A Taste of Wine's History, Sip by Sip

As I begin to pen (yes, I still put ink on paper) this article, I ask Bacchus, the ancient Greek god of wine, to let my words be gentle and smooth like the young and “fresh” Massaya wines from the heart of Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

The Phoenicians (1550 BC to 350 BC), the ancient seafaring ancestors of the modern-day Lebanese, were famous for their skills as merchants and traded goods all along the coast of the Mediterranean. They introduced wine to what is now the thriving port of Marseille at the base of the Rhone River. With the advent of the Roman Empire came the building of roads, and winemaking spread throughout Europe: the age of Old World wine was born. It was during this period that the concept of aging and cellaring appeared; until then, wine, or “ancient world wine,” had been consumed in the months after production – what we today refer to as fresh, or new, wine.

Massaya is a family-run vineyard that produces a selection of ancient world wines. Brothers Sami and Ramzi Ghosn inherited the land that their father acquired in the early 1970s as a country home for his young family. Civil war exploded in 1975, devastating this tiny nation for 15 years, and, essentially, this family, like so many others, was cut off from their land and their home. In the 1990s, the brothers, now adults, were able to return to the estate they had not seen since their childhood, and the dilemma presented itself as to how they would make this 50 hectares of land self-sustaining.

Sami and Ramzi, an architect and an entrepreneur respectively, experimented with several different agricultural concepts and produced Arak, a traditional aniseed-flavoured alcoholic beverage that is similar to pastis. They saw the great potential in reviving this national drink, which had become rather passé among the chic set. “The flavour is amazing and the joy huge,” exudes Ramzi about the proprietary brand they created that remains a valuable part of their business today.

Arak is served, with an equal part of water over ice, in accompaniment with Lebanese foods and goes especially well with the flavours of summer, such as fish, lemon, thyme, parsley, mint and artichoke. Massaya’s Arak, resplendent in its blue bottle with gold lettering, was the success they needed. The terroir was reborn, and the creation of new life began to erase the stains of war.

Since Biblical times, the fertile green belt of the Bekaa Valley has been producing wines. The ancient farmers harvested the grapes and used the fruit, and then what was left over was turned into wine and consumed throughout the approaching winter season. This unaged “fresh” wine was a perfect match for the heartier and meatier flavours of the winter diet. As the spring arrived and temperatures rose, the remaining wine naturally turned to vinegar and was used as such. The cycle of arak and wine worked with the lunar calendar and the rhythm of the land, the harvest and the seasons.

And so, in 1995, Sami and Ramzi decided to follow this great winemaking custom. Massaya, in the tradition of the ancient terroir of the Bekaa Valley, produces ancient world wines – fresh wines that present without tannins and are smooth and welcome on the palate. The brothers are a new generation of winemakers in an ancient world. Their love and attention is clear in the quality of their wines, as is their devotion to their land and history. “Lebanon is a small country and will never have an enormous wine industry, but we are leaders in food, nightlife and lifestyle,” says Ramzi with more than a touch of pride. “It is in our genes to collect the influences around us and give it [sic] back and create the best.”

Ramzi makes the poetic connection that, for a nation to produce wines, the culture must first have a great cuisine; this cultural backdrop is needed in order to produce great wines, sighting France, Italy and, of course, Lebanon as prime examples. Among the New World producers, he credits California’s great cuisine with the region’s success in producing great wines, and that is where he stops on the subject.

The brothers chose the Arabic word “Massaya” as the brand name for their wines, which means “the delicate beauty of twilight” in English. At twilight, when the sun touches the mountains that surround and nourish the Bekaa Valley, Sami and Ramzi are reminded of the perfect balance that this land offers them to create wines; the wines, in turn, reflect that balance.

Massaya is only a few kilometres from the Roman ruins of Baalbek, where sits one of the world’s best-preserved examples of Greco-Roman architecture: the Temple of Bacchus. Also not so far away, in the very southern tip of the country, is Cana, where Christ turned water into wine. Given the location, one wonders if Sami and Ramzi, winemakers in the land where wine was born, may have had a touch of divine intervention as they rebuilt this enchanting estate in the fertile Bekaa Valley.

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Massaya is open to visitors who are interested in touring the vineyard and tasting wines. There is also an extremely charming open-air restaurant on the property that serves a casual buffet featuring seasonal foods and the arak and wines of the vineyard.

Sami will be in New York City at Ilili Restaurant this week hosting a complimentary tasting of Massaya Rosé. For details call 212 683 2929.

Rosé Restaurant Week at Ilili Restaurant  - July 19 to 23
236 5th Avenue, New York