Located about 50 kilometres north of Beirut, the town of Batroun and its surrounding area are in the midst of a winegrowing renaissance. The region seems to have been one of the first to have been used for the culture of vines. It had, until recently, been forgone for the sub-soils of the Bekaa valley where wine really took off.
There are now eight of them. Eight vineyards that carry with them some of the region’s history proudly, arranged under the banner of “Route of the Wines from the North”, and hoping to breathe new life into this region that borders the Mediteranean Sea. Travelling from one château to the next, it is difficult to ignore the sheer beauty of a landscape contained between leafy hills, the deep blue sea and fields of olive trees and vines.
Further down, the very ancient town of Byblos, its remarkably well renovated souk, its small fishing port and the superb Jeita caves (shortlisted in 2011 as one of the natural wonders of the world) will delight amateurs of old stone. A remarkable region that reveals another side to this rich little country.
