The Winery
“Making wine and establishing the family-run winery is a fullfillment of a dream based on a special love for the creation known as ‘wine’. Working with wine is the real benefit. Turning the area into the Tuscany or Provence of Israel, and establishing dozens, even hundreds of wineries is the next dream I have that I’m convinced will come true”
Yitzhak Cohen, Winemaker
Yitzhak Cohen has served for many years within the agriculture industry, as well as in various managerial positions. His connection with wine started long before establishing the Ramot Naftaly Winery. Moshav Ramot Naftaly is one of the 8 shareholders of the Golan Heights Winery. Wine grapes grown in Kedesh Valley have been supplied to the winery for the last 30 years.
Wine produced from these grapes proved to own special qualities. Unique conditions of the valley’s exceptional climate, its location within mountains and the fertile soil found within, create perfect conditions for growing quality grapes. The potential found in the soil of Kedesh Valley motivated a group of friends, organized by Yitzhak, to plant additional vineyards in the valley. Subsequently, Yitzhak established a winery that works hand-in-hand with the other wineries in the Moshav, as well as the growing tourism industry in the area.
The winery is situated in the house’s backyard, with a well-groomed vineyard and garden. The grapes are harvested manually early in the day, as the grape containers are immediately inserted into the winery’s cooling room. During the evening hours, the grapes are removed and manually sorted, before transferred to a small crushing machine. The crushed grapes are then moved to temperature-controlled fermentation tanks. In the winery there is a cooled barrel room, home to new French oak barrels. Once fermented, the grapes are placed into these barrels and left to age.
The aging period takes between 12 to 24 months.The winery was planned in a way that it could receive up to 70 tons of grapes. This is enough to produce over 50,000 bottles of wine. However, the final decision was to keep the production rate up to 10,000 bottles a year, precisely how it stands today. Equipped with the best winemaking machinery in the world, the winery provides wine manufacturing and wine processing services to additional wineries in the Moshav and surrounding area.
