The winery is the heart of the family wine village with a tank and barrel room, an aging archive room and a tasting room. Around it we built the unique hosting cabins and Didi’s kitchen by chef Adi Kedem – a culinary gem completing the wine experience.
All members of the Kedem family are part of the wine village from day one and continue to build and develop it still today. Assaf and Oren, father and son, winemakers and winegrowers, combine traditional qualities of winemaking with new and innovative ones. Hadassa, the mother, manages customer relations and group excursions. Adi, the winery chef, runs Didi’s Kitchen, a culinary gem offering special menu of fine fresh local foods to complete the total wine experience.
Karen manages the hosting cabins and the visitors center. Shahar leads al constructions and branding and Tomer is the marketing expert selling Assaf wine in the center of Israel. During harvest season all members of the family are back to being farmers and with friends and wine lovers harvest the estate vineyards by hand.
Winemakers
Assaf and Oren Kedem, father and son, create wine together for many years.
Assaf started his wine journey at the age of 50. He learned the theory and practice of winemaking from Peter Silverberg, a graduate of the Davis Institute of California. He studied at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and completed a wine lab training at The standard Institution of Israel. At Tel Hai College, he studied chemistry and food engineering. Later, he studied and trained in wineries in South Africa.
As our master winemaker, Assaf consults to other wineries spreading his extensive knowledge and expertise.
Oren, the second child, grew into this world. Oren worked and studied winemaking in California’s Sonoma Valley in the well-known Michel-Schlumberger vineyard. Later, he studied oenology at Ohalo College in the Golan, a branch of CFPPA College in France. In addition to his formal studies, he learned the intricacies of winemaking from his father, Assaf. Today, Oren works closely with Assaf, continues to master the art of winemaking and create innovative wines every year.
Together Assaf and Oren, bring traditional and new qualities of winemaking to the family winery adding to its exclusivity.
Vineyards
Our 15 acres vineyards are planted near the winery and are personally attend by Assaf since 1990. The Golan Heights offers special growing environment with optimal combination of soil, climate and altitude. The mineral reach soil, basalt terroir and cold Golan climate provides the family vineyards distinct nature and taste as well as elegant quality.
We grow a variety of grapes, Zinfandel, Shiraz, Pinotage, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Gris, Chenin and Sauvignon Blanc. The land offers distinct growth conditions for each plot, with different types of basalt soil, heights of 500-890 meters above sea level and a variety of agricultural crops around – all play a role in the development of the grape and the creation of the wine.
A selected plot of Cabernet Sauvignon Grand Reserve, the only one afar from the winery, grows at 890 meter above sea level on a MOISE basalt soil where a Syrian village in that name once stood. The special edition wine series, 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, carries the soil name MOISE.
The Golan Heights offers great conditions to grow vineyards – Basalt soil that hampers the vine and praises its products, a unique climate and the height of the entire plateau. It is a fertile agricultural environment not only for winegrowers and winemakers. The 1200 square meters of the Golan Heights land offers much more, from field crops in the southern plateau through orchards, deciduous orchards and wine vineyards, to grazing areas for sheep and cattle. Many of the residents of the Golan make their living from agriculture, a prominent and developing field, led by innovation.
Friends' Harvest Weekend (Avoda Ivrit)
We harvest our vineyards by hand only. The whole-hearted care we give the vines throughout the year ends in a spiritual experience bringing the vines and family members, winery workers, friends and wine lovers close together. All joining a quiet morning experience to announce the opening of the wine production process.
In 2010 we started a tradition – Friends’ Harvest Weekend (Avoda Ivrit).
Over the years it became an exciting cultural-agricultural project. Every year during the harvest season, the Kedem family are joined by close friends, extended family members, wine lovers and many other volunteers who travel as far as the Golan Heights to help with the manual harvest and the making of Assaf wines.
Harvesting experience is special in its tranquility, the proximity to the vineyard and the grapes, the morning chill and mid-day heat, all create a one-of-a-kind experience. During the Friends’ harvest weekend, the group meets for a professional tour of the winery, explanation of the production process and dinner around the campfire in the winery yard. In the dawn of the morning, we all rise up to harvest one of the family’s vineyards, slowly but surely until it is completely harvested.
Finally, we return to the wine village for a homemade breakfast by Kedem family Mother, Hadassa, and before returning to real life, we say a special goodbye with a big thank you and begin our anticipation for the next harvest… (:
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