Wine Industry Regulation: Boutique Wineries Now Require a Manufacturer’s License
Israel has hundreds of wineries, many of which are boutique wineries that opened and operated without any significant regulation over the years. Now, following the enactment of new regulations in early 2025 to regulate the wine market and transfer responsibilities over alcoholic beverages to the Ministry of Health, these wineries must begin the process of obtaining a manufacturer’s license.
This regulation is intended to protect public health and regulate alcoholic beverage manufacturing activities, similar to other food businesses. The government ministries involved are now offering a fast track and bureaucratic relief for license applicants. Still, the process makes it particularly challenging for wineries to continue operating as usual.
According to data published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, which is currently working in collaboration with the Ministry of Health to grant manufacturer licenses to small wineries, about 400 wineries currently operate in Israel. 90% are defined as “small” wineries producing fewer than 100 thousand bottles per annum. Most such wineries are in rural and peripheral regions from the Golan Heights to the Negev.
Over the next few months, during the transitional period for regulating activities, small wineries will be able to obtain a manufacturer’s license in an easy, gradual fast track, based on a professional examination of fulfillment of the license requirements by the Ministry of Health’s Food Service and on an examination of the winery’s facilities and planning by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security. This fast track is designed to enable small wineries (of up to 500 m2) that operated before the new regulations came into effect to continue operating during their licensing process, to complete arrangement of their status during this period, and to obtain permanent licenses.
During the initial stage until the beginning of November 2025, small wineries may continue producing wine based on a recommendation from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and the submission of an application for a manufacturer’s license to the Ministry of Health. All applications for manufacturer’s licenses submitted by winery owners will be examined and advanced between November 2025 and May 2026. Any winery that fails to take the necessary steps to obtain a manufacturer’s license by the beginning of November 2025 could find itself operating without a license, with all the implications this entails, including a prohibition on marketing and sales. Stores and restaurants that purchase wine from unlicensed wineries after this date may also face fines. Therefore, we recommend wineries that have operated without a license up until now to submit applications for a manufacturer’s license.
***
Adv. Efrat Cohen is a senior partner in our firm’s Regulation Department. Barnea Jaffa Lande’s Regulation Department is at your service to assist in this regard.