Lebanon makes more wine than it can reasonably drink, in more styles than any single guide can carry. This almanac is our reading of it. 6 regions, ranked the way we'd visit them; the houses our critics keep returning to; and a short list of restaurants where we'd spend the evening.
Lebanon
Lebanon
6
72
20
The country, in numbers and adjectives.
The terroirs, by hand.
5 regions worth the trip first — chosen by the Femente desk for the houses we’d open with, the variety of styles within each, and the cooking that grew up around them.
Bekaa Valley
The Bekaa Valley floors its reds with altitude and continental cool, pulling dark fruit tight against structure that demands food and…
Northern Lebanon
The wines here split between mountain cool and lowland ripeness, forcing growers to choose between crisp, mineral reds and fuller…
Wine of Lebanon
3 estates working under the regional appellation.
Batroun
The Levantine coast reshapes itself in the mountains above Batroun: high-altitude reds gain spine from maritime wind, while whites split…
Southern Lebanon
The Bekaa Valley's southern extension strips the grape down to its minerals and tannins, where heat and altitude wage constant war…
The country’s house grammar.
The 2 styles Lebanon makes most of, ranked by bottle count on Femente. The bar beneath each cell shows that style’s share of lebanon’s production.
270
Lebanese Red — the country’s most numerous bottle.
117
The houses that keep showing up.
9 Lebanon estates the prestige critics have agreed on — ordered by the count of 95+ scores across Vinous, Decanter, Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator.
Where to spend the evening.
12 rooms across Lebanon our editors keep coming back to — chosen for the cooking and the wine list, in that order.
BARON BEIRUT
Grill · Middle Eastern — Khodr
88
Slate
Middle Eastern — مستشفى الروم
45
Bar Du Port
Grill · Seafood · Fusion — Beirut
42
P I K Y
Street Food · Grill · Middle Eastern — Al Hikmat
41
Abu Hagop Restaurant ( مطعم أبو يعقوب)
Street Food · Falafel · Middle Eastern — Dekwaneh
41
Ai Bar & Restaurant
Grill · Mediterranean · Middle Eastern — Nejmeh Square
40
Scala Gastro
Mediterranean · Traditional — Batroun
40
مطعم الفوّار
Middle Eastern — Dar Al Fatwa
40
House of Arts Restaurant
Street Food · Middle Eastern · Traditional — Khodr
40
فلوكة غسان
Traditional · European — Unesco
40
La Signature Coffee & Restaurant
Grill · Coffee · Middle Eastern — Ghazir
40
Che’ Che’ Café
Coffee · Middle Eastern · Traditional — Jouret Ballout
40
Add Lebanon to your cellar journal — or pick a region and start walking.
A short note in your inbox when we add a new region, find a winery worth crossing town for, or open a tasting we’d send you to. No noise. Just the ones we’d book ourselves.