Château Ksara
Along with Château Musar and Château Kefraya, Château Ksara is one of the three internationally known Lebanese wineries . It is located in the north of the Bekaa plain near the town of Zahlé . It is named after a nearby crusader fortress, called Ksar in Lebanon . The winery, founded by Jesuits in 1857, is the oldest and largest such company in Lebanon. It was converted into a public limited company in 1973 and today has a market share of around 35 percent in Lebanon.
History and present
Viticulture has a long tradition in the Bekaa plain, which probably goes back to the Phoenician times . The underground cellars that are still in use today, which were first expanded during the Roman rule in Lebanon, were also used as wine cellars long before the winery became historically tangible. 1857 came the cellar equipment and about 20 hectares, mainly with autochthonous vines bestockter vineyards in the possession of the Jesuits, who modernized the cultivation and winery practices and a number of new, mainly French grape varieties introduced. In the beginning they mainly produced sweet altar wine from Cinsault . In addition, they acquired a larger area near Tanail, just south of the Ksara estates. Other, smaller areas were gradually bought up so that the total vineyard area reached about 67 hectares. The existing underground cellars were expanded during the First World War and are now several kilometers long. In 1973 the estate was privatized on the basis of a Vatican decree and converted into a joint stock company. Many of the vineyards are still cultivated by the Jesuits today. During the civil war , wine production at Château Ksara almost came to a standstill. After its end, the entire winery was modernized in 1991 and James Palgé, a cellar master with Bordelais experience, was hired.
In addition to the grapes from their own vineyards, they are also purchased from contract winemakers, so that the total usable vineyard area for Château Ksara is over 300 hectares. Almost half of the production volume is exported, mainly to France.
The underground cellar system, in which the year-round constant temperatures of 11 ° -13 °, is also a tourist attraction that attracts over 40,000 visitors annually. Several thousand bottles of very old Ksara vintages are also stored in the cellars. The oldest are from 1918.
Location, soils and climate
The vineyards of this winery are located on the eastern and western edges of the northern to central Bekaa plain at an average of 1200 meters. The climate is almost continental with very hot, dry summers and cool winters. In summer the daily peaks reach over 30 ° C, but the nights cool down to 15 ° C. The total amount of precipitation is about 700 millimeters and falls in the last half of autumn, in winter and in the first weeks of spring. The ventilation is very good thanks to the cool breezes that occur especially in the morning and evening hours . The most important soil type is the terra rossa , which is often found in the Mediterranean , an often brick-red colored clay-limestone soil. The dry summer climate, which is very detrimental to the development of diseases, especially powdery mildew and botrytis , enables the extremely economical use of pesticides.
Vines
In addition to the local Obaidy and Merwah vines , which are mainly used for arak production and supply the base wines for the brandy distillation, the estate's vineyards are mainly with Cabernet Sauvignon , Merlot , Cabernet Franc , Syrah , Mourvèdre , Tempranillo , Grenache , Carignan , Petit Verdot and Cinsault with red wines and with Chardonnay , Sauvignon Blanc , Sémillon , Gewürztraminer , various varieties from the nutmeg family, Clairette Blanche and Ugni Blanc with white wine varieties. The rare Arinarnoa , a cross between Merlot and Petit Verdot , is also of particular importance . The yields per hectare vary from variety to variety, but are limited in-house to a maximum of 45 hectoliters / hectare, even for the high-yielding varieties.
Wines
The portfolio of the winery is extensive due to the large variety of grapes. Red wines make up around 65%, whites 20% and rosés 15% of total production. In 2004 the winery produced around 2 million bottles.
The top product is the Château Ksara Rouge, a cuvée made from 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 10% Petit Verdot, which is aged in French oak barrels for at least 18 months before being bottled. In addition to a number of fresh and rather light cuvées of different compositions, which can also be consumed young, a single-origin Cabernet Sauvignon and a cuvée made from Cabernet Sauvignon and Arinarnoa, which are marketed under the name Le Souverain, are also worth mentioning. The economic backbone of the winery, however, is the Reserve du Couvent red wine, of which over 500,000 bottles are bottled each year. The cuvée made from 40% Syrah and 30% each of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc is particularly popular in the catering industry because of its relatively favorable price-performance ratio. Among the white wines, the Cuvée Château Ksara Blanc de Blancs (50% Sauvignon and 25% Sémillon and Chardonnay) is the top product. Also worth mentioning is a single-variety Chardonnay, which is made exclusively from grapes from the best locations at over 1400 meters above sea level.
A number of rosé wines are also offered, of which Rosé de Ksara, a blend of Cinsault, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, is the best known.
The winery also offers a fortified sweet wine made from Muscat Blanc à petit grains and Gewürztraminer , which is marketed under the name Moscatel. The grapes that have already been raisined for this, surprisingly fresh, golden yellow wine, despite its sweetness, are not harvested until November. The earlier vintages had a high alcohol level of 18 percent by volume , but recently, much lower alcohol levels have been emphasized.
Like all large Lebanese wineries, Château Ksara also produces an arak called ksarak and occasionally notable brandies.
literature
- Michael Karam: Wines of Lebanon . Photographs by Norbert Schiller. Saqi, London 2005, ISBN 0-86356-598-0 .
- Jancis Robinson : The Oxford Wine Lexicon . 3rd, completely revised edition. Hallwag, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-8338-0691-9 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Karam: Wines of Lebanon. 2005, p. 88.
- ↑ Hugh Johnson ( Memento of the original from January 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
- ↑ Karam: Wines of Lebanon. 2005, p. 89.
- ↑ a b Homepage of the winery ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
Web links
Coordinates: 33 ° 49 ′ 34 ″ N , 35 ° 53 ′ 31 ″ E