Wine is Not Immune
When was the last time you turned on the news and DID NOT hear the words "were killed" or "in fighting" or "was destroyed"?
Is it me, or have these words taken on greater prominence in our culture over the past three or four years? It would be nice to think that wine might be immune from such turns of phrase. Alas, as these headlines show that just isn’t the case:
Lebanese Wineries Could Be Targeted
Israel 2006 Vintage Under Threat
Lebanon: Agriculture in Peril as War Drags On
No political commentary here. Just a sad acknowledgment that our favorite beverage is not spared being tainted by the transparent and human shame of modern warfare and terror.
When I was a kid the hymn about trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath were stored, sounded like some kind of plunder instead of people jumping up and down in stone lagares crushing grapes with their feet. The teachers skipped telling us what the words meant.
You found some good photos. Evidently both the Golan heights and the Bekaa valley are in viticulture, though amazingly both regions are situated at elevation and get snow.
Makes you understand, perhaps, why a native Lebanese beverage called Arak is kind of like a retsina, a fortified wine admixed with anise[1].
There seems to be an excess of video programming on the Lebanese websites I visited, though one tauted the merits of Nevers French oak cooperage. These are some of the ancient parts of civilization and winemaking goes back centuries there. Both Golan and Bekaa are interfaces with Syria.
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NOTES:
[1] Lebanon’s arak beverage described http://www.chateaumusar.com.lb/english/cave.aspx
[1a] A few photos of the Musar chateau terroir http://www.chateaumusar.com.lb/english/terroir.htm
[2] Ksara Bekaa cabernet http://www.ksara.com.lb/vineyards/estate.htm
[3] unpruned young cordoned whites in Golan snow 3500′ el. http://www.golanwines.co.il/vineyard_eng.asp?num=123