Domaine du Castel
יקב קסטל
Winery · 89-340 ₪ · Badatz Beit Yosef
Moshav Yad HaShmona, Yad HaShmona
The Ben Zaken family's winery, which planted the first modern vineyard in the Judean Hills in 1988 and has made its wines at Moshav Yad HaShmona since the 2015 harvest, with tastings, Friday visits and picnic baskets booked ahead
In 1988 Eli Ben Zaken planted what the winery calls the first modern vineyard in the Judean Hills, in the yard of his home at Ramat Raziel, and four years later family and friends picked the grapes for its first wine, Castel Grand Vin 1992. After 23 years at Ramat Raziel the winery opened its new building at Moshav Yad HaShmona for the 2015 harvest. Grapes are picked by hand in the vineyards around it, sorted by hand and optically and fed into the tanks by gravity, and most wines age for at least a year in French oak barrels or in Italian concrete tanks; the range includes Castel Grand Vin, Petit Castel, C Blanc du Castel, Rosé du Castel, the La Vie white and red and M du Castel. At the visitor centre a guided tour takes in the barrel cellar and a tasting with cheeses, bread and dips; guests can also book a terrace table for a tasting, come on Fridays for a tasting with a cheese platter in the lounge or on the open terrace, or collect a picnic basket of wine and cheese to take to a spot about five minutes' drive away. Visits are booked ahead and entry is from age 18.
What happens here
- Sunday to Thursday, 10:00 and 15:00
- Guided tour and tasting
An hour to an hour and a half through the winery and the barrel cellar, ending with a tasting with cheeses, bread and dips
- Fridays, 10:00 to 14:00 in autumn and winter, to 15:00 in spring and summer
- Friday at the winery
A tasting route with a cheese platter in the visitor centre's lounge or on the open terrace, depending on the weather
As published on the winery's website, read 2026-10-05.
At a glance
- Shabbat
- Closed. Friday until 14:00
- Kosher
- Badatz Beit Yosef
- Prices
- 89-340 ₪
- Wheelchair
- Disabled parking, wheelchair access, accessible toilets, all on the ground floor
- Own website
- Facebook page
- Active on Instagram
- Open on Friday
Photos
On its Facebook
For illustration: the trade, not Domaine du Castel itself. Its own pictures are on Instagram
Opening hours
Checking the clock in Israel
| Sunday to Thursday | 10:00-16:00 |
|---|---|
| Friday | 10:00-14:00 |
| Saturday | Closed |
Candle lighting 5:55 PMShabbat ends 6:50 PM
As published on castel.co.il, read 2026-10-05. All Shabbat times
Sources disagree on these hours
The visitor centre's hours on the winery's site, for visits, tastings and events booked ahead; closed on Saturdays. Its visits page says Friday visits run until 15:00 in spring and summer, and its booking page shows 10:00 to 17:00 on weekdays and 10:00 to 15:00 on Fridays.
Location
Moshav Yad HaShmona, Yad HaShmona9089500
- Train: Jerusalem - Yitzhak Navon10.8 km from the door, straight line
- Bus: Nearest stop 231 mlines 185
© OpenStreetMap contributors · Distances from OpenStreetMap, read 2026-10-05.
Questions
About Domaine du Castel
- Closed on ShabbatOpen 6 days a week; on Friday it closes at 14:00.
- 10.8 km from Jerusalem - Yitzhak Navon stationBus stops within 499 m: מסעף יד השמונה, אולפני נווה אילן, מסעף נווה אילן.
- Its own website and social pagesThe menu and the news come from the business itself, not from a directory.
- Price band ₪₪₪Tastings from 105 to 155 shekels a person, and a picnic basket for two at 340 shekels.
Domaine du Castel is a winery at Moshav Yad HaShmona in Yad HaShmona, in the Jerusalem District. Behind it: founder Eli Ben Zaken.
The menu it publishes on castel.co.il runs from Cheese platter for two, midweek at 89 ₪ to Picnic basket for two at 340 ₪, 7 items in all, read on 5 October 2026.
Hours, as listed on castel.co.il on 5 October 2026: Sunday to Thursday 10:00 to 16:00, Friday 10:00 to 14:00, Saturday closed.
The nearest railway station is Jerusalem - Yitzhak Navon, 10.8 km away. The nearest bus stops are מסעף יד השמונה (231 m), אולפני נווה אילן (280 m), מסעף נווה אילן (499 m).
The winery's site says all its wines are kosher under Badatz Beit Yosef, except the 2022 vintage, a shmita year, sold under the Mateh Yehuda rabbinate's heter mechira. It is also on the Mateh Yehuda Regional Council's list of kosher businesses, read on 5 October 2026, as "יקב קסטל/יקב רזיאל" at Yad HaShmona and Ramat Raziel, with mehadrin supervision in force. It is listed as wheelchair accessible on castel.co.il.
Its site's terms name the operator as יקב קסטל בע"מ, company number 512490186. The Companies Registrar lists Domaine de Castel Ltd as an active private company incorporated in June 1997, registered at Yad HaShmona. It appears on the municipal business licence register.
בשנת 1988, כמעט במקרה, נטע אלי בן זקן את הכרם הראשון בעת המודרנית בהרי יהודה, בחצר ביתו ברמת רזיאל. ארבע שנים לאחר מכן, התכנסה המשפחה וקבוצת חברים מצומצמת לבצור את הענבים ליין הראשון של היקב – Castel Grand Vin 1992.The public registers a directory should check and usually does not. A blank is reported as a blank.
- Kosher certificate
- The winery's site says all its wines are kosher under Badatz Beit Yosef, except the 2022 vintage, a shmita year, sold under the Mateh Yehuda rabbinate's heter mechira. It is also on the Mateh Yehuda Regional Council's list of kosher businesses, read on 5 October 2026, as "יקב קסטל/יקב רזיאל" at Yad HaShmona and Ramat Raziel, with mehadrin supervision in force. castel.co.il2026-10-05
- Accessibility statement
- Listed as wheelchair accessible castel.co.il2026-10-05
- Companies Registrar
- Its site's terms name the operator as יקב קסטל בע"מ, company number 512490186. The Companies Registrar lists Domaine de Castel Ltd as an active private company incorporated in June 1997, registered at Yad HaShmona. data.gov.il2026-10-05
- Municipal business licence
- Businesses in Yad HaShmona are licensed by the Mateh Yehuda Regional Council, which publishes on its website a list of the businesses in its communities that hold a business licence, with each one's trade, community and licence number. Domaine du Castel is on it: יקב קסטל בע"מ, licence 101345000, for producing, processing and packing food and for storing food in Yad HaShmona. m-yehuda.org.il2026-10-05
Nothing on this page was written from memory. Each row names the page a fact was read from and the day it was read. Review text and photographs stay with the people who wrote and took them; the page links to them and copies nothing.
| Field | Value | Source | Read on | Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | יקב קסטל / Domaine du Castel | castel.co.il | Fact, shown | |
| Address | Moshav Yad HaShmona | castel.co.il | Fact, shown | |
| Coordinates | 31.8078072, 35.0913552 (the Waze link on its booking page) | ontopo.com | Fact, shown | |
| Phone | 02-535-8555 | castel.co.il | Fact, shown | |
| Website | castel.co.il | castel.co.il | Fact, shown | |
| Table bookings | ontopo.com | castel.co.il | Linked, not copied | |
| Logo | Its own icon, from castel.co.il | castel.co.il | Quoted, attributed | |
| Opening hours | Sunday to Thursday 10:00 to 16:00, Friday 10:00 to 14:00, Saturday closed | castel.co.il | Fact, shown | |
| What happens here | Guided tour and tasting; Friday at the winery | castel.co.il | Fact, shown | |
| Price band | ₪₪₪ | castel.co.il | Fact, shown | |
| Menu | 7 items with prices | castel.co.il | Fact, shown | |
| Kosher certificate | Badatz Beit Yosef | castel.co.il | Fact, shown | |
| Accessibility | Disabled parking, wheelchair access, accessible toilets, all on the ground floor | castel.co.il | Fact, shown | |
| Train and bus | Jerusalem - Yitzhak Navon 10.8 km; מסעף יד השמונה 231 m; מסעף יד השמונה 266 m; אולפני נווה אילן 280 m; מסעף נווה אילן 499 m | openstreetmap.org | Fact, shown | |
| Delivery apps | Not on Wolt or 10bis | Our own check | Fact, shown | |
| Companies Registrar | Its site's terms name the operator as יקב קסטל בע"מ, company number 512490186. The Companies Registrar lists Domaine de Castel Ltd as an active private company incorporated in June 1997, registered at Yad HaShmona. | data.gov.il | Fact, shown | |
| Business licence | Businesses in Yad HaShmona are licensed by the Mateh Yehuda Regional Council, which publishes on its website a list of the businesses in its communities that hold a business licence, with each one's trade, community and licence number. Domaine du Castel is on it: יקב קסטל בע"מ, licence 101345000, for producing, processing and packing food and for storing food in Yad HaShmona. | m-yehuda.org.il | Fact, shown | |
| The owners' own words | Quoted from the winery's website | castel.co.il | Quoted, attributed | |
| Photographs | 3 licensed | instagram.com | Linked, not copied |
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