Indigenous Merwah vines, over 150 year old Ainata, Bekaa Valley (1,700m) – Picked in middle of October and destemmed into stainless tanks, the wine is fermented on skins for 4 weeks and racked off skins in November into stainless tanks. The temperature at the winery reaches -5 degrees celsius during the night, consistently in winter, allowing for natural cold stabilization of the wine. I think by the time the wine is bottled, it would have been through MLF, otherwise mind the bubbles!

Origin: Dimane, Qannboubine Valley - North Lebanon (1,600m)
ABV: 12.5%
USNW Classification: Natural
Varietal & Type: 80% Merwah, 20% Sangiovese
Vintage: 2021

About the Winemaker

"Lebanon is among the oldest site in wine production in the world. 

Eddie Chami, the winemaker at Mersel Wine was also one of the winemakers at Couvent Rouge. He holds a degree in Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis, California.

​For anyone that knows and speaks to Eddie, you will know that making wine is not a hobby or job, it is a deep-rooted passion. He is passionate about winemaking, as well as preserving and reviving the land of our ancestors and the winemaking techniques used many, many years ago.

​Eddie wanted to make wine that is not mainstream in Lebanon. Being born and raised in Australia, he doesn’t speak French and didn’t want to associate Mersel with the French influence in winemaking. He just wanted to make some f%kn good wine. His passion is to develop wine using local Lebanese indigenous grape varieties but something not common locally. Mersel Wine is the first to develop a Piquette and PetNat and he has been dabbling with skin-contact wines since 2016."