Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/288975
68 / the tasting panel / april 2014 FROM LOWER GALILEE, ISRAEL: DOMAINE NETOFA For the past 30 years, French winemaker Pierre Miodownick has been producing wine from some of France's best growing regions. Royal Wine Corp.'s partnerships with well-known châ- teaux, Champagne houses and Vins de Pays produc- ers allow labels such as Château Léoville Poyferré, Château Pontet Canet, Laurent Perrier and the centuries- old Drappier Champagne, among others, to be made for the kosher markets. Since 2009, Miodownick took his French winemak- ing expertise to Israel, to Lower Galilee, where he founded Domaine Netofa. At almost 1,000 feet above sea level, he crafts Iberian and French varietals such as Syrah, Touriga Nacional, Chenin Blanc and Mourvèdre in his unmistakable French style. "While many wines from Israel are big and bold, Domaine Netofa wines are refined and elegant, after the Rhône Valley style of winemaking," points out winery CEO Yair Teboulle. FROM NELSON, NEW ZEALAND: GOOSE BAY "These wines need to be exactly like the non-kosher version," insists Matt Rutherford, winemaker for New Zealand's Goose Bay wines. He offers a glass of his Goose Bay 2012 Reserve Fumé Blanc, a just- released oak-aged Sauvignon Blanc from the Nelson appellation. "Take a typical Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc and put it in a barrel and it would be clunky," he proffers. "But in Nelson's terroir it's still aromatic and unmistakably New Zealand." He's right: the asparagus/gooseberry and just-plucked tomato leaf is there. Add lees aging, ML, French oak and it's a whole 'nother level of complexity. The Domaine Netofa 2013 Rosé (of Syrah and Mourvèdre), Basse Galilee, is a nod to Provence, with its deli- cate, fresh rose petal nose. Raspberry is lyri- cal and sweet against the dry and dusted stoniness that wafts on the tongue. Netofa Tinto 2011, Galilee, is a blend of Tempranillo and Touriga Nacional. Taste the dirt as if the grapes were grown in Pamplona; think of bull fights, without the attack. Sweet cigar leaf, bittersweet chocolate tannins—this wine has grip with an edge. Yair Teboulle, CEO of Israel's Domaine Netofa with winemaker Pierre Miodownick. Matt Rutherford is the winemaker for Goose Bay, from Nelson, New Zealand. "We're not Jewish, but we produce kosher-for-Passover mevushal wines—no one can tell the difference." The just-released oak-aged Goose Bay Fumé Blanc offers New Zealand typicity—and more. It won a Gold Medal from the San Francisco International Wine Competition. Matt Rutherford also pro- duces kosher wines from Oregon and Washington State under the Pacifica label, such as this fruit- forward, feminine 2010 Walla Walla Cabernet Sauvignon. TP0414_034-71.indd 68 3/21/14 2:42 PM