Meet our Founder
Yoav Gilat
Born and raised in Tel Aviv, Yoav left a promising career as a lawyer to follow his passion for food and wine. While working as a legal advisor to some of the largest food and hospitality companies in Israel, he realized he was much more interested in their core business than the legalities surrounding it.
After moving to the food and wine centric Bay area, armed with a business degree from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and the Columbia Business School, he established a network of contacts in California’s wine country. As a passionate wine lover himself, he noticed a gap in the marketplace, no one was making high quality California Cabernet Sauvignons in the $20 and under price point. Combining his business acumen, legal knowledge, and passion for food, wine and California, he decided to pursue his entrepreneurial dream and launched Cannonball Wine Company in 2006.
The founding vision was to produce one of the best Cabernet Sauvignons under $20 for the U.S. market. I set out to make a wine that I would want to drink and be proud to share.
Wine had become so pretentious. I wanted to make a wine BY the people …. FOR the people
For Yoav relationships are the key to his success. “Put the time and effort into maintaining relationships in your industry and that will establish you and your company in leadership positions. My relationships and personal brand in the industry as a trustworthy business leader is everything to me.” Yoav has prioritized this from the beginning and has never wavered from that stance.