Wine Tasting and vineyard tours in Lebanon!

Weekend Breaks

Overview of Lebanons vineyards and their wines:

Clos St Thomas Thomas founded by Mr Said T. Touma is beautifully situated at an altitude of 1000m on the Eastern slope of Mount Lebanon, overlooking the Bekaa Valley. It is spread over 50 hectares (123.5 acres). The most locally known wine they produce is their Chateau St Thomas. As with their other varieties the grapes are hand sorted and stripped, then fermented. It is then aged for 18 months in oak casks, before bottling. It is drinkable at two years.

The other interesting white wine is their Blac Les Gourmets which differs in production process from the Kefraya white, in that the white grape skins are also crushed with the juice and allowed a short period of contact in the fermentation vats. (At Kefraya, the skins of the white wine are separated at the beginning of the process). Still this produces a light white wine that is very drinkable. There are six other wines produced at Clos St Thomas and their website is www.closstthomas.com. It is recommended that you visit this as it will give you a more intimate knowledge before arrival.

Chateau Kefraya is the largest wine producer in Lebanon (over 1 million bottles per year). The rose is good, though a little heavy and sweet and they have a very drinkable light red. They have more complex bottles like their white Blancs de Blancs which blends St Emilion, clairette, bourboulenc and sauvignon grapes. Their wines are readily available in Beirut to sample. Their website address is www.chateaukefraya.com

Chateau Musar is the smallest of these commercial producers and yet it has the best reputation for quality. Most of its wine is exported (mainly to England). It was established in 1930 by Gaston Hochar and is still a family business. It is characterised by its complex full-bodied, mature red wines. Unfortunately one of the best vintages on record was in 1984, but most of the harvest was destroyed in the war and only a few bottles survive. Their white wines are also excellent. The website is www.chateaumusar.com.lb

Ksara Ksara is beyond ones expectations! The wines are stored in a fascinating cave system where the temperature needs little regulating (other than a plastic draft excluder as you enter the system). This natural wine cellar was a grotto discovered by the Romans who consolidated part of the vault and dug several narrow tunnels from the cave into the surrounding chalk. They have a wide selection of differing wines. Half of their production are reds, based on the cinsaut and grenache grapes. The heavy reds are cabernet sauvignon and syrah grapes. Their whites are sauvignon blanc and chardonnay grapes. The website is www.ksara.com.lb

Wardy- Domain Wardy is interesting in that it is the leader in producing the largest range of monocepages such as Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. The Perle du Chateau and Chateau les Cedres have won international awards. They offer a wide variety of red, white and rose wines. www.domaine-wardy.com.

Massaya, which means twilight, is given its name from the sun when it sets on the mountains beyond, turning the vineyards purple. This is a new vineyard and these new wines come from a Lebanese/Franco partnership between the Ghosn bothers and the leading French wine maker Hebrard. Like the other vineyards it is located at around 1000m where the slopes are protected by the Mount Lebanon range. The grapes are free of frost and disease and the climate averages 25 degrees. Again the favoured varieties of grape Cabernet-Sauvignon and syrah are used. Massaya also has a website www.massaya.com which is very informative.

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