Chateau Ksara, in Haouch el Oumara near Zahle, is Lebanon’s oldest winery, founded in 1857 by Jesuit fathers and sold in August 1973 to a group of Lebanese businessmen. Its motto, Modernity in Tradition, fits a house that still leads the Bekaa wine industry more than a century and a half later. The visit usually includes the vineyards of the central Bekaa, the historic cellars and tunnels used to age wine at a steady temperature, and a tasting of the estate’s cuvées. Ksara is an easy historic stop between Zahle, Anjar and Baalbek. Travellers looking for wine tourism in Lebanon, Roman-era cellars and a working Bekaa estate will find it more useful than a purely archaeological site.
