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When François-Eugène Brun set the foundation for Domaine des Tourelles around 150 years ago and had at that time no idea what it would become in the later years.
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He was born French and recruited by an Ottoman company as a young military engineer set to work on the construction of the Beirut-Damascus road. So François-Eugène went to Lebanon at the age of 24, where he settled in the village of Chtoura, which was on the edge of the Bekaa valley.
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He was enchanted by the beauty of the landscape, which reminded him of his homeland. In 1868, he founded the Domaine des Tourelles, which is in fact Lebanon's oldest commercial winery. Château Ksara is older, not able to sell their wines yet.
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The high quality standard allowed the company to flourish quickly - the Arak Brun in particular, which became famous all around the world. Brun's passion earned him numerous awards (gold, silver and bronze) at international competitions at the very first stages of his adventure.
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Dynasty of the Bruns expired when the last grandson died in the year 2000. Nayla Kanaan Issa-el-Khoury, a cousin of the widow, and Elie F. Issa acquired the estate. Both were keen to continue the philosophy of the Brun family and invested 200,000 dollars in technical equipment while employing a French cellar master until 2009.
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And from then on Faouzi E. Issa, son of Elie, became the winemaker of Domaine des Tourelles. Together with his sister Christiane and Emilie Issa-el-Khoury, he runs and develops the family business. Faouzi was trained as an agricultural engineer at the American University of Beirut and then studied oenology in Montpellier. Faouzi introduced some innovations when he returned to Lebanon, but sticks strictly to the philosophy and quality standard of the domaine.
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He likes to work with the old concrete tanks and is enthusiastic about the yeast cultures on the walls and ceilings of the cellar. He vinifies in the traditional way with a minimal amount of sulphur and without any fining or filtering. They produce four red and two white wines as well as one rosé.
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And of course we have to mention the famous "Arack Brun", which today still accounts for 50% of their total production (150,000 bottles per year). By the way, it is the only Arak in the world to be granted a five year maturing period, spent in traditional clay jugs. The Oranjaline Triple Sec - a delicious orange liqueur made according to a well-kept, top secret recipe - is also worth trying. Its a poem, if someone serves it drop by drop with dark chocolate!
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