Château Ksara in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley is the country’s oldest and largest winery. Founded in the mid-nineteenth century by Jesuit monks, Ksara’s range of red, white and rosé wines are now sold all over the world and the company’s philosophy of coupling age old tradition with modern technology places it at the forefront of the exciting Lebanese wine industry.
Established in 1857, Château Ksara has presided over a series of firsts. Credited with producing the nation’s first dry wines, the Ksara estate was also the location of the Middle East’s first observatory at the turn of the twentieth century - a landmark after which its popular blend, Blanc de l’Observatoire, takes its name. From the early 1990s, Ksara began to plant noble grapes such as reds, Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon and whites, Sémillon, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, which quickly found success in the Bekaa Valley terroir, paving the way for other wineries to experiment with previously untried varieties. Drawing grapes from a number of vineyards across the Bekaa Valley wine region, the team at Château Ksara are focussed on producing high quality, expressive wines using sustainable, almost organic viticultural practices. Specific soil compositions, aspects and microclimates afford each site a unique set of growing conditions, however common to each is the influence of altitude. At an average elevation of around one-thousand metres above sea level, Ksara’s grapes benefit from abundant sunshine during the day tempered by cooler night time conditions. Hence, they develop and ripen slowly, combining rich fruit flavours with a refreshing acidity. Today, Château Ksara offers a wide selection of wines from a diverse range of grapes. Reds are represented by mono-varietal Cabernet Sauvignon and Carignan as well as a number of respected blends. Amongst these, Cuvée de Troisième Millénaire - a rich, powerful combination of Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, and Syrah, and Le Souverain - a blend of Arinarnoa, Marselan and Cabernet Franc matured in oak for twenty-four months, are perhaps the most highly regarded. The latter was created in 2007 to celebrate the estate’s one-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary and has been the recipient of multiple international medals. White wines include those from the Chardonnay and Merwah grapes as well as the afore mentioned blend Blanc de l’Observatoire, and the estate also offers a series of aromatic, elegant rosé wines to suit every taste. Producing more than three-million bottles and attracting around seventy-thousand visitors to its winery each year, Château Ksara, along with other star names like Château Musar, is a leading light of the Lebanese wine industry.
