 5-gallon glass jugs topped
with a gadget called a bubbler — that
look like something straight out of a
Frankenstein laboratory — are fer-
menting in the basement. Ever see
something ferment? You look in the
bottle and you see something going on
in there.
In the Rosenthal household, that
something is the production of hun-
dreds of bottles of wine that Ed gives
away free. He has wine that is ready to
serve after about a month of fermenta-
tion, but he also has bottles on his

P

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PHIL JACOBS
Editor

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Since 1969, Ed Rosenthal has created and bottled his own brand of wine.

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