UK Edition
War hasn’t stopped Lebanon’s winemakers from producing world-class bottles
Amid turmoil, the country’s vineyards are producing some of their finest wines yet. Here are six to try
For Faouzi Issa, this year’s harvest in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley has been a merciful improvement on 2024.
“Last year we were in deep, deep war and it was crazy, crazy. Yes, we were able to pick everything, but we were taking so many risks. On the highway we had to send our grape trucks down, there were always, left and right, buildings on the ground. There was a big strike next to the winery, 300m away – I could see it through the lab window. Anything below that intensity is better.”
Issa’s family winery, Domaine des Tourelles, is about 10 miles as the crow flies from the Syrian border. He has been running it since 2008, when he returned to Lebanon after stints working for René Rostaing in the Rhône and at Château Margaux in Bordeaux, France.
He now tends 65–70ha of vines in three different parts of the Bekaa. One parcel of vines is in the west Bekaa; another in Deir Al-Ahmar, to the north-west of the Roman temple ruins in Baalbek; the remainder are planted on terraces “on the beautiful mountain”, at about 1,200–1,400m, just behind the winery.
It was here, under the shade of a walnut tree, back in 2010, that I first tasted the (very good) wines of Domaine des Tourelles. On the same trip, I was lucky enough to visit a number of other Lebanese producers, including Clos St Thomas, who served us an outdoor feast of a lunch that showed how fabulously Lebanese wines marry with local foods; Ixsir, then constructing a state-of-the-art winery in the beautiful coastal town of Batroun; and the historic Château Ksara, Lebanon’s oldest winery, founded in 1857 by Jesuit priests.
I also went to Château Musar, where the legendary late Lebanese winemaker Serge Hochar had us tasting in musty-smelling cellars where years – decades? – of cobwebs had twined into thick sheets that hung from the ceiling. Everywhere, a febrile energy and sense of optimism prevailed.
But that was then. The last few years have been exceptionally tough, as even the always-upbeat Issa acknowledges. “We have been under strikes of one kind or another since 2019 – whether health-wise during Covid, the port explosion in Beirut in 2020, war, or economic [hyperinflation reached 220% in 2023]. It’s true that we have adapted, we know how to cope with the situation, but it’s tiring. We live in anxiety mode.”
Incredibly, through all of this, the Lebanese continue to produce beautiful – in many cases, better and better – wines. Some of the bottles I rate, and that are available in the UK, are listed below.
Not many supermarkets and discount stores have Lebanese options (Aldi used to have a brilliant one; alas, no longer) – if you have a favourite I’ve missed, I’d love to hear about it in the comments.