Tushia Winery: Turning Desert Sand into Wine in Be’er Milka
How does a tomato planted in a small South Tel Aviv apartment become a winery among the dunes near Israel’s border with Egypt?
For Gal and Roni Tushia, that first small act of cultivation opened a path that eventually led far from city life. Today, their agricultural-educational farm in Moshav Be’er Milka stretches across approximately 70 dunams of vineyards, olive groves and fruit orchards. At its heart stands Tushia Winery—a family estate built among the vines and rooted in the conviction that agriculture can connect land, learning, family and spirit.
The winery is only one expression of the larger Tushia vision. Visitors do not simply arrive to taste wine; they enter a working desert farm where grapes, olives, pomegranates, dates, apples, guavas and other fruits grow from sandy soil. Every bottle belongs to a wider story of choosing the Negev, learning to cultivate it responsibly and inviting others to participate in that work.
From a Tel Aviv apartment to the Egyptian border
Gal and Roni’s agricultural journey began modestly, with a tomato they planted while living in a small apartment in South Tel Aviv. Over time, the desire to work directly with the land became a central part of their lives.
They established Tushia Farm in 2012 near Be’er Milka, a small community in the Ramat HaNegev region close to the Egyptian border. The landscape was dominated by pale dunes and land that had not previously been intensively cultivated. Together with their four children, they built an agricultural life in a place where every tree and vineyard row required imagination, persistence and close attention to desert conditions.
The farm was conceived not only as a commercial enterprise but also as an educational one. Schools, families, soldiers, yeshiva and ulpana students, youth movements and volunteers from Israel and abroad have come to work, learn and encounter desert agriculture firsthand.
A farm that treats the land as a responsibility
Tushia Farm describes its approach as sustainable Hebrew desert agriculture. The family avoids chemical spraying and synthetic fertilizers, both to protect the soil and to allow their children and visitors to pick and taste fruit directly from the trees.
The desert’s dry conditions can reduce pressure from certain pests and diseases, helping the farm maintain an ecological balance that includes beneficial insects. Sandy soil also drains differently from heavier soils, giving growers another way to influence moisture and the timing of fruit ripening.
The farm’s principal crops are wine and table grapes and olives, alongside an unusually varied orchard. Wine, natural grape juice and olive oil are therefore not separate products added to the visitor experience; they are the direct outcome of the landscape guests walk through.
The first three bottles
The winery grew slowly from the vineyards rather than beginning as a separate business plan. During the farm’s early years, Gal and Roni sold their grapes to other wineries. With each harvest, however, it became harder to part with the fruit they had cultivated themselves.
One year they kept a small quantity and made just three bottles of wine, which they drank on Purim. The emotion of tasting wine made with their own hands revealed what the farm could become. In the family’s own words, the goal was to transform desert sand into wine over which Kiddush could be made.
The couple began studying winemaking, and the following experiments grew from a few bottles to several hundred. In 2020, they took the decisive step of producing wine themselves from all the grapes they cultivated. Their first commercial wine received recognition at the international TerraVino competition, confirming the potential they had discovered in the vineyard.
Wine, Kiddush and a personal spiritual journey
Wine carries a particularly personal meaning for Gal and Roni. They describe themselves as ba’alei teshuva—people who adopted a more observant Jewish life as adults. The first Kiddush they remember hearing was the one they made for themselves at the age of 32.
The blessing over wine moved them deeply and created a lasting respect for wine as more than an agricultural product. Years later, planting vines and making wine in the Negev connected that spiritual memory with the physical labor of cultivating the land.
This aspect of the story gives Tushia Winery a distinctive identity. The winery welcomes visitors of different backgrounds, while its own inspiration is openly grounded in Jewish tradition, settlement of the land and the relationship between practical work and inner life.
Estate wines grown in desert sand
Tushia built its winery among its vineyards, following the idea of an estate or château winery in which grapes are grown and wine is produced in the same place. The vineyards are under organic supervision, and the grapes are harvested by hand.
The farm currently lists Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Petite Sirah, Alicante Bouschet, Chenin Blanc and Muscat Hamburg among its varieties. This combination allows the winery to create structured reds, fresher white or rosé styles, and natural grape juice while exploring which grapes respond best to the light, dryness and sandy soils of Be’er Milka.
Alicante Bouschet is especially interesting in this landscape. Unlike most red wine grapes, it has colored pulp as well as dark skins, producing wines with a naturally deep hue. Tushia’s current collection also includes Chenin Blanc and wines with names that reflect family, land and Jewish tradition, such as Kiddusha.
Because the winery is young and developing quickly, the portfolio and available vintages should be reconfirmed before publication. The changing collection is part of a larger process: learning what this far-western corner of the Negev can express through wine.
Visiting Tushia Farm and Winery
A visit can combine wine with the wider agricultural story. Guided tours lead through vineyards, olive groves and orchards while explaining the region’s geography, sustainable desert cultivation and Gal and Roni’s journey from Tel Aviv nightlife to a farm near the border.
Depending on the season, visitors may taste fruit directly from the trees. Families can take part in an agricultural treasure hunt, while wine-focused guests can tour the vineyards, learn about the local terroir and compare wines and production styles. Wine and olive-oil tastings offer two different ways of understanding the farm through its finished products.
Picnic baskets with cheeses, bread or crackers, olives, spreads and wine have also been advertised for couples and families. As activities, food and prices change seasonally, all experiences must be reserved and reconfirmed directly with the farm.
Education is part of the harvest
Tushia is not simply a winery that happens to stand on a farm. Agricultural education and volunteer work are part of its founding purpose. Groups come to take part in physical work, conversations and learning designed to reconnect people with how food is grown and with the human effort behind every harvest.
This gives the visitor encounter a wider relevance. Children can discover that fruit does not begin in a supermarket; adults can see how organic-supervised cultivation works under desert conditions; and organized groups can explore questions of sustainability, community, Jewish identity and the contemporary development of the Negev.
The experience is therefore adaptable. It can be a relaxed wine stop, an agricultural family activity or a deeper educational encounter shaped around the needs of a school, community or organization.
Why Tushia Winery belongs on your Negev journey
Tushia Winery brings together several stories that are rarely found in one place: a family’s departure from city life, the cultivation of untouched desert sand, a return to Jewish tradition, sustainable agriculture and the creation of an estate winery close to Israel’s border with Egypt.
The wines matter, but so does everything surrounding them—the vines, olives, volunteers, children, orchards and conversations. For travelers, Tushia offers the chance to see how a glass of wine can represent not only a grape variety or vintage, but an entire way of choosing to live on the land.
Plan your visit
- Location: Tushia Farm, Moshav Be’er Milka, Ramat HaNegev, near the Egyptian border
- Setting: Agricultural-educational farm, estate vineyards, orchards, olive groves, winery and visitor center
- Experience: Guided farm and vineyard visit, wine and olive-oil tasting, seasonal fruit tasting and agricultural learning
- Family activities: Orchard walk and treasure hunt may be available by arrangement
- Food: Light fare and pre-ordered picnic baskets may be available
- Suitable for: Adults, couples, families, schools, youth movements, soldiers, communities and organized groups
- Opening arrangements: By advance appointment
- Hours published by a current tourism listing: Sunday–Thursday 09:00–18:00, by prior arrangement only; confirm directly
- Kosher: Yes; detailed certification should be confirmed directly before publication
- Saturday: Closed
- Visitor-center contact — Roni Tushia: +972-52-897-7520
- Gal Tushia: +972-50-866-6323
- Email published on the official website: meshek.tushia@gmail.com
- Website: tushia.co.il
- Regional profile: Negev Desert Wine
Opening times, tour formats, prices, food, seasonal activities and available wines may change. All visits should be arranged directly with the farm in advance.
Discover Tushia Winery with the Negev Wine Card
Tushia Winery is a participating partner of the Negev Wine Card. Use your card to taste estate wine among the vineyards and discover how Gal and Roni Tushia transformed desert dunes into a living landscape of agriculture, education and hospitality.