October 2026 - Bekaa Valley, Lebanon

Featuring:

Domaine des Tourelles

Lebanon is a country we’ve yet to highlight in our half decade of doing this wine club. Safe to say, it is rather overdue. This country has long been on the wine world-radar, but largely as an asterisk where one producer (Chateau Musar) enjoys most of the notoriety. Finding more producers, including our feature this month, has been a wonderful treat. 

History

Lebanon has one of the longest histories of wine production in the world, dating back 5000 years (to 3000BC). After the grape vine traveled from Georgia through Asia Minor, the ancient Canaanites were responsible for the initial spread of viticulture throughout the Levant (modern Lebanon, Syria, and Israel). According to historical findings in Egypt, the city of Byblos (north of Beirut) was considered the epicenter of the wine trade in the eastern Mediterranean region.

In the middle of the 2nd millenia BC, there was a regional “bronze age collapse” that led to the evolution of the Canaanites into the Phoenicians. This civilization turned seaward, becoming the famous maritime power the Phoenicians are known as. This seafaring trade led to the spread of the grapevine and its fermented product across the Mediterranean. While many credit the Greeks for spreading the vine across modern-day Europe, the Phoenicians actually started the job slightly earlier, by about 500 years. Starting in 1000BC, the two powerful maritime empires overlapped for roughly 700 years. While the Greeks moved through the Adriatic and Balkans, the Phoenicians spread the vine to North Africa, Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain (Cádiz). 

Furthermore, it is believed that many important historical developments occurred in the Levant, including the invention of clay Amphorae for traveling and certain styles of wine presses. While no one is really sure of what happened back then (stories of rulers and warriors are more exciting than those of farmers and merchants), it is theorized that the ancient peoples in/around modern day Lebanon helped accelerate the proliferation of wine and the grape vine far earlier and more widespread than the other Iron-age powers.

Fast forward roughly 1000 years to the mid 600’s (AD), the Byzantine empire falls to one of the early Caliphates and Muslim-Arab rule over the region begins. Under this new religious structure, wine production was stifled but not entirely extinguished. The overarching trade and any commercial endeavors ended, however many Christian communities were exempt and continued to cultivate vines to produce wine, largely for sacramental and local use. 

This exemption continued through the next 1000 years and became a fixture in the Ottoman Empire. Under Ottoman rule, Christians were allowed to make and sell wine, however it was taxed heavily. During the end of this period, Château Ksara was founded (1857) as the first modern winery in Lebanon. It is still in operation today. A few years later, in the 1860’s, there was civil conflict in the area of Mount Lebanon (as the modern country was referred to then). The conflict resulted in the Catholics and Druze sharing control of the region as a subdivision of the larger Ottoman empire. This allowed true commercial production of wine to start and directly led to the founding of Domaine des Tourelles in 1868. 

Climate and Geography

Lebanon is and has historically been defined by its mountains. The prime range, called Mount Lebanon, averages about 8000ft with its highest point reaching 10,131ft (~1100 ft lower than Mt Hood!). This range stretches almost the entire length of the country. It catches a majority of the maritime precipitation and the flora resembles Alpine regions heavily. Opposite this range lies another, aptly called Anti-Lebanon. This range is lower in both average (6000ft) and maximum height (9200ft). This range is along the modern-day border of Syria/Lebanon and the rainshadow effect of the range creates the Syrian desert.

In the center of these two ranges sits the Bekaa Valley, at 3000-36000ft of elevation. In truth, it has all that a wine region needs - elevation to allow some cooling influence in a relatively hot region, some rainfall from the maritime influence, protection from the desert heat in the other direction. Most importantly, it has the historical benefit of protecting civilizations through history. As covered above, Lebanon has long been a haven for non-Muslim communities to continue practicing their religion through history. The difficulty of penetrating this mountainous, interior region is the key reason that those communities were able to exist and, ultimately, why they were able to protect the history of viticulture and wine production in the region.

The Bekaa Valley sees about 300 days of sun per year, enjoys cooling effects of high elevation at night (creating diurnal swings that lock in acidity / even ripening) and has ample water from snowmelt in both ranges. As far as grapes and winemaking culture are concerned, it borrows a lot from France. The focus has long been Bordeaux varieties - Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Sauvignon Blanc - as well as Rhone varieties - Syrah, Cinsault, and Carignan. One highly interesting mention is Mourvedre, which is widely accepted as a French grape these days. In fact, the grape is native to Lebanon and first spread to Spain (via the Valencia area) around 500BC before eventually making its way to France in the 14th-16th century. This is just one small example of how confusing “native varieties” can be and how important it is to remember to think outside of the typical colonial mindset regarding wine.

Domaine des Tourelles

In the mid 1800’s, François-Eugène Brun traveled from France to Lebanon on contract with a French company to build the Damascus-Beirut road. Naturally, this road traveled through the Bekaa Valley, where François-Eugène presumably became enchanted by the climate and decided to found a wine company. In 1868, Domaine des Tourelles became the first commercial winery in modern day Lebanon. (Château Ksara has the accolades of being the actual  first modern winery in the country - 11 years earlier, however being founded in a Jesuit monastery it loses the designation of commercial even though it is nowadays very much so). 

Tourelles - now over 150 years old - continued ownership through the Brun family, to Louis (son) and Pierre (grandson). Pierre helped shepherd the winery through the tumultuous Lebanese Civil war (1975-90s), but never had children. Thus with his death in 2000, the winery had no clear heir. The Brun’s distant relatives in France inherited the winery and swiftly decided to sell it to longtime family friends, Elie Issa and Nayla Kanaan Issa-el-Khoury. These two families are now onto their second generation (four cousins), making Domaines des Tourelles a five generation winery across three families.

Domaine des Tourelles farms roughly 125 acres of vineyards, most of which are located in the village of Ammik in the Western Bekaa. These vineyards sit at roughly 3450’ of elevation. Most vines are freestanding bush vines (head trained) grown on iron-rich gravel and limestone soils with clay sub-soils. Vines range in age, with the oldest reaching nearly 70 years. This rich vine age helps the grapes grow without irrigation (aka dry farming). With a climate favorable to low disease pressure, Tourelles is able to farm all of their vineyards organically (only sulfur and copper in required vintages). 

The winery itself is an old stone building, with open-air arches and a terra-cotta roof. It is rustic and charming, architecturally appropriate for the style of wine produced and ethos the family holds. The winery is located along the Beirut-Damascus road, on the eastern side of the mountains and the western part of the valley, near the town of Chtoura. From here, it is about 1 hour by car - 50km - to Beirut. The winemaker, Faouzi Issa, treats the process with a hands-off, low-intervention approach. After laborious hand harvesting and additional sorting at the winery, the carefully selected grapes are processed either for either white wine (pressed) or red wine (crushed/destemmed). Fermentation with native yeasts takes place in massive concrete tanks - some a century old - that help modulate temperatures and give the wines a long, slow maceration and fermentation. A number of wines are aged in these concrete tanks while others - mostly red - are transferred to oak barrels (mostly neutral) for aging. 

In addition to natural winemaking, the family remains a leader in sustainability within Lebanese wine - they use solar power, filter winery wastewater before releasing it into the ground, have opted for lighter glass bottles for shipping, and make an effort to reduce/re-use as much as possible.

True to their French roots, the family grows several French or International varieties - Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Cinsault, Carignan, Chardonnay, Viognier , Tempranillo and Muscat d’Alexandria - as well as a few native Lebanese varieties - Merweh and Obeidi. In addition to wine, the estate also produces a line of high-quality Arak - an anise based spirit similar to Sambuca or Ouzo.

Tourelles, Blanc, Vallée de la Bekaa 2024

The estate has two wines - red and white - that act as the introductory point to the winery. The blend for the white is 65% Viognier, 20% Chardonnay, 10% Obeidi (an indigenous Lebanese grape), and 5% Muscat d'Alexandria. 

The grapes are pressed off and fermented in stainless steel before a light aging in the tank. The resulting wine is fresh and bright with notes of stone fruit, jasmine, and citrus peel. It is light and refreshing, perfect for light appetizers or charcuterie. 

Tourelles, Rouge, Vallée de la Bekaa 2023

The Bekaa Valley red wine is a blend of 40% Syrah, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cinsault, and 5% Carignan. The grapes are hand harvested, crushed/destemmed, and aged in concrete vats. After fermentation is finished, they are racked off and aged in the same vats for another year. The result is an aromatically fresh wine with aromas of black cherries, cedar wood and savory herbs, with fine but present tannins.

It is a fantastic wine for some end of season grilling or, here’s a thought, some Lebanese food!