July 16, 2025 • 38 mins
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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
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S. Simon Jacob (00:09):
Welcome to The Kosher Terroir.
I'm Simon Jacob, your host forthis episode from Jerusalem.
Before we get started, I askthat, wherever you are, please
take a moment and pray for thesafety of our soldiers and the
safe return of all of ourhostages.
Welcome back In this episode,where the vines meet the sweat
(00:29):
of real labor with reflectionson last year's harvest, Nadav
takes us behind the scenes ofthe surprises, the successes,
and the moments that tested bothpatience and precision.
Part two of my conversationwith Nadav Jesselson, the
founder and force behind AnavaVineyards, a place where owning
your own vineyard isn't just adream, It's It's an invitation
to join the winemaking journey.
And then we look ahead to theupcoming harvest the predictions
(01:07):
, the hopes and how Anava ispreparing its clients and vines
for another chapter in thevineyard's story.
But this conversation is aboutmore than just grapes.
It's about vision.
How does a vineyard like Anavaevolve without losing its soul?
What lessons does the landcontinue to teach, and how does
(01:30):
a winemaker balance consistencywith the ever-shifting hand of
nature?
If you've ever wondered what itfeels like to live and breathe
wine through the rhythm of theseasons, 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
(01:53):
wonderful kosher wine, sit back,relax and let's dive into part
two of our episode with NadavJesselson and Anava Vineyards
here on The Kosher Terroir.
Okay, so how many harvests havewe gone through?
One One.
Tell me a little bit about theharvest.
(02:15):
How was the harvest last yearand what six?
Well, let's talk about theharvest last year.
What sort of varietals did weharvest?
Nadav Jesselson (02:26):
we were, we, we harvested our, uh, what we
call the older vineyard, whichis, uh, it's Uh, Petit Syrah
and Cabernet.
Old, it's just older.
Um, the yield was lower thanwhat we wanted yeah, but it was
the whole country right thewhole country Right.
S. Simon Jacob (02:46):
The whole country was.
Nadav Jesselson (02:47):
Right.
But we have somethinginteresting here which we're
trying to figure out, stilltrying to figure out.
Our clusters in the Cabernetare really small.
We have alat, mawukh Hashem,but they're just smaller
clusters than usual.
So I don't have enoughexperience to say that, but
Avinoam says it.
Avinoam, who is, you know, he'sa gran, as he's seen endless.
(03:08):
He says the clusters here aresmall and I don't know what's
going on.
He thinks it has to do with aclone, meaning when you have a
Cabernet there's differentclones for Cabernet.
So he thinks it may do withthat.
This specific clone givessmaller clusters.
So again, this year he thinkswe're going to be in the same
yield as last year, which is 800kilos per dunam, when we are
(03:32):
aiming at a ton and a half perdunam.
S. Simon Jacob (03:39):
So let's see, Let me ask you a question when
you get that sort of thing, youalso get much more concentration
.
Nadav Jesselson (03:51):
I think we spoke about this.
One of the best complimentsthat we got here is that when we
signed with Carmel, this wassupposed to go to selected,
which is their medium quality,medium level, and we told them
at the beginning, before we'vebeen planted.
I told the guy who signed thecontract with me from Carmel.
(04:13):
I told him, if the grapes arehigh quality, I want you to give
me a new contract to go up alevel, because I knew that if
I'm doing it, I'm doing it.
You know the best and I wassure you know.
After a year or two we're goingto check and then I'm going to
(04:34):
say, maybe take it to higherquality.
But even before we harvestedcame the agronomist from Yatir.
He came here for one day.
He said I want to come to seethe vineyard and I said okay, I
he came here for one day.
He said I want to come to seethe vineyard and I said okay.
I thought he was just touringthe vineyards and he sat with me
and he said, listen, we want totake the grapes.
And I was shocked these grapeswent to Yatir.
So that's for us a hugecompliment.
(04:54):
There was even, I think, alittle 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 like30% of the Petit Sira and all
the rest went to Yatir.
So that was the harvest of lastyear.
(05:15):
We harvested machine harvest.
It all went to Yatir.
One with it was two days, twonights.
One night was the Kabane andone night was the Patitzira.
I think the Kabane was beforethe Patitzira.
Yeah, the experience again it'sthe first time of the machine
harvest is very tough becauseit's a huge tractor going on
(05:40):
your baby, on your vineyard andit's it's.
It's beating him like crazy andit's you have to calm yourself
down because it's all good, it'sliterally giving birth.
Now it's taking off the grapes,the fruit and he's driving
(06:01):
there and I'm going behind himand I'm looking because he's not
taking everything off and hemissed here and he missed there
and it's a crazy night.
But Baruch Hashem, at the endthey went to Yatir.
They're putting it in theirDarum.
We were there already tastingour wine.
We went to the Anava team withYosef and Racheli who works with
(06:25):
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 mostamazing persons.
Tzanua Anav mamash, kef mamash.
S. Simon Jacob (06:37):
All the real winemakers are all like that.
Nadav Jesselson (06:40):
Madim.
S. Simon Jacob (06:41):
They're absolutely 100%.
Nadav Jesselson (06:42):
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 hereso the guys I worked with in
the business world were alsoamazing but here I feel
something very special, someconnection, some, you know, when
you ask people questions,they'll, uh, advise you and
(07:05):
they'll give you their knowledgeand 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 notthey all feel like they're in
the same boat not only.
They feel like we're in the sameboat and we have to succeed
together.
Yes, yes, I had a uh, uh in auh, a farmer who came here, a
very uh.
(07:25):
You know, one of the olderfarmers from the area.
He doesn't have vineyards, hehas wheat or something like that
, but he was so excited to seeme, like the younger guy, coming
and becoming a farmer and hesat with me.
He was giving me advice and hewas so excited, he was so happy.
It was amazing with me.
We had a call, he was giving meadvice and he was so excited,
(07:45):
he was so happy, you know, itwas amazing for me.
What else about the harvest?
So we had 800 kilos per dunamin the Kabane.
We had 1.2 tons in the PetitSira.
We wanted again to get a littlemore.
I don't know if it was 1.2 or1.4.
Yeah, we're aiming for 1.5,right, so this was 1.4.
(08:08):
We took three tons, one fromthe Kabarnet, two from the Petit
Syrah for ourselves and Eyal ismaking us our wine.
We did a barter with Eyal.
Basically, we gave him threetons and we're getting some
amount of bottles.
And then what I was telling youbefore we gave him three tons
and we're getting some amount ofbottles.
And then I was telling youbefore, we had an event not long
ago where we tasted.
(08:30):
So first we tasted the wine inYatir, because in Yatir we want
to take a barrel from Yatir inorder to have wine of Hanava.
And so we sat there, only usand we tasted the wine and at
the end we said we're not withenough knowledge.
So we said to Eran this is good, this is what we think, this is
what do your magic?
(08:50):
Do whatever you want and makeus a barrel and we'll take the
barrel from there and we'll havean Ava wine.
I don't, I don't, I don'tremember what he said he's going
to do, how much Cabernet andhow much Cotizia is going to put
.
Anyways, our grapes are goingthere 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,
(09:13):
right, meaning something moreeasy, not so heavy, lighter and
with Eyal, what we had.
We had an event.
Lately it was again it's thefirst event I hope of many more
to come where we sat and we satwith Erangel at the beginning
(09:34):
because he came, he scheduled,so we sat with him alone.
But then we sat with thepartners of AP and with Menachem
and his family and we sat inthe winery in the Cheder Chaviot
where we were in a gul and webrought the wine from Yatir.
And we brought the wine from agul and Eyal gave us to taste
(09:54):
some of the wine from the oldbarrels and the new barrels and
from Yatir and from his and from, and we also compared the wine,
our wine from the, our PetitSyrah, from the Petit Syrah,
from the mountain, you know, 300meters, 800 meters, and we
tasted them and we didn't get tothe stage where we were
(10:18):
starting to do blends.
We did a little Exactly, we dida little exactly.
We did a little and it wasfirst of all super because we're
tasting the wine from this landnow and second of all, it was
also very knowledgeable becausewe were Eyal is a teacher,
(10:41):
that's his thing so that was anamazing series.
The way I imagine it in thefuture is we're going to have we
can't have 60 people becauseit's too much, because that's
our goal is for 30 in thevintage product and 30 who own a
(11:01):
plat, so 60 is a lot.
What we're going to have in thesmall batch is in our winery,
which is going to take time.
Like I said, right now, we'regoing to do it together with
Hidayi, so we're going to haveit 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 rightbehind the hills there.
That's my way home.
Apopo, the dream.
(11:38):
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 cypresstrees and the oak not oak and
the oak not oak also the oak.
(11:59):
There isn't a winery in Nehushathere is, isn't there is a small
one, some people doing forthemselves, and you know,
something small but notsomething that invites people in
.
We were stuck with bureaucracy,bureaucracy issues in Nehusha,
because we already didmeasurements for a place and
(12:19):
then it fell.
So we understood that we won'tbe 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 becausehe is amazing.
I love his wine, so I hopewe'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 theharvest.
I took his grapes to YaakovUriah.
He makes his wine in YeruchamIn.
S. Simon Jacob (12:59):
Yerucham With.
Nadav Jesselson (13:00):
Yaakov yeah, we were planting.
I didn't say that we wereplanting another vineyard of 11
dunams more to that direction,to the east, and Yosef was
driving crazy.
Let's do Algaman, let's doAlgaman.
What do you think of theAlgaman?
S. Simon Jacob (13:22):
It's a very challenging variety, but people
now really understand how todeal 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 winethat is drinkable.
And now there are people whoare making single varietal
argamans.
Like in Jezreel, they make asingle varietal argaman.
Nobody would have ever thoughtto do something like that.
Nadav Jesselson (14:02):
So you also said this is the next varietal.
You have to do it, you have toplant 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 answeredthe 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 Grenacheyou can make it whatever you
want to make it, but it's reallyspecial 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 haveleft?
What are the plots that areleft?
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 youwant.
Two of the Kabarne are takenout of 14.
Most is Kabarne, obviously, andone of the Shiraz is taken by
(15:07):
Menachem.
Beside that we have Kabarne,frank, petit, sirah and Merlot.
That's our reds, seven reds.
Then we have three whitesChenin 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 ChardonnayChenin Blanc is going to be the
so somebody called me now, if Iwant more chanin blanc, I said I
don't more to plant because youplanted.
I told him no, he said listen,you know you've you've done very
(15:45):
good for yourself that youplanted chanin blanc, because
it's, why do you, why do you saythis?
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 veryhard for him to.
He planted in the Mizraha Gushin Pnek Edim, I think Just for
the fun he planted his ownvineyard 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 CheninbanAmazing, you know, people are
going towards white wines andit's one of the ones that's like
Right, very flavorful, you haveit here too, right?
Nadav Jesselson (16:29):
Yeah, that's where he planted it.
Cheninban 12%.
Yeah, mostly Chardonnay.
He has all kinds of differentones.
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 aCalifornia Chardonnay.
Right, it's malolacted, buttery, oh yeah what.
But that is a group of peoplewho are in the past,
unfortunately.
(16:57):
I happen to love that.
I happen to love it.
I think it's going to come backthat way.
But a lot of people want acidand crisp and what have you, and
they don't want this butteryChardonnay anymore and it's a
pity.
I love it.
But it became such a big thingin California, the buttery
(17:22):
Chardonnay, that it blew outeverything else, and now it's
coming back.
The pendulum is swinging theother way.
It's not even swinging, it'sswallowing.
Nadav Jesselson (17:31):
Listen, what we want to do is is again allow
people to have a feeling thatthey're walking into like a
playground of varieties and nowdo whatever you want.
You have your own plot, but youdon't have to use the grapes.
So, for instance, eran inMenachem, when he came he.
So, for instance, eran aMenachem, when he came, he
(17:53):
immediately knew what he wanted.
He wanted Shiraz and it'sperfect.
Because he loves Shiraz, he'sgoing to make Shiraz a year or
two, but if there's a year, hesays you know, let's make whites
this year.
Splat stays a splat and he'staking 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 tobe able to do that.
I, you know it's not of theeconomics, aren't one in which
you're doing this because thisis the cheapest way to get a
bottle of wine?
(18:30):
Okay, that's not what you'retrying to do.
What you're trying to do hereis create a legacy for your
family and your kids.
If you don't believe in yourfamily 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 Ihave the oldest grandson, he has
the oldest grandson and there'sa whole slew of grandsons that
are right behind that are allstarting 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 itwas quiet.
I came in after Mivca ChomatMagen.
I don't know if you remember,it was after there was a
terrible terrorist attack inPesach Leila Sedei, netanya, and
(19:44):
then I think it was 2001 orsomething like that, because I
enlisted in 2002.
And after that Sharon went inwith Mivca Chomat Magan.
They went into Jenin,everywhere.
They went in.
A lot of soldiers were killedand then we came in and it was
my shirut, my gang.
(20:04):
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 bequiet.
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 ofus.
Nadav Jesselson (20:26):
I had my brother-in-law in Shabes.
He was at our house and he's aQabali cousin.
I offered maybe you should also, if you want to.
He has a very small winery inKida.
You know where Kida is yeah,it's called Kida no, his wine is
called Tugmalka because it'sthe 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 thereNot everywhere.
Perfect.
So I go to Kida, sit in hiswinery taste his wines.
S. Simon Jacob (20:54):
Wait a second.
I was just next to Kida.
Kida is Shiloh Is next toShiloh, right?
No, but I went to I know,exactly where Kida is, because I
pass it.
I pass it about five timesBecause 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 togo 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 learnsKabbalah, 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 withMikubalim on it talking about
wine.
Really, yeah by two b'shvat,yeah by two b'shvat, I made a
whole podcast for the MikubalAmazing.
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 veryspecial, wow.
Nadav Jesselson (22:07):
So my brother-in-law said that the
wars and everything he saidHashem.
That the wars and everything hesaid Hashem, dohef otanu
achsham bekoach omer lanutitoriru masu kitzel.
We had the endless events thatwe'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
(22:30):
reforma, and now this war whichis 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 themissile landing in Siroka.
The violence of the shockwavecoming off of it was that it was
(23:01):
visible.
It was just like thisincredible shockwave that came
off of this hospital.
It could have killed thousandsof people, literally thousands
of people.
Nadav Jesselson (23:12):
And not one, not one Unbelievable,
unbelievable you can't seeKadesh 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 someplaceelse, god bless you.
You know, go, because you can'task for more proof than what
we're seeing.
Nadav Jesselson (23:34):
No, you can go .
God bless you and you'regetting off the train.
This is the train, it's thehistory train.
I had a friend this again.
This was in the previous season,when the reformer and the
endless voting, you know and Ispoke to a guy who was very, you
(23:56):
know, he's high in the businessworld.
He's high in the business worldof private equity and stuff
like that.
And I spoke to him and he wasdepressed from the last results
of the elections and I told himso what do you think of the
elections?
And he said terrible, we areseriously considering to leave.
(24:16):
And this guy his father washigh up in the defense industry,
very, very shoshi, very, youknow, not stam.
And I was shocked and I toldhim you know that I had the
courage to say I said but youknow that if you leave, you're
(24:37):
getting off the train.
And he looks at me and he knewexactly what I meant and he said
yeah, I know.
So I was, you know.
Okay, if you want, if this istoo 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 coveredall the questions that I
basically had about varietalsand what have you.
Is there anything you'velearned from the varietals that
you've had so far, that havecome, that have been harvested,
that you're Might change yourdirection.
Nadav Jesselson (25:15):
No, not changing my direction, but I've
learned from the last harvestand from growing.
You know, seeing them grow thatthe cabane is strong, really,
grows is a tough one, grows.
He starts.
He started later than thePetitsia to wake up but you know
(25:41):
, in a few days or a week or two, he grew and he outdid the
petit sira endless.
You could think it's twodifferent trees almost, because
you see, you see how many leaveshe has come on.
It's called nuff, right?
No, forget no more.
He grows and grows.
If you didn't stop him also, hewould continue to grow.
(26:03):
What I mean?
We stopped him.
I said like that, that exactlypruning the top because it's
called in hebrew, you're cuttingthe top of the shoots of the
branches that we did um withvolunteers from the golani was
amazing.
In hour they finishedeverything and we also did it
(26:26):
with a few groups here.
That's actually a nice story.
One of the groups that we havehere regularly is from Zoharim.
Zoharim is Kfar Zoharim.
It's a Kfar Noah for youth.
On the other side of the road Ithink I told you about this Is
(26:47):
this Zaharav Grossman, whoestablished this for Haredi kids
who either were kicked out ofthe house or not kicked out of
the house but can't findextension of thewhat you call it
.
Where.
S. Simon Jacob (27:01):
Is that Megdalor , megdalor, migdaloz, migdaloz,
migdaloz Not.
Nadav Jesselson (27:04):
Migdal?
No, migdaloz is the gush andMigdal 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 heresometimes and he's very
connected to the place.
Anyways, they have in their oneof the projects that they have
(27:47):
in the how do you call it?
Youth village.
It's called Youth village.
One of the projects there iscalled Bait Bagiva, meaning a
few guys that either areaddicted to something, doesn't
matter what, or need time outfrom the regular schedule.
They leave every time, justlike six or eight guys.
(28:08):
They go out of the dorm andthey go to a separate house far
away Not far away, it's the samecompound, but just a little bit
to the end and twice a weekthey come to work here and what
we do with them is we go throughan educational process, meaning
(28:29):
every job they'll do here we'reconnecting it to something in
their life, to something thathas to do with their inner
growth.
So that's what they did here.
So, for instance, when theyworked here, we said sometimes
you grow and it's going well,but you have to put on some
brakes, you have to stopyourself, because the kabonet is
growing and growing and growingand you're saying, okay, but
(28:52):
don't forget the fruit, becauseyou're giving your energy to
create new leaves, which isamazing, 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 andthen they go to work and that's
been actually a very amazing.
Great project for this year.
(29:12):
Again, the miluim was.
I had the first project thatcame here.
I met them once.
The second one a few times.
So because of the miluim, inand out we didn't have.
But we had three uh uh roundshere of these guys, because they
come every time for 40 daysonly.
So we had three rounds here.
It was amazing.
When I spoke to the first group, I told them okay, give me
(29:34):
feedback.
They said to me, give us morework.
That's the feedback, meaningthey were they, they, they were
into it.
So that was very was very happywith that.
So so the Petit Syrah.
So first of all, you see thatCabernet, that's really strong.
The Petit Syrah, she hassomething very gentle.
That's why I love her a little,not more, but she's very, very
(29:54):
gentle.
It grows, you know much lessleaves grows slower, it starts
earlier, but on one side and theother side it's already in
Bochal.
It changed its color and theclusters, the difference in the
clusters?
It's again.
(30:14):
That's also amazing.
The Petit Sirin, it's dense,it's like a.
You know I'm saying you compareit to like.
It's like a corn.
Every grape is stuck to theother one, squished to the other
one and it has different shapes.
Also, it's not the regulartriangle In the Kabane the
grapes are more loose.
They are connected to eachother but they're more loose and
(30:36):
it's more triangles.
One of the challenges with thePetit Sirrah because it's dense,
right?
Dense is close to each other,right?
So one of the challenges isthat you don't want to water it
too much, because then it burstsinside the cluster and
(30:57):
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 Iexperience here is it's hard.
That's hard for me is that thisplace you think that it brings
it brings calmness, brings youknow something very peaceful.
(31:39):
People that come here say thisis special energy, here there's
something very calm.
People that come here say thisis special energy, here there's
something very calm, verysettled.
S. Simon Jacob (31:45):
But when I'm here, when you have to be
responsive to that bomb, it's adifferent story, exactly.
Nadav Jesselson (31:51):
So I was thinking Sing a lullaby, exactly
Mamash kacha, even when I cometo 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 withthat tree?
Why is that like that?
What's with that?
Oh right, I have to do that, Ihave to do that.
It's hard, so, anyways, I'mpressured with the fact that
(32:15):
we're not watering.
We are continuing, but muchless now for the Petit Sirah, in
order for the grapes not toburst.
So we're going to take it downa notch With the Kabane.
The opposite, we're getting itmore water Once a week.
We're doing a measurement.
It's called Tal Achatz.
(32:35):
How do we?
S. Simon Jacob (32:36):
say that in English.
Nadav Jesselson (32:37):
Pressure.
You know the thing that they dono 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 nameis Amit Sorek.
So everything has to do with thevineyard, sorek, right, sorek
is the vineyard.
So he comes here early in themorning Sunday.
(32:57):
He covers the leaves with aspecial bag.
It's not like a special bag.
You can also cover it with thistin foil.
Just, you know, that's what Idid when I didn't have the.
He has special bags, but I usedto cover it with tin foil In
order for the leaves to thinkthat they are in the dark, yeah,
and then they close theirpeoniot pores.
(33:18):
You close the pores and thenthey aspirate and then basically
any water that they have inthem it's that's what they have,
because they're not evaporatingthe 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.
(33:39):
Uh, I used to call give all.
The thing that leads to the leaf?
Yes, what is that called?
The ptoteret, the?
How do you say?
The thing that leads to the leaf?
Yes, what is that called thestem, the stem.
It takes the stem, he puts itin something that does very high
pressure some atmospheres, Idon't know very, very high
pressure, and then he measureswhen a drop of water comes out.
He has a special machine here,he puts it in and in the number
(34:05):
when the drop of water comes out, in the number of pressure, he
knows how much water the treehas.
So he does, you know, like a astatistic uh approach.
He goes, yeah, all over, takesa few here, a few there, and
that's how we measure if thevineyard is thirsty or not.
Um, so that's how we know forthe Kabane that we need to add
(34:26):
water.
So we added water.
Friday was the first time weadded another kub for Duna, and
in the Petit Syrah we loweredthe water actually.
So that's my experience withthe two varieties, petit Syrah
and the Kabet, which areactually very different.
But it's going to be superinteresting to see because we
(34:49):
have one of the communalvineyard which we have for the
varieties, for the blends, forthe you know if you're missing
any grapes.
So we have there one vineyardsplit to Cabernet Franc, petit
Syrah and Merlot, and thenyou're going to start seeing the
differences inside.
It's going to be very, veryinteresting.
(35:10):
I think we're going to see thatVery 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 moreWine and unity.
I don't know if we spoke aboutthis last time.
Thank you for coming, thank youfor the two cents, and we
should talk more Wine and unity.
I don't know if we spoke aboutthis last time, but wine is
unity.
That's why you weren't allowedto drink with non-Jews in the
diaspora.
Because you're not allowed.
Because if you drink wine, youcan drink a whiskey, you can
(35:39):
drink a beer with them, but ifyou drink wine with them, it
connects, it connects you.
So that's ben adam l'chaviroKarev.
Ben adam le'atzmo, becausen'chassi ayin, that's asod,
meaning you're connecting toyourself.
Also.
I remember when I did a coursewith WSCT, maybe two or three
(36:00):
years ago.
That was my first experience inunderstanding that there are
different tastes in wine andthat 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 tothe land also yes, that's good
(36:22):
on that really.
So that's connecting to yourselfand then there's connecting to
the land also.
Yes, that's Kavanah, really, andit's unity, Unity between
yourself and your friends andunity between the land, because
what you're drinking here isdifferent from what you're
drinking there.
It's amazing, wow, wow, wow,wow.
You know, I told my parents, Itell them all the time, I tell
this.
In the last podcast also Ithink the one before this is the
(36:43):
third time we're having it Isaid I tell my parents, thank
you so much for making Aliyahfor me.
Zeh Mamash Matana that theygave 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 yourhost of today's episode of The
Kosher Terroir.
I have a personal request nomatter where you are or where
(37:30):
you live, please take a momentto pray for our soldiers' safety
and the safe and rapid returnof our hostages.
Please subscribe via yourpodcast provider to be informed
of our new episodes as they arereleased.
If you're new to The KosherTerroir, please check out our
many past episodes.
Welcome to The Kosher Terroir.
I'm Simon Jacob, your host forthis episode from Jerusalem.
Before we get started, I askthat, wherever you are, please
take a moment and pray for thesafety of our soldiers and the
safe return of all of ourhostages.
Welcome back In this episode,where the vines meet the sweat
(00:29):
of real labor with reflectionson last year's harvest, Nadav
takes us behind the scenes ofthe surprises, the successes,
and the moments that tested bothpatience and precision.
Part two of my conversationwith Nadav Jesselson, the
founder and force behind AnavaVineyards, a place where owning
your own vineyard isn't just adream, It's It's an invitation
to join the winemaking journey.
And then we look ahead to theupcoming harvest the predictions
(01:07):
, the hopes and how Anava ispreparing its clients and vines
for another chapter in thevineyard's story.
But this conversation is aboutmore than just grapes.
It's about vision.
How does a vineyard like Anavaevolve without losing its soul?
What lessons does the landcontinue to teach, and how does
(01:30):
a winemaker balance consistencywith the ever-shifting hand of
nature?
If you've ever wondered what itfeels like to live and breathe
wine through the rhythm of theseasons, 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
(01:53):
wonderful kosher wine, sit back,relax and let's dive into part
two of our episode with NadavJesselson and Anava Vineyards
here on The Kosher Terroir.
Okay, so how many harvests havewe gone through?
One One.
Tell me a little bit about theharvest.
(02:15):
How was the harvest last yearand what six?
Well, let's talk about theharvest last year.
What sort of varietals did weharvest?
Nadav Jesselson (02:26):
we were, we, we harvested our, uh, what we
call the older vineyard, whichis, uh, it's Uh, Petit Syrah
and Cabernet.
Old, it's just older.
Um, the yield was lower thanwhat we wanted yeah, but it was
the whole country right thewhole country Right.
S. Simon Jacob (02:46):
The whole country was.
Nadav Jesselson (02:47):
Right.
But we have somethinginteresting here which we're
trying to figure out, stilltrying to figure out.
Our clusters in the Cabernetare really small.
We have alat, mawukh Hashem,but they're just smaller
clusters than usual.
So I don't have enoughexperience to say that, but
Avinoam says it.
Avinoam, who is, you know, he'sa gran, as he's seen endless.
(03:08):
He says the clusters here aresmall and I don't know what's
going on.
He thinks it has to do with aclone, meaning when you have a
Cabernet there's differentclones for Cabernet.
So he thinks it may do withthat.
This specific clone givessmaller clusters.
So again, this year he thinkswe're going to be in the same
yield as last year, which is 800kilos per dunam, when we are
(03:32):
aiming at a ton and a half perdunam.
S. Simon Jacob (03:39):
So let's see, Let me ask you a question when
you get that sort of thing, youalso get much more concentration
.
Nadav Jesselson (03:51):
I think we spoke about this.
One of the best complimentsthat we got here is that when we
signed with Carmel, this wassupposed to go to selected,
which is their medium quality,medium level, and we told them
at the beginning, before we'vebeen planted.
I told the guy who signed thecontract with me from Carmel.
(04:13):
I told him, if the grapes arehigh quality, I want you to give
me a new contract to go up alevel, because I knew that if
I'm doing it, I'm doing it.
You know the best and I wassure you know.
After a year or two we're goingto check and then I'm going to
(04:34):
say, maybe take it to higherquality.
But even before we harvestedcame the agronomist from Yatir.
He came here for one day.
He said I want to come to seethe vineyard and I said okay, I
he came here for one day.
He said I want to come to seethe vineyard and I said okay.
I thought he was just touringthe vineyards and he sat with me
and he said, listen, we want totake the grapes.
And I was shocked these grapeswent to Yatir.
So that's for us a hugecompliment.
(04:54):
There was even, I think, alittle 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 like30% of the Petit Sira and all
the rest went to Yatir.
So that was the harvest of lastyear.
(05:15):
We harvested machine harvest.
It all went to Yatir.
One with it was two days, twonights.
One night was the Kabane andone night was the Patitzira.
I think the Kabane was beforethe Patitzira.
Yeah, the experience again it'sthe first time of the machine
harvest is very tough becauseit's a huge tractor going on
(05:40):
your baby, on your vineyard andit's it's.
It's beating him like crazy andit's you have to calm yourself
down because it's all good, it'sliterally giving birth.
Now it's taking off the grapes,the fruit and he's driving
(06:01):
there and I'm going behind himand I'm looking because he's not
taking everything off and hemissed here and he missed there
and it's a crazy night.
But Baruch Hashem, at the endthey went to Yatir.
They're putting it in theirDarum.
We were there already tastingour wine.
We went to the Anava team withYosef and Racheli who works with
(06:25):
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 mostamazing persons.
Tzanua Anav mamash, kef mamash.
S. Simon Jacob (06:37):
All the real winemakers are all like that.
Nadav Jesselson (06:40):
Madim.
S. Simon Jacob (06:41):
They're absolutely 100%.
Nadav Jesselson (06:42):
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 hereso the guys I worked with in
the business world were alsoamazing but here I feel
something very special, someconnection, some, you know, when
you ask people questions,they'll, uh, advise you and
(07:05):
they'll give you their knowledgeand 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 notthey all feel like they're in
the same boat not only.
They feel like we're in the sameboat and we have to succeed
together.
Yes, yes, I had a uh, uh in auh, a farmer who came here, a
very uh.
(07:25):
You know, one of the olderfarmers from the area.
He doesn't have vineyards, hehas wheat or something like that
, but he was so excited to seeme, like the younger guy, coming
and becoming a farmer and hesat with me.
He was giving me advice and hewas so excited, he was so happy.
It was amazing with me.
We had a call, he was giving meadvice and he was so excited,
(07:45):
he was so happy, you know, itwas amazing for me.
What else about the harvest?
So we had 800 kilos per dunamin the Kabane.
We had 1.2 tons in the PetitSira.
We wanted again to get a littlemore.
I don't know if it was 1.2 or1.4.
Yeah, we're aiming for 1.5,right, so this was 1.4.
(08:08):
We took three tons, one fromthe Kabarnet, two from the Petit
Syrah for ourselves and Eyal ismaking us our wine.
We did a barter with Eyal.
Basically, we gave him threetons and we're getting some
amount of bottles.
And then what I was telling youbefore we gave him three tons
and we're getting some amount ofbottles.
And then I was telling youbefore, we had an event not long
ago where we tasted.
(08:30):
So first we tasted the wine inYatir, because in Yatir we want
to take a barrel from Yatir inorder to have wine of Hanava.
And so we sat there, only usand we tasted the wine and at
the end we said we're not withenough knowledge.
So we said to Eran this is good, this is what we think, this is
what do your magic?
(08:50):
Do whatever you want and makeus a barrel and we'll take the
barrel from there and we'll havean Ava wine.
I don't, I don't, I don'tremember what he said he's going
to do, how much Cabernet andhow much Cotizia is going to put
.
Anyways, our grapes are goingthere 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,
(09:13):
right, meaning something moreeasy, not so heavy, lighter and
with Eyal, what we had.
We had an event.
Lately it was again it's thefirst event I hope of many more
to come where we sat and we satwith Erangel at the beginning
(09:34):
because he came, he scheduled,so we sat with him alone.
But then we sat with thepartners of AP and with Menachem
and his family and we sat inthe winery in the Cheder Chaviot
where we were in a gul and webrought the wine from Yatir.
And we brought the wine from agul and Eyal gave us to taste
(09:54):
some of the wine from the oldbarrels and the new barrels and
from Yatir and from his and from, and we also compared the wine,
our wine from the, our PetitSyrah, from the Petit Syrah,
from the mountain, you know, 300meters, 800 meters, and we
tasted them and we didn't get tothe stage where we were
(10:18):
starting to do blends.
We did a little Exactly, we dida little exactly.
We did a little and it wasfirst of all super because we're
tasting the wine from this landnow and second of all, it was
also very knowledgeable becausewe were Eyal is a teacher,
(10:41):
that's his thing so that was anamazing series.
The way I imagine it in thefuture is we're going to have we
can't have 60 people becauseit's too much, because that's
our goal is for 30 in thevintage product and 30 who own a
(11:01):
plat, so 60 is a lot.
What we're going to have in thesmall batch is in our winery,
which is going to take time.
Like I said, right now, we'regoing to do it together with
Hidayi, so we're going to haveit 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 rightbehind the hills there.
That's my way home.
Apopo, the dream.
(11:38):
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 cypresstrees and the oak not oak and
the oak not oak also the oak.
(11:59):
There isn't a winery in Nehushathere is, isn't there is a small
one, some people doing forthemselves, and you know,
something small but notsomething that invites people in
.
We were stuck with bureaucracy,bureaucracy issues in Nehusha,
because we already didmeasurements for a place and
(12:19):
then it fell.
So we understood that we won'tbe 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 becausehe is amazing.
I love his wine, so I hopewe'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 theharvest.
I took his grapes to YaakovUriah.
He makes his wine in YeruchamIn.
S. Simon Jacob (12:59):
Yerucham With.
Nadav Jesselson (13:00):
Yaakov yeah, we were planting.
I didn't say that we wereplanting another vineyard of 11
dunams more to that direction,to the east, and Yosef was
driving crazy.
Let's do Algaman, let's doAlgaman.
What do you think of theAlgaman?
S. Simon Jacob (13:22):
It's a very challenging variety, but people
now really understand how todeal 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 winethat is drinkable.
And now there are people whoare making single varietal
argamans.
Like in Jezreel, they make asingle varietal argaman.
Nobody would have ever thoughtto do something like that.
Nadav Jesselson (14:02):
So you also said this is the next varietal.
You have to do it, you have toplant 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 answeredthe 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 Grenacheyou can make it whatever you
want to make it, but it's reallyspecial 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 haveleft?
What are the plots that areleft?
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 youwant.
Two of the Kabarne are takenout of 14.
Most is Kabarne, obviously, andone of the Shiraz is taken by
(15:07):
Menachem.
Beside that we have Kabarne,frank, petit, sirah and Merlot.
That's our reds, seven reds.
Then we have three whitesChenin 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 ChardonnayChenin Blanc is going to be the
so somebody called me now, if Iwant more chanin blanc, I said I
don't more to plant because youplanted.
I told him no, he said listen,you know you've you've done very
(15:45):
good for yourself that youplanted chanin blanc, because
it's, why do you, why do you saythis?
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 veryhard for him to.
He planted in the Mizraha Gushin Pnek Edim, I think Just for
the fun he planted his ownvineyard 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 CheninbanAmazing, you know, people are
going towards white wines andit's one of the ones that's like
Right, very flavorful, you haveit here too, right?
Nadav Jesselson (16:29):
Yeah, that's where he planted it.
Cheninban 12%.
Yeah, mostly Chardonnay.
He has all kinds of differentones.
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 aCalifornia Chardonnay.
Right, it's malolacted, buttery, oh yeah what.
But that is a group of peoplewho are in the past,
unfortunately.
(16:57):
I happen to love that.
I happen to love it.
I think it's going to come backthat way.
But a lot of people want acidand crisp and what have you, and
they don't want this butteryChardonnay anymore and it's a
pity.
I love it.
But it became such a big thingin California, the buttery
(17:22):
Chardonnay, that it blew outeverything else, and now it's
coming back.
The pendulum is swinging theother way.
It's not even swinging, it'sswallowing.
Nadav Jesselson (17:31):
Listen, what we want to do is is again allow
people to have a feeling thatthey're walking into like a
playground of varieties and nowdo whatever you want.
You have your own plot, but youdon't have to use the grapes.
So, for instance, eran inMenachem, when he came he.
So, for instance, eran aMenachem, when he came, he
(17:53):
immediately knew what he wanted.
He wanted Shiraz and it'sperfect.
Because he loves Shiraz, he'sgoing to make Shiraz a year or
two, but if there's a year, hesays you know, let's make whites
this year.
Splat stays a splat and he'staking 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 tobe able to do that.
I, you know it's not of theeconomics, aren't one in which
you're doing this because thisis the cheapest way to get a
bottle of wine?
(18:30):
Okay, that's not what you'retrying to do.
What you're trying to do hereis create a legacy for your
family and your kids.
If you don't believe in yourfamily 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 Ihave the oldest grandson, he has
the oldest grandson and there'sa whole slew of grandsons that
are right behind that are allstarting 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 itwas quiet.
I came in after Mivca ChomatMagen.
I don't know if you remember,it was after there was a
terrible terrorist attack inPesach Leila Sedei, netanya, and
(19:44):
then I think it was 2001 orsomething like that, because I
enlisted in 2002.
And after that Sharon went inwith Mivca Chomat Magan.
They went into Jenin,everywhere.
They went in.
A lot of soldiers were killedand then we came in and it was
my shirut, my gang.
(20:04):
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 bequiet.
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 ofus.
Nadav Jesselson (20:26):
I had my brother-in-law in Shabes.
He was at our house and he's aQabali cousin.
I offered maybe you should also, if you want to.
He has a very small winery inKida.
You know where Kida is yeah,it's called Kida no, his wine is
called Tugmalka because it'sthe 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 thereNot everywhere.
Perfect.
So I go to Kida, sit in hiswinery taste his wines.
S. Simon Jacob (20:54):
Wait a second.
I was just next to Kida.
Kida is Shiloh Is next toShiloh, right?
No, but I went to I know,exactly where Kida is, because I
pass it.
I pass it about five timesBecause 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 togo 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 learnsKabbalah, 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 withMikubalim on it talking about
wine.
Really, yeah by two b'shvat,yeah by two b'shvat, I made a
whole podcast for the MikubalAmazing.
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 veryspecial, wow.
Nadav Jesselson (22:07):
So my brother-in-law said that the
wars and everything he saidHashem.
That the wars and everything hesaid Hashem, dohef otanu
achsham bekoach omer lanutitoriru masu kitzel.
We had the endless events thatwe'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
(22:30):
reforma, and now this war whichis 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 themissile landing in Siroka.
The violence of the shockwavecoming off of it was that it was
(23:01):
visible.
It was just like thisincredible shockwave that came
off of this hospital.
It could have killed thousandsof people, literally thousands
of people.
Nadav Jesselson (23:12):
And not one, not one Unbelievable,
unbelievable you can't seeKadesh 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 someplaceelse, god bless you.
You know, go, because you can'task for more proof than what
we're seeing.
Nadav Jesselson (23:34):
No, you can go .
God bless you and you'regetting off the train.
This is the train, it's thehistory train.
I had a friend this again.
This was in the previous season,when the reformer and the
endless voting, you know and Ispoke to a guy who was very, you
(23:56):
know, he's high in the businessworld.
He's high in the business worldof private equity and stuff
like that.
And I spoke to him and he wasdepressed from the last results
of the elections and I told himso what do you think of the
elections?
And he said terrible, we areseriously considering to leave.
(24:16):
And this guy his father washigh up in the defense industry,
very, very shoshi, very, youknow, not stam.
And I was shocked and I toldhim you know that I had the
courage to say I said but youknow that if you leave, you're
(24:37):
getting off the train.
And he looks at me and he knewexactly what I meant and he said
yeah, I know.
So I was, you know.
Okay, if you want, if this istoo 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 coveredall the questions that I
basically had about varietalsand what have you.
Is there anything you'velearned from the varietals that
you've had so far, that havecome, that have been harvested,
that you're Might change yourdirection.
Nadav Jesselson (25:15):
No, not changing my direction, but I've
learned from the last harvestand from growing.
You know, seeing them grow thatthe cabane is strong, really,
grows is a tough one, grows.
He starts.
He started later than thePetitsia to wake up but you know
(25:41):
, in a few days or a week or two, he grew and he outdid the
petit sira endless.
You could think it's twodifferent trees almost, because
you see, you see how many leaveshe has come on.
It's called nuff, right?
No, forget no more.
He grows and grows.
If you didn't stop him also, hewould continue to grow.
(26:03):
What I mean?
We stopped him.
I said like that, that exactlypruning the top because it's
called in hebrew, you're cuttingthe top of the shoots of the
branches that we did um withvolunteers from the golani was
amazing.
In hour they finishedeverything and we also did it
(26:26):
with a few groups here.
That's actually a nice story.
One of the groups that we havehere regularly is from Zoharim.
Zoharim is Kfar Zoharim.
It's a Kfar Noah for youth.
On the other side of the road Ithink I told you about this Is
(26:47):
this Zaharav Grossman, whoestablished this for Haredi kids
who either were kicked out ofthe house or not kicked out of
the house but can't findextension of thewhat you call it
.
Where.
S. Simon Jacob (27:01):
Is that Megdalor , megdalor, migdaloz, migdaloz,
migdaloz Not.
Nadav Jesselson (27:04):
Migdal?
No, migdaloz is the gush andMigdal 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 heresometimes and he's very
connected to the place.
Anyways, they have in their oneof the projects that they have
(27:47):
in the how do you call it?
Youth village.
It's called Youth village.
One of the projects there iscalled Bait Bagiva, meaning a
few guys that either areaddicted to something, doesn't
matter what, or need time outfrom the regular schedule.
They leave every time, justlike six or eight guys.
(28:08):
They go out of the dorm andthey go to a separate house far
away Not far away, it's the samecompound, but just a little bit
to the end and twice a weekthey come to work here and what
we do with them is we go throughan educational process, meaning
(28:29):
every job they'll do here we'reconnecting it to something in
their life, to something thathas to do with their inner
growth.
So that's what they did here.
So, for instance, when theyworked here, we said sometimes
you grow and it's going well,but you have to put on some
brakes, you have to stopyourself, because the kabonet is
growing and growing and growingand you're saying, okay, but
(28:52):
don't forget the fruit, becauseyou're giving your energy to
create new leaves, which isamazing, 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 andthen they go to work and that's
been actually a very amazing.
Great project for this year.
(29:12):
Again, the miluim was.
I had the first project thatcame here.
I met them once.
The second one a few times.
So because of the miluim, inand out we didn't have.
But we had three uh uh roundshere of these guys, because they
come every time for 40 daysonly.
So we had three rounds here.
It was amazing.
When I spoke to the first group, I told them okay, give me
(29:34):
feedback.
They said to me, give us morework.
That's the feedback, meaningthey were they, they, they were
into it.
So that was very was very happywith that.
So so the Petit Syrah.
So first of all, you see thatCabernet, that's really strong.
The Petit Syrah, she hassomething very gentle.
That's why I love her a little,not more, but she's very, very
(29:54):
gentle.
It grows, you know much lessleaves grows slower, it starts
earlier, but on one side and theother side it's already in
Bochal.
It changed its color and theclusters, the difference in the
clusters?
It's again.
(30:14):
That's also amazing.
The Petit Sirin, it's dense,it's like a.
You know I'm saying you compareit to like.
It's like a corn.
Every grape is stuck to theother one, squished to the other
one and it has different shapes.
Also, it's not the regulartriangle In the Kabane the
grapes are more loose.
They are connected to eachother but they're more loose and
(30:36):
it's more triangles.
One of the challenges with thePetit Sirrah because it's dense,
right?
Dense is close to each other,right?
So one of the challenges isthat you don't want to water it
too much, because then it burstsinside the cluster and
(30:57):
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 Iexperience here is it's hard.
That's hard for me is that thisplace you think that it brings
it brings calmness, brings youknow something very peaceful.
(31:39):
People that come here say thisis special energy, here there's
something very calm.
People that come here say thisis special energy, here there's
something very calm, verysettled.
S. Simon Jacob (31:45):
But when I'm here, when you have to be
responsive to that bomb, it's adifferent story, exactly.
Nadav Jesselson (31:51):
So I was thinking Sing a lullaby, exactly
Mamash kacha, even when I cometo 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 withthat tree?
Why is that like that?
What's with that?
Oh right, I have to do that, Ihave to do that.
It's hard, so, anyways, I'mpressured with the fact that
(32:15):
we're not watering.
We are continuing, but muchless now for the Petit Sirah, in
order for the grapes not toburst.
So we're going to take it downa notch With the Kabane.
The opposite, we're getting itmore water Once a week.
We're doing a measurement.
It's called Tal Achatz.
(32:35):
How do we?
S. Simon Jacob (32:36):
say that in English.
Nadav Jesselson (32:37):
Pressure.
You know the thing that they dono 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 nameis Amit Sorek.
So everything has to do with thevineyard, sorek, right, sorek
is the vineyard.
So he comes here early in themorning Sunday.
(32:57):
He covers the leaves with aspecial bag.
It's not like a special bag.
You can also cover it with thistin foil.
Just, you know, that's what Idid when I didn't have the.
He has special bags, but I usedto cover it with tin foil In
order for the leaves to thinkthat they are in the dark, yeah,
and then they close theirpeoniot pores.
(33:18):
You close the pores and thenthey aspirate and then basically
any water that they have inthem it's that's what they have,
because they're not evaporatingthe 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.
(33:39):
Uh, I used to call give all.
The thing that leads to the leaf?
Yes, what is that called?
The ptoteret, the?
How do you say?
The thing that leads to the leaf?
Yes, what is that called thestem, the stem.
It takes the stem, he puts itin something that does very high
pressure some atmospheres, Idon't know very, very high
pressure, and then he measureswhen a drop of water comes out.
He has a special machine here,he puts it in and in the number
(34:05):
when the drop of water comes out, in the number of pressure, he
knows how much water the treehas.
So he does, you know, like a astatistic uh approach.
He goes, yeah, all over, takesa few here, a few there, and
that's how we measure if thevineyard is thirsty or not.
Um, so that's how we know forthe Kabane that we need to add
(34:26):
water.
So we added water.
Friday was the first time weadded another kub for Duna, and
in the Petit Syrah we loweredthe water actually.
So that's my experience withthe two varieties, petit Syrah
and the Kabet, which areactually very different.
But it's going to be superinteresting to see because we
(34:49):
have one of the communalvineyard which we have for the
varieties, for the blends, forthe you know if you're missing
any grapes.
So we have there one vineyardsplit to Cabernet Franc, petit
Syrah and Merlot, and thenyou're going to start seeing the
differences inside.
It's going to be very, veryinteresting.
(35:10):
I think we're going to see thatVery 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 moreWine and unity.
I don't know if we spoke aboutthis last time.
Thank you for coming, thank youfor the two cents, and we
should talk more Wine and unity.
I don't know if we spoke aboutthis last time, but wine is
unity.
That's why you weren't allowedto drink with non-Jews in the
diaspora.
Because you're not allowed.
Because if you drink wine, youcan drink a whiskey, you can
(35:39):
drink a beer with them, but ifyou drink wine with them, it
connects, it connects you.
So that's ben adam l'chaviroKarev.
Ben adam le'atzmo, becausen'chassi ayin, that's asod,
meaning you're connecting toyourself.
Also.
I remember when I did a coursewith WSCT, maybe two or three
(36:00):
years ago.
That was my first experience inunderstanding that there are
different tastes in wine andthat 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 tothe land also yes, that's good
(36:22):
on that really.
So that's connecting to yourselfand then there's connecting to
the land also.
Yes, that's Kavanah, really, andit's unity, Unity between
yourself and your friends andunity between the land, because
what you're drinking here isdifferent from what you're
drinking there.
It's amazing, wow, wow, wow,wow.
You know, I told my parents, Itell them all the time, I tell
this.
In the last podcast also Ithink the one before this is the
(36:43):
third time we're having it Isaid I tell my parents, thank
you so much for making Aliyahfor me.
Zeh Mamash Matana that theygave 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 yourhost of today's episode of The
Kosher Terroir.
I have a personal request nomatter where you are or where
(37:30):
you live, please take a momentto pray for our soldiers' safety
and the safe and rapid returnof our hostages.
Please subscribe via yourpodcast provider to be informed
of our new episodes as they arereleased.
If you're new to The KosherTerroir, please check out our
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