The Margalit Winery started as a boutique winery in 1989 and has established itself as one of Israel's most respected wine farms.  Located south of Hadera, in the Sharon region, in the foothills of Mount Carmel, the unpretentious surroundings amidst citrus orchards would never give a hint of the superb quality and outstanding reputation (well-deserved) attained by these family vintners, Ya'ir and Assaf Margalit. 

     In their first release in the 1989, the winery released a modest 900 bottles or about 3 barrels of wine. They growed gradually, though steady, to a current production of 20,000 bottles a year or about 1600 cases.  Many wineries have grown much larger in a 20 year span but it's the family's committment to quality over quanity that has cemented it's name as one of Israel's premier wineries.

     I recently had a chance to meet with Assaf and sample some his works in progress. He tastes his wines every two weeks to ascertain how they're aging and to gauge how he might blend them.  On this occasion, he invited winemakers from a larger commercial winery for the informal tasting. While some winemakers are more guarded about their cr

    The Tishbi Winery, located in Binyamina, is one of Israel's better known wineries. With a history of grape growing and winemaking going back for five generations, it's wines have mirrored the trend of improving quality since it's inception in 1985. 

     Jonathan Tishbi, the founder of the winery grew grapes for the the Carmel collective before launching his own commercial winery.  Even though his son Golan Tishbi oversees most of the winemaking details, Jonathan stills steers the helm, chairs marketing meetings and supervises many of the day to day business affairs.  This kind of  father/son team work has been proven sucessful at other notable wineries in Israel such as Domaine du Castel in the Judean Hiills and Margalit south of Hadera. Each winemaker son interned or studied overseas and upon their return grew into the winemaker while their fathers continued on as mentors and cheif executives.    Even though Jonathan is clearly in charge of a staff of 50 employees no job is too small for him or other family members.  Golan modestly says 95% of a good wine's quality comes from good grapes and few grapegrowers have more experience or family tradition in their pocket than Jonathan Tishbi.

    Jonathan can often be seen driving the forkli