The Galilee and Golan are a real wine country and a serious kosher one, and the mistake most visitors make is treating them as a vague afternoon rather than a sequenced route. A Galilee Golan kosher winery tasting day works when you book two boutique tastings in advance, add a long-table lunch at one of them, and order the drive so you reach each winery at its best hour. This guide sequences Golan Heights Winery at Katzrin, Odem Mountain Winery in the upper Golan on the way to Mount Hermon, and Netofa Winery in Mitzpe Netofa, with a fourth boutique pick for smaller groups. Book the tastings and the lunch ahead through the TaamTaam concierge, because a kosher winery closes for Shabbat and fills its tasting-room slots early. Start with Odem Mountain if you want the northernmost room while the light is high.
Key takeaways
- Israel has more than 300 wineries producing about 40 million bottles a year, and the Golan Heights alone accounts for 18% of national production (Wine Enthusiast, 2024).
- Golan Heights Winery, founded in 1983, makes roughly 5.5 million bottles a year across its Yarden, Gamla, Golan and Hermon labels and marked 40 years in 2023.
- Every winery here is closed on Friday night and Shabbat, so a single-day route has to finish tastings well before the Friday cutoff.
- Odem Mountain Winery in Moshav Odem is the northernmost winery in Israel; a four-wine tasting runs about 20 NIS and is waived with a bottle purchase.
- A well-planned Galilee Golan kosher winery tasting day books the lunch and both tastings ahead, because boutique rooms run by appointment and fill early.
How to plan a Galilee Golan kosher winery tasting day
A good Galilee Golan kosher winery tasting day is built backwards from two fixed points: the winery where you have booked lunch, and the Friday or chag (Jewish holiday) cutoff after which every kosher room shuts. Everything else, the order of the tastings and the drive between them, bends around those two anchors. The northern Golan sits at roughly 1,200 metres on volcanic basalt soil, while the Lower Galilee vineyards drop toward 400 metres near Mount Tabor, so you are covering real elevation and about 90 minutes of driving between the extremes of the route. Israel now has more than 300 wineries producing about 40 million bottles a year, and the top five producers alone make roughly 75% of that output (Wine Enthusiast, 2024); the Golan Heights contributes 18% of national production from around 1,320 hectares of vineyards.
Kosher winemaking shapes the day more than the scenery does. In a certified kosher cellar, only Shomer Shabbat (Sabbath-observant) staff may handle the wine and the equipment from the moment the grapes arrive, and a non-observant visitor cannot draw a sample straight from the barrel. Most serious Galilee and Golan bottles are not Mevushal (flash-pasteurised to about 80 degrees Celsius so a non-observant server may pour them), which is exactly why the top estates keep their tasting rooms staffed by their own people. This is also why the kashrut (Jewish dietary law) status you see on a TaamTaam listing matters: it tells you which room can seat a strictly observant group and pour freely.
Three rooms make the natural spine of a Galilee Golan kosher winery tasting day, and TaamTaam's own thinking on this sits inside how TaamTaam thinks about kosher occasion dining in Israel. Golan Heights Winery gives you the flagship Yarden tasting and the industrial scale that anchors the region. Odem Mountain gives you the northernmost boutique room. Netofa gives you a Rhone-and-Iberian estate in the Lower Galilee that most day-trippers never reach.
Golan Heights Winery at Katzrin and the Yarden tasting
Golan Heights Winery in Katzrin is the estate that made Israeli wine credible abroad, and it belongs at the centre of any Galilee Golan kosher winery tasting day. Founded in 1983 by four kibbutzim and four moshavim, it produces about 5.5 million bottles a year across four labels, Yarden, Gamla, Golan and Hermon, and it celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2023. Wine Enthusiast named it New World Winery of the Year in 2012, and its 2004 Yarden Cabernet Sauvignon was the first Israeli wine to reach the Wine Spectator Top 100. Those are not small credentials for a cellar sitting on a plateau that only started replanting vines commercially in the late 1970s.
The visit itself is straightforward. The Classic Visit runs about an hour and walks you through the winemaking process, the oak-barrel cellar, and a tasting of several wines; a two-hour Professional Wine-Tasting Visit and a Premium Visit with a gourmet meal sit above it. The tasting centre is open Sunday to Thursday from 8:30 to 17:00 and Friday from 8:30 to 14:00, and it is closed on Shabbat. The Yarden flight is where to spend your attention, because those are the reserve bottlings the winery holds back from its best vineyards.
Book the Golan Heights slot for mid-morning if it is your first stop, or as the settled final tasting if you have started further north. Its scale means it absorbs a group more comfortably than a boutique room does, which makes it the safe anchor for a larger party. If you want the coastal counterpart to this drive on another weekend, an evening in Netanya, the French-influenced kosher coast covers a very different mood.
Odem Mountain Winery in the upper Golan, on the way to Hermon
Odem Mountain Winery is the northernmost winery in Israel, set in Moshav Odem in the upper Golan on the road toward Mount Hermon, and on a Galilee Golan kosher winery tasting day it is the stop that rewards an early start. The Alfasi family founded it in 2003 and began producing kosher wine in 2007, and the setting, high volcanic ground with cool nights, is what gives its reds their structure. This is a supervised kosher, family-run boutique, so the room is intimate and the winemaker's hand is easy to taste across the cabernet franc, the Gewurztraminer and the summer rose blended from cabernet sauvignon and syrah.
The economics here are friendly, which matters when you are pacing a full day. The visitor centre is open Sunday to Thursday from 10:00 to 17:00 and from 10:00 to 16:00 on Friday and holiday eves. Sampling two wines is free; a flight of four or six costs 20 or 35 NIS respectively and is waived if you buy a bottle, and a guided tour with a tasting runs about 20 NIS. You can add a cheese platter, pizza, chocolate or nuts, and in season there is fruit picking, a petting zoo and hiking trails on the doorstep.
Because Odem sits at the top of the map, treat it as your first tasting of the day and let gravity, and the schedule, carry you south afterward. Reaching it early means the light is still high over the Hermon ridge and the room is quiet before the afternoon groups arrive.
Netofa Winery in Mitzpe Netofa for the smaller boutique tasting
Netofa Winery, in Mitzpe Netofa in the Lower Galilee at the foothills of Mount Tabor, is the estate on a Galilee Golan kosher winery tasting day for the quiet, considered tasting that a smaller group appreciates. Winemaker Pierre Miodownik, who worked in France, Spain and Portugal before settling here, built Netofa around Mediterranean and Iberian grapes: Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, Tempranillo, Touriga Nacional, Chenin Blanc and Roussanne. That varietal choice is deliberate, matching the warm Lower Galilee terroir to grapes that thrive in it rather than forcing Bordeaux varieties onto the wrong hillside.
The tasting room is unhurried, and the wines are poured and explained rather than lined up on a bar. Netofa is open Sunday to Friday from 10:00 to 17:00, with last entry at 15:00 on Friday and holiday eves, and it is closed on Shabbat; a visit is coordinated in advance by phone or email, which is precisely the kind of booking the concierge handles for you. Because the room is small, this is the tasting to protect with a firm reservation rather than a walk-in gamble.
Netofa also pairs naturally with the water-and-food version of this region. If your travellers would rather end at a lakeside table than a fourth cellar, a Kinneret day around Tiberias with a kosher chef table swaps the last winery for a booked dinner on the Sea of Galilee.
The driving sequence for a single-day Galilee Golan kosher winery tasting day
The drive is the part the aggregator guides skip, and it is the part that decides whether the day works. A well-run Galilee Golan kosher winery tasting day moves north to south so that you clear the far Golan while you are fresh and finish nearer the roads home. For a smaller party that wants a fourth room, Bazelet HaGolan Winery in Kidmat Tzvi is the pick: it is kosher under the Golan Heights Rabbinate, the Manchester Rabbinate and Star-K Kosher Certification, and it pours on a patio over more than 25 acres of vineyards with the Sea of Galilee in the distance and a food truck for cheese platters and quiches.
Here is the sequence that keeps the tastings spaced and the lunch relaxed:
- Start at Odem Mountain (upper Golan). Arrive at 10:00 when the visitor centre opens; a free two-wine sample or a 20 NIS flight, then back on the road by 11:15.
- Drop to Bazelet HaGolan or Katzrin. For a small group, the Bazelet HaGolan patio is a 40-minute drive south; for a larger party, skip straight to Golan Heights Winery.
- Take the booked lunch at Golan Heights Winery. Reserve the Premium Visit meal for around 13:00 so the biggest tasting doubles as the table.
- Finish at Netofa (Lower Galilee). A roughly 75-minute drive west brings you to Mitzpe Netofa for a 15:30 tasting, comfortably before the Friday cutoff.
- Leave a buffer. Hold 45 minutes of slack for viewpoints and the reality that boutique tastings run long.
The comparison below is the fast reference for building your own Galilee Golan kosher winery tasting day.
| Winery | Region | Opening days | Tasting cost and style | Kosher status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Odem Mountain | Upper Golan (Moshav Odem) | Sun to Fri | Free two wines; 20 to 35 NIS flights | Supervised kosher, closed Shabbat |
| Golan Heights Winery | Golan (Katzrin) | Sun to Fri | Classic to Premium tours, meal option | Kosher, closed Shabbat |
| Bazelet HaGolan | Golan (Kidmat Tzvi) | Sun to Fri | Patio tasting, food truck | Kosher (Star-K, Golan Heights Rabbinate) |
| Netofa | Lower Galilee (Mitzpe Netofa) | Sun to Fri | By appointment, seated tasting | Kosher, closed Shabbat |
Friday cutoff times and last-entry slots before chag
The single rule that governs a Galilee Golan kosher winery tasting day is that the region shuts for Shabbat and chag, and it shuts earlier on the eve than newcomers expect. Golan Heights Winery closes at 14:00 on Friday, Netofa takes its last entry at 15:00 on Friday and holiday eves, and Odem Mountain closes at 16:00 on those days. In practice that means your final tasting on a Friday should be under way by early afternoon, not late, with driving time home built in before candle-lighting.
Book a Friday route as if the day ends two hours earlier than a Sunday one. The safest structure is to front-load the northern stops in the morning, take lunch at the winery with the meal service, and keep the last seated tasting close to the road home. Mid-week, Sunday through Thursday, the same route breathes far more easily and lets you add a viewpoint or a fourth room without pressure.
For observant travellers extending the trip, the coast has its own answers worth the drive, including Dead Sea kosher hotel dinners that earn the drive down and, for a celebration further south, the kosher rooms of Eilat.
How TaamTaam books your Galilee and Golan wine day
TaamTaam is a curated directory of verified kosher restaurants and, increasingly, kosher wineries, with a free concierge that makes the calls you would otherwise make yourself. For a Galilee Golan kosher winery tasting day the concierge does three specific things.
Tasting and lunch reservations. We hold your two booked tastings and the long-table lunch at one winery, confirming the seated slot at Netofa and the meal service at Golan Heights Winery so nothing depends on a walk-in. TaamTaam launched with more than 143 verified kosher venues across 8 Israeli cities, and the same verification discipline runs through the winery bookings.
Kashrut confirmation. Every venue we book is checked for its supervising body and certification level, so a Mehadrin (higher-standard kosher) household knows before arrival which room pours to its standard. We never book a venue whose hechsher is contested, suspended or expired.
Timing around Shabbat and chag. We sequence the drive against the real Friday and holiday-eve cutoffs, so the last tasting finishes with driving time to spare. Tell us the group size and the date through the booking form and we return a sequenced plan with the reservations already held. For an occasion table rather than a tasting day, anniversary tables in Jerusalem worth the drive from Tel Aviv is the companion piece.
FAQ: planning a Galilee and Golan kosher wine day
How many wineries fit into one Galilee Golan kosher winery tasting day?
Three tastings is the comfortable maximum, with a fourth boutique room only for a small, flexible group. Two of the three should be booked in advance, and one of them should carry your lunch. Trying to fit more than four means rushed pours and no time for the viewpoints that make the drive worthwhile.
Are the Galilee and Golan wineries kosher?
The estates on a Galilee Golan kosher winery tasting day are certified kosher and closed on Shabbat. Golan Heights Winery, Odem Mountain, Netofa and Bazelet HaGolan all operate under kosher supervision, and Bazelet HaGolan carries Star-K certification alongside the Golan Heights Rabbinate. Most of their serious bottles are not Mevushal, which is why the tasting rooms are staffed by Sabbath-observant teams.
Do I need to book winery tastings in advance?
Yes for the boutique rooms. Netofa is by appointment, and its Friday last entry is 15:00, so a walk-in is a gamble. Golan Heights Winery can absorb larger numbers, but its meal service and Premium Visit still need a reservation. Booking through the TaamTaam concierge holds an entire Galilee Golan kosher winery tasting day in one confirmed plan.
What time do the wineries close before Shabbat?
Golan Heights Winery closes at 14:00 on Friday, Netofa takes its last entry at 15:00, and Odem Mountain closes at 16:00 on Friday and holiday eves. Build your Friday route to finish the last tasting by early afternoon with driving time home before candle-lighting.
Which winery is best for a small group that wants something quiet?
Netofa in Mitzpe Netofa is the seated, unhurried tasting, and Odem Mountain in the upper Golan is the intimate family room. For a fourth stop, the Bazelet HaGolan patio suits a small party that wants a relaxed pour with a view over the Sea of Galilee rather than a fifth formal tasting.
How much does a day of tastings cost?
Boutique tastings are modest: Odem Mountain runs free for two wines and 20 to 35 NIS for larger flights, waived with a bottle purchase. Golan Heights Winery charges by visit tier, with the Premium meal the most expensive element. The larger cost is usually the booked winery lunch, which the concierge confirms with the room in advance.
Conclusion
The Galilee and Golan reward planning, not improvisation, and the difference between a scattered afternoon and a proper day is the order of the drive. A Galilee Golan kosher winery tasting day that opens at Odem Mountain in the upper Golan, takes its booked lunch at Golan Heights Winery in Katzrin, and closes with a seated tasting at Netofa in the Lower Galilee gives an observant traveller a full, unhurried day inside one of Israel's best wine regions, finished cleanly before the Shabbat cutoff. Send TaamTaam the date and the group size, and we will hold the tastings and the lunch so your Galilee Golan kosher winery tasting day leaves nothing to do but drive and taste.
Sources:
- Golan Heights Winery : Wikipedia, 2026
- Wine tasting in the Golan and Galilee, North of Israel : Galil and Golan, 2025
- The Israeli Wine Industry : Wine Enthusiast, 2024
- Top 10 Winery Visits in Northern Israel : Debbest Israel, 2024
- Visit the Wineries in the Golan Heights with a Private Driver : Otto Israel, 2024
- Map of Israeli Kosher Wineries : Yossie's Corkboard, 2023
- Netofa, the Essence of the Lower Galilee Terroir : Kosher.com, 2023
- Kosher Wine: An Explanation : Adam S. Montefiore, 2023
- Bazelet HaGolan Winery : Kosher Wine World, 2024