History tells us that from ancient times, the Lebanese have been masters of wine. At least two thousand years before Alexander the Great, wine was being produced in the region to certain acclaim - the Israelite prophet Hosea urged his followers to return to God so that "they will blossom as the vine, their fragrance will be like the wine of Lebanon." Genesis 14:18 notes that the Phoenician King Melchizedek gave bread and wine to Abraham, and Hosea adds that "his fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon." As a further claim on spiritual significance, the city of Cana in the south of the country is where Jesus is said to have turned water into wine.

As one of the oldest sites of wine production in the world, the fruits of Lebanon's viticulture spread far - the wines of Byblos were exported to Egypt, Greece, Spain, and Rome, those of Sidon and Tyre were famous throughout the Mediterranean, and wine featured heavily in the Phoenician religion. The wine rituals of Canaan, the coastal strip of modern-day Lebanon, are even thought to have inspired the Greek god Dionysus, who is now immortalized at the Temple of Bacchus in Baalbek; so too are they speculated to have influenced the Jewish Passover Seder feast and the Christian Eucharist through their devotion to the role of wine in holy rites. 

When Lebanon fell under Ottoman rule, Islamic law forbade the production and consumption of alcohol - Lebanese Christians were permitted to produce sacramental wines, however, and the Christians used this loophole to later develop Arak, a spirit flavored with aniseed and similar to ouzo. In 1847, Chateau Joseph Spath was established as the first modern winemaker in Lebanon; Chateau Ksara followed ten years later, built by Jesuit missionaries in the Bekaa Valley who planted Cinsaut vines from Algeria. The French occupation after World War I left its influence on wine production and the popularity of wine drinking, as Beirut was fast becoming a cultural hotspot known as the "Paris of the Middle East." And what would Paris be without a little drink now and then?

Most of today's major Lebanese wineries are located in the Bekaa Valley, with Chateau Ksara ruling supreme as responsible for 70% of the country's production. Look for reds such as Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Carignan, Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre, while you can't go wrong with such white wines as Ugni Blanc, Clairette and Chardonnay.

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