It is no secret that I have been having a hard time putting pen to paper – or fingers to keyboard – since this pandemic started. In fact, as it drags on and on, I find it harder and harder. Again – it’s not like I’m not drinking wine – I am. In fact, like much of the world, my consumption has certainly increased over the course of the year. But, for the most part, I have been sticking to wines that I know and love – this is for two reasons. First – I am not looking to put myself in a position where I have to trash wines or wineries during this pandemic. They are hurting for the most part, and I have no interest in making it worse. Second – while I have a lot of fun tasting wine – I have even more fun talking about wine with people, preferably with a nice meal and few bottles open to debate – but even when tasting through, I prefer to do it with others or at least with the winemaker – rather than alone at home. It’s just less fun – and now is a time where we all could use more fun not less – so if I’m going to drink, it’ll be a bottle that I know at the outset that is going to put me in a good mood.

So when they relaxed the current restrictions and allowed for one on one meetings again, I decided to call a winery that I usually enjoy and see if the winemaker whose company I always enjoy would have time to meet. The winery in question is Netofa, and the winemaker is Pierre Miodownick . Now if you are asking yourself – hey – you just visited Netofa six months ago – yes, it’s true. There are other wineries that I have not visited in a much longer time. Some of them very close to my home and, rest assured, they are on the list, assuming we don’t close down again. But there are few winemakers I enjoy sitting with more than Pierre. Whether talking about Netofa or other wines he is producing in France (I‘m looking at you Cantenac Brown!) or simply the state of the current kosher wine industry in general, few people in the world have as rich a history and depth of understanding as Pierre does. This was evident when we were talking about the 2020 vintage. There was a massive heatwave at the end of August and into September last year. Until then, 2020 was showing signs of a near perfect growing season weather-wise. I have spoken to a number of winemakers. Basically, anyone who didn’t pull early – or who didn’t have the capacity to pull everything they had on the vine within a day or two when the heat came, was left with raisins. Pierre finished picking mid-August, which even for him is really early. I asked him what prompted him to pick? He said that after 39 vintages (!) he gets a feeling in his bones….. Well, I guess we’ll see overall how the 2020’s come out, but what I have tasted so far from Netofa, that experience will pay off in a vintage that will likely have few winners…..

Here are my notes: