A Kosher Winery Hidden in Kedumim: Discovering Yekev Bein Haprachim

Sometimes the best discoveries are the ones you never planned on making.

I recently found myself in Kedumim, a yishuv in the Shomron, about a half-hour from where I live. Kedumim was established almost 50 years ago, and while I had been there before, this visit had a very specific purpose: I was looking for some good, locally produced organic honey for Rosh Hashana.

I certainly wasn't expecting to discover a winery.

But tucked away inside the charming Meira Nursery, between the plant greenhouses and a peaceful complex of rental tzimmerim, I came across Yekev Bein Haprachim (Between the Flowers Winery).

And it turned out that the winery was only part of what was happening here.

There is a plant nursery, vacation suites with jacuzzis and pools, and a dairy café that is open Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. And, of course, there is the winery and its adjoining apiary.

It was quite a pleasant surprise.

Meet the Winemaker: Dudu Amar

I met the owner and winemaker, Dudu Amar, who immediately struck me as the kind of person who genuinely enjoys working with the land.

Dudu showed me around the winery, including the tanks and barrels, and we tasted several of his wines. He also introduced me to the honey produced from his own hives.

Dudu's connection to agriculture goes back to his childhood.

His grandparents lived in Moshav Goren in the Western Galilee, and during school vacations he would work with his uncles in the cowshed, chicken coop and orchards. He recalls waking up at five in the morning, climbing onto a tractor-pulled wagon and heading out to pick peaches and apples.

That early connection to agriculture never really left him.

For many years, Dudu worked as a cheesemaker at Gvaot Olam Farm, producing a variety of hard and soft goat cheeses and yogurts. After years in the dairy world, he wanted to learn and create in other areas.

That eventually led him to two new passions: wine and honey.

About three years ago, he began keeping beehives in the Shomron and established Yekev Bein Haprachim.

Today, he describes himself as a winemaker, beekeeper and cheesemaker — three professions that all have something important in common: a connection to the land and to the transformation of natural ingredients into something you can taste.

Wine From the Hills of the Shomron

The winery's grapes come from vineyards in the Shomron, with vineyards located at elevations of approximately 750–800 meters and higher.

The grapes are hand-harvested, and the winery uses French oak for aging its wines.

The winery produces a variety of styles, including reds, whites, rosé, dessert wines, Port and blends.

During my visit, Dudu gave me the opportunity to taste several wines, including one that came directly from the tank.

Rosé 2025 — 500 ml

The first wine I tasted was the 2025 Rosé, made from Merlot and Shiraz grapes.

It is a dry rosé, described as fruity and delicate, with floral and plum aromas. The grapes were hand-harvested from a vineyard at more than 750 meters elevation.

Tasting it directly from the tank was a fun experience. It had a pleasant, fruity character with a touch of sweetness on the palate.

It was also a reminder that there is something special about tasting a wine at the winery itself, before it has made its way onto a store shelf or restaurant wine list.

Cabernet Sauvignon 2023

Next came the 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon, which I tasted from the bottle.

This is a full-bodied, rounded dry red, with aromas of berries, chocolate and oak. It was aged for 15 months in French oak barrels, using hand-harvested grapes from a vineyard more than 800 meters above sea level.

For me, it was a straightforward, smooth Cabernet with the familiar characteristics I look for in the varietal.

It was good — but I was particularly interested in two other bottles.

What I Took Home

Naturally, I wasn't going to visit a winery and leave empty-handed.

I ended up purchasing two bottles.

The first was the 2025 Dessert Wine, a lightly sweet white wine made from French Colombard and Sauvignon Blanc grapes. The wine undergoes a cold fermentation with figs and offers fruity aromas of kiwi and tropical fruit, balanced by a gentle green-apple acidity.

And there was a very practical reason I chose this bottle.

Rosh Hashana.

With all the sweet foods that traditionally make their way onto the Rosh Hashana table, I thought a sweet dessert wine would be a particularly appropriate addition.

My second purchase was the 2024 Chardonnay.

This is a dry, fruity white with citrus aromas. It fermented and aged for eight months in French oak barrels, using hand-harvested grapes from a vineyard more than 800 meters high.

But I'll admit that my decision wasn't based entirely on the wine.

The bottle itself caught my attention.

It has a distinctive look that I thought would make a beautiful addition to my Rosh Hashana table. Sometimes, presentation matters too.

And Then There Was the Honey

The wine was only half of the discovery.

Dudu also invited us to taste honey from his own apiary.

We tried avocado honey, eucalyptus honey and sabra (prickly pear) honey.

We liked them enough that we bought all three.

The apiary produces natural honey in a variety of flavors, including eucalyptus, citrus, sabra, avocado, mango-citrus, wildflowers and spiced varieties.

According to the winery, the honey is produced naturally from flower nectar, without feeding the bees added sugar and without heating the finished honey.

That variety is one of the things I found most interesting. Honey isn't simply "honey." Just as grapes from different vineyards produce wines with different characteristics, the flowers available to bees can influence the character of the honey.

The Bees Behind the Honey

Standing there, tasting the honey and looking around the apiary, it was hard not to appreciate how interconnected everything is.

Bees play an essential role in agriculture because they pollinate flowers. As bees collect nectar and move from flower to flower, pollen is transferred between the male and female parts of the plant, allowing fertilization and ultimately the development of fruit.

In the spring, when flowering is at its peak and there is an abundance of nectar and pollen, additional boxes can be added to the hive to give the colony room to grow.

Eventually comes honey extraction, or rdiat devash — the process of removing honey from the honeycomb.

The honey is extracted carefully, filtered and placed into jars while maintaining its natural character.

It's another example of the same philosophy that seems to run through Dudu's work: start with something from nature, treat it carefully, and let it become something special.

More Than Just a Winery

What I enjoyed most about my visit to Yekev Bein Haprachim is that it doesn't feel like you are simply driving somewhere to buy a bottle of wine.

You arrive at a nursery surrounded by plants and greenhouses. There are tzimmerim with pools and jacuzzis. There is a dairy café open toward the end of the week. There are beehives producing different varieties of honey.

And somewhere in the middle of it all is a small winery.

That makes it a particularly interesting destination for anyone looking to explore the Shomron's growing food, wine and agricultural scene.

The wine is produced from grapes grown in the hills. The honey comes from local hives. And the man behind both has spent much of his life working with agriculture, dairy and the land.

So, Why This Wine?

That's the question Dudu asks on his winery website: Why my wine?

His answer starts with quality — high-elevation vineyards, hand-harvested grapes and French oak aging.

But after meeting him, I think there is another answer.

Because there is a story behind the bottle.

Yekev Bein Haprachim isn't a large commercial winery that I had heard about for years. I discovered it almost by accident while looking for honey for Rosh Hashana.

I came looking for honey.

I found wine.

And I left with both.

For me, that's one of the pleasures of exploring kosher wine in Israel. There are still places tucked away in communities and agricultural areas that you can stumble upon and discover for yourself.

And sometimes, those are the bottles that make it onto your table not just because of what's inside them, but because you remember where you found them.

Yekev Bein Haprachim is located inside Meira Nursery in Kedumim, in the Shomron. The winery's wines and honey can also be purchased at the adjacent nursery.

If you're in the area, it is worth calling ahead to check availability and visiting hours — and if you're looking for something for the Rosh Hashana table, don't forget to leave some room in the car for a jar of honey.