Domaine des Tourelles Rouge 2023

Domaine des Tourelles Rouge is produced only 30-50km from the Mediterranean coast, in the Bekaa valley in Lebanon at an average elevation of 1000 meters and surrounded by mountains – Mount Lebanon in the west and the Anti-Lebanon range in the east. Both ranges are composed of limestone, sandstone, and dolomite which has weathered to form heavy clays in the center of the valley where cereal grains are grown, and poor, gravelly, clays on the edges where vines and olive trees thrive. Despite its southern latitude, its elevation ensures warm, dry days and cool nights during summer. In winter, the oak- and cedar-clad mountains are snow-covered ensuring plenty of groundwater year-round. Blessed with an ideal climate for growing grapes, Faouzi Issa and Domaine des Tourelles have a simple philosophy of sustainable and manual farming, social responsibility, hand harvesting, indigenous fermentation, minimal SO2, and a preference for neutral oak aging. Temperature control for the red wines is entirely passive and based on centuries of knowledge on how to keep cool in a hot climate. The wine is fermented in cement tanks. This estate red from Domaine des Tourelles represents a classic blend – 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Syrah, 15% Cinsault, and 5% Carignan – that many associate with the red wines of Lebanon but with the added twist of being entirely fermented and aged in the estate’s old concrete tanks. This makes for a lively and expressively aromatic wine that honestly reflects the hot summer days and cool nights of the Bekaa Valley.