Batroun District
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Batroun District is an administrative and geographically recognized district in Lebanon located 50 kilometers north of the capital Beirut. The district’s total area is 418 square kilometers which consists mostly of mountainous terrain with elevations varying from sea level to 2000 meters above sea level and narrow costal areas. The estimated population is 98,000 distributed throughout the district’s 67 towns including the district’s capital city of Batroun on the Mediterranean Seacoast. The Batroun District is a traditional viticulture appellation well known for growing several varieties of indigenous grapes for many centuries. Many remains of potteries and storage clay jars have been unearthed or discovered near the seacoast floor in addition to stone carvings of grapes which have been discovered in the city dating back to the Phoenicians era 3000 BC. For more information on Phoenicians visit www.magma.nationalgeographic.com. In the past thirty years a new trend of well known European grape varieties has been introduced by local farmers and wine producers including-but not limited to-Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, Chardonnay, Muscadet, Semillon, Marsanne, Roll and Riesling. The Batroun District is also a rich agriculture district known for growing and producing agriculture by-products like table grapes, raisins, wines (several varieties), spirits (Brandy, Liqueurs and Arak), several essences (roses, orange flowers and wild oranges), olives and olive oil, bee honey, carob molasses, pomegranate molasses, grape molasses, figs, almonds, walnuts, a variety of fresh fruits and fruit preserves, and tobacco.
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Red Wine
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Red Wine: Red grapes are picked in the cool early morning hours and rushed to the winery where they are de-stemmed and crushed and quickly transferred to open fermentation vessels. All red grapes are fermented naturally on their skin and seeds. Only natural wild flora (yeast) that exists naturally on the grape skins are allowed in all of our red wine fermentations. Small containers (1000 liter ~ 260 Gal.) made of the top quality stainless steel (type 316L) are used for all fermentations. Small containers allow the fermentation to stay cool naturally and maintain near ambient temperatures. Lower temperatures fermentation allows the wine to maintain their natural fruity characters. The complete fermentation process usually takes 10-14 days after which the wine is drained from the skin and seeds in a process called “free run”. The skin and seeds are then transferred to the press where only a portion of the “pressed wine” is added to the “free run” wine depending on the style of wine desired. Too much “Pressed wine” adds undesirable bitterness and astringency but on the other hand it increases the wine potential for aging and prolongs its maturity time.
At this stage Malolactic fermentation is encouraged. Malolactic fermentation is the conversion of hard, malic acid (tart green apple flavors) in wine to soft, lactic acid (soft milk acid, rich butter flavors). This process, which typically happens right after alcoholic fermentation and is especially desirable in red wines, creates a silky textured wine with additional body and complexity. All red wines are 100% barrel aged 6 to 8 months in small French oak barrels before they are bottled unfiltered and absolutely unfined.
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White Wine 
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White Wine: White grapes are picked in the cool early morning hours and rushed to the winery where they are de-stemmed, crushed and pressed. The grape juice is quickly transferred to closed fermentation vessels. Closed fermentation is used to protect the juice from oxygenation. The juice is inoculated with specially selected commercial yeast before it undergoes controlled cooled fermentation to preserve its fruity characters. Under such stressful conditions (cool and closed fermentation) only specially selected commercial yeast are able to do the job. The alcoholic fermentation process usually takes 14-21 days after which malolactic fermentation is encouraged. The wine is then racked off to a new clean stainless steel vessel and allowed to rest until spring. Only then will they receive light filtration before bottling. Absolutely no fining agents are used on any of our wines.fermentation and is especially desirable in red wines, creates a silky textured wine with additional body and complexity. All red wines are 100% barrel aged 6 to 8 months in small French oak barrels before they are bottled unfiltered and absolutely unfined.
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Rosé Wine 
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Rosé Wine: Rose wine is made from red grapes. The red grapes are picked in the cool early morning hours and rushed to the winery where they are de-stemmed, crushed. The grape juice is soaked in contact with the skin for 4 to 8 hours to gain the blush pink/reddish color desired (color intensity increases with time). It is then quickly allowed to drain freely without press in a process called “free run”, then transferred to closed fermentation vessels and finally fermented as a white wine (see white wine for additional details).
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Arak 
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Arak: Arak is made from distilled grape spirits with natural aniseed. Grape spirits are obtained from the distillation of naturally fermented Semillon, Melon, and other grape varieties. The ripe grapes having 25% to 28% sugar at harvest are picked in early morning and processed with minimum delay. The grapes are de-stemmed, crushed and pressed after which the juice is transferred to a fermentation vessel. The grape juice is fermented using only natural wild flora (yeast) that exists naturally on the grape skins. The alcoholic fermentation takes 10 to 20 days to complete. The fermented juice or wine is then transferred to a traditional distillation still where it undergoes a five stage distillation process. A strictly controlled distillation temperature is followed in order to produce Arak free of methanol. Methanol is a poisoning alcohol which is produced natural in small quantities (~2%) during alcoholic fermentation; methanol is the alcohol responsible for headaches, hangovers, and dryness in the mouth and after long exposure for kidney problems. There are no artificial colors or flavors used in the fermentations or distillations and only natural aniseeds are the source of the rich anise flavor.
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Liqueur 
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L'esprit D'amour: L’esprit D’amour is made with aged grape spirits blended with freshly distilled grape spirits with fresh wild tropical oranges. The final product is similar to that of Grand Marnier, but far more superior.
Grape spirits are obtained in the same process used for Arak (methanol free). A portion of the pure grape spirits is aged in Lebanese oak barrels for thirteen years to obtain its golden color and rich smooth characters to be used in the future. The other portion is then distilled after long maceration with fresh wild tropical orange peels. The blend is assembled from previously obtained thirteen year old grape spirits aged in oak and the newly distilled spirits with wild orange peel then sweetened to perfection with natural brown sugar. There are absolutely no artificial colors or flavors used in the making of L’esprit D’amour just smooth and pure burst of intense rich natural flavors.
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