Margalit is renowned for being the first “boutique” Israeli winery, specializing in making small batches of the highest quality wines.

Indeed, Dr. Yair Margalit, the winery’s founder and head winemaker to this day, literally wrote the book on how to run a small-scale, world-class winery. His book “Concepts In Wine Technology: Small Winery Operations” is essential reading for oenology students the world over. 

After many years of experimentation in quality wine-making using various varietals and distributing the wines amongst friends, Dr. Margalit launched Margalit Winery in 1991 with its first 1989 vintage of Cabernet Sauvignon. Initially, the winery was established in a small village near the town of Rehovot but in 1994 the winery moved to its current location in Binyamina not far from the Mediterranean shore, midway between Tel Aviv and Haifa. Public interest in the new winery grew quickly in the years after the winery’s opening, owing to the wine’s quality and uniqueness, and what began as a production of 80 cases (960 bottles) has grown prodigiously. 

Today, Margalit produces some 2,500 cases (30,000 bottles) of wine a year. A portion of the wine produced is sold at the winery directly to private customers during three weekends in March and April each year. Customers are invited to taste and buy the new vintage, while the rest of the wine is distributed to fine restaurants and wine shops in Israel and abroad. Yair and his son and fellow winemaker, Asaf, have a special interest in Bordeaux varietals (Cabernet-Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet-Franc), and therefore the winery is known for producing exceptional red wines.