Inside Vitkin Winery’s 2025 Unforgettable Harvest

A drought year wasn’t supposed to reward restraint—but 2025 had other plans. At Vitkin Winery, we walk the rows with winemaker Assaf Paz and discover how a parched winter, scrambled ripeness windows, and a nation holding its breath forged wines with unusual clarity and nerve. When irrigation couldn’t fix stressed vines, an old, dry-farmed Carignan did: deeper roots, stronger canopies, and, shockingly, higher yields. The lesson is simple and radical—let the vineyard do the talking, and you’ll hear terroir more clearly than any dial you can turn.

We dig into the moments that defined the vintage: Macabeo arriving before Gewurztraminer, Argaman sprinting just behind Pinot, and decisions made by mouth and nose when spreadsheets said wait—Assaf shares where he trusted instinct over numbers and why certain lots earned time in the barrel. The glass tells the story—Riesling held on lees and released late for texture, a high-altitude Chardonnay with zero malolactic that rebukes butter for mineral precision, and Grenache Blanc grown on a stony, unforgiving site to capture salinity and lift. A tiny Tanat, fermented in a single open bin, becomes a symbol of the year: scarce, personal, unforgettable.

We also step outside the cellar door. As hostages returned home, a quiet weight lifted across the team. Rival wineries swapped scarce clarifying agents and enzymes—no invoices, just trust—proving that when the work matters, production stands together. And through it all, Pinot Noir taught restraint that sharpened the whole lineup: not lighter, but clearer; not louder, but truer. Wine here is more than flavor; it’s a message in a bottle about land, craft, and resilience. If you’ve wondered how Israeli terroir can be both tough and graceful, this is your pour.

Enjoy the conversation, then share it with a friend who loves wine made by touch and time. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: when would you trust your gut over the data?

Contact Assaf Paz at Vitkin:
Turtle Bridge, Alexander Stream, Kfar Vitkin
Waze: “Vitkin Winery”
tel. +972-9-8663505
fax. +972-9-8664179
WhatsApp: +972-54-4866350
Email: info@vitkin-winery.co.il
Mailing Address: PO Box 267, Kfar Vitkin, 4020000

And please stop by and visit:
Open Sun.-Thur. 09:30-17:00
Fridays 10:30-15:30
By appointment

Transcript

Opening, Context, And Intent

S. Simon Jacob Host 0:08

Welcome to The Kosher Terroir. I'm Simon Jacob, your host for this episode from Jerusalem. Before we get started, no matter where you are, please take a moment to pray for the safe return home of all our soldiers and the full return of all the remains of our hostages. If you're driving in your car, please focus on the road ahead. If you're relaxing at home, please open a delicious bottle of kosher wine and pour a glass, sit back, and relax. From Israel's coastal plains, Tear Glass, welcome to The Kosher Terroir. Today we're at Vitkin Winery with acclaimed winemaker Asaf Paz. We break down the 2025 harvest, its weather patterns, ripeness windows, and the choices shaping Vitcin's signature style. We explore what's new in the winery from experimental lots to releases you'll want to watch for. And we take a thoughtful pause to consider the mood in Israel after the return of all our living hostages. How community, resilience, and gratitude are felt in the vineyards and the cellar. Authentic, timely, and full of craft. Let's pour and begin.

Market Openness And Blanc De Carignan

Assaf Paz WineMaker 1:35

How's it selling? The Carignan, the Blanc de Carignan, or good. We sell it only here. We don't sell to anybody out. We don't want to sell. It's amazing because people are very open to new flavors. When we started 25 years ago, as the pioneers of Karignan and all the things that people didn't believe on, we find it very challenging to educate people to drink things that they're different from the Fantastic Four, Capsov, Merlot, and so on. And today it's so easy. You have a group of young people, and we ask them what do you want. They said like a fresh crisp white wine, and we say, We have something special. Do you want to taste? And they buy like a couple of bottles of blanc de Karinian, which is like the first ever blanc de Karinian that I know for surely in Israel. And we I find it wonderful that people are open and they're willing to try and they're willing to experiment with the new flavors. And that's nice. How are you?

S. Simon Jacob Host 2:51

I'm great. I'm great. I'm gonna say la pine. I know you're having a coffee, but I'm gonna have a lapai. I never make a lapai with coffee. This is wonderful. This is so crisp.

Assaf Paz WineMaker 3:06

It's so it's crisp, but doesn't it have like this something behind? I have a um a very good friend. He's like the olive oil master of Messique Magal. And he's very good in flavors. And he he tasted this wine for the first time and he was charmed by it. And he said, I feel here green green raspberries. Green raspberries? Yeah, I said green raspberries. He said, yes, is the and I asked him. I never I never tasted green raspberries. And he said, Me neither. I don't know if there is green raspberries exist anywhere in the world, but this is how it feels to me. It's lovely to have you here.

S. Simon Jacob Host 3:51

Thank you. So I wanted to talk about a little bit about the 2025 harvest. The harvest this year, I believe was unlike any other, filled with both uncertainty and hope. How did the emotional atmosphere in Israel affect the spirit and the rhythm of the harvested Bitkin?

Drought Reality And Irrigation Limits

Assaf Paz WineMaker 4:12

So, first of all, without any regards to the emotional state that we've been in, and the threats and the alarms and the missiles and everything that happened, and the war with Iran, and you know, if we said the war with Iran ten years ago or even three years ago, everybody said what? And we say it's like in Hebrew we say alan alan. It's like every day is uh I think a very usual thing with but it's not. So even if we don't consider those aspects, this harvest was I want to call it in a world that's not too pessimist or negative, I call it unforgettable. It was unforgettable but was because it was uh unlike any other in many aspects. Some of them were very challenging, the others were very promising for the quality of the future wines. But all in all, I think this is a very harvest that I will never forget so far. We had few of those through the years, climate-wise, we had the 2006 uh war with the second Lebanon War, and and we have the 2024, which was affected from October 7th. But this one, the climate was completely different. So it started with uh unusual, very severe drought. Drought? Drought. Drought. And so the the precipitation levels were very low. So we started with a very poor humidity in the soil to begin with. But we are Israelis, we have irrigation, we have the dripping system, and we're not worried. But this year showed us that nature nature is still stronger than uh than all of us, and there are things that you cannot uh correct or modify just by opening uh uh the irrigation. And uh I I can demonstrate it in in two different vineyards. One of them is a vineyard that we irrigate regularly, and this year we give it between 50 and 70 percent more water, and we started earlier because the soil was much more drier to begin with because of the dry winter. And the the the vines looked very poor. They looked, they they suffered, they they struggled, even though we we spoiled them with a lot of irrigation. That that you can learn from that that irrigation is not everything. Rain has a very important role in the growing season uh effect and and uh you know uh influence. And from so over there, the the canopy and overall behavior of the vineyard was it it was struggling. You saw it was it had a lot of challenges, and also the the yields were lower, but also the maturity was much longer because it took the vines much longer to put all the what we want in the grapes to to get the grapes uh the to the right maturity. And from the other hand, we had the vineyard of a Carinean, old vine carignan, no irrigation. Now, when I say no irrigation, that doesn't mean that we don't irrigate it, that means that we don't have any irrigation system in place whatsoever. We don't have dripping system, we don't have any other means that we can add water besides rainfall to the vineyard. And with this vineyard, I was very worried. I was just I went to to see how it goes from the butt break till the fruit set and the fruit ripening, because I said to myself, here we have a real problem. If the vineyard is collapsing, I cannot do anything. I just, you know, din sham.

unknown 8:42

Yeah.

Assaf Paz WineMaker 8:43

And this vineyard looks the the it was the most beautiful vineyard in terms of the canopy, the the growth, the vigor of the vines. It looks like nothing happened. It just you know, just another business day, you know.

unknown 9:02

Yeah.

Dry-Farmed Carignan’s Surprise Strength

Assaf Paz WineMaker 9:03

And um what proved that we are right also in the aspect that we irrigate less and less the vineyards. Of course, we cannot use the the method of zero irrigation in all the vineyards, but we try to irrigate as less as possible. And it proved us right, because on those vineyards, and this and this wasn't the only vineyard that we don't irrigate, there are other what other vineyards that we don't irrigate that also were, you know, completely normal this year. The the canopy looked a little bit lower and a little bit weaker, and the yields were maybe 10% less than average, but you know, it's okay. The maturity was perfect in those vineyards. Not like the Shenin vineyard uh in the Golan Heights that got a lot of irrigation but still struggled a lot. But all those vineyards without irrigation showed us that we need to do as much as we can to get to those situations that we don't irrigate or irrigate as less as possible. So the vineyards find a way, the vines find a way to the dig deep enough. Deep enough to bring the water, to bring the good minerals, and the that gives the typicity and give the character, the unique character of the terroil to the grapes. But what was unique in this vineyard, unlike in other non-irrigated vineyards, that in this vineyard the yield went up more than 30% compared to last year. So we had more yield in a year that we have much less rain. And that really shocked me. So, you know, I always say that what one of the aspects that I like in wine is that wines wine make me humble. You know, always you get to a point that you think that you know everything or most of the things, and then the vines come and tell you no, it's so deep, this ocean of wine, that you you always surprise from something and you have a lot to learn. And I think that's wonderful. Wow.

S. Simon Jacob Host 11:13

I love it. As the hostages began to return home, the nade the nation felt kind of a collective sigh of relief. Um did that moment resonate with you or your team, perhaps even becoming symbolic as a turning point for the harvest first of all, of course.

Assaf Paz WineMaker 11:41

Even though that we we talked about it very little, you you you could feel the the smile, you can see the smile of the on the faces, and you can feel that people are much more relaxed, much more, you know. There was like a deep sadness. You know, we we went through very dramatic two years, and almost every other week was like an historical day, that we will remember it forever. So many things happen in those two years.

unknown 12:16

Yeah.

National Mood And Post-Press Resolve

Assaf Paz WineMaker 12:17

It's like stories for 100 years, okay? And but through this time, there was like a built-in sadness in every one of us that we know that our heart won't be complete until all the hostages, at least the live hostages will come back, and of course, all the the rest, the bodies of the deceased ones will come to their families for to cover Israel. But at least the the ones that are alive, we know that they are with their loved one and they're not suffering with those monsters. And when they relieve the the when they released, we have this relief. Even though we already finished harvest, and we already finished the press, because of the low yields, the harvest was relatively early. This is another effect of the harvest. But it still affected us because there are so many things that you do post press. And the anticipation also guided us in, you know, we we personally cannot do anything to bring them back home, but let's do our work in the proper way so at least we do the things that need to be done so things will be more successful for everybody. So it wasn't during the harvest, it wasn't during the dramatic, uh, you know, hectic time of the harvest. Yeah, but you can feel it with all the workers and and of course our families. This is this was a bless. We're not we don't know where we're going yet with all of this. Yeah, but at least we put this chapter behind us, and that's what's important.

unknown 14:15

Thank you.

Assaf Paz WineMaker 14:16

We give you the single vineyard wristling with the it's in a German inspiration, you know, it's like German influence. But it's a Judean Hills Riesling, it's open like a beautiful flower.

S. Simon Jacob Host 14:32

And it's it even has wow. It has that like signature petrol as well.

Assaf Paz WineMaker 14:41

It starts to to show.

S. Simon Jacob Host 14:43

Yeah.

Assaf Paz WineMaker 14:43

And this is what year? This is 2022. We have a lot of patience with the Riesling. I leave it six months on the lees in stainless steel tank, so it will gain back texture and structure and aromas from the lease. And then I keep it at least one year in the bottle, which is very un-Israeli to do, because we want it to release it fast to show it, to sell it, you know. My uh my bank manager don't really like those wines that I keep a long time in the cellar, but I explained that there are wines that I cannot play with, there are things that I cannot rush. Riesling needs its time, and I wait. And I think this harvest needed a little bit more than one year in the bottle. We we tasted it all over and over until we feel it's ready, and only then we release it. So every vintage tells a story.

S. Simon Jacob Host 15:43

If you could capture 2025's Bitkin harvest in a single word or phrase, what would it be and why?

Riesling Patience And Release Philosophy

Harvest Word: Unforgettable And Why

Assaf Paz WineMaker 15:51

I think again on the word unforgettable. Because um, first of all, unforgettable was one of the songs that uh favorite of my uh on my father, bless his soul, that can call, of course. Yeah, and uh so when I think about this song, I connect a little bit with him. And you know, with wine you need to you learn to be patient, you learn to accept a lot of things. And uh I come from uh I I I was born and raised in Svat, and one of the tzadikim that buried in Svat it's uh Nachum Ish Gamzu. And Nachum Ish Gamzu always said Gamzula tova, gamzulatova. And we learn that a lot of things that we see as challenge or crisis, if we if we take them in in uh in the right context, even though this word was used uh poorly in the last two years, we we learn to benefit even from the negative negative things, even from the hard uh times. And this harvest, one word that I cannot say not on this harvest or describe it is easy. It wasn't easy, it was hectic, it was challenging, it was unlike any other. If you weren't there at the vineyards, you can lose the entire vintage. Because every winery, after a certain time, or you know, five years, ten years, you had this learning process that you know you that you have the certain uh parcel of of vineyards that this is the one uh first one to ripe, to be to be picked. And the the the last one, and you have like the the general order of what's coming when this harvest was like big balagan, it was big mess. The first normally the first one is uh Gewürzraminer, which came last. The first harvest that we picked and we brought into the winery was the macabeo. Wow, and normally the macabeo needs a little bit of time, and it's coming like it's one of the last white wines that we pick, the white grapes that we pick. And it was the first. And we have argaman, beautiful argaman, low yield, clean uh vines, uh up in the north in a high altitude, high altitude argaman, wonderful argaman, full of freshness but also a lot of power, and it needs time to to be ready. And normally this is like the fourth or fifth red grapes that we picked. The first one is the Pinot Noir, and this year it was the one that we picked just after the Pinot Noir. So it came so early. And other other vineyards, we just waited and waited and waited. So for me as a winemaker, my presence in the vineyard is it's crucial. Yeah, it's crucial. And and and I cannot skip it, you know. It's a lot of effort, it's a lot of mileage, it's a lot of time. When you have family, we want to be more with your family and less than the vineyard, but you should should be in the harvest in the vineyard.

unknown 19:34

Yeah.

Ripeness Chaos And Vineyard Presence

Assaf Paz WineMaker 19:35

You know, one of my mentors, Jim Klein in um you know from Navarro Vineyards in in California, who was the chief winemaker before Victor Schoenfeld in Golan Heights Winery. He was the first one to make the blanc de blanc and the Katrine for Golanheights Winery. When I told him, you know, I need I need your help to describe the urgency of harvest to one of my CEO in the winery. So he told me you just use my words. When when one of the CEOs of the wineries I worked in didn't understand why I'm so stressed before harvest. He was a new uh CEO of, never worked in the wine uh industry before. And I told him the baby is coming. When the harvest is coming, it's like the baby is coming. There are things that you cannot say, wait a little bit, you you no no, we need some more time for renovation. No, no, the baby is coming. Either we bring it or we lose the whole thing. So you need to be there. And the ones that were in the vineyard, even though it was challenging and it was tough and it was stressful, even if you don't consider the emotional uh aspect of this year, you lose the harvest. And and the what the ones that have been there got the best of it. So uh unforgettable, challenging, stressful, and yet I think the big majority of the wine were amazing, delicious. And uh we will uh we will talk about them for the year in for the years to come because we we will feel we will feel it. I I imagine myself in the future making like a vertical tasting and bringing the 2025 and then it will show. It will show. I'm sure it will show in the in the wines the the the this uh crazy character that we had.

S. Simon Jacob Host 21:39

Did any of the vineyards yield truly unexpected excellence? Perhaps a plot that quietly became a star we had few miracles, if that's what you mean.

Assaf Paz WineMaker 21:58

Yeah. Okay? Few miracles. First, the one that I talked about, the Carignan, that even though the the harvest was so tough and and the water were so scarce and and uh the yields in most of the vineyard went down, it gives much more yield. Another one was Columbar, which is a variety that I'm in love with. It's for the last 25 years I make amazing things from this one. How do you call uh something that people don't give a lot of respect, but you should? Under the radar. Yeah, under the radar, that for me is one of the stars because it gives such a delicious result in our region. So last year we had a problem with one of the vineyards, it gives very little yield, it gave something like six, five, six hundred kilos per dunam. And of course it was delicious. This year it gives double. And I was sure that we feel like a dilution in dilution or or uh like more watery character because you have much more grapes, but it was even better. Wow. So you have those little miracles that you can believe that it it's against the it's against the books and the mathematics that you have in the in the vine growing and uh winemaking. But uh, of course, we have those stars. I think that we should look, especially in the white wines, we will see it very early. 2025, we have very interesting things coming in. But we can talk about it in like three months.

Instinct Versus Numbers In Picking

S. Simon Jacob Host 23:47

You're known for balancing instinct with precision. During the year of instability, did you find yourself relying more on intuition or data? And can you recall a specific decision and like a picking date or fermentation choice where your instinct led the way?

Assaf Paz WineMaker 24:10

That's a good question.

S. Simon Jacob Host 24:12

Because your instincts are really special.

Solidarity Among Wineries

Assaf Paz WineMaker 24:15

Yeah, it was it was uh we always rely on data because whether we say it or not, we looked on the number, we look on the numbers and it affects us. The question is that when you get to a point when your mouth is telling you it's ready, there are grapes already, you know. Declare a harvest, call it a day, you know. Or and and the numbers shows, you know, no, you're far away, you need to wait, the sugars are so low, and the you know, acidity is very high, and the flavors, uh, you know, but the not the flavors, but the numbers are way behind. But the flavors and uh what I call my my best lab, which is my mouth and my my nose and my eyes that looks on the vines, see the situation, taste the grapes, and then reflect on what do you feel and when do you where do you see these grapes going into all of those instincts and and and senses tell you it's ready, it's there, let's pick it up. And I always trust my instincts and my senses over the numbers. So this year was of course another one like that. Because last year we had a better winter that we it wasn't like an ideal winter, it was another winter with the lower than average uh precipitation, but it was better than this year, and we had low yields, and we had very good maturities, so it was very very easy. The the the mouth and the nose said it's ready, the numbers show it's ready, so you you you're very uh peaceful in your decision. This year we had a lot of uh conflicts between the senses and the experience and the number on the on the Excel sheet. And I went with my instincts and we nailed it each and every time. And you feel it when the wines are finishing the fermentation and you see the full potential of what you got. We have a few barrels of unusual white varieties that we we put in to mature in barrels because the the quality was so unique, so I wanted to separate them and see how they react to the to the barrel fermentation and aging. So it was that unusual. As I said, it was very challenging, but in a bizarre way, very promising as well.

S. Simon Jacob Host 27:03

Okay. There's been like a very strong sense of national unity recently, even among competing wineries. Have you felt more collaborative or more collaboration or camaraderie this year with white with other winemakers in the community? And was there a specific act of support or generosity between winemakers that really stood out to you?

Grenache Blanc Site, Salinity, And Style

Assaf Paz WineMaker 27:29

First of all, yes. But I I want to remark that we always have this uh you know solidarity. Because as I said it just two weeks ago, I I visited the I visited Benjamin Winery. And they have a new winemaker, new old winemaker. They have Yotam Charon, which is very experienced, talented winemaker that's been around for many years. He started making wines in Balkan even when I was back in my studies in Bordeaux. And now he's the their new winemakers, so Mazatov for both of sides. And I told him that even though in the sales level and you know marketing level we are competing, in the production level we are we're standing side by side, shoulder by shoulder, shoulder to shoulder, especially when we see what's what's out there for us as Jews and Israelis that shows that we need to be better, work better together. It sounds like uh kumbaya, but it's not, it's really happening. Because for and it was like, you know, karma, instant karma. When we started the harvest, there was one uh material that we use for uh clarification of the juice, you know. For the sometimes when the juice is not clear enough, we need to clear it, clarification and fining. And there was a problem in production, and we we left without and you need to start the harvest, you know. And then I called other suppliers and they didn't have it, and other wineries, and then I spoke with this particular winery, and I asked them, I said, let me check, no problems. We had like uh two kilos will be enough. I said, Yeah, it's more than enough to start the harvest and be you know relaxed. And they just they sent it to me. I didn't I didn't even ask. I thought I I told them, okay, great, it's it works for me. And they said, No problem, our winemaker is going to the center, they will drop it by your winery. And they even brought it to me. They were so generous. And I and I told them, okay, send me um send me a receipt, send me a like a bill, an invoice. Said, no, what are you kidding me? It's like it's nonsense. And then in the end of the harvest, the same one. Find itself without a specific material and enzyme for the juice. And they called me and they said I told them just let me check. And if I have it, no problem. And I had like a whole bottle and I finished all the pro. I finished using it. Grenache blanc. S'il vous plaît. And I finished using it. And I said, okay, I'm do you want me to send it? He said, Yeah. I I just sent what was left, exactly the what they needed. And they asked me how how much is it cost? Forget about it, you know. What goes around comes around, you know. It's like uh so uh this is how we treat each other between the wineries, and I think this is how it should be. When Recanati winery was a neighbor, they always helped me with uh different things that for me was a little bit too complicated and I needed help, they always were there for me. It got to a point that one time Kobe Arbiv, the winemaker, needed like a solvent of the lab from that he he wasn't sure that his was precise, he wanted to use mine. I said I told him, I'm so happy that for once I can give back something to you. So, of course, you're more than welcome to come and pick it up. So, yes, the solidarity is there, and in this year it was even stronger. So, this is Grenache Blan Collector's Edition. Only four bottles were made. Or barrels. Barrels. I said bottles, yeah. Yeah, this is like only for the King of England. So it's containing the blend is 90% grenage blanc, 10% macabeo. Wow, this is I can taste the macabeo.

unknown 31:52

The macabeo is really like the cake, the the salinity.

S. Simon Jacob Host 31:57

It's yeah, there's a salinity and it's just wow, it's your whole palate participates. It's great.

Food, Simplicity, And Local Sourcing

Assaf Paz WineMaker 32:06

This is one of the wines that I really made the research before I planted the vineyard. I was in the Grenache Symposium back in 2009 in France with all the big names of Grenache producers in the world. From uh Alvaro Palacios in Priorat to Chester Osborne in Darrenberg, Australia, to Sicilia, Sardinia, North America, and so on. And it was amazing. It was like a big brainstorming. And I fell in love with all the colours of Grenache, you know, Grenache Noir, Grenache Blanc, Rosé from Grenache, and I came back to Israel and I planted Grenache Vineyard, Grenache Noir, and for the Grenache Blanc I I I felt that I really need to find the right site. And I spoke to the spoke with a lot of those experts, and they told me it can grow anywhere. But if you want a unique fruit, you need to find a very mineral stony soil. Don't go for a too rich and and uh deep soil. You need to a lot of stone. Doesn't matter if it's what what's the source of the stone, if it's if it's uh limestone? If it's limestone, it's even better. And that's where I plant that's exactly where I planted the the vineyard. It's in a site that the the local people call it the quarry. It's so you know unfriendly, nothing grows over there except the Granage Blan. So and we don't irrigate it a lot, only what it needs. And it's given amazing fruit. This is one of the wh the grapes that I told you that the numbers didn't fit the feeling. So by the what I felt the grapes were ready, and what the numbers show that you need to wait like a couple of weeks more. But I went with the intuition. Yeah, intuition.

S. Simon Jacob Host 34:11

Have you this is amazing.

Assaf Paz WineMaker 34:13

Yeah, then it's like a tabule, yeah. I I will call it the Hebrew name. It's a tabule of carmel. Of chitat carmel. Is what's mentioned in the Bible. And today we call it friki. And uh this is what the the our uh ancestors did when they needed to eat something, but the wheat wasn't ready yet to harvest and to make flour from. It was still green, and they took it and they dried it by burning the the excess of the you know the peel of the gave him shibolim. Um uh this is a hard. The cluster of the wheat. I don't know how you say shibolim. Yeah, I don't know how you say shibolim either. But I know what it is. So they burned the the husks, the wheat, the husks. Yeah, they burned it, and it's made made it a little bit drier so you can cook it. Yeah, and it gave it like a smoke taint that was very palatable, I guess. And that's what they call it, chitat caramel. So this is so this is in a cheese.

S. Simon Jacob Host 35:32

So this is with the laban. Yeah, with laban. And it's also with uh who's barra. You know, uh parsley.

Assaf Paz WineMaker 35:40

Parsley, parsley, mint, yeah, dried uh dried uh cranberries.

S. Simon Jacob Host 35:50

Well there's some chef sitting in that kitchen. Yeah.

A Small Tanat That Stole Hearts

Assaf Paz WineMaker 36:01

There are the Elichay, our chef, is he he likes simplicity, full flavors, to emphasize the raw material uh character. He works with all the local suppliers, cheese, olive oil, everything is local. A lot of uh self-produced from uh Kraker and Fucaca and you know uh of course all the dishes that we make. I planted an I will plant an olive tree in a couple of weeks. So uh planted uh I will plant um varieties that goes for uh for olives, for uh cured olives. So in a few years we will have our olives as well. But he is very talented, he likes to use what's the best for the season and to emphasize the raw material.

S. Simon Jacob Host 37:04

We call it kiss, keep it simple. You know it's it's really special to be able to come to a winery and have somebody prepare such a delicacy of food. Usually some of the wineries have cheese or they have some vegetables cut up and what have you. But this is like super gourmet, it's just delicious, really delicious.

Assaf Paz WineMaker 37:28

It's very important for us to be able to showcase our wines in the best conditions, but also give a complete uh experience to the visitors that can enjoy food and wine. And we don't do a food pairing and a wine pairing, as we we let people do choose what they want with what they like. This is spectacular.

unknown 37:56

Okay.

New Plantings And A Crisp Chardonnay

S. Simon Jacob Host 37:59

Good questions. Okay. Looking back now, was there a single moment during the harvest that captured the essence of 2025 for you? Maybe something small but unforgettable. You were using that name, using that word a lot. Yeah. If you could bottle that moment as a feeling, what would the label say?

Assaf Paz WineMaker 38:27

There is a proverb in German that says kleine aber meine, which means little but mine or small but mine. Yeah. And we have a vineyard of tanat that you you tasted already a few times, the result. We use it for blend mainly. We haven't done yet a varietal tanat. And normally we get small quantities because yields are not very high and they're very moderate and uh but concentrated. This year we got like between 40 and 30 percent of the average. It was so small that I needed I did I didn't have anywhere to ferment it because my tank needs a minimum of of uh of grapes to ferment. And if you put less, it don't reach the cooling uh jacket. Yeah. So I uh took my risk and I fermented in a bin, in an open bin. Wow. So it was like the single Tanat bin, we can call it a single bin Tanat. But uh it was so you know, like a personal wine. Of course, we we make we made punching down and a little bit of pumping over every day a few times, and the workers told me how it smells and how it looks, and I went to check it. And it was because it was so small, it was like again a personal winemaking, like a like a garage uh wine winery. But the result is so delicious. So I don't know where the line goes between the real quality of the wine and my emotional towards this wine because we really every wine you you follow uh throughout the process from butt break to battling and after and beyond. But this wine was really one of the one of the ones, one of the wines that we followed and we looked after like a like a baby. It was small, limited quantity, it was like the sherita pleta of this uh of this vineyard, and it was uh it was charming.

unknown 40:49

Very cool.

Assaf Paz WineMaker 40:50

So uh yo, so we bottled as little but mine.

S. Simon Jacob Host 40:56

Any any new varietals that you're playing with that you can talk about?

Assaf Paz WineMaker 41:04

I can tell you that there are new varieties, but I cannot talk about. We planted uh we planted a few interesting things in high altitudes. We cannot talk about it, but looking forward, in the next few years we're going to have uh very interesting uh things going on. It's always it's always very interesting here, but we always add every few years we add another color, another taint to the to our selection. This is from the from the restaurant. Yeah, yeah. It's uh we made a project for cheers. They they challenged me. They said, we know that you may not making Chardonnay, we know that you don't like Chardonnay. I said, I I didn't say that I don't like Chardonnay. I just that uh I just said that I choose not to make it.

S. Simon Jacob Host 41:55

Is that one of the do you consider that one of the Fantastic Four?

unknown 41:59

Yeah.

S. Simon Jacob Host 42:00

Chardonnay? Absolutely.

Terroir-Sensitive Varieties Over The “Fantastic Four”

Assaf Paz WineMaker 42:01

So Merlot, Merlot, Caballi Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc. The ones that I I I I owe I never said that they are wrong and they are they are delicious and they're they are they they got the name Fantastic Four because they are fantastic, they're giving very good results in most of the climates, in most of the situation, or but where's the challenge? Exactly. It's it's and and first of all, it starts to be boring, and secondly, I said that wine is not cottage cheese and it's not Coca-Cola, and and it's not even beer. Beer you can transfer the raw material from continent to continent, get a good water source or filtrate it uh to adjust them to your needs, and you could you will make a wonderful beer. We have Alexander Bruy just next to us. They make every beer that they make, they nail it. I don't I I'm not a fan of all the styles because I have my own personal taste. But when I taste their IPA, yeah, it's a wonderful style. IPA, they have like two or three. The IPA for me, it's like something that I learned to enjoy when I worked in California. And they have wonderful uh uh small breweries that make amazing IPAs. Anyway, in wine, you cannot do that. You cannot transfer the raw material. Yeah, it's very fragile. So you need to stick to your terroir and you need to tell the story of the terroir. And with those varieties, it's a little bit hard, first of all, because they are very usual and very, you know, uh routine varieties. And secondly, I I made the lecture once about Israel terroir. That my first phrase was there is not there isn't such a thing as an Israeli terwar. Because we are in a very small land that in the morning you can go and dive in a tropical reef, uh coral reef in the Red Sea, and you take your car, you don't even need to fly, you take your car, and in the afternoon you skiing in the Mount Hermon. Show me one country that has this amazing uh uh complexity and diversity. So you need to look on on uh regions or subregions to get a notion of each teruar. But and then I I made my case that you have two groups of varieties, and I call them in Hebrew, it's it sounds better for once, for once. I call them zanim regishim letteruar the zanim adishim letterwar. So the ones that the you have the the terwa sensitive varieties, yeah. That means that they're really change it dramatically when you change the terwa. And there are varieties that are indifferent. How do you say indifferent to the terrain? They're less, they're they they show less dramatic change from terroir to terwa. That means that you can you take a petit sira here and grow it in M. Krefer, and you grow it in the Judean foothills, and you grow it in the Golan Heights, and of course the wine will be different, but the the variety is so dominant, so the you have you uh you will have much less nuance from terroir to terroir. While in varieties like Pinot Noir or Riesling or Grenache Noir or Carignan, you will have dramatic difference. So also the Fantastic Four are varieties that uh can be very affected by terroir, but I I don't have anything new to bring to the table with those varieties.

unknown 46:00

Right.

Assaf Paz WineMaker 46:01

Whether with with my the varieties that we showcase in Witkin, which much more to say and to express the local terroir and to be proud of it. But this this wine is like Yai Raidu told me Asaf, I I'm crazy about white wines. You're making uh delicious wrestling and and you make amazing things with Colombia. It's like uh the little prince, draw me a ship, make me a chardonnay. I want to see what you make out of chardonnay.

Team, Reserve Duty, And Harvest Urgency

S. Simon Jacob Host 46:31

So let me tell you something about the Chardonnay, at least from my perspective. There are a number of people I know who hate Chardonnay. ABC. Anything but Chardonnay. All right, they they really don't want to have anything to do with Chardonnay because it's not interesting to them. It's it's this Chardonnay, the Jess that we make, yes, would click all of the boxes of what they love. Wow. It's a Chardonnay that's that's just crisp and acid and and and it's got it's just beautiful. It's just a beautiful Chardonnay, and it is nothing like the Chardonnay that they they despise. It's it's not malolactic, you know, buttery.

Assaf Paz WineMaker 47:18

It's not maybe it's like the gewersaminer that they made that I always claim that they made it for the Giversaminer haters. Right, you know, because I I made this Chardonnay by my own book, you know, by my rules. I picked it up in a very precise timing. The vermification went through my uh prisma of of uh winemaking to reach the things that I want to emphasize in an excellent white wine. The use of the barrel was more dominant that than what I use in other wines, but still very respecting to the fruit of this Chaldonier. And uh people always ask me where this Chaldonnet stands in the scale of uh Burgundi. And I said I I cannot say that because we are not in Burgundy. It's coming from a completely different, it's coming from 1,000 meters above sea level in the Golan Heights, so a very high altitude, Mediterranean climate, basaltic soil. None of those are compatible with Burgundy conditions. So I let other people define it, but what I wanted to make is like my style Chardonnay. So you can't say that it's because of the high altitude. The high altitude the high the high altitude enables me enables me to reach very high level of grapes with the right acidity, with the right balance, with very slow maturity because Chardonnay can get very fast matured. But then you find yourself with the very alcoholic wine that's most of the character comes from the fermentation uh aromas like banana. It's like it's a different interpretation of Chardonnay. I didn't make any intention uh malolactic fermentation. I wanted to retain this minerality. I love the weather in this uh season. I love it too. This time.

S. Simon Jacob Host 49:39

Has have the team returned from Meloim?

Pinot Noir Humility And Clarity

Assaf Paz WineMaker 49:45

Yes, so yes, yes. We had a mini drama when one of our employees finished his 400 days of Miloim, and he needed to be back at the winery end of June, beginning of July. So they said, excellent, it's like preparing for the harvest, and then we got a he got a call for like 20 days more, which will bring him basically to the first week of the harvest and said, Oh bum. And then he got another one that he will be sent to extensive uh Milw service and be back in October and say, hey, no, no, no, no, no. This is we cannot do this is the guy that's on the forklift. So without on the forklift, oh without a forklift, you cannot move, you cannot do anything. And you cannot take the only single employee that you have that do everything on the and when you are a kosher, yes, it's not that okay, so I will give a hand. No, it doesn't work like that. So uh that was a mini drama. But we called we called the officer, we said, you know, he gave so much and we didn't say anything because it's wartime, and okay, we we overcome, we did what needed to be done, but harvest, it's like the baby is coming. We cannot you're taking the the the the special doctor for deliveries, you're taking the maledit away. The mealed it, the how do you call it? The mate uh no midwife. The midwife. And you know how I know that?

S. Simon Jacob Host 51:23

My daughter is a midwife.

unknown 51:24

Ah, okay.

S. Simon Jacob Host 51:25

So you're taking the midwife just before the the laborer is. My daughter's a midwife in Soroka. Wow. She was in the middle of Soroka when that missile fell. Wow. She was right in the middle of the whole thing. Oh my god. So I couldn't hear for like two days. Oh my god. Because of the, you know, because of the noise. But Rukh Hashem, that was a situation where I don't know how in the world a thousand people didn't get killed. And instead nothing. It was just just an absolute mess.

Assaf Paz WineMaker 51:55

We had so many cases of Ashgaha. It doesn't matter if you're uh if you're practice, if you're orthodox, if you're secular, everybody knows that we had Ashgeha. Because there were things that happened that you know Iran sent so many missiles. I think I think like I I don't remember if it was 18 or 20 something people that have been killed, but it could have been 20,000, it could have been in the in the thousands. Easily, you know. So yeah, we had a few miracles. So this was what this is one of your favorites. This is our non-filter, unfiltered Pinot Noah. Wow. So look at this beautiful color. So this one is the like the the the wine that we haven't talked about for years. It it was I was uh the wine that I I apologize on for many years because it doesn't fit to the story for the profile for the philosophy of the winery. Because it's pinot noir. It was it was easier with the wristling because it's a white wine, we play with it, I love it, people love it. It's German anyway. Yeah, it's German, nobody cares. But with the Pinot Noir, it's like the holy grail, you know, it's like, oh no, it's there is Burgundy and there is the rest of the world. No, I I I don't agree. I know that the best pinot noirs are in Burgundy, but you never come and say about Merlot that there is only like Saint Million and Pomerol and the rest of the world. Some people do.

unknown 53:40

Yeah, I know.

Mentors, Bordeaux, And Craft Lessons

Assaf Paz WineMaker 53:42

And and we let them live. Yes, yes. In the meantime, yeah. No, no, it just means more for me. Yeah, that's as far as I'm concerned. So so I know in in Burgundy there are unique terroirs, but there is especially unique experience of centuries. That you know exactly what to grow in which place exactly and what it gives, because the the monasteries wrote about it and and documented everything. But I think that we learn a little bit more today that we can make delicious pinot noirs in the right places around the world, and I say in the right places because in Israel, if somebody asks me what varieties to plant pinot noir, probably won't be in the first 20. But our pinot noir is coming from from a unique terroir, but and and especially I try to make it with minimum ego. I don't want to say minimum intervention because it sounds a little bit demagogic. Yeah, but I I lower my ego. I said it's a very delicate being and I want to respect it and I want to give it exactly what it needs. It's like a beautiful woman that doesn't really need a makeup, or if if it if she wants, she just put a line or two, and that's it. So this this is how we I treat it. Is there p is there another pinot noir in Israel that you feel it's amazing when I I tasted the cracker before? Yeah, the Tef cracker, yeah, and it has a small dose of cumin inside.

unknown 55:25

And I tasted the pinot noir, and now I'm getting the after the pinot noir, I'm getting the cumin. Yeah. It is, it's true.

Assaf Paz WineMaker 55:35

What was your question? Another pinot noir?

S. Simon Jacob Host 55:40

Is there another winery in Israel that produces a pinot noir that you feel is quality?

Assaf Paz WineMaker 55:48

So it's it's strange. If you ask me this question ten years ago, I said probably not. There is not another Pinot, and I don't say it from a like snob or pretentious point of view. Just not my my taste. Today, I admit that the first and foremost, Golan Heights winery. The one that made the first varietal Pinot in Israel, and I remember it because it was 1999 harvest, and I bought a couple of bottles, and I regret that I didn't bought a case because I opened the first one and it was delicious, and I opened the second one and it was delicious, and and then I said, Okay, great. I love it so much, I'm going to buy a case, and there it was sold. Yeah, it was gone. And but then they they started to make it in a more bold, expressive style that I I care less about. And lately, the last few years, they they went again to the more elegant and delicious. So I tasted the last couple of harvests that they released, and it's a wonderful pinot noir. And also, winery. And I I think it brings a lot to the Pinot Noir. They make a batoony that is Pinot Noiry?

S. Simon Jacob Host 57:30

Yes, it's so Pinot Noiry to use that term. I I knew exactly what you're talking about. It's like crazy. It's like uh, you know, people I say that and people laugh and they go, you don't know, you haven't a clue. Well, take that, take it, take it, take it, take it, take it, take it, take it. You don't know what you're talking about. And yeah, I look, you know, wine is subjective. It's it's based on your own taste. It's not as much as I can say, well, this and that. When people tell me how I shouldn't like this or I shouldn't like that, I I look at them and I go, thank you.

Assaf Paz WineMaker 58:11

You know, like imagine that somebody goes and tell you don't see this movie, you won't like it. Yeah. Okay, that's that's your opinion. Yeah. And I had the chance to vinify Bituni. Like um I think seven years ago. But I refused as soon as I learned that I won't be able to visit the vineyard. Right. Or as I say in a very unpolite way, yes, if I cannot peace in the vineyard, if I can pee or peace, I I I won't make my wine out of it. Yes. I need to be able to go freely whenever I want to the vineyard, whenever I feel that I need to, to taste the grapes, to see the situation, to give direction, and I realize that it's in places that that I practically cannot visit.

S. Simon Jacob Host 59:13

Yeah.

Assaf Paz WineMaker 59:14

And uh I cannot tell to the to the farmer what to do. So what's the point? Yeah.

S. Simon Jacob Host 59:20

No, uh the new battoonie that they're growing, Shivi actually has kind of cleared the the the clones of viruses and have you. And he's growing his own that's now he's growing his own baton. That's great. That's great. That's gonna be amazing. Yeah, and that's that's what I'm looking for.

Assaf Paz WineMaker 59:47

I really appreciate him. Yeah and his wines.

S. Simon Jacob Host 59:50

Yeah, me too. Me too.

Assaf Paz WineMaker 59:53

Anyway, uh, so through the years, I learned that I don't need to. Justify or apologize on the Pinot Noir, it's just delicious as it is. This is a great Pinot Noir. And in a way, it gives nice contra or, you know, another background to the other wines that I make that are more robust, you know, Mediterranean beasts. And the Pinot Noir stands like something very elegant. And it it teached me to it taught you. It it taught me it taught me.

S. Simon Jacob Host 1:00:29

I'm correcting you only because I know you are looking for the correct thing.

Assaf Paz WineMaker 1:00:32

I am looking, I always I always told the people that the French uh students and colleagues that apologize for correcting me. I told them, you know, when you correct somebody, it's uh it's a way that to say that you care about him, that you don't want him to say nonsense. So keep correcting me. It's okay. Feel free to correct me. The color of this is very seductive.

S. Simon Jacob Host 1:00:58

So beautiful. It's just crazy like ruby, yeah, it's like a stone. It's like rubies, but it's like unbelievable.

Wine As Statement And Israeli Journey

Assaf Paz WineMaker 1:01:07

So pretty. So this wine taught me how to perfect my vinification also in other varieties. I believe one of the reasons that my style of winemaking became more focused and more clear in a way, yeah, is because I saw it in the Pinot Noir. I saw what it made, what it gives to the Pinot Noir, this clearity. And and I went with it even to towards the Carignan and Petitsira, which can be really you know, full-body beasts, Mediterranean beasts, I call them. And in a way I made them more energetic, more clear, and not lighter, but much more focused and and less heavier. And so in a way, the Pinot Noir improved my other wine. Yeah. It's like when I visited when I visited the last time I've been to Bordeaux, I went to my my the other I have two mentors, Jim Klein from California and Jean-Michel Combe from France, which is he he worked for more than 30 years for Chateau Pont-écanet, but he left and now he's an independent uh expert for biodynamics premium growth. And I I he taught me a lot of things. And uh I think that over there I learned how to make really high premium Bordeaux wines. And when I visited the last time I went also for the sister, not the sister winery, but Chateau Pontaganet is owned by this Thesson family, which also owns the Thesson Cognac, famous Cognac Tesseron. And the other winery that they own is uh La Font Rocher in Saint-Estep. Wow. Over the river, over there, there is a small uh small creek, another crazy and and uh Saint-Estep is more robust, more you know, tight style of red wines, less elegant than Saint-Julien. But I went to La Fond Rocher and I tasted the wines, and they were amazing, and I I thought to myself, wow, this is like a great value for money. You know, like Chateau Pont des Canet, you should you can buy for like 300-400 euros. I don't know what's the cost today. And Chateau Lafond Rocher was like uh 30 30 euros, and I discovered that the winemaker used to work for DRC for Domain de la Romana Conte in Burgundy. So I said maybe that's what changed the wines. I this what somebody's coming? No, no, we need to call the police, I think.

S. Simon Jacob Host 1:04:21

There those are my two favorite French wines. Ponte Canet 2003 and and what you call it. Le Fon uh 2000, 2000, 2010. Yeah are just incredible. They're just like incredibly delicious wines. They both came out, they were both, those were I think Potecare made kosher wines before. The 2002 was the earliest kosher wine. And I but I like the 2003. They also made it in 2004, and then they stopped, and then they started making it in 2019. You know why?

Assaf Paz WineMaker 1:05:12

First of all, when I worked over there, Jean-Michel approached me and told me, you know, we have a lot of Jewish guys come and ask us for to make them kosher wines, blah blah blah. Said, okay, great. And and what do you do about it? He said, uh no, normally we refuse. Said, I told him why. He said, no, because it looks like you know, it looks like a big headache. He said, no, it's like you know, it's nothing. If if the somebody comes to approach you and he said, I want you to make me an organic wine, those are the rules, those are the things you need to you need to follow, and then it's organic. And he said, I'm buying the whole production. He said, Okay, that sounds good business plan. Said it's exactly like that with the kosher wine. Talk with them, and if you can follow the rules, and if you if you if you're okay with it, but you you cannot decide before you talk with them. And he he looked like the the typical French guy, but he really loves Israel. He asked me in the those strange times, he asked me to send him Israeli flags, small Israeli flags. Anyway, I hope he still supports Israel because it's a bala gun now. I think that the people that really support Israel support us more today. Because regardless what they see happens in Israel, they see what happens in their places. Yeah. And you know, we always told him I I told him when I studied in Bordeaux and they nagged me about Palestine, Palestine, Palestine. I told him, you know, first and foremost, they don't drink wine. How can you make peace with them? How can you make peace if you don't if you can't open just a ball of wine and and you know? And secondly, you don't really understand, it's not a clash between two people that fight on the same land. It's it's it's fraction between two different civilizations, or today they say civilization and barbaric, but you know. And and you won't understand it until it will reach your doorstep. And it will reach your doorstep. Maybe you kids need to learn Arabic, and they laughed at me. And I told them, you know, it will take 10 years or 20 years, but those big terrorist attacks will come to your doorstep of the West. And I was wrong. It took only two years, and 9-11 came and after all the shit after, you know, London and Paris and Madrid and so on, but they still don't get it for some reason. And I told them it's a it's it's we are on the fraction point, and if we lose, the fraction point will move to you. Yeah, that's it.

S. Simon Jacob Host 1:07:54

And these are wars, these are fights that are going back to the crusades.

Assaf Paz WineMaker 1:08:00

You know, like Trump Trump said, I'm I'm ending uh 3,000 year uh conflict. Uh first of all, I don't know if it's ending it or just postponed it. I don't believe it's end. And secondly, you know, it's not 3,000 years, it's 1,400. 14th centuries. I believe. And people saying, you know, also Christianity had had uh their uh turbulent times and you know their you know they're all making excuses. Yeah, but but you know the the founder of Christianity gave the other cheek. The founder of the other religion didn't. It didn't, it just said kill them all. So we know you you brought a very good question this time. Thank you. Like it.

S. Simon Jacob Host 1:09:03

Thank you very much for spending the time with me. It's really a pleasure. I had one last one last tiny one last question. It's not so tiny. Absolutely. Personally, everything that happened, the harvest, the hostages, the long year of service and strain, what does wine mean to you now? Has your relationship to winemaking changed even subtly after 2025?

Assaf Paz WineMaker 1:09:31

I remember Ellie Benzaken once said that when you plant a vineyard, you you're here to stay. Something that you don't uproot after 10 or 15 years. If you do it right, you know, if you don't have viruses, but yeah. I I visited vineyard 100 years old plus. And I think that winemaking is a beautiful expression of our terroi, but it's also an ex uh a statement. It's a statement that we are making something we're making out of this soil and this climate and the the culture and the people and the history and the know-how of the farmers. We're making something delicious that you know it's like a message in a ball. Wine is a message in a ball, and wine is a memory of everything that it's been through from planting the of the vineyard until the opening of the ball. And when I went to study in Bordeaux, I was in a crossroad, finishing my Bachelor of Science degree. My business plan, my initial plan to was to go back to pastry as a food technologist, and then you make the the big money. You work for a big factory and you invent things and you cash in. Right. But it was it looks very grey to me. And I fell in love in wine production and in vine growings, growing, and uh and then I decided to go to Bordeaux, and one of my motivation wasn't uh just to to build a career in something that I like to do. It was I said to myself, okay, I think wine is something that can express the Jewish people and the the what we are doing here in Israel in the best way, you know. So I think that when you think about it, a bottle of wine is a statement. Yep. If you put this bottle of wine Israeli delicious, red Israeli journey, this is the the special edition, this is the limited edition of the like the reserve of the Israeli journey, the black label if you want.

S. Simon Jacob Host 1:12:11

So I wondered what the difference was. I saw the other label and I saw the black label.

Assaf Paz WineMaker 1:12:16

So it's the black label is different varieties, but same uh spirits, fame, same uh approach to bring different terroir and different varieties, and to bring it in a package that is approachable, juicy, delicious, and drinkable. But from the premium barrels, the brows that normally goes to the premium wines and I make it in a much more approachable price. It's also a wine that it's a celery wine, basically. Sells only here and in a couple of restaurants. And when we go back to the Israeli wine, when you take, for example, a ball of Red Israeli journey with an orange label that nobody can forget, you put it on the table and it's a statement. It's a statement of what we are able to do from our terroir, from our agriculture, technology, history, and and and um you know ancient land. And when you put it on the table, you say uh many things without saying nothing, without a single word. You just pour the wine, you don't let the people sip it in, and you let them understand the the power of wine. And when you do that, I think this is a very powerful message. So I came to the wine business because I came from the food technology side and from the agricultural side and all the things I loved in wine production, but also I had this premonition of being a kind of uh great ambassador to Israel in the world through a bottle of wine.

S. Simon Jacob Host 1:14:09

I think you've really proved it. Thank you.

Assaf Paz WineMaker 1:14:12

Because it's uh that's what that's one of the reasons that we choose the name Israeli journey.

S. Simon Jacob Host 1:14:18

This is amazing.

Assaf Paz WineMaker 1:14:19

Yeah. It's uh it's many things in one bottle.

S. Simon Jacob Host 1:14:28

I taste the white, I taste the Pinot.

Assaf Paz WineMaker 1:14:32

I taste you know, I taste the this gives you spicy, fresh herbs, dry herbs, very intensive fruit, a lot of mintiness, you know.

S. Simon Jacob Host 1:14:49

It's very intensive fruit and mintiness, but it's not heavy, no. It's light, no, it's it flows, it's approaching it.

Assaf Paz WineMaker 1:14:59

I call it in I call it in Hebrew that I always say in Hebrew that my wines are yeah, not merimim. Wine that lifts you up, not takes you down. So this is exactly that. It's uh it's the same spirit or the same uh style of the red of the Israeli journey that red Mediterranean wine, delicious, great with food, fruity and ready to drink. Yes, but more dense, more powerful, more complexity. I'm done.

Closing And Subscribe CTA

S. Simon Jacob Host 1:15:36

Thank you very much for being on the kosher terra. Thank you. Thank you. This is Simon Jacob, again, your host of today's episode of the Kosher Terwa. Please subscribe via your podcast provider to be informed of our new episodes as they are released. If you're new to the Kosher Terwa, please check out our many past episodes.