Everything, Even Wine, is Political

About ten years ago, I spent seven weeks traveling in Lebanon.
At that time, southern Lebanon was under the shadow of an Israeli occupation. Today, Lebanon is suffering under a massive escalation of the conflict between Hizballah and the Israeli military.

I believe (along with the UN Secretary General, to name just one example) that the violence unleashed by Israel has been obscenely disproportionate, insufficiently careful to avoid killing civilians, and unacceptable in its deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructure.

What does this have to do with wine?
Both Israel and Lebanon are wine exporters.
In the 1980s, most of us refused to purchase wines from Apartheid-era South Africa. Today, we can avoid Israeli-made wines, and deliberately seek out those produced in Lebanon.

The history of wine in Lebanon stretches back into antiquity.
Wine making is believed to have spread from Caucasia (modern Georgia), to Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) and then to the Phoenicians (in what is now Lebanon) circa 3000BC. It was the Phoenicians who spread wine to Greece and Rome, providing the foundations of European wine-making.
Cana, where Jesus is said to have saved a wedding celebration by turning water into wine, is reputed to be the south Lebanese village of Qana.

Today, Lebanon is home to a growing number of (small) commercial wineries. Certainly the best known is Chateau Musar; it’s iconic red is held by many to be one of the world’s great wines. Beyond Musar, look for Chateau Ksara, Chateau Kefraya, Domaine Wardy, and Clos St.Thomas.