'Our identity, heritage and history': The damaged Lebanese wineries reclaiming their legacy after Israel's war

Across Lebanon, winemakers face a desperate struggle to preserve their winemaking traditions while protecting their livelihoods and legacies they have spent a lifetime building.

Amid Israel's recent war in Lebanon, their vineyards stood as symbols of resilience against the challenges brought by the aggression, which reached a ceasefire on 27 November. They now hold onto hope that this truce will be permanent, despite Israel's many violations, and mark the end of the wars they have endured in the country. 

“I mean, how many times will we use the word resilient when it comes to Lebanese? This is not their first time making wine under war, unfortunately. So, they've always managed to find a way to continue, but it's not without its challenges,” May Matta-Aliah, a Lebanese-born wine educator, based in New York and who runs her business In The Grape, explained to The New Arab.  

Harvesting and preparing for fermentation are traditionally times of joy and pride, celebrations of hard work, and the fruits of a year's labour. But this year, that spirit was overshadowed by uncertainty and fear due to Israel's war.

Viniculture in Lebanon is one of the oldest in the world  

The country's diverse terroir supports innovation in winemaking and a revival of native grape varieties, blending tradition with sustainability to showcase Lebanon's rich viticultural heritage.  

“We have snow which provides natural water because when the snow melts it provides natural irrigation to the vineyards, so you don’t need to irrigate; that’s one value," May explained.  

The mountain chain also protects the vineyards from the humidity from the Mediterranean, so it is a dry area meaning the winemakers do not have issues with potentially getting fungal diseases or rot.” 

According to May, the grapes are quite healthy so can be grown fairly organically.  

There is a variety of native grapes in Lebanon, known as Obaideh, Merwah and Mekassi. “They’ve DNA’d them and they are originally Lebanese,” May said.  

Lebanese wines are distinguished by their high-altitude vineyards, sustainable practices like organic and dry farming, and a commitment to hand harvesting.  

“They’re not necessarily certified organic, but they don’t need to do a lot of spraying like you would in a place if you had a lot of humidity, which could then engender a lot of rot,” May explained.  

Direct damage 

Away from the chaos of city traffic lies one of the region's most breathtaking landscapes, the Bekaa Valley. This fertile land is home to many of Lebanon’s renowned wineries. But several have not been spared from Israel's shelling, either on their vineyards or their wineries.  

Elias Maalouf, the owner of Chateau Rayak and a fifth-generation winemaker spoke to The New Arab from his damaged winery in Rayak, a town in the Bekaa Valley.  

It was around 3 pm on a Monday 23 September when the bomb fell on a warehouse used by Hezbollah to store weapons near Chateau Rayak, causing direct damage to the winery.  

“We were the only winery that had direct damage in Lebanon. Shrapnel broke our walls and the winery's ceilings were torn apart. We lost about 6,800 bottles during the first strike," Elias said in agony.  

“There is no glass or doors or windows left. The winery was destroyed. We lost about $8,000 just in our laboratory,” he added.  

A video on the winery's Instagram page showed the extent of the damage. Now, Elias and other Lebanese winemakers are left with multiple challenges to navigate.  

Big losses 

Like many other wineries in Lebanon, Chateau Rayak is considered a tourist destination. Many visitors like to explore and tour the winery and its vineyards, taste the wine, and sometimes dine at its on-site restaurant.  

“Now we have to go to the market because there are no tourists as they all left when the war started. All our wine was sold to tourists. We could sell about 6,000 to 7,000 bottles in the winery in one high season,” Elias told The New Arab.  

“We had a loss in harvesting. We had a loss in the factory's infrastructure. We had a loss in stock and we had a loss in selling and buying because the area was closed. No one came to us and no one will until there is safety and stability — when that will happen, we don't know."  

A ceasefire was announced on 27 November, prompting Lebanese in the diaspora to quickly start booking tickets to visit the country for the holiday season. However, many remain sceptical, as the ceasefire is widely viewed as fragile. 

Not giving up  

Every winery in Lebanon has a story, but Sept Winery carries a message of hope and determination. Owned by Maher Harb, the winery’s name, Sept meaning “seven” in French, honours his father, who passed away when Maher was just seven during Lebanon’s civil war.

In tribute to his father and the land he inherited in the Batroun mountains, Maher pursued his passion by planting vineyards and founded the winery. 

“Lebanese wine for me is stable in Lebanon's identity, heritage and history,” Maher told The New Arab.  

“Sept continued business despite all the crises that Lebanon was going through, but by far the recent war has been the most challenging,” Maher explained.  

For him, Israel's war impacted all streams of logistics, production and sales in his business.  

“On the sales level, I could say there is a drop of 90 percent in the local market,” he said.  

On the logistical level, Maher explained that harvesting is mostly done in September and that was when the attacks intensified, especially in the Bekaa Valley where most of the grapes come from.

His business faced a lot of risks in bringing the grapes on time, especially Obaideh, a grape planted in Douris on Baalbek’s outskirts.  

“The supply chain and everything in our business was disrupted by this war, from the challenges of finding labour workers to pick the harvest, from finding drivers to transport the grapes, from selling on the local market to attracting tourists to our wineries,” Maher said.  

Sept Winery, like most other wineries in the country, is taking adaptation measures to keep its business sustainable by focusing on the export market and expanding its connections with sellers.  

As May puts it, "Export or die." This comes at a time when many wineries, fearing port closures, have raced to ship their wine to Europe as quickly as possible. 

But even with this scenario, challenges persist. According to May, wine exports are complicated by each country’s unique legal requirements, back label regulations, and specific terminology, adding layers of logistical complexity. 

Fighting the odds  

Since the intensified attacks began in September, running a winery in Lebanon meant that all winemakers had to adapt to uncertainty as the new normal, amid Israel's bombings around the vineyards, isolation due to the destroyed infrastructure, and increased costs in the face of a dangerous environment.  

Selling is the lifeline of these winemakers. Half the production was usually sold in Lebanon whilst the rest was exported, but with the disrupted summer tourist season, the hospitality sector's wines were left on shelves for months.

In the aftermath of the recent war, the only way Lebanese wineries can survive is through exports. They have to find self-sufficient methods to continue production and offer the world outstanding wines.  

With the festive season approaching, the gloomy outlook is also a source of concern for industry players.  

According to James Palge from Chateau Ksara, “Almost 20 percent of our sales on the local market are generated by end-of-year sales, between November and December, whilst 25 percent of sales are in December. Winemakers are further focusing on international markets to compensate for this decline in sales as the loss in the local market for some wineries is expected to be over 90 percent. "

Ongoing financial crisis 

Lebanon’s dwindling economy has made the rich culture of winemaking challenging as not only the financial crisis has meant a shortage of dollars, but also a lack of electricity which meant that some wineries only had two to three hours of power per day.  

According to sources from Lebanon's official association of wine producers, 70 percent of their commodities such as glass or bottlecaps are imported.  

For many, Lebanese wine is a special one, mainly because of its terroir which has a combination of good soil, climate and geology, but part of its identity is also Lebanon's crises, just like the recent war.  

“We always sort of go back to this rhetoric, oh wow they’re making wine under the bombs, but in a way and sadly, it makes it a cause, where people want to support the cause by buying the wine,” May concluded. 

Rodayna Raydan is a Lebanese British journalism graduate from Kingston University in London covering Lebanon

Follow her on X: @Rodayna_46