Harvest Lessons: Part 2 Anava Vineyards' First Year

Step into the sun-drenched vineyards of Anava, where founder Nadav Jesselson transforms traditional winemaking into a community adventure. Fresh from their inaugural harvest, Nadav shares the triumphs and challenges of nurturing vines through Israel's demanding climate – and the unexpected honor of having their first vintage selected by prestigious Yatir Winery.

What distinguishes Anava from other vineyards is its innovative approach, allowing wine enthusiasts to own personal plots while participating in every aspect of the vineyard-to-bottle journey. Nadav passionately explains how this creates not just excellent wine, but also meaningful connections between people sharing the experience, between individuals and their inner selves through mindful tasting, and between humans and the specific land that nurtures these vines.

Beyond wine production, Anava partners with youth organizations to provide transformative experiences where vineyard tasks become metaphors for personal growth. As Nadav expands his "playground of varieties" with new plantings of Mediterranean-suited Carignan and Grenache, he invites listeners to consider what it means to create not just bottles but legacy – a project uniting community, education, and Israel's ancient winemaking tradition into something truly special.

or more Information:
ANAVA VINEYARDS
Nadav & Moriah Jesselson
Address: 7 Hacharuv St. Nechusah, 9988300 Israel
Email: info@anavavineyards.com
Questions or to Visit: Racheli Arieli +972(0)50-717-5479

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome Back to Anava Vineyards
• 2:05 First Harvest Reflections
• 11:44 Tasting Anava's First Wines
• 18:03 Plans for Winery Development
• 21:53 Vineyard Varieties and Future Plantings
• 30:55 Caring for Different Grape Varieties

Transcript

S. Simon Jacob: 0:09

Welcome to The Kosher Terroir. I'm Simon Jacob, your host for this episode from Jerusalem. Before we get started, I ask that, wherever you are, please take a moment and pray for the safety of our soldiers and the safe return of all of our hostages. Welcome back In this episode, where the vines meet the sweat of real labor with reflections on last year's harvest, Nadav takes us behind the scenes of the surprises, the successes, and the moments that tested both patience and precision. Part two of my conversation with Nadav Jesselson, the founder and force behind Anava Vineyards, a place where owning your own vineyard isn't just a dream, It's It's an invitation to join the winemaking journey. And then we look ahead to the upcoming harvest the predictions, the hopes and how Anava is preparing its clients and vines for another chapter in the vineyard's story.

S. Simon Jacob: 1:15

But this conversation is about more than just grapes. It's about vision. How does a vineyard like Anava evolve without losing its soul? What lessons does the land continue to teach, and how does a winemaker balance consistency with the ever-shifting hand of nature? If you've ever wondered what it feels like to live and breathe wine through the rhythm of the seasons, this is your moment. If you're driving in your car, please focus on the road ahead. If you're at home relaxing, please open a bottle of wonderful kosher wine, sit back, relax and let's dive into part two of our episode with Nadav Jesselson and Anava Vineyards here on The Kosher Terroir. Okay, so how many harvests have we gone through? One One. Tell me a little bit about the harvest. How was the harvest last year and what six? Well, let's talk about the harvest last year. What sort of varietals did we harvest?

Nadav Jesselson : 2:26

we were, we, we harvested our, uh, what we call the older vineyard, which is, uh, it's Uh, Petit Syrah and Cabernet. Old, it's just older. Um, the yield was lower than what we wanted yeah, but it was the whole country right the whole country Right.

S. Simon Jacob: 2:46

The whole country was.

Nadav Jesselson : 2:47

Right. But we have something interesting here which we're trying to figure out, still trying to figure out. Our clusters in the Cabernet are really small. We have alat, mawukh Hashem, but they're just smaller clusters than usual. So I don't have enough experience to say that, but Avinoam says it. Avinoam, who is, you know, he's a gran, as he's seen endless. He says the clusters here are small and I don't know what's going on. He thinks it has to do with a clone, meaning when you have a Cabernet there's different clones for Cabernet. So he thinks it may do with that. This specific clone gives smaller clusters. So again, this year he thinks we're going to be in the same yield as last year, which is 800 kilos per dunam, when we are aiming at a ton and a half per dunam.

S. Simon Jacob: 3:39

So let's see, Let me ask you a question when you get that sort of thing, you also get much more concentration.

Nadav Jesselson : 3:51

I think we spoke about this. One of the best compliments that we got here is that when we signed with Carmel, this was supposed to go to selected, which is their medium quality, medium level, and we told them at the beginning, before we've been planted. I told the guy who signed the contract with me from Carmel. I told him, if the grapes are high quality, I want you to give me a new contract to go up a level, because I knew that if I'm doing it, I'm doing it. You know the best and I was sure you know. After a year or two we're going to check and then I'm going to say, maybe take it to higher quality. But even before we harvested came the agronomist from Yatir. He came here for one day. He said I want to come to see the vineyard and I said okay, I he came here for one day. He said I want to come to see the vineyard and I said okay. I thought he was just touring the vineyards and he sat with me and he said, listen, we want to take the grapes. And I was shocked these grapes went to Yatir. So that's for us a huge compliment. There was even, I think, a little bit of competition between Carmel and Yatir, because Yatir wanted the graves and Carmel doesn't have enough. They need the graves. So at the end Carmel took like 30% of the Petit Sira and all the rest went to Yatir. So that was the harvest of last year.

Nadav Jesselson : 5:15

We harvested machine harvest. It all went to Yatir. One with it was two days, two nights. One night was the Kabane and one night was the Patitzira. I think the Kabane was before the Patitzira. Yeah, the experience again it's the first time of the machine harvest is very tough because it's a huge tractor going on your baby, on your vineyard and it's it's. It's beating him like crazy and it's you have to calm yourself down because it's all good, it's literally giving birth. Now it's taking off the grapes, the fruit and he's driving there and I'm going behind him and I'm looking because he's not taking everything off and he missed here and he missed there and it's a crazy night. But Baruch Hashem, at the end they went to Yatir. They're putting it in their Darum. We were there already tasting our wine. We went to the Anava team with Yosef and Racheli who works with us. We went there for a day. We sat with Eran Goldwasser, which is one of the most. Have you met him? Yeah, he's one of the most amazing persons. Tzanua Anav mamash, kef mamash.

S. Simon Jacob: 6:37

All the real winemakers are all like that.

Nadav Jesselson : 6:40

Madim.

S. Simon Jacob: 6:41

They're absolutely 100%.

Nadav Jesselson : 6:42

So that's one of the things that I felt. I'm happy you're saying that, because I felt that when I changed careers and I moved here so the guys I worked with in the business world were also amazing but here I feel something very special, some connection, some, you know, when you ask people questions, they'll, uh, advise you and they'll give you their knowledge and nobody's holding back and nobody feels like you're, you're, you're get ahead of me yeah you're gonna mess me up much not they all feel like they're in the same boat not only.

Nadav Jesselson : 7:16

They feel like we're in the same boat and we have to succeed together. Yes, yes, I had a uh, uh in a uh, a farmer who came here, a very uh. You know, one of the older farmers from the area. He doesn't have vineyards, he has wheat or something like that, but he was so excited to see me, like the younger guy, coming and becoming a farmer and he sat with me. He was giving me advice and he was so excited, he was so happy. It was amazing with me. We had a call, he was giving me advice and he was so excited, he was so happy, you know, it was amazing for me.

Nadav Jesselson : 7:49

What else about the harvest? So we had 800 kilos per dunam in the Kabane. We had 1.2 tons in the Petit Sira. We wanted again to get a little more. I don't know if it was 1.2 or 1.4. Yeah, we're aiming for 1.5, right, so this was 1.4. We took three tons, one from the Kabarnet, two from the Petit Syrah for ourselves and Eyal is making us our wine. We did a barter with Eyal. Basically, we gave him three tons and we're getting some amount of bottles. And then what I was telling you before we gave him three tons and we're getting some amount of bottles.

Nadav Jesselson : 8:25

And then I was telling you before, we had an event not long ago where we tasted. So first we tasted the wine in Yatir, because in Yatir we want to take a barrel from Yatir in order to have wine of Hanava. And so we sat there, only us and we tasted the wine and at the end we said we're not with enough knowledge. So we said to Eran this is good, this is what we think, this is what do your magic? Do whatever you want and make us a barrel and we'll take the barrel from there and we'll have an Ava wine. I don't, I don't, I don't remember what he said he's going to do, how much Cabernet and how much Cotizia is going to put. Anyways, our grapes are going there to the Darum, which also he aims. This is how he said it. He aims for the Darum to be, you know, an afternoon wine, right, meaning something more easy, not so heavy, lighter and with Eyal, what we had.

Nadav Jesselson : 9:24

We had an event. Lately it was again it's the first event I hope of many more to come where we sat and we sat with Erangel at the beginning because he came, he scheduled, so we sat with him alone. But then we sat with the partners of AP and with Menachem and his family and we sat in the winery in the Cheder Chaviot where we were in a gul and we brought the wine from Yatir. And we brought the wine from a gul and Eyal gave us to taste some of the wine from the old barrels and the new barrels and from Yatir and from his and from, and we also compared the wine, our wine from the, our Petit Syrah, from the Petit Syrah, from the mountain, you know, 300 meters, 800 meters, and we tasted them and we didn't get to the stage where we were starting to do blends.

Nadav Jesselson : 10:22

We did a little Exactly, we did a little exactly. We did a little and it was first of all super because we're tasting the wine from this land now and second of all, it was also very knowledgeable because we were Eyal is a teacher, that's his thing so that was an amazing series. The way I imagine it in the future is we're going to have we can't have 60 people because it's too much, because that's our goal is for 30 in the vintage product and 30 who own a plat, so 60 is a lot. What we're going to have in the small batch is in our winery, which is going to take time. Like I said, right now, we're going to do it together with Hidayi, so we're going to have it there. He's building an amazing winery.

S. Simon Jacob: 11:14

Is your plan to build a winery?

Nadav Jesselson : 11:16

Yes.

S. Simon Jacob: 11:17

Okay.

Nadav Jesselson : 11:18

Yes, you really want to do that. Why are you asking? I here in Nehusha. Nehusha is where we live. It's behind we pass right behind the hills there. That's my way home. Apopo, the dream. When I drive here from work, from home to work, I look around and say where am I? Am I in a tour? What's going on? Amazing. And I breathe in the cypress trees and the oak not oak and the oak not oak also the oak.

Nadav Jesselson : 11:59

There isn't a winery in Nehusha there is, isn't there is a small one, some people doing for themselves, and you know, something small but not something that invites people in. We were stuck with bureaucracy, bureaucracy issues in Nehusha, because we already did measurements for a place and then it fell. So we understood that we won't be able to do our winery in the near future. So, dealing with Hiday, actually, for me it's a ma'az yatsamatuk it's perfect because he is amazing. I love his wine, so I hope we're going to have some.

S. Simon Jacob: 12:39

Right over drinking.

Nadav Jesselson : 12:41

I hope what's in the hand? Chardonnay, chenin Blanc, sauvignon Blanc Okay, all from his vineyard. Okay, I also helped him. I also helped him in the harvest. I took his grapes to Yaakov Uriah. He makes his wine in Yerucham In.

S. Simon Jacob: 12:59

Yerucham With.

Nadav Jesselson : 13:00

Yaakov yeah, we were planting. I didn't say that we were planting another vineyard of 11 dunams more to that direction, to the east, and Yosef was driving crazy. Let's do Algaman, let's do Algaman. What do you think of the Algaman?

S. Simon Jacob: 13:22

It's a very challenging variety, but people now really understand how to deal with it.

Nadav Jesselson : 13:30

I believe, challenging, growing or making wine.

S. Simon Jacob: 13:33

Making wine for Making wine for.

Nadav Jesselson : 13:36

It has amazing color.

S. Simon Jacob: 13:39

Unbelievable.

Nadav Jesselson : 13:40

So what's the challenge?

S. Simon Jacob: 13:41

The challenge is not that. The challenge is making wine that is drinkable. And now there are people who are making single varietal argamans. Like in Jezreel, they make a single varietal argaman. Nobody would have ever thought to do something like that.

Nadav Jesselson : 14:02

So you also said this is the next varietal. You have to do it, you have to plant it.

S. Simon Jacob: 14:07

Tonight I think this is At the end.

Nadav Jesselson : 14:08

we're planting carignan and granache.

S. Simon Jacob: 14:10

Well, carignan andarnash are both really special.

Nadav Jesselson : 14:14

Eyal Doheri and Eran Goldwasser. I asked them both separately. It was amazing they answered the same question. I told them what should I plant? Karinyan and Garnash.

S. Simon Jacob: 14:24

Yes, why Karinyan is?

Nadav Jesselson : 14:28

Mediterranean.

S. Simon Jacob: 14:29

Big bold, crazy and Garnash you can make it whatever you want to make it. Mediterranean. Big bold, crazy and Grenache you can make it whatever you want to make it, but it's really special Right.

Nadav Jesselson : 14:39

So at the end we're going to have here 12 varieties.

S. Simon Jacob: 14:41

Right. What are your 27 that you have left? What are the plots that are left?

Nadav Jesselson : 14:45

For varieties yeah, we have Cabernet. The private plots are Cabernet, shiraz, malbek and Petit Verdun, and you pick which one you want. Two of the Kabarne are taken out of 14. Most is Kabarne, obviously, and one of the Shiraz is taken by Menachem. Beside that we have Kabarne, frank, petit, sirah and Merlot. That's our reds, seven reds. Then we have three whites Chenin Blanc, sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay.

S. Simon Jacob: 15:24

At the end.

Nadav Jesselson : 15:25

I want tell me again which ones the whites, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay Chenin Blanc is going to be the so somebody called me now, if I want more chanin blanc, I said I don't more to plant because you planted. I told him no, he said listen, you know you've you've done very good for yourself that you planted chanin blanc, because it's, why do you, why do you say this? It's like a, a hype.

S. Simon Jacob: 15:50

No, it's because it's.

Nadav Jesselson : 15:53

It's amazing.

S. Simon Jacob: 15:54

It's amazing.

Nadav Jesselson : 15:54

I love it. I love it. And he said that it was very hard for him to. He planted in the Mizraha Gush in Pnek Edim, I think Just for the fun he planted his own vineyard and he said Sheninban is hard to get.

S. Simon Jacob: 16:11

It's going to be Because a number of wineries are trying to produce Cheninban Amazing, you know, people are going towards white wines and it's one of the ones that's like Right, very flavorful, you have it here too, right?

Nadav Jesselson : 16:29

Yeah, that's where he planted it. Cheninban 12%. Yeah, mostly Chardonnay. He has all kinds of different ones.

S. Simon Jacob: 16:37

People are going away from Chardonnay, but I'm a sucker for a great Chardonnay. No, you're a sucker for a California Chardonnay. Right, it's malolacted, buttery, oh yeah what. But that is a group of people who are in the past, unfortunately. I happen to love that. I happen to love it. I think it's going to come back that way. But a lot of people want acid and crisp and what have you, and they don't want this buttery Chardonnay anymore and it's a pity. I love it. But it became such a big thing in California, the buttery Chardonnay, that it blew out everything else, and now it's coming back. The pendulum is swinging the other way.

S. Simon Jacob: 17:29

It's not even swinging, it's swallowing.

Nadav Jesselson : 17:31

Listen, what we want to do is is again allow people to have a feeling that they're walking into like a playground of varieties and now do whatever you want. You have your own plot, but you don't have to use the grapes. So, for instance, eran in Menachem, when he came he. So, for instance, eran a Menachem, when he came, he immediately knew what he wanted. He wanted Shiraz and it's perfect. Because he loves Shiraz, he's going to make Shiraz a year or two, but if there's a year, he says you know, let's make whites this year. Splat stays a splat and he's taking the whites and we're swapping.

S. Simon Jacob: 18:10

That's beautiful, it's a great. It's such a great idea. I'm telling you the hub. No, it's such a great idea to be able to do that. I, you know it's not of the economics, aren't one in which you're doing this because this is the cheapest way to get a bottle of wine? Okay, that's not what you're trying to do. What you're trying to do here is create a legacy for your family and your kids. If you don't believe in your family and your kids, then you know, pass. This isn't about.

Nadav Jesselson : 18:44

Yeah, but your kids, all of them, love wine.

S. Simon Jacob: 18:46

No, but a lot of them do. This is one of those. There's nine of us, so you can. He's the only one left in her, but I told you his son is my eldest grandson is his son. How many grandsons do you?

Nadav Jesselson : 19:02

have in the army now no only one. One, he's the first.

S. Simon Jacob: 19:05

You're the oldest starting Hezirishiva. I'm not the oldest son, but I have the oldest grandson, he has the oldest grandson and there's a whole slew of grandsons that are right behind that are all starting Hester, yeshiva now.

Nadav Jesselson : 19:19

I'm happy they're going in now and not a year ago. I know, I know Me too. I told my son. I told my son, my son is 14. Okay, but I told him, for me it was quiet. I came in after Mivca Chomat Magen. I don't know if you remember, it was after there was a terrible terrorist attack in Pesach Leila Sedei, netanya, and then I think it was 2001 or something like that, because I enlisted in 2002. And after that Sharon went in with Mivca Chomat Magan. They went into Jenin, everywhere. They went in. A lot of soldiers were killed and then we came in and it was my shirut, my gang. It was relatively quiet, wow.

S. Simon Jacob: 20:09

Who knows?

Nadav Jesselson : 20:09

for how long?

S. Simon Jacob: 20:10

Yeah, we've taken on Iran successfully. Please God, yeah.

Nadav Jesselson : 20:14

We've taken on Iran successfully. Please God, yeah, Should be quiet.

S. Simon Jacob: 20:17

Yeah.

Nadav Jesselson : 20:17

Because you have to finish with Gaza.

S. Simon Jacob: 20:18

Some of us, but what they were doing was to kill all of us. That's the thing that's out of us.

Nadav Jesselson : 20:26

I had my brother-in-law in Shabes. He was at our house and he's a Qabali cousin. I offered maybe you should also, if you want to. He has a very small winery in Kida. You know where Kida is yeah, it's called Kida no, his wine is called Tugmalka because it's the does he speak English.

S. Simon Jacob: 20:44

Yes, okay, I would love to.

Nadav Jesselson : 20:47

So I think, do you go there? You drive there not everywhere. You go there, you drive there Not everywhere. Perfect. So I go to Kida, sit in his winery taste his wines.

S. Simon Jacob: 20:54

Wait a second. I was just next to Kida. Kida is Shiloh Is next to Shiloh, right? No, but I went to I know, exactly where Kida is, because I pass it. I pass it about five times Because I go to what do you call it?

Nadav Jesselson : 21:08

Adyad, eshkodesh, eshkodesh, I go to.

S. Simon Jacob: 21:11

Eshkodesh and I go across, and sometimes to get to Shiloh the better way is to go past the back row.

Nadav Jesselson : 21:18

So, eyal, I think he'll enjoy very much because he also learns. He's super smart, he learns Kabbalah, he does the wine.

S. Simon Jacob: 21:27

Anyways.

Nadav Jesselson : 21:28

The podcast should cover the Kabbalah.

S. Simon Jacob: 21:30

No, probably not, but sometimes you do, I did. I've done a podcast with Mikubalim on it talking about wine. Really, yeah by two b'shvat, yeah by two b'shvat, I made a whole podcast for the Mikubal Amazing.

Nadav Jesselson : 21:48

You learned in Bethel right Unbelievable.

S. Simon Jacob: 21:52

I still am close to the rabbi there.

Nadav Jesselson : 21:54

Who's the rabbi there today?

S. Simon Jacob: 21:57

Avishra Levichai is the Temi Muvchato of Abrav Getz. It's like praising, it's very special, wow.

Nadav Jesselson : 22:07

So my brother-in-law said that the wars and everything he said Hashem. That the wars and everything he said Hashem, dohef otanu achsham bekoach omer lanu titoriru masu kitzel. We had the endless events that we're going through and I don't want to even imagine what's next, what's in the next season. We've been through the corona, the milchevet, achim, almost reforma, and now this war which is not ending, and we spoke about that on Shabbos.

S. Simon Jacob: 22:38

My daughter is a Mieledit. She was down in Siroka working. Wow, I saw the picture of the missile landing in Siroka. The violence of the shockwave coming off of it was that it was visible. It was just like this incredible shockwave that came off of this hospital. It could have killed thousands of people, literally thousands of people.

Nadav Jesselson : 23:12

And not one, not one Unbelievable, unbelievable you can't see Kadesh Baruch Hu, then I'm sorry.

S. Simon Jacob: 23:21

You know, like if you have to leave and go to Cyprus or leave and go someplace else, god bless you. You know, go, because you can't ask for more proof than what we're seeing.

Nadav Jesselson : 23:34

No, you can go. God bless you and you're getting off the train. This is the train, it's the history train. I had a friend this again.

Nadav Jesselson : 23:42

This was in the previous season, when the reformer and the endless voting, you know and I spoke to a guy who was very, you know, he's high in the business world. He's high in the business world of private equity and stuff like that. And I spoke to him and he was depressed from the last results of the elections and I told him so what do you think of the elections? And he said terrible, we are seriously considering to leave. And this guy his father was high up in the defense industry, very, very shoshi, very, you know, not stam. And I was shocked and I told him you know that I had the courage to say I said but you know that if you leave, you're getting off the train. And he looks at me and he knew exactly what I meant and he said yeah, I know. So I was, you know. Okay, if you want, if this is too tough for you, then you can get off the train.

S. Simon Jacob: 24:51

You get off the train, that's it Last question, because we've actually covered all the questions that I basically had about varietals and what have you. Is there anything you've learned from the varietals that you've had so far, that have come, that have been harvested, that you're Might change your direction.

Nadav Jesselson : 25:15

No, not changing my direction, but I've learned from the last harvest and from growing. You know, seeing them grow that the cabane is strong, really, grows is a tough one, grows. He starts. He started later than the Petitsia to wake up but you know, in a few days or a week or two, he grew and he outdid the petit sira endless. You could think it's two different trees almost, because you see, you see how many leaves he has come on. It's called nuff, right? No, forget no more. He grows and grows. If you didn't stop him also, he would continue to grow. What I mean? We stopped him.

Nadav Jesselson : 26:05

I said like that, that exactly pruning the top because it's called in hebrew, you're cutting the top of the shoots of the branches that we did um with volunteers from the golani was amazing. In hour they finished everything and we also did it with a few groups here. That's actually a nice story. One of the groups that we have here regularly is from Zoharim. Zoharim is Kfar Zoharim. It's a Kfar Noah for youth. On the other side of the road I think I told you about this Is this Zaharav Grossman, who established this for Haredi kids who either were kicked out of the house or not kicked out of the house but can't find extension of thewhat you call it.

Nadav Jesselson : 26:58

Where.

S. Simon Jacob: 27:01

Is that Megdalor, megdalor, migdaloz, migdaloz, migdaloz Not.

Nadav Jesselson : 27:04

Migdal? No, migdaloz is the gush and Migdal Ha'emek. Where is it called? Migdalor, I think maybe.

S. Simon Jacob: 27:10

Migdalor is what it's called. Yes.

Nadav Jesselson : 27:12

And they're also for Haiti, girls or boys.

S. Simon Jacob: 27:14

No boys and girls.

Nadav Jesselson : 27:17

Ah, so Joseph is one of their alumni. What's it called?

S. Simon Jacob: 27:22

Bogueir Alumni yeah.

Nadav Jesselson : 27:24

Joseph is one of the alumni.

S. Simon Jacob: 27:25

Joseph is Joseph Wow.

Nadav Jesselson : 27:27

And Schneo, which is another guy who worked here and he's now in the Luta, which is very special in the army, and he comes here sometimes and he's very connected to the place. Anyways, they have in their one of the projects that they have in the how do you call it? Youth village. It's called Youth village. One of the projects there is called Bait Bagiva, meaning a few guys that either are addicted to something, doesn't matter what, or need time out from the regular schedule. They leave every time, just like six or eight guys. They go out of the dorm and they go to a separate house far away Not far away, it's the same compound, but just a little bit to the end and twice a week they come to work here and what we do with them is we go through an educational process, meaning every job they'll do here we're connecting it to something in their life, to something that has to do with their inner growth. So that's what they did here. So, for instance, when they worked here, we said sometimes you grow and it's going well, but you have to put on some brakes, you have to stop yourself, because the kabonet is growing and growing and growing and you're saying, okay, but don't forget the fruit, because you're giving your energy to create new leaves, which is amazing, but don't forget the fruit, don't forget the matara, the tachlit, so that's why you're cutting the taz. So we talked to them before and then they go to work and that's been actually a very amazing. Great project for this year.

Nadav Jesselson : 29:12

Again, the miluim was. I had the first project that came here. I met them once. The second one a few times. So because of the miluim, in and out we didn't have. But we had three uh uh rounds here of these guys, because they come every time for 40 days only. So we had three rounds here. It was amazing. When I spoke to the first group, I told them okay, give me feedback. They said to me, give us more work. That's the feedback, meaning they were they, they, they were into it. So that was very was very happy with that.

Nadav Jesselson : 29:42

So so the Petit Syrah. So first of all, you see that Cabernet, that's really strong. The Petit Syrah, she has something very gentle. That's why I love her a little, not more, but she's very, very gentle. It grows, you know much less leaves grows slower, it starts earlier, but on one side and the other side it's already in Bochal. It changed its color and the clusters, the difference in the clusters? It's again. That's also amazing.

Nadav Jesselson : 30:16

The Petit Sirin, it's dense, it's like a. You know I'm saying you compare it to like. It's like a corn. Every grape is stuck to the other one, squished to the other one and it has different shapes. Also, it's not the regular triangle In the Kabane the grapes are more loose. They are connected to each other but they're more loose and it's more triangles. One of the challenges with the Petit Sirrah because it's dense, right? Dense is close to each other, right? So one of the challenges is that you don't want to water it too much, because then it bursts inside the cluster and sometimes you won't even see it. But then it starts Mildew, mildew is what Rikavon. Yeah, it becomes like Mildew, mildew, mildew is what.

S. Simon Jacob: 31:04

Recavon. Yeah, it becomes like.

Nadav Jesselson : 31:06

It starts fermentation.

S. Simon Jacob: 31:08

Oh.

Nadav Jesselson : 31:09

No, that's Recavon. How do you say Recavon? Rot, it starts to rot.

S. Simon Jacob: 31:13

It can be almost like a fungus, yeah it's a fungus, mamos.

Nadav Jesselson : 31:17

So I've known Francis. Now he saw the grapes, grapes. He said okay, let's, let's, let's lower down the pace of watering, of uh irrigation. So I'm very uh. One of the things that I experience here is it's hard. That's hard for me is that this place you think that it brings it brings calmness, brings you know something very peaceful. People that come here say this is special energy, here there's something very calm. People that come here say this is special energy, here there's something very calm, very settled.

S. Simon Jacob: 31:45

But when I'm here, when you have to be responsive to that bomb, it's a different story, exactly.

Nadav Jesselson : 31:51

So I was thinking Sing a lullaby, exactly Mamash kacha, even when I come to Damanhir or come to meditate, I can't. I'd rather do it at home, because when I'm here, every point I look okay, what's with that tree? Why is that like that? What's with that? Oh right, I have to do that, I have to do that. It's hard, so, anyways, I'm pressured with the fact that we're not watering. We are continuing, but much less now for the Petit Sirah, in order for the grapes not to burst. So we're going to take it down a notch With the Kabane. The opposite, we're getting it more water Once a week. We're doing a measurement. It's called Tal Achatz. How do we?

S. Simon Jacob: 32:36

say that in English.

Nadav Jesselson : 32:37

Pressure. You know the thing that they do no Pressure, how would you call it? They take a leaf. Yes, there's a guy here. You see the car over there. That's the guy. His name is it's funny his name is Amit Sorek.

Nadav Jesselson : 32:50

So everything has to do with the vineyard, sorek, right, sorek is the vineyard. So he comes here early in the morning Sunday. He covers the leaves with a special bag. It's not like a special bag. You can also cover it with this tin foil. Just, you know, that's what I did when I didn't have the. He has special bags, but I used to cover it with tin foil In order for the leaves to think that they are in the dark, yeah, and then they close their peoniot pores.

Nadav Jesselson : 33:18

You close the pores and then they aspirate and then basically any water that they have in them it's that's what they have, because they're not evaporating the water, right, and he comes back after two hours. That's why he's here now. He takes every leaf. He, he cuts the. Uh, it's called the, the. Uh, I used to call give all.

Nadav Jesselson : 33:40

The thing that leads to the leaf? Yes, what is that called? The ptoteret, the? How do you say?

Nadav Jesselson : 33:43

The thing that leads to the leaf? Yes, what is that called the stem, the stem. It takes the stem, he puts it in something that does very high pressure some atmospheres, I don't know very, very high pressure, and then he measures when a drop of water comes out. He has a special machine here, he puts it in and in the number when the drop of water comes out, in the number of pressure, he knows how much water the tree has. So he does, you know, like a a statistic uh approach. He goes, yeah, all over, takes a few here, a few there, and that's how we measure if the vineyard is thirsty or not. Um, so that's how we know for the Kabane that we need to add water.

Nadav Jesselson : 34:27

So we added water. Friday was the first time we added another kub for Duna, and in the Petit Syrah we lowered the water actually. So that's my experience with the two varieties, petit Syrah and the Kabet, which are actually very different. But it's going to be super interesting to see because we have one of the communal vineyard which we have for the varieties, for the blends, for the you know if you're missing any grapes. So we have there one vineyard split to Cabernet Franc, petit Syrah and Merlot, and then you're going to start seeing the differences inside. It's going to be very, very interesting. I think we're going to see that Very cool yeah.

S. Simon Jacob: 35:14

Very, very cool. Thank you for all the time.

Nadav Jesselson : 35:18

Thank you for coming, thank you for the two cents, and we should talk more Wine and unity. I don't know if we spoke about this last time. Thank you for coming, thank you for the two cents, and we should talk more Wine and unity. I don't know if we spoke about this last time, but wine is unity. That's why you weren't allowed to drink with non-Jews in the diaspora. Because you're not allowed. Because if you drink wine, you can drink a whiskey, you can drink a beer with them, but if you drink wine with them, it connects, it connects you. So that's ben adam l'chaviro Karev. Ben adam le'atzmo, because n'chassi ayin, that's asod, meaning you're connecting to yourself. Also.

Nadav Jesselson : 35:54

I remember when I did a course with WSCT, maybe two or three years ago. That was my first experience in understanding that there are different tastes in wine and that when you drink wine you have to be mindful. You can't just drink it. You have to connect to yourself, to what you're feeling, to what you're tasting. That's connecting to yourself. And then there's connecting to the land also yes, that's good on that really.

Nadav Jesselson : 36:22

So that's connecting to yourself and then there's connecting to the land also.

Nadav Jesselson : 36:24

Yes, that's Kavanah, really, and it's unity, Unity between yourself and your friends and unity between the land, because what you're drinking here is different from what you're drinking there. It's amazing, wow, wow, wow, wow. You know, I told my parents, I tell them all the time, I tell this. In the last podcast also I think the one before this is the third time we're having it I said I tell my parents, thank you so much for making Aliyah for me. Zeh Mamash Matana that they gave me. It's a very big deal.

S. Simon Jacob: 36:59

It's a very big deal.

Nadav Jesselson : 37:00

Alright Baruch Hashem. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.

S. Simon Jacob: 37:07

Wow, I tried to surprise you. You surprised me. This is Simon Jacob, again your host of today's episode of The Kosher Terroir. I have a personal request no matter where you are or where you live, please take a moment to pray for our soldiers' safety and the safe and rapid return of our hostages. Please subscribe via your podcast provider to be informed of our new episodes as they are released. If you're new to The Kosher Terroir, please check out our many past episodes.