The Golan Heights Winery taught the Israeli wine industry about state-of-the-art viticulture and New World winemaking technology. It also taught the wine trade about marketing a quality product of prestige and value. This included selling an image rather than just cases of wine, and emphasized the importance of wine education, professional wine service, gastronomy, and wine tourism as integral parts of the overall effort.

This was a revolutionary message in Israel at the time. Up front, above all else, was the concept of success through people. The winery understood it was part of the people business, not just the wine business.

After all, everything is personal in the end. Whether it was co-opting growers to grow wine, creating a sense of family at the winery, moving closer to the end customer, or maintaining positive relationships with retailers and sommeliers, Golan Heights Winery was the first to teach the industry that the personal approach is how it is done. The winery also demonstrated to other Israeli wineries that with all due respect to Israel, successful wine brands are created overseas.

This was achieved with great success; there is no doubt that for the last forty years, the number one winery flying the flag for Israel around the world is Golan Heights Winery. The most famous Israeli wine label is Yarden; and if one had to pick a single Israeli wine to represent this journey, it would arguably be Yarden Cabernet Sauvignon – Israel’s most consistent award-winn.