Lebanon · Bekaa

Domaine de Baal

Organic mountain estate in Lebanon's Bekaa making unfined, unfiltered reds from Cabernet Franc, Syrah and Cinsault at 1,200 metres on the western slopes of Mount Lebanon.

The producer

Sébastien Khoury trained on the Right Bank of Bordeaux, in Saint-Emilion, where Cabernet Franc on limestone and clay is the load-bearing variety of the appellation, not a blending afterthought. When he returned to Lebanon in 2006 and chose where to plant, he went up the western face of Mount Lebanon to 1,200 metres, where the soils run to limestone and clay and the altitude extends the growing season well beyond what the valley floor allows. The estate is organically certified. The estate uses whole clusters and wild yeasts, with no fining or filtration and total sulphur dioxide below 50 mg/l.

The range has two reds. The flagship, Domaine de Baal Rouge, is 40% Cabernet Franc, 40% Syrah and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, aged long in barrel before release: Franc's graphite grip and herbal lift alongside Syrah's darker fruit and pepper, deepened by Cabernet Sauvignon's cassis and the texture that comes from bottling unfiltered. Le Petit Baal Rouge takes Syrah to 80% and adds 20% Cinsault, which softens the wine into something fresher and earlier-drinking. Both are grown at altitude, farmed without synthetic inputs, and carry whatever the fruit and the fermentation produce without correction.

Known for

Whole cluster, wild yeast reds without fining or filtration; equal-parts Cabernet Franc and Syrah flagship aged long in barrel.

Notable facts

The story

The Saint-Emilion Return

In Saint-Emilion, Cabernet Franc on limestone and clay is not a regional curiosity: it is the variety the appellation was built around before Merlot became the commercially dominant story. Sébastien Khoury spent his formation years there, learning a winemaking language in which Franc on stone is the natural base of the wine. When he left and came back to Lebanon in 2006, he did not plant on the Bekaa floor with the rest of the valley. He found slopes on Mount Lebanon's western face at 1,200 metres where the limestone and clay ran in the same configuration he had spent years learning in Bordeaux. His flagship blend is 40% Cabernet Franc alongside 40% Syrah, a proportion almost no other Lebanese producer uses. He had learned what that soil does to Franc. He came home and found the same soils waiting on the mountain.

From the atlas

Domaine de Baal

At A Glance

The Producer

Sébastien Khoury trained on the Right Bank of Bordeaux, in Saint-Emilion, where limestone and clay under Cabernet Franc is not an experiment but a centuries-old proof. He came back to Lebanon in 2006 and did not look for land on the flat Bekaa floor. He went up the western slopes of Mount Lebanon to 1,200 metres, where the soils are limestone and clay, and planted there.

The estate is organically certified and operates without fining or filtration. Whole cluster fermentation with wild yeasts is practised. Total sulphur dioxide stays below 50 mg/l. These are not marketing commitments; they shape what reaches the bottle. The wines are unfiltered, low-sulphur, and carry whatever the fruit and the fermentation produce without correction.

The two reds split the range cleanly. One is a long-aged flagship built from Cabernet Franc and Syrah in equal parts, with Cabernet Sauvignon filling the last fifth. The other is an earlier-drinking Syrah and Cinsault. Both are grown at altitude, farmed without synthetic inputs, and bottled without additives.

Place

The Bekaa Valley runs north to south between two mountain ranges, the Lebanon range to the west and the Anti-Lebanon to the east. Most Bekaa estates plant on the valley floor or the lower eastern slopes. Domaine de Baal sits on the western face, on Mount Lebanon's slopes, at 1,200 metres above sea level. That elevation puts it several hundred metres above the valley's main wine zone.

Altitude changes the growing season. Nights are cooler, the diurnal range between day heat and night cold is wider, and the growing season extends longer than it would lower down. That length and that cool carry directly into the grapes: acids hold, ripening is gradual, and the fruit arrives at harvest without the overripe, baked character that the valley floor can produce in hot years. Limestone and clay in the soil add to the picture. They drain well, retain some moisture, and give the roots something to push against.

Lebanon does not use an appellation system comparable to France's. There is no village or cru designation on the label. What the label carries is the estate name and the country. The provenance is the slope and the altitude, not a protected appellation.

Soil And Site

The soils at Domaine de Baal are limestone and clay, a combination that occurs on both the Mount Lebanon western face and in the great Cabernet Franc appellations of Bordeaux's Right Bank. Limestone provides drainage and forces roots deep. Clay retains water through dry summer months and adds weight to the mid-palate in the wine. Together they support organic farming without irrigation dependency in a climate that is dry from June to September.

At 1,200 metres the site is exposed. Wind moves through the vineyard, reducing humidity and disease pressure. That exposure makes organic certification practically easier to maintain than on lower, more sheltered sites. It also affects berry size: smaller berries from stressed mountain vines give a higher skin-to-juice ratio, which concentrates colour and grip.

Story

Khoury's time in Saint-Emilion gave him a specific formation. Saint-Emilion is built around Cabernet Franc and Merlot on limestone and clay. Cabernet Franc there is not a blending tool used for fragrance; it is a load-bearing variety that sets the spine of the wine. When Khoury returned to Lebanon and chose his site, he chose the same soil profile. When he built his flagship blend, he put Cabernet Franc at 40% alongside Syrah at 40%, a proportion almost no other Lebanese estate uses. Cabernet Franc is still rare in Lebanon; Syrah is the dominant red variety across the Bekaa.

The 2006 founding brought both commitments together at once: altitude site, organic farming, whole cluster fermentation, no filtration. Nothing in the record suggests these were introduced gradually or converted over time. The winery opened with those practices already in place.

Vineyards And Cellar

The vineyards are farmed organically, certified, without synthetic herbicides, pesticides, or fertilisers. The altitude and exposure reduce disease pressure and make dry-farming possible through Lebanon's arid summers.

In the cellar, whole cluster fermentation means the stems stay in with the grapes. Stems add tannin with a different texture to grape-skin tannin: often more angular at first, more resolved with time. They also preserve freshness and can contribute a herbal edge, particularly in Cabernet Franc, where that edge is already part of the variety's natural character. Wild yeast fermentation, without cultured inoculation, means the fermentation follows the natural yeast population of the vineyard rather than a selected commercial strain. The pace is less predictable and usually slower.

No fining agents are used, so the wine is not clarified by any protein or clay addition. No filtration removes solids before bottling. The wines go into the bottle with their full tannin and texture load intact. Total sulphur dioxide below 50 mg/l is low by conventional winemaking standards: enough for basic microbial stability, not enough to arrest development. The wines evolve in the bottle.

The flagship Rouge undergoes long barrel ageing before release. Barrel type and duration are not specified in public sources.

Wines

The range has two documented reds.

Domaine de Baal Rouge is the flagship: 40% Cabernet Franc, 40% Syrah, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, with long barrel ageing before release. The equal portions of Franc and Syrah pull in different directions. Franc brings a leafy, graphite edge, firmer mid-palate grip, and a more herbal lift. Syrah adds darker fruit, pepper, and a smokier, denser body. The Cabernet Sauvignon at 20% adds cassis depth and tannin. Long barrel ageing rounds the tannin grain, but without fining or filtration, the wine holds significant texture. It is built to develop in the bottle, not to be opened young.

Le Petit Baal Rouge is 80% Syrah with 20% Cinsault. Cinsault is a grape that softens: lower tannin, lighter colour, more lifted red fruit alongside Syrah's weight. The blend sits between the density of a pure Syrah and the lighter style of Cinsault alone. It is described as balanced between fruit, wood and spices. Earlier-drinking than the Rouge, lower in extraction and oak commitment.

Both reds are unfiltered, unfined, and bottled below 50 mg/l total SO2.

In The Glass

Domaine de Baal Rouge opens with dark fruit and a herbal, graphite thread from the Cabernet Franc. Syrah adds pepper and smoke behind it. On the palate the tannin is present: not polished away by fining, not stripped by filtration, it registers as grip through the mid-palate. The Cabernet Sauvignon's cassis deepens the centre. Long barrel ageing integrates the oak without eliminating it. The finish is firm and long. This is a wine with years of development ahead; the tannin and acidity at altitude hold the wine together rather than tipping it heavy.

Le Petit Baal Rouge is lighter in every register. Syrah at 80% still gives the wine its backbone, with black pepper and darker berry, but the Cinsault lifts the fruit into a fresher, more immediately approachable range. Wood and spice are present but don't dominate. The finish is shorter and the tannin softer. It drinks earlier and is less demanding to open.

Both wines carry the character of their farming: no additives, no corrective winemaking, fermented wild, bottled unfiltered. What the vintage and the mountain produced is what reaches the glass.

A Bottle To Understand It

Domaine de Baal Rouge is the bottle to open first. It is 40% Cabernet Franc, 40% Syrah, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, fermented with whole clusters and wild yeasts, aged long in barrel, and bottled without fining or filtration. On the nose it shows dark berry, graphite and herbal lift from the Franc, with Syrah's smoke and pepper behind. In the mouth the tannin is firm and textured, the acidity from 1,200 metres keeps the whole thing from collapsing into heaviness, and the finish is long. Open it with three to four years of bottle age if possible; the tannin grain becomes more resolved and the Franc's character more expressive. No other Lebanese red is built quite like this, which is the reason to start here.

Anecdote

In Saint-Emilion, Cabernet Franc on limestone and clay is planted everywhere. It is the variety that the appellation was built on before Merlot became the dominant commercial story. Sébastien Khoury spent his formation years there, learning a winemaking language in which Franc on stone is the natural base of the wine. When he left and returned to Lebanon in 2006, he did not plant on the Bekaa floor with the rest of the valley. He found slopes on Mount Lebanon's western face at 1,200 metres where the limestone and clay ran in the same configuration he knew from Bordeaux. His flagship blend is 40% Cabernet Franc and 40% Syrah, a proportion no one else in Lebanon uses at that ratio. He had spent years learning what limestone and clay do to Franc. He came home and found the same soils waiting on the mountain.

Final Word

Domaine de Baal is a small mountain estate making two clean, uncommonly built reds in a country more associated with large Bekaa châteaux. The altitude, the soil, the Cabernet Franc proportion, and the cellar philosophy all trace back to one winemaker's formation in Bordeaux and one deliberate decision about where to plant. The Rouge is the reason to pay attention.

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