Soirée Les Bekaas was a Lebanese wine evening organized by Vinolibano, bringing together a small circle of friends and passionate lovers of Lebanon and Lebanese wines in Switzerland. It offered a unique opportunity to discover the richness of Lebanon's boutique wineries and centuries-old winemaking heritage. Throughout the evening, guests enjoyed a carefully curated selection of wines while sharing conversations, experiences, and a genuine appreciation for Lebanese wine. 

What Was Soirée Les Bekaas?

Soirée Les Bekaas takes its name from the Bekaa Valley, the high-altitude plain east of Beirut that has produced wine for roughly 3,000 years. The evening was structured as a guided tasting: 15 wines were poured in sequence, each introduced with context on the estate, the grape, and the terroir behind it.

Soirée Les Bekaas brought together Lebanese friends and Lebanese wine lovers. Philipp Schwander, a Master of Wine and one of the small circle of professionals worldwide who hold that title, was among the friends who joined and generously shared his advice on the wines and the format of the evening.

The Value of a Master of Wine's Advice

The Master of Wine qualification is issued by the Institute of Masters of Wine and requires years of study across viticulture, winemaking, business, and blind tasting, followed by exams with one of the lowest pass rates in the wine world. Fewer than 420 people hold the title globally, so having a friend with this level of expertise involved in the evening was a genuine privilege.

What Philipp Brought to the Evening

• A trained palate that can place Lebanese wine against Bordeaux, Rhône, and other benchmark regions
• First-hand knowledge of the Bekaa Valley's altitude, limestone soils, and dry Mediterranean summers
• Honest advice on aging potential, food pairing, and which producers to watch
• Insight that helped shape a tasting order showing how the wines evolve, rather than a random pour

The Wines on Show: Lebanon's Boutique Estates

Vinolibano works with seven small, family-run estates across Lebanon, and Soirée Les Bekaas drew its flight from among them. This wasn't mass-market Lebanese wine; it was the boutique end of the category, made in limited quantities and rarely found outside specialist circles.

Bekaa Valley Highlights

The Bekaa Valley itself supplied several of the evening's standout pours, including highland reds from Château Khoury in Dhour Zahlé, high-altitude organic bottles from Château Barka in the northern Bekaa, and heritage vintages from Domaine des Tourelles, Lebanon's oldest active winery, founded in 1868. The flight included Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault, and Carignan blends alongside indigenous white grapes like Obeideh and Merweh, which grow almost nowhere else in the world.

Batroun and Jezzine: Beyond the Valley

The tasting also reached outside the Bekaa. Aurora Wines, a modern boutique producer on Lebanon's Batroun coast, brought freshness and elegant cuvées to the table, while Karam Wines from the mountains of Jezzine poured structured, mineral reds built on the rare indigenous Meksassi grape. Together, the flight showed the range of Lebanese terroir in a single evening.

A Gathering Among Friends, in Switzerland

Soirée Les Bekaas took place in Switzerland, among guests drawn from the country's main wine-drinking hubs — Zürich's growing natural wine scene, Geneva's international dining crowd, and Bern's more traditional cellars all had friends represented at the table.

Friends who couldn't attend in person, or wine lovers discovering the story afterwards, can still follow the exact wines poured on the night through the Vinolibano online shop, with delivery across Switzerland.

Why Swiss Wine Lovers Are Discovering Lebanese Wine

Switzerland's wine drinkers are known for curiosity — a market where Valais Petite Arvine sits comfortably next to Georgian qvevri wine and Austrian Grüner Veltliner. Lebanese wine fits that same appetite for terroir with a story. It offers Bordeaux-style structure at high altitude, indigenous grapes with no European equivalent, and a winemaking history older than most of the wine world combined.

There's also a values dimension. Vinolibano works exclusively with small, family-run estates and returns a share of net profit to social projects in Switzerland and Lebanon, which matters to a growing segment of conscious Swiss consumers choosing where their wine spending goes.

How to Buy Lebanese Wine Online in Switzerland

You don't need to have been at Soirée Les Bekaas to bring these wines home. Every bottle featured on the night is listed on the Vinolibano online shop, built specifically to buy Lebanese wine online with delivery across Switzerland. Browse by estate, add bottles to your basket, and check out securely — no import paperwork, no hunting through specialist merchants.

What Makes Vinolibano a Trusted Lebanese Wine Shop in Switzerland

• Direct partnerships with seven family-run Lebanese estates, not a generic importer catalogue • Wines selected for terroir and character, from 900 to 1,700 meters altitude
• Swiss-based operations, so delivery and customer service stay local
• 5% of net profit shared with social projects in Switzerland and Lebanon, plus an olive tree planted in Lebanon for every wine traveller

Best Lebanese Wines to Try After the Soirée

If the story of Soirée Les Bekaas leaves you wanting to build a small Lebanese wine collection, a few bottles make an ideal starting point. For reds, look to the Vieilles Vignes range from Domaine des Tourelles, a benchmark for how well Lebanese Cabernet and Carignan blends can age. For something rarer, Karam's Meksassi-based reds showcase a grape found almost nowhere outside Jezzine. On the white side, Umami Wines' bottlings from the Qanafar sub-region highlight the native Obeidy grape at high altitude, while Aurora's fresher Batroun-coast whites suit lighter, warm-weather pairing. Among these, several are consistently ranked among the best Lebanese wines available in Switzerland and are worth having on hand well beyond the event itself.

Frequently Asked Questions

What exactly was Soirée Les Bekaas?

It was a Lebanese wine evening held by Vinolibano, bringing together Lebanese friends and Lebanese wine lovers for a guided tasting of boutique wines from the Bekaa Valley and beyond, with advice from Master of Wine Philipp Schwander.

Where can I buy the wines tasted at the event?

All wines poured at Soirée Les Bekaas are available to order through the Vinolibano online shop, which delivers across Switzerland.

Is Lebanese wine similar to French or Italian wine?

Many Lebanese reds share structural similarities with Bordeaux and Rhône wines due to shared grape varieties, but indigenous grapes like Obeideh and Merweh give Lebanese whites a distinct, herbal character not found in French or Italian wine.

Conclusion

Soirée Les Bekaas brought something rare to a Swiss evening: a Master of Wine's expertise, offered by a friend, applied to one of the world's oldest and most overlooked wine regions. It was a gathering built for genuine curiosity among Lebanese friends and Lebanese wine lovers. Every wine on the table that night is one order away, delivered anywhere in Switzerland.