Who makes it
The Golan Heights plateau rises sharply above the Sea of Galilee, and the vineyards planted here work at a different altitude from almost anywhere else in Israeli wine. Golan Heights Winery sits at the centre of that geography: a cooperative established in 1983 by four kibbutzim and four moshavim, eight settlements whose combined holdings gave the venture a serious land base from the start. Israel's third-largest winery by production scale, it markets its wines under three labels, Yarden, Golan, and Gamla, each representing a different range position. The winery earned recognition as Wine Enthusiast Magazine's New World Winery of the Year in 2012, a citation that reached buyers in markets where Israeli wine had little prior profile.
The winery released its first vintage in 1984, the year after its founding. In its early years it operated as a collective venture in a country without an established fine-wine culture, making international varieties on a plateau that had no track record as a wine region.
Where it grows
The Golan Heights is a basalt plateau in northern Israel, sitting between the Sea of Galilee and the slopes of Mount Hermon. Vineyard elevations across the estate range from roughly 400 to 1,200 metres, a spread wide enough to produce meaningfully different ripening conditions across the 28 sites. At lower elevations the growing season is warmer and the fruit ripens with more weight. Higher up, the season stretches longer, acidity stays firmer, and the Chardonnay in particular takes on a cooler-climate character. The altitude spread is the primary reason the winery can produce both a structured Chardonnay and an approachable everyday red from the same general geography.
How it is made
The cellar
The 630 hectares divide across 28 sites and roughly 450 blocks, a resolution fine enough to track what altitude and exposure do to ripeness across the estate. Elevations run from around 400 to 1,200 metres: the lower sites ripen earlier with more fruit weight, the upper sites produce grapes with firmer acidity and slower sugar accumulation. Block-level tracking lets the cellar team harvest each parcel at a different moment rather than pulling the whole estate at once.
Schoenfeld's stated winemaking principle is that a wine should convey a sense of place through flavour, aroma, and colour. For Yarden Chardonnay, oak ageing in French barrels adds texture without overwhelming the cool-climate fruit character. The winery's approach across all three labels is to treat altitude as the primary variable, assigning fruit to different range positions based on where it grows rather than blending across the elevation spread.
What they make
The three labels correspond to different tiers. Gamla sits at the entry level, offering approachable everyday wines. Golan occupies the middle range. Yarden carries the flagship wines, including the Chardonnay made from the estate's higher and cooler blocks. The label hierarchy means a buyer can work through the estate's range by climbing the altitude curve from which each tier draws its fruit.
Mount Hermon Red, bottled under the Golan label, is a red wine from Galilee built for early drinking: medium-bodied, soft in tannin, with ripe, generous fruit character. Yarden Chardonnay represents the upper tier, where French oak ageing and higher-altitude fruit combine for a more structured white wine.
Wines to try
First bottle
Choose Yarden Chardonnay. It is made from the estate's upper-elevation blocks, where the volcanic plateau produces Chardonnay with enough natural acidity to hold the oak in balance. The nose gives ripe lemon, melon, and apricot; French oak ageing adds a creamy mid-palate weight and a light toasted note on the finish. The wine shows what the Golan Heights can do with a white grape when altitude keeps the growing season cool and the cellar keeps the oak measured.