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What if the grape built for our warming world was created in a French lab in 1961, forgotten for decades, then reborn as a Mediterranean powerhouse? We follow Marcellan’s improbable arc—from a small-berry “failure” to a climate-ready red redefining terroir across continents—and taste why winemakers now swear by its color, balance, and velvet tannins.

We start with the origin story at INRA in Languedoc, where Cabernet Sauvignon met Grenache on purpose. The result slept through the age of high-yield table wine, only to shine in the 1990s shift toward concentration and site expression. Late budding, heat and drought tolerance, loose clusters, and disease resistance turned heads as extreme seasons became the norm. Even Bordeaux, guardian of tradition, opened its rulebook in 2021 to allow limited plantings and blends of Marselan.

From there, the journey widens. In humid Brazil and Uruguay, Marcellan’s thick skins shrug off rot; in Arizona and warm pockets of California, it holds freshness where others fade. China emerges as a breakout: high-altitude Ningxia coaxes glossy, aromatic, medal-winning Marselans that sidestep the green edges often seen in Cabernet. Then we head home to Israel, where the altitude in the Upper Galilee and Golan Heights cools the nights, locks in acidity, and lets basalt and limestone speak. Recanati’s pioneering single-varietal bottlings and blending prowess help set a new kosher benchmark, with major wineries and boutique producers now exploring site-driven expressions from Judean Hills to the Negev.

We guide a sensory walk-through—inky color with a vivid magenta rim, blackcurrant and cassis meeting red cherry and spice, supple tannins that frame rather than fight—and share why Marselan excels solo, in rosé, and as the mid-palate “glue” in Mediterranean blends. Finally, we pair it at the table: slow-roasted lamb with rosemary, charred ribeye, Shabbat cholent, roasted eggplant with tahini, wild mushroom ragù, and aged kosher cheeses that polish the finish.

Ready to taste the future of Mediterranean wine? Subscribe, share this episode with a wine-loving friend, and leave a review telling us which Marselan you’ll open next.

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www.TheKosherTerroir.com
+972-58-731-1567
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Thursdays 6:30pm Eastern Time on the NSN Network and the NSN App

Send a Text Message to The Kosher Terroir

We sat down with our friend Elk and Yossi Polak, CEO of Meshik Achiya, to explore how Shiloh’s ancient limestone hills shape extra virgin olive oil just as clearly as terroir shapes wine. With a tasting flight on the table, we learned the craft from the inside out—why you warm a blue cup in your palm, how stripaggio unlocks aroma, and what that peppery cough really means about polyphenols, freshness, and quality.

Yossi walked us through five distinct expressions, from Picual’s fresh-cut herb profile to the bolder Souri and a chef-driven blend that balances fruitiness, bitterness, and pungency. Along the way, we talked pairings that make weeknights sing—delicate oils finishing fish, greener styles brightening roasted vegetables, peppery oils lifting lentils and steak—and why green apple, not bread, is the palate cleanser that keeps flavors honest. If you love wine vocabulary, you’ll feel right at home here: acidity, balance, structure, and length all show up in oil, too.

Beyond tasting notes, this conversation is rooted in place and people. Shiloh’s high elevation, rocky limestone soils, and mountain winds have nurtured vines and olives for millennia, and that history flows into modern presses and award-winning bottles. Yossi shares how the latest harvest collided with war, how one farmer saved the crop while others served, and why their 600-ton annual production still stays mostly in Israel. We also spotlight a chef who built a restaurant around Picual, sending diners home with a small tin of Shiloh’s liquid gold.

Come learn a new skill, rethink your pantry, and taste a landscape. If this journey sharpened your appetite, tap follow, share with a friend who loves good oil, and leave a quick review telling us your favorite variety and how you use it at home.

Support the show

www.TheKosherTerroir.com
+972-58-731-1567
+1212-999-4444
TheKosherTerroir@gmail.com
Link to Join “The Kosher Terroir” WhatsApp Chat
https://chat.whatsapp.com/EHmgm2u5lQW9VMzhnoM7C9
Thursdays 6:30pm Eastern Time on the NSN Network and the NSN App

Send a Text Message to The Kosher Terroir

From Jerusalem on the cusp of Purim, we share a clear, no-nonsense guide to celebrating responsibly—hydration, food, real rest, and zero driving—then follow the holiday’s deeper current: turning fear into courage and surface into substance.

Our tour begins with wines that delight in misdirection to reveal a truer center. Eli Shiran blends Carignan, Petite Sirah, and Petit Verdot from distant Israeli terroirs, a floral nose opening into dark spice—a hidden map of the land in a single bottle. The Pinto family rewrites Negev dogma with a GSM that tastes like a breeze, not a furnace, leveraging desert nights to preserve lift and energy. Winemaker Yaakov Auryah pulls off a quiet miracle with Light from Darkness: pale juice pressed from red skins that drinks like a savory, structured red, proof that essence can shine through the shell.

Across the ocean, Ernie Weir of Hagafen invites us over a bridge he built decades ago, when “kosher” meant sweet in most minds. Rosso Hagafen looks Napa-bold yet dances with Sangiovese bite, a Super Tuscan spirit in California dress—adaptable on the surface, anchored within. We close in Shiloh with Adino, a warrior wine that pours black as armor and moves like silk, reminding us that true strength is refined and humane.

Threaded through these stories is a living Purim: missiles on maps, stillness between sirens, and a people choosing to plant, ferment, and share. Drinking becomes an act of future-making, a vow that vineyards outlast threats. If this journey moved you, tap follow, share with a friend who loves wine with a story, and leave a review with the bottle that surprised you most.

Support the show

www.TheKosherTerroir.com
+972-58-731-1567
+1212-999-4444
TheKosherTerroir@gmail.com
Link to Join “The Kosher Terroir” WhatsApp Chat
https://chat.whatsapp.com/EHmgm2u5lQW9VMzhnoM7C9
Thursdays 6:30pm Eastern Time on the NSN Network and the NSN App