Top 100 wines of Lebanon - Page 4
Discover the top 100 best wines of Lebanon as well as the best winemakers in the region. Explore the varietals of the wines that are popular of Lebanon and the best vintages to taste in this region.
Discovering the wine region of Lebanon
Lebanon is a Middle Eastern country with an ancient wine culture that has experienced a renaissance in recent decades. In 2011, about six million bottles of Lebanese wine were produced from 2000 hectares (5000 acres) of Vineyards. Modern Lebanese viticulture has moved inland from the ancient Phoenician port cities to the fertile Bekaa Valley. There are also a handful of vineyards near Jezzine, a few kilometres from the Southern end of the Bekaa, just inland from Sidon.
The majority of Lebanese wine is exported to the UK, France and the US, where receptive consumers have encouraged healthy growth in Lebanon's modern wine industry. In 1998, there were less than 10 wineries in Lebanon; there are now more than 30. Red wines account for the bulk of production; they are generally made from the classic southern French Grape varieties: Carignan, Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. White wines may contain Ugni Blanc, Clairette and Chardonnay.
The modern wine industry dates back to the 19th century. As non-Muslims living in a Muslim state - which had been Part of the Ottoman Empire since the 1500s - Christians living in Lebanon enjoyed certain freedoms, including the right to produce 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 best wine-growing area.
Château Ksara deserves its own chapter in the annals of Lebanese wine history.
Discover the grape variety: Muscadelle
Muscadelle white is a grape variety that originated in France (Bergerac). It produces a variety of grape specially used for wine making. It is rare to find this grape to eat on our tables. This variety of grape is characterized by bunches of medium size, and grapes of medium caliber. Muscadelle white can be found in several vineyards: South-West, Cognac, Bordeaux, Armagnac, Provence & Corsica, Rhone valley, Loire valley, Savoie & Bugey, Beaujolais, Languedoc & Roussillon.
News from the vineyard of Lebanon
Liv-ex 2021 Power 100 shows rebalancing of the fine wine market
The latest edition of Liv-ex Power 100, which lists the most powerful fine wine brands, shows that the period between October 2020 and September 2021 experienced a rebalancing of the market, with a number of classic labels returning to prominence. Château Lafite Rothschild re-entered the top 10, moving from 11th to 2nd place, while fellow First Growths Mouton-Rothschild and Margaux have also risen, to 6th and 10th place respectively. Petrus also re-entered the top 10, now at 7th place after a ye ...
Andrew Jefford: ‘2021 has been the year of all the miseries’
How’s the weather been this year? Awful. ‘La nature m’écoeure’, one of my wine-growing friends posted on Facebook on 8 April, having been out to look at the frost-crippled shoots on his vines that morning: ‘Nature disgusts me’. It takes a lot to make a wine-grower feel that. He wasn’t alone. Jeremiads echo around the northern hemisphere as 2021 closes. It’s been the year of all the miseries. None suffered more horribly than the growers of Germany’s Ahr valley, where floodwaters caused by the fou ...
Daou Family Estates in Paso Robles expands to Tuscany
The new Daou Family estate has yet to be named but the purchase includes 70 hectares of land and an old farmhouse called Coroglie. Next month, the Daou brothers will plant 20 hectares of vines focusing on Bordeaux varietals Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. The vineyard will incorporate biodynamic principles, as well as dry-farming and organic approaches. The first harvest is planned for 2025. Winemaker Daniel Daou was drawn to the new estate by the similarities he found with the pr ...