Lebanon · Bekaa

Château Heritage

Bekaa Valley estate producing Cabernet Sauvignon-led reds from a renovated 1927 schoolhouse, with a family wine history stretching back to 1888.

The producer

The Touma family has been making wine in the Bekaa Valley since 1888. When they relaunched as Château Heritage in 1997, they chose an abandoned school building from the French Mandate period, renovated its stone walls, and released their first modern bottles from inside it. The estate sits near Baalbek, close to the Roman Temple of Bacchus, in a high-altitude valley where the growing season is long enough for Cabernet Sauvignon to ripen fully and cold enough to keep the acidity alive.

The signature wine is Cuvée Saint Elie Red, a Cabernet Sauvignon and Cinsault blend that carries toasted oak, black plum, black tea, graphite, black currant, and black olive, with firm tannins and a structured, dry finish. In 2025, Château Heritage was ranked No. 33 in The World's 50 Best Vineyards.

Known for

Cuvée Saint Elie Red, Bekaa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and Cinsault

Notable facts

The story

109 Years Between Bottles

The Touma family made wine and arak in the Bekaa Valley from 1888. Then the 20th century moved through Lebanon: two world wars, independence in 1943, and a civil war that ran from 1975 to 1990 and pushed Lebanese wine almost entirely out of international view. When the family decided to relaunch in 1997, they did not start from a blank site. They found a school building put up in 1927 during the French Mandate period and left abandoned years later. They renovated it, installed the winery equipment inside its old stone walls, and released the first Château Heritage bottles that year. The gap between the family's 1888 start and the 1997 reopening was 109 years. The building they chose to house the revival was itself nearly 70 years old.

From the atlas

Château Heritage

At A Glance

CountryLebanon
RegionBekaa Valley
WineryRenovated 1927 schoolhouse near Baalbek
Founded1997 (modern winery); family in Bekaa wine production since 1888
Signature WineCuvée Saint Elie Red
Key GrapeCabernet Sauvignon with Cinsault
RecognitionNo. 33, The World's 50 Best Vineyards 2025

The Producer

The Touma family has been making wine in the Bekaa Valley since 1888. When they relaunched as Château Heritage in 1997, they did not build a new winery. They found an abandoned school built in 1927 during the French Mandate period, renovated its stone walls, moved in the equipment, and released their first bottles. The winery still operates from that building today.

The estate sits near Baalbek, the ancient city whose Roman Temple of Bacchus remains one of the best-preserved temples in the world. It is a setting that places contemporary Lebanese winemaking inside a history of viticulture stretching back long before France or Rome arrived. In 2025, Château Heritage was ranked No. 33 in The World's 50 Best Vineyards, placing it among a short list of estates whose combination of wine, place, and experience draws serious international attention.

Place

The Bekaa Valley runs north to south between the Lebanon Mountains to the west and the Anti-Lebanon range to the east. It is a high-altitude plateau, lying between 900 and 1,100 metres in its central sections, with a strongly continental climate: cold winters, dry summers, and intense sun. The altitude moderates what would otherwise be extreme heat, preserving acidity in the grapes and extending the growing season enough for Cabernet Sauvignon to ripen fully without becoming jammy or heavy.

Baalbek, in the northern Bekaa, anchors the region's claim to antiquity. The Temple of Bacchus, god of wine, was built by Roman engineers in the 2nd century AD, on a site where the Phoenicians had already been cultivating vines for centuries. Château Heritage sits in this landscape, close enough that the ruins form part of the view from the estate.

Soil And Site

The Bekaa Valley sits on a limestone plateau. The soils in the region are predominantly calcareous, with varying depths of clay. Specific parcel or soil data for Château Heritage's own vineyards is not publicly documented, and no precise breakdown is available in sourced material.

Story

The Touma family's first chapter in Bekaa wine production began in 1888, in an era when the valley was already supplying grapes and spirits across the region. They made wine and arak, the anise-distilled spirit that runs through Lebanese food culture. Then came everything the 20th century delivered to Lebanon: two world wars, French Mandate administration, independence, and a civil war that ran from 1975 to 1990 and took Lebanese wine almost entirely out of international view.

When the family returned to wine production, they opened in 1997, just seven years after the civil war ended. The building they chose was a school constructed in 1927 and long abandoned. Renovating it was a deliberate connection to local history rather than an investment in a showcase cellar. That approach extended to the estate's public presentation: Château Heritage presents itself through place and archaeology as much as through wine, with the proximity to the Temple of Bacchus central to its story. By 2025, the estate had been ranked in The World's 50 Best Vineyards, a list that measures wine quality alongside the hospitality and experience of visiting.

Vineyards And Cellar

Cabernet Sauvignon is the primary grape at Château Heritage. Cinsault appears as a blending partner in Cuvée Saint Elie Red. The combination is common in Lebanese red wine production, where Cabernet Sauvignon provides dark fruit and tannin and Cinsault contributes aromatic lift and a softer mid-palate.

The estate produces multiple cuvées across the range. Oak ageing is part of the cellar programme: the Saint Elie shows toasted oak character on the nose, integrated into the wine alongside dark fruit rather than dominating it. Specific details on barrel ageing duration, new oak ratios, and cellar techniques are not confirmed in available sourced material.

Wines

Cuvée Saint Elie Red is the signature bottle. It is built on Cabernet Sauvignon with Cinsault in a supporting role, and it carries the density and oak integration that the Bekaa's high-altitude growing conditions make possible. The wine shows dark fruit on the nose, firm tannins, and a structured mouthfeel built for the table rather than for immediate fruit-forward drinking.

The estate produces additional cuvées beyond Saint Elie, and white wine varieties are grown. The range extends the Château Heritage style across price points and occasions, though the detailed sensory profiles and grape compositions of the other wines in the line are not fully documented in available sourced material. Saint Elie is the bottle with the most publicly available detail, and it functions as the clearest expression of what the winery does with its core red grape.

In The Glass

Cuvée Saint Elie 2019 opens with toasted oak and black plum. The oak is present but not heavy: it sits alongside the fruit rather than ahead of it. Black tea, graphite, black currant, and black olive come through on the palate, a combination that reads as the Bekaa plateau working through Cabernet Sauvignon: concentrated dark fruit, a savory mineral thread, and firm tannins that give the wine shape. The mouthfeel is structured and substantial. The finish is long and dry, carrying the graphite and black olive notes from mid-palate through to the close.

The combination of altitude-driven acidity and oak ageing means Saint Elie holds its form with food rather than softening away from it.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Cuvée Saint Elie Red. It is Cabernet Sauvignon dominant with Cinsault, grown on a high plateau at Baalbek and aged in oak. On the nose: black plum and toasted oak. In the mouth: black tea, graphite, black currant, black olive, firm tannins, and a dry, structured finish. It is not a light or casual bottle. It is built for lamb, slow-cooked meat, or aged hard cheese, and it gives a clear account of what the Bekaa Valley does with Cabernet Sauvignon at altitude: concentration, savory depth, and enough acidity to keep the fruit from going flat.

Anecdote

The Touma family made wine and arak in the Bekaa Valley from 1888. Then the 20th century moved through Lebanon: two world wars, independence in 1943, and a civil war that ran from 1975 to 1990 and pushed Lebanese wine almost entirely out of international view. When the family decided to relaunch, in 1997, they did not start from a blank site. They found a school building that had been put up in 1927 during the French Mandate period and left abandoned years later. They renovated it, installed the winery equipment inside its old stone walls, and released the first Château Heritage bottles that year. The gap between the family's 1888 start and the 1997 reopening was 109 years. The building they chose to house the revival was itself nearly 70 years old.

Final Word

A 1927 schoolhouse, a family wine history that begins in 1888, and a 2025 ranking among the world's fifty best vineyards: three points on one line, in a valley where the Romans built a temple to the god of wine nearly two thousand years ago.

Sources