In 1980, Alon and Nira Zadok left their home and, along with five friends, established an agricultural settlement near the Egyptian border, in the wilderness of the Negev desert. What they learned then is now common knowledge – the Negev has great agricultural potential. In 1997, the couple planted a single hectare of Cabernet Sauvignon, and in 2000 they made their first limited edition desert wine with 3,000 bottles. By 2003, they stopped selling their grapes to other wineries, and began to use the harvest from their entire vineyard to produce 15,000 bottles of wine. In 2006, the small winery was already producing 25,000 bottles, and the family planted another 3 hectares of rare grapes they believed would suit the desert conditions. Growing in sandy and loamy conditions with controlled amounts of water and little fertilizer, the vines enjoy rapid growth, and since the vineyards are isolated from other vineyards they do not suffer from nearly as much diseases or pests, meaning the there’s almost no need to use herbicides or pesticides. Today Ramat Negev Winery strives to produce wine from a selection of Negev vineyards, greeting wine lovers with a rare tasting experience.