The blessing of the land of Israel demonstrates itself clearly in the Nevo Winery. Usually, vineyards take a good number of years to develop and reach the potential for producing high-level wine grapes. But Nevo’s 6-years-young vineyards look, taste and produce like they are 20 years old, shocking professional viticulturists with their high-quality fruit. To reach their full potential, they are fermented for up to five weeks, well beyond the standard red wine fermentation of 10 to 14 days.

The Jewish law of Shmitta (the Sabbatical year) is carefully observed at the Nevo Winery. The land is neither worked nor sold that year – and grapes that grow spontaneously are open for anyone to come and take. The Torah promises (Leviticus 25:20-22) that G-d will bless the yield of Shmitta observers. In 2014, Nevo saw that blessing with his own eyes, with a bumper crop and yield that carried the winery well over the 2015 Shmitta year.

Nevo feels privileged to be directly involved in many aspects of Jewish law and Jewish life that, to most Jews, remain theoretical. In addition to separating terumot and maasrot (tithes) and observing Shmitta, the winery is careful to avoid kilayim (hybridization) and leave pe’ah (a percentage of crops left for the poor to harvest and take) in all its vineyards.

The Jewish Sages said that agriculture is a natural way to develop one’s connection to and faith in G-d. Nevo is a witness to this reality each and every day, as best expressed by his habit:

People come in to the winery and ask Nevo, “Who runs this place?” Nevo points to the sky and says, “I just work here.”