Château Massaya Cap Est 2018

Sami and Ramzi Ghosn’s parents abandoned the family farm in the Bekaar Valley during the Lebanese Civil War and fled to America. The brothers returned in the early 1990’s to breathe life into their old estate grubbing up the table grapes to replant with vines. Massaya today is a joint venture between the Ghosn brothers and the Brunier brothers, Frederic and Daniel of Le Vieux Telegraphe in Chateauneuf and Dominique Hebrard ex owner of Ch. Cheval Blanc.

Their Cap Est comes from family land on nearby Mount Lebanon, from their highest lying vineyards at an altitude i1200 metres up in the Hadath Baalbeck area. The blend here is 50% Grenache and 50% Mouvedre 30% are planted in a chalky clay soil. The fruit is returned to the Bekaar winery for 20-30 day fermentation in oak vats, then further aging for 20 months in large oak vats.

A garnet hew and spicy dark cherry and plum fruit on the nose with an attractive warm spicy palate with soft tannins and mineral notes from the chalky soil.