Merwah

Brilliant full gold in colour, with butter, honey, roasted almonds, apricot, vanilla and orange. Toasty honey, ripe apricot, nuts and spice carry through the rich palate, balanced by good acidity. The blend is two-thirds Obaideh and one-third Merwah from low-yielding Mount Lebanon vineyards. Fermentation began in cement vats, followed by six to nine months in French Nevers oak barrels. Alcohol is twelve-and-a-half percent.

Merwah forms seventy percent of the blend, with thirty percent Sauvignon Blanc. The wine is a still, skin-contact natural white with no residual sugar. Merwah comes from old vines in North Lebanon, while Sauvignon Blanc grows in the Bekaa Valley. Fermentation takes place on the skins in stainless steel. The lots undergo malolactic fermentation, are racked twice and are bottled without fining or filtration. Alcohol is eleven percent.