The Golan Heights Winery. Photo: Wikipedia

The Golan Heights winery can add another notch to its formidable belt. Wine Enthusiast Magazine has awarded it the 2012 Wine Star Award in the “New World Winery of the Year,” category. The magazine’s citation states:”Golan Heights Winery is at the top of its game, using state-of-the-art equipment like vineyard meteorological stations and electro-conductivity soil scanning to aid in its viticultural success.”

The winery, Israel’s third largest, opened in 1983 and produced its first vintage the following year. It is located in the town of Katzrin.

Anat Levi, CEO of Golan Heights Winery said “This recognition gives us added motivation to continue our efforts to fully exploit the vast potential of our wonderful winegrowing area. We are excited to be a leading player in the renewal of winegrowing in Israel and to receive this award as a leading new world winery.”

Winemaker Victor Schoenfeld added: “Our proudest achievement is our ongoing effort to work in tune with our natural elements, making high-quality wines that are a true reflection of our unique combination of latitude, high altitude and beautiful volcanic soils. We continue to realize what an amazing region we have, and how much the potential seems limitless.”

According to the winery’s website “The Golan Heights Winery produces premium varietals, proprietary blends and traditional method sparkling wines, marketed under the labels ‘Yarden’, ‘Gamla’ and ‘Golan'”.