The slightly more relaxed pace of Chol Hamoed gives me the opportunity to catch up on a whole bunch of witting. One of the few wineries consistently putting out not only excellent wines but also providing excellent value is Netofa. Year after year Netofa appears on pretty much everyone’s QPR list – and this year will be no different. Way back at KFWE London, David Raccah and I arranged a joint visit with Pierre Miodownick , Netofa’s legendary winemaker to coincide with David’s planned Pesach trip to Israel. this was actually the 2nd of 4 wineries we visited together in the weeks leading up to Pesach, but as it has been on the books the longest, I figured I would finish my notes on it first.

Pierre really needs no introduction. He was of course the winemaker for Royal between 1988-2014 – making almost all of the famous French wines from that period. While he continues to make a number of French wines each year, his primary focus is his Israeli winery – Netofa, named after the village in which it is located Mitspe Netofa. While getting there is a bit of a schlep, if you make the journey, you will be rewarded with one of the nicest tasting rooms in all of Israel – and of course some of the very best wines as well.

While I hadn’t done a complete portfolio tasting with Pierre since the very end of 2017, I had tasted most of these wines at various points over the course of the last few month – but tasting them all together and against previous vintages is always a treat and gives greater perspective on the the winery as a whole.

Before I start – one thing to pay attention to – please – make sure you buy your wines from someone whose storage is up to par. The Domain White and Rosé were part of the blind tasting we had the other night – and did not show well at all. As I have had these wines multiple other times, I know its NOT the wine – which means its the storage…. With that out of the way, on to the wines!