Lebanon – Sunning grapes

The $27 million, 6.5 million bottle, Lebanese wine industry is, after nearly half a decade of treading water, entering an exciting new phase of evolution. The change is coming from a group of boutique producers making low quantities of high-quality wines from a wider range of Lebanese terroir. Less is more The trend began at the turn of the new century, with the establishment of a clutch of micro-wineries, each producing 20-50,000 bottles. Genuine garagistes wanting to make wine from ancestral plots started small, often using plastic fermentation tanks and the most rudimentary equipment, calling on family and friends to help pick grapes at harvest. Crucially, they were not all from the Bekaa Valley, the traditional wine growing area. These wines offered variety. Today, by and large they are thriving. Château Belle-Vue in Bhamdoun is currently doing brisk trade selling all its 24,000 bottles to online club members, of which