Give a gift they’ll savour all year long. Gift a Membership Now

Old-vine wines – part 1 Lebanon

Dom des Tourelles - old vineyards in the Bekaa Valley

The first of an ongoing series on old-vine wines. We start in Lebanon, with what may perhaps be some of the oldest vines in the world. See our Old Vines Register here.

It's tempting to start with the story of Faouzi Issa, the life force behind Dom des Tourelles. He's wired, electric, articulate, unflinchingly confident, and is, without doubt, the most pioneering winemaker in Lebanon since Serge Hochar. He has that mesmeric combination of scientist, engineer and romantic – spiritual-leaning philosophy dominating much of our Zoom conversation on his old-vine wines. But I'm going to resist the temptation to...