Review of Lebanese Wines: Chateau Heritage 9 from the Bekaa Valley

Lebanese Wines: Chateau Heritage Nine 2020

Name: Chateau Heritage Nine 2020
Type: Red Wine
Grapes: Cinsault, Cabernet-Sauvignon, Syrah, Grenache, Carignan, Merlot, Tempranillo, Cabernet-Franc, and Mourvèdre
Year: 2020
Country: Lebanon
Region: Bekaa Valley (Beqaa Valley)
Date Consumed: May 18, 2024

The Chateau Heritage 9 is a medium-bodied red wine with friendly tannins. But it doesn’t lack complexity. Made with nine different types of grapes, every sip of this wine contains a symphony of notes, including red fruits, black fruits, licorice, and oak.

Before uncorking it, I thought of the Chateau Heritage 9 as a mere experiment. After all, a blend of nine grapes isn’t ordinary.

I said, “You have to be someone like Des Esseintes from Against Nature by Joris K. Husymans to enjoy such wines.”

Honestly, I did not expect it to be this good.

And I wasn’t the only one to be impressed by it. Whoever tasted it liked it.

I’m giving this wine an 88/100.


A Quote:

He made his way to the dining-room, where in a recess in one of the walls, a cupboard was contrived, containing a row of little barrels, ranged side by side, resting on miniature stocks of sandalwood and each pierced with a silver spigot in the lower part.

This collection of liquor casks he called his mouth organ.

— Joris K. Huysmans, Against Nature

Enjoying an Ixir Grand Reserve Red 2016, a wine from North Lebanon

Lebanese Wines: Ixsir Grand Reserve Red 2016

Name: Ixsir Grand Reserve Red 2016
Type: Red Wine
Grapes: Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon
Year: 2016
Country: Lebanon
Region: North Lebanon
Date Consumed: April 9, 2024

A wooden bowl filled
with black fruits and red fruits.
I feel I’m
on a hill constantly caressed by the wind
coming from the sea.

It’s a weeknight and friends are over
for barbecue
and for moments of loud laughter.

I uncorked this bottle minutes
before they arrived
and had a few sips,
looking for verses and notes
residing in the elixir,
looking for memories
I haven’t made yet.