05/06/2026
From French rule to independence and beyond, Lebanon’s modern wine story is one of resilience, ambition and belief in the future.
In an exclusive extract from the award-winning Wines of Lebanon, Michael Karam traces how political change and a spirit of optimism helped shape one of the world’s most remarkable wine cultures.
“Expansion was not just growth, but growing confidence in what Lebanese wine could become.”
Photos:
1. Wine was an essential staple in the French army. By 1916, at the height of WWI, the daily allowance of red wine, or Pinard, for a French soldier was ¾ of a litre. The Lebanese became willing suppliers.
2. Jesuits with French army surveyors in 1920.
The French authorities were enthusiastic consumers of the
wines at Ksara. (Photo courtesy of Tanail Monastery Collection)
3. French soldiers based in the Bekaa Valley enjoy the local
wine. When tens of thousands of French soldiers and civil servants
arrived in Lebanon, the word went out that the new colonial masters
would buy any locally-produced wine. (Photo courtesy of Norbert
Schiller Collection)
4. Gaston Hochar founded Château Musar in 1930 at the
height of the French Mandate. (Photo courtesy of Hochar
Family Collection)
5. The cobweb-drenched cellars at Château Musar, which date back
to the 1930s.
Photo credit: Norbert Schiller
https://academieduvinlibrary.com/blogs/vinosity/france-independence-and-optimism
