Domaine de Tourelles Blanc, Bekka Valley, Lebanon

Region

Bekka Valley, Lebanon

Vintage:

2023

Producer:

Domaine des Tourelles

Grapes:

Chardonnay, Viognier, Muscat / Muscatel / Moscato

Wine Description:

Spicy, white peach characters with a sublime perfume of jasmine. This wine is surprisingly fresh and bursting with peach and apricot flavours. Beautifully balanced with an impressive backbone of elegant minerality. This is a delight to the senses.

The grapes are grown at an altitude of 1,050m above sea level on 15-20 year old vines with gravelous and limestone soils. Grapes are 100% manually harvested with traditional vinification in stainless steel tanks, fermentation over 10 days. After blending the wine undergoes a gentle clarification. Grape varieties include Viognier, Chardonnay, Obeidi and Muscat de'Alexandrie.

Food Suggestion:

Grilled fish with a dressing of olive oil, lemon juice and garlic, Tabbouleh, hummus, pasta with roast Mediterranean vegetables.

Producer Description

Domaine des Tourelles was founded in 1868 by French adventurer François-Eugène Brun and is one of the most highly acclaimed and oldest wineries still operating in Lebanon. It was also the first commercial cellar in 'modern' Lebanon to produce wines, arak and other spirits. This place has history! The Brun family owned and ran the winery up until the last descendant died in 2003 but luckily two local families - the Issa and Issa el-Khoury families - joined forces to buy the property and continue the fine tradition of winemaking. Today, this Bekaa Valley estate is run by the three Issa children - twins Faouzi and Johanne and their sister Christiane, alongside Emile Issa-el Khoury, son of one of the co-owners. This young and dynamic combination have introduced a handful of practices in the vineyards and cellar including the use of indigenous natural yeasts, no fining or filtering, and only very small amounts of sulphur. These techniques along with fruit from 40 hectares of ancient, organically cultivated and dry-farmed vineyards (among the oldest in the valley) and a winery perfect for hands-off winemaking, make Domaine des Tourelles one of the finest boutique wineries in the Middle East