GVINAGE

GVINAGE is a boutique dairy and culinary center for cheese culture, founded in 2021 by Naomi and Yedidya Richard Stein - with a clear vision: to bring Europe’s finest cheese knowledge and traditions to Israel, and to strengthen Israeli cheese culture from within.

Naomi Richard was born and raised in the French Alps - one of the world’s most important cheese regions. A food and agricultural engineer by training, she studied cheesemaking and cheese maturation (affinage) at ENIL, the French national dairy school, and honed her craft in France and Canada. She gained her international experience during two years at a dairy in Chile, and then by founding École du Fromage - a cheese school in South America that operates to this day and has trained over 3,000 professionals. In 2018, Naomi moved to London to establish the European branch - this time in collaboration with the British Academy of Cheese - where she built an international cheese school that deepened her standing in the global professional community. Today, Naomi is one of only 37 certified cheese masters in the world (Maître Fromager), and one of the world’s leading experts in artisanal cheese maturation.

The Israeli story began in the summer of 2021, when Naomi and Yedidya immigrated to Israel and settled in the Galilee. Our first maturation house was established in Maghar, and from there began our work with local cheesemakers from all over the country. In the summer of 2024 we moved to Rom Farm on Mount Kamon - an agricultural and rehabilitation farm - understanding that the connection between the farm’s rehabilitation project and our desire to build a social culinary center creates something extraordinary.