This is an estate with a story that most others will never know. The Ghosn family had to negotiate hard in the early nineties to reclaim the family estate, after it had been abandoned due to the civil war and was inhabited by squatters. Gradually the property was revitalized and the estate started producing dairy, molasses, raisins and arak. It expanded into wine after brother Ramzi came back to Lebanon from Paris, to join forces with Sami, who had returned to the family estate from America. They did this with the help of some top French estates that they partnered with (thanks to a persistent cork supplier), including Chateau Cheval Blanc in Bordeaux, and Vieux Telegraph in CNDP, to make sure the focus was firmly on quality. At this time, a few historical wineries controlled all of the wine production in Lebanon, so Massaya focused on small, quality production. They launched the winery in 1998, which began the renaissance of winemaking in Lebanon. There were just four wineries in 1998, now there are 45. Jon went on his first ‘mission’ to this estate in 2006 and has stocked all of the wines ever since.
Massaya means twilight in Lebanese, and the dark blue labels represent the dark blue skies in Beqaa when the sun sets over mount Lebanon. In the summer of 2014, they started another winery high in Mount Lebanon. Massaya Faqra now serves as the winery for the white wines of the estate and has built a fine reputation for their restaurant, with quality diligently upheld by Ramzi and sister Ghada.
