Massaya

نبيذ و عرق / Popular

THE STORY OF MASSAYA STARTS IN THE HEART OF THE BEQAA VALLEY AT TANAÏL. IT WAS HERE IN 1992 THAT SAMI AND RAMZI GHOSN RECLAIMED THEIR FAMILY’S LAND AND BEGAN CREATING A VINEYARD AND A MODERN WINERY.

THEY PRODUCED THE FIRST BOTTLES OF ARAK IN 1994 AND WINE IN 1998.

THE QUALITY OF THE WINES PROMOTED MASSAYA ALMOST OVERNIGHT INTO THE TOP ECHELON OF LEBANON’S PRODUCERS. THE ARAK IN DISTINCTIVE TALL BLUE BOTTLES BECAME A LOCAL FAVOURITE AND INTRODUCED A LITTLE KNOWN SPIRIT TO AN INTERNATIONAL MARKET.

Tradition meets modern technology and local flair with a hint of the seductive bouquet of fermenting grapes at the winery at Tanaïl. Here in vats of stainless steel, concrete or oak casks the various grape varieties begin a journey that will take them into the blended bottles of Massaya red wine: Cinsault, Grenache, Mourvedre, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Tempranillo. Visitors are welcome to walk among these mighty containers and to follow the grape story from pressing to bottling and labelling.

The perfume of slow burning logs welcomes you to our distillery where we heat four copper stills in the same way that generations of arak makers have always done. We use more than 500 tons a year of Obeidi grapes grown widely on Beqaa farms and have 50,000 litres of arak ageing in clay amphoras – just like the ones the Romans used.