Happy February & Go Birds!

Hello Wine Club… and Go Birds!

February’s wines are from Lebanon’s Domaine des Tourelles winery, and I have been struggling to write this post. Why should it be so difficult? Well, where do we start? Ancient, modern, somewhere in-between? The actuality is that Lebanon is always “somewhere in-between”. It is a country whose population rolls with the (many, many) punches that come its way.

While the history of viticulture and wine-making in Lebanon is not as ancient as, say, Georgia, Armenia, or Turkey, this mountainous land, with its rocky coasts and fertile valleys, has long been home to wine. It is Lebanon – by way of the Phoenicians – that resulted in the proliferation of wine across the Mediterranean to North Africa, Spain, Italy… and ultimately across Europe by the actions of the Roman Empire.

The great commercial ports of Byblos, Sidon, and – especially – Tyre actively traded and plied all types of products around the Mediterranean, most notably throughout the 1st millennium. The practice is vividly preserved in the many Phoenician shipwrecks recovered around the Mediterranean coastline whose lodes included scads of wine-bearing amphora.

This wine was highly valued. Some of it came from non-Phoenician lands to its East; wine of Helbun, outside of Damascus, was a favorite of Persian and Babylonian kings that was traded out of the port at Tyre. Others were locally-made in Phoenica. Wine was produced in quantity near ancient Sidon – at Tell al-Burak, and the fragrant wines of Byblos were likely also locally produced.

The City of Baal (Baalbek) in the very fertile Bekaa Valley later became a veritable “breadbox” for Rome and was associated with wine and Bacchus, particularly after its annexation to the Roman Republic and later temple-building in the Roman Empire.

Following a millennium of turmoil and chaos wrought by invaders and earthquakes, the Bekaa again became a hub for viticulture. While still under Ottoman occupation, François-Eugène Brun opened Domaine des Tourelles; in operation since 1868, it is Lebanon’s oldest commercial winery.

François-Eugène was succeeded by, first, Louis- and then Pierre- Brun. Today, the winery is co-owned by Fawzi Issa and Emile Issa al-Khoury; she is related to the Brun family.

Like most Lebanese wineries, they also prioritize Lebanon’s national drink: arak. Sales of arak outweigh those of the Domaines wines. Their Arak Brun is a nod to the Domaines founding Brun family – and it is delicious. It is carried around the Middle East, and I was able to buy it on the shelves of a liquor store in Erbil, Iraq. Find it if you can.

You can definitely find their wine – as it is this month’s Wine Club offering.

Domaine des Tourelles Bekaa Valley Vieilles Vignes White

This is a 50/50 blend of 100 year-old Merwah and 50 year-old Obeideh. Both are grown at high altitude – 1400m for the former, 1100m for the latter. The grapes are hand harvested and separately fermented with wild yeast. The wine is then blended and put in stainless steel.

The wine is aromatic with a nose of apple orchards and scrubby herb. There are tree fruits, fresh mint, and resin on the minerally and savory palate. The wine finishes with notes of dried figs and green almonds.

Domaine des Tourelles Bekaa Valley Cinsault Vieilles Vignes

This wine is made with 100% Cinsault from vines over 1000m elevation and over 50 years old. Grapes are hand harvested and wild-yeast fermented in concrete vats, with 10 days on skins. The wine is finished in neutral oak barrels.

The wine has ripe cherry and plum in the mouth with hints of star anise and all spice, and some evergreen needles. It is a fresh, juicy wine with great acidity and structure.

Obeideh, Merwah, and Cinsault - together, these grapes exemplify Lebanese wine with the use of indigenous grapes and imported French varietals. Lebanon’s wine scene continues to adapt and evolve its use of new and old grape, techniques, and influences, but that is a story for another day.