Lebanon is a Middle Eastern country with an ancient wine culture that has experienced a renaissance in the past few decades. In 2011, roughly six million bottles of Lebanese wine were produced from 2000 hectares (5000 acres) of Vineyards. Modern Lebanese viniculture has moved away from the ancient Phoenician port cities and inland to the fertile Bekaa Valley. There are also a handful of vineyards near Jezzine, a few miles beyond the Southern end of the Bekaa, just inland of Sidon.
The majority of Lebanese wine is exported to the UK, France and the US, where the receptive consumer bases have encouraged healthy growth in Lebanon's modern wine industry. In 1998, there were fewer than 10 wineries in Lebanon; now there are more than 30. Red wines account for most of the output; these are usually made from the classic wine grapes of southern France; Carignan, Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. White wines may feature Ugni Blanc, Clairette and Chardonnay.
The modern wine industry here can be traced back to the 19th Century. As non-Muslims living in a Muslim state – Part of the Ottoman Empire since the 1500s – Christians living in Lebanon were permitted certain freedoms, one of which was the right to make wine for ceremonial purposes. It was on this basis that, in 1857, a group of Jesuit priests founded a winery in Ksara, a small town in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon's finest wine Terroir.
Chateau Ksara warrants its own chapter in the annals of Lebanese wine history.
The auction featured more than 1,000 lots made up exclusively of Scotch whisky. The company gave a combined estimate in the region of $1.5m in the build-up to the event, so it exceeded expectations by more than 66%. The top three lots went to The Macallan, whose enduring popularity shows no signs of waning any time soon. The most expensive lot was The Macallan Millennium Decanter 50 Year Old from 1949, which sold for $40,000. A case of six bottles of Macallan 30 Year Old in their original wooden ...
Marks & Spencer is no stranger to achieving top scores at the Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA), and to celebrate its results the leading retailer has selected its favourite award-winning wines from this year’s awards, for customers to purchase exclusively on marksandspencer.com. Customers can choose from a carefully selected mix of six delicious winter-warming reds; an irresistible mix of crisp, refreshing, complex white wines from the Old and New World; a mix of both red and white wi ...
The dark days began when I learned from a visiting Canadian friend about the death of one of the kindest, most gentle and most skilful Pinot winemakers I’ve known, Paul Pender of Tawse Winery. He died in a senseless and tragic act of violence on the evening of 3 February, outside his Lake Erie cottage. A stranger, subsequently charged with his murder, had (it seems) knocked on his door, asking for help. Paul’s sudden, untimely loss has left his family, and the broader Canadian wine community, di ...