Barkan was founded in 1990 in the Israeli village of Barkan, by Yair Lerner and Shmuel Boxer. Barkan immediately began to plant vineyards in and around Barkan, and quickly grew to become of the largest in Israel. In 2007, Barkan winery moved to a much larger, state of the art modern facility in Kibbutz Hulda. Located on a 50,000 square meter area, it includes a 12 million liter tank farm, an automated crushing and fermentation plant, and a 10000 square meter air conditioned filling and case storage building. Today Barkan receives grapes from vineyards from all the best regions in Israel; such as the Golan Heights, the Upper Galilee and the Lebanese border area, the lower Galilee and Tavor, the Jerusalem mountains, and Israel's south, around Mitzpe Ramon.
The winery's location allows the grapes to be quickly transported to the winery, to ensure freshness and to maximize quality. In addition, the strategic location was optimal for distribution of the bottled wine to market.
As the second largest winery in Israel, Barkan receives over 8000 tons of grapes during the harvest, and devotes nights and days throughout the year to ensure that the fruit received from the vineyard is the best possible. This devotion continues with all of the staff through harvest, winemaking, bottling, marketing and sales; all done to ensure that the bottle that you open will be the best that can be made. As well, Barkan’s head winemaker Ido Lewinsohn is a candidate for the Master of Wine diploma.
