Little would Greek playwright Aeschylus have imagined that his tragedy The Libation Bearers would so aptly capture the heady spirit of Lebanon today–a dizzying swirl of wining, dining, and high living. Lebanon has always been the poster child for Arab hedonism; more hedonistic than Hellenistic, being the ancient settlement of the Phoenicians. From ancient times, wine has flown through and out of Lebanon, for export. Startling then, that Jesus had to turn water into wine in Lebanon where wine never wanted, except when the Islamist invaders snuffed out the bacchanalian spirit. The Jesuits resurrected wine-making in the Spirit of Christ, and today, everyone from medics to miners have turned wine-makers as Lebanon’s tourism resurrects with a phoenix-like passion. And wine tourism is the new rage. If one isn’t already drunk on Lebanese joie de vivre!
But the three “commercial” labels which monopolise the local market don’t quite excite me.
