Description
A hugely characterful, high altitude red from one of the founding Lebanese wineries. A traditional blend. Deep ruby red with fantastically expressive aromas of cherries, cedar wood, rosemary and cloves.
A traditional blend. Deep ruby red with fantastically expressive aromas of cherries, cedar wood, rosemary and cloves. A rich savoury palate with lots of Morello cherry and blackberry flavours, some earthy spice and fine tannins. A wine packed with flavour and heritage.
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.
100% manually harvested blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (40%), Syrah (40%), Grapes are grown on 15-20 year old vines on sandy limestone, with clay sub-soils. Cinsault (15%) and Carignan (5%). Traditional vinification in concrete vats, after 10 days fermentation the wine is blended and then aged in concrete vats for 16 months.
