While I was in Lebanon during the spring, I had a chance to spend a few days in the Beqaa Valley, which holds the treasure of the ruins of Baalbek at its northern end, but holds its other treasure to the southern end, the wines of Lebanon. The wine culture in Lebanon goes back centuries.
The reputation of the wine of Canaan was such that Egyptians reported it to be “as abundant as flowing water.” So needless to say…. I fit right in here.
wine right out of the cask
I got in touch with Sebastien Khoury of Domaine De Baal by email a few days before I wandered over to that part of Lebanon and he was kind enough to meet me at a local restaurant to sample some of his wines. We sat down and he started the tasting with a bottle each of his 2008 white and red blends, beautifully paired with a platter of sashimi of a local whitefish and salmon, and I began to ask him about the wine culture in this tiny country.
In walked the Lebanese Minister of Culture, accompanied by another local winemaker for lunch. Sebastian got up and made his greetings – three cheek hello kisses in this part of the world – and introduced me.
Domaine de Baal is a relatively new winery. Its first vintage was in 2006, when Sebastien starting building the winery two weeks before the last crisis this small country faced, the war that year between Israel and Hezbollah that ravaged parts of Lebanon.
The two month war happened right during harvest time and although most of the violence was in the south and over near Beirut, Khoury told me that it still presented some enormous obstacles for his fledgling winery, most tellingly that since the airport in Beirut was closed for weeks, he had difficulty getting oak for his barrels and spare parts for his machinery.
But he perservered and is making a couple really lovely wines right now. He has cultivated about 5 acres of grapes, soon to be 8-9 acres, and is using French vines that use very environmentally friendly growing methods. As he said, “it is easy to do here. There is no rain from June to October, so there are limited disease problems.”
The red, as usual, was my favorite. It is a blend of 60% Cabernet, 30% Merlot, and 10% Syrah. It is really, really smooth, even at its young age. The tannins are extremely limited and it is drinkable right off the shelf. It exhibits a full bodied flavor, full of the flavor of blackberries, cherry, and plum.
He hopes to do some more exporting to the States over time and if you can find it on your shelves, snap it up. In the meantime, perhaps use it as another excuse to come over to the Middle East and visit.
the actual winery buildings
Yummmmmmm.... the wine cellar
tap that cask please... now
When I started posting a little bit on wine, I got contacted by a few folks that wanted me to try out some other wines from around the world. So I think I am needing to start a “wine list” that I need to keep track of. Right now, I’ve got Chateau La Lagune, Domaine de Bel Air and Franz Haas on my current list of things I haven’t tasted yet… but are more than willing to put to my lips soon enough!
Love the look of the winery! What are the grape varieties grown around Lebanon? Are there many different kinds? Are they all blends?
I have to admit, I’m not sure of the answers on these. I do know that the same varieties that you seen in France were pretty common here, but I also think there are some local grapes in use, but mostly for arak, which is the grape liquor of the region.
Very interesting! And those casks looks pretty clean and new.
I forgot to ask him how many times he used them before switching them out.
This is very nice, wine-making is very interesting, I have family both in Italy and France, where wine is an important part of the culture, and I have visited many big wineries. I wish Sebastien Khoury all the best with his business.
Thank you Angela. Cheers
Interesting post – I didn’t count Lebanon among the wine-making countries. I suppose the wine is very strong in terms of taste and alcohol percentage?
Actually not at all. Similar in alcohol percentage and taste to other wines I have had around the world.
I would love to try some Middle Eastern wines! I’ll be sure to ask you for pointers when that time comes around 🙂
I hope to be in the region and help tour you guys around. 🙂
wonderful wine, i love lebanese wine
Never had wine from the middle east, but I’m a lover of all things drink related so I’m sure I could find some entertainment there 🙂
Wine, great people, cheap, wonderful history and places to see…. pretty great spot.
I don’t know much about wines from this part of the world. Very cool that you got to check out a younger, up-and-coming winery. Mmmm… red wine. Must. Open. Bottle.
I always thought of Lebanese wine as roughly on a par with, say, Bulgarian, Greek and Turkish wines — perhaps a few steps up from Vietnamese wine on the scale of things. Thanks for correcting my ignorance.
There actually are a fair number of quite good Greek wines also, but I can’t speak to Bulgarian and can’t imagine anywhere in Vietnam conducive to proper grape growing.