Spirits · Tanaïl, Beqaa Valley
El Massaya
Beqaa Valley wine and arak from two brothers reviving a family estate.
- Founded
- 1998
- Founded by
- Sami Ghosn, Ramzi Ghosn
- Based in
- Tanaïl, Beqaa Valley
Making it since
1998
Their story
Massaya is run by brothers Sami and Ramzi Ghosn on their family's Tanaïl estate in the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon. Their parents bought the property in the early 1970s as a country retreat, planted with table grapes and local varieties used for homemade arak, but the civil war forced the family to leave.
The brothers returned in the early 1990s and founded the winery in 1998 with French partners, the Brunier family of Châteauneuf-du-Pape and the Hebrard family of Saint-Émilion. They set out to restore both the estate and a local wine industry damaged by war.
How it's made
Massaya makes a white, a rosé and three reds from grapes such as Grenache, Cabernet Sauvignon, Mourvèdre, Syrah and Cinsault, with the top reds aged in oak. Its arak is made from wine and aniseed, triple distilled in copper stills heated with vine wood, and aged about 18 months in clay jars.
Why we carry them
We think Massaya is a great introduction to Lebanese wine. Try the arak with water and ice alongside mezze.
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