Pelter Winery is an Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

i winery established in 2005 by Tal Pelter. Headquartered in Tzofit

Tzofit

Tzofit is a moshav in central Israel. Located near Kfar Sava, it falls under the jurisdiction of Drom HaSharon Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 890....

, the winery itself is located in Ein Zivan

Ein Zivan

Ein Zivan is an Israeli settlement and a kibbutz in the northern Golan Heights under the jurisdiction of the Golan Regional Council. The kibbutz was founded in 1968. Today 50 families live there...

, an Israeli settlement

Israeli settlement

An Israeli settlement is a Jewish civilian community built on land that was captured by Israel from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and is considered occupied territory by the international community. Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank...

 and Kibbutz

Kibbutz

A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...

 on the Golan Heights.

History

After initially producing 4000 bottles from grapes grown in the family farm in Tzofit in 2002, the Pelters selected the Golan heights as the site for their winery, due to the favorable terroir

Terroir

Terroir comes from the word terre "land". It was originally a French term in wine, coffee and tea used to denote the special characteristics that the geography, geology and climate of a certain place bestowed upon particular varieties...

: a cold dry climate, large temperature swings between day and night temperature, basalt

Basalt

Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...

 soil, high altitude, and high levels of sun radiation. The Golan-based winery was established in 2005, and its 2009 vintage produced 80,000 bottles.

Pelter sources half its grapes from the northern Golan, and the rest from vineyards in the Jerusalem hills and the mountains of the Upper Galilee. It produces wines of several varietals, including Shiraz

Shiraz

Shiraz may refer to:* Shiraz, Iran, a city in Iran* Shiraz County, an administrative subdivision of Iran* Vosketap, Armenia, formerly called ShirazPeople:* Hovhannes Shiraz, Armenian poet* Ara Shiraz, Armenian sculptor...

, Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Canada's Okanagan Valley to Lebanon's Beqaa Valley...

, Cabernet Franc

Cabernet Franc

Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone - as in the Loire's Chinon...

 and Sauvignon Blanc

Sauvignon blanc

Sauvignon Blanc is a green-skinned grape variety which originates from the Bordeaux region of France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French word sauvage and blanc due to its early origins as an indigenous grape in South West France., a possible descendant of savagnin...

, as well as Methode traditionelle sparkling wines, using Chardonnay grapes.

Awards

The winery was named one of Israel's top 3 wineries by wine and food critic Daniel Rogov